Best First LinesFirst lines are like fingernail polish — you paint on a different color, it give you a different tone. If you use a question, the reader wants to answer it. If you use dialogue, the reader wants to hear the answer. If you portray a character, the reader is her friend. If you set the location, the reader lands right on her feet in a strange place and walks in your character’s shoes. Take a look at these first lines and see if they intrigue you as much as they intrigue me. Penny Jackson knew that it was probably wrong to be so excited to see her ex-husband come crawling back, but she was willing to live with the character flaw. — DELICIOUS by Susan Mallery (Doesn’t that just tell you everything you need to know about Penny?) Amanda knew exactly why the man on her front doorstep was a prostitute. — SUDDENLY YOU by Lisa Kleypas (The man on her front doorstep is a prostitute? Why? How does she know that? I must read on!) “I need a hundred and fifty polar bears.” — DECK THE HALLS by Heather MacAllister (Heather is the queen of quirky, and right away you know it.) Not for the first time in his life, Lord Gabriel Kenyon discovered a lovely girl waiting in his bed. But for once, he was too stunned to relish the sight. — TEMPT ME TWICE by Barbara Dawson Smith (This one raises the question in my mind — why is he so stunned?) Tabitha Lennox hated being a witch. The only thing she hated more than being a witch was being a rich witch. — TOUCH OF ENCHANTMENT by Teresa Medeiros: (Isn’t that delightful? That opener tells you exactly the kind of fun you’re going to have with this book.) "… and that is how Dairy Products changed my life." — Connie Brockway’s upcoming contemporary, tentatively titled HOT DISH (Right away we know we’ve crossed the line into unpredictable.) From THE BAREFOOT PRINCESS: If Jermyn Edmondson, the marquess of Northcliff, had known he was about to be kidnapped, he wouldn’t have gone out on a walk. And because this is my blog and I get to talk about myself wayyy too much, let me remind you about CASTLES IN THE AIR, my book with the cover that featured the three-armed woman. Yes, the artist drew her with three arms and the first edition was published just like that. (For the full story on this, click here. ) Please remember when I wrote the book, I had no idea what the cover would look like or the furor it would cause … because the first line is, “She had all her teeth.” How do you decide whether to buy a book? By the cover? Back copy? Front copy (the scenelet they put inside the front cover)? First page? How important is that opening line to you? Posted: 11/03/2008
Xtina Dodd asks: WHAT’S THE MOST ROMANTIC MOVIE YOU’VE EVER SEEN?I have a confession — beneath my cynical, sarcastic facade beats a heart of pure mush. Before you snort milk through your nose, think about it — despite Connie Brockway’s best efforts, my favorite movie in the world is THE SOUND OF MUSIC. What’s not to like? (Xtina asks Connie) Great songs, fabulous scenery, incorrigible children, a charming nun/governess and a stern, handsome frozen-hearted captain who slowly melts under the spell of the songs, the scenery, his kids and Julie Andrews. When I start that movie and the mountain scenery comes on the scene with the birds twittering and the first chords of music play … I’m in heaven. But THE SOUND OF MUSIC, while my favorite, is not the most romantic movie I’ve ever seen. The actress I’d vote as most romantic is Audrey Hepburn, who played SABRINA to Humphrey Bogart’s interfering grumpy old guy lead and the princess to Gregory Peck’s out-to-get-what-he-can reporter in ROMAN HOLIDAY. She played the lead in MY FAIR LADY (but didn’t sing — that was Marni Nixon who dubbed a lot of actresses and played one of the nuns in THE SOUND OF MUSIC) and Audrey Hepburn was also the artless lead opposite Cary Grant in the suspenseful and completely CHARADE. I love every one of those movies, but none of them are the most romantic I’ve seen … I have trouble picking my favorite romantic male lead. Cary Grant, Clark Gable … James Garner, Richard Gere, Colin Firth … it doesn’t seem to matter how old an actor is (or if he’s dead or alive), I fall in love with him depending on the role he’s playing. Right now my favorite is Brad Pitt, but let’s face it, the sight of his naked rear-end in TROY would launch a thousand Squawker ships. TROY is not the most romantic movie I’ve ever seen, though … The current craze for paranormal romance was foreshadowed by DEAD AGAIN directed and starring Kenneth Branagh and his (at the time) wife Emma Thompson. This movie has everything — a love that lives over multiple lifetimes, a murderer who never gives up, and if you foresee the twist coming in this movie, I salute you. I was stunned. But DEAD AGAIN isn’t the most romantic movie I’ve ever seen … I asked my husband Scott about his favorite romantic movie and he said RETURN TO ME. David Duchovny’s wife is killed and he donates her heart to an unknown recipient, Minnie Driver. (Spoilers to follow!) Scott said he loved the movie because he could never forget that the wife had been working with a gorilla teaching her to sign, and the gorilla would sign that it loved her, and after she died and the gorilla saw Minnie Driver, it signed that it loved her. Scott said he loved the “love goes on forever” message. (Most romantic lead in my life, ladies? Guess!) So what is MY most romantic movie ever? That privilege belongs to a lesser known movie, LADYHAWKE. It’s a medieval fairy tale starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Rutger Hauer as star-crossed lovers, and a very young Matthew Broderick as the comedy relief, Greek chorus and cowardly narrator. The evil archbishop loves the Michelle Pfeiffer character. She loves the captain of the guard (Rutger Hauer) and he loves her. So the archbishop curses them both — by day, she’s a hawk, by night, he’s a wolf. Forever together, eternally apart … they love each other so much, but they can never touch and they’ll do anything to be together again. What a fabulous mixture of high adventure, extraordinary drama and glorious love! Even Connie would like LADY HAWKE. Well, maybe. Tell what your favorite romantic movie is so I can indulge myself in a gluttony of romance! Posted: 11/10/2008
Xtina Dodd says BONDAGE MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDERReviews are in for THE BAREFOOT PRINCESS, and I’ve been amazed at how many reviewers seem to be excited about the fact the heroine chains the hero in her cellar. For pete’s sake, she doesn’t do it for sex! She does it for money! Nevertheless, every reviewer mentions bondage in a jump-up-and-down, this-is-fun sort of way, so I thought — let’s talk about our favorite bondage books! The ones that popped to my mind were: the Dara Joy book MINE TO TAKE. Isn’t that the best cover? Nothing beats a naked guy chained to the wall, especially a gorgeous naked guy. That female hand reaching toward him adds just the right titillation. If I recall correctly, the whole book was predicated on her releasing him if he would have sex with her while he was chained so she could refuse to marry the bad guy. Did you follow that? At the time, it made sense to me, but my brain steams up when I think about it. There was the Johanna Lindsey book PRISONER OF MY DESIRE. The heroine has to get pregnant and avails herself of a very angry, very handsome (of course), very tied-up man. Very provocative and great fun. She rapes him. He rapes her. A good time is had by all. When asked, Susan Elizabeth Phillips suggested, “UNTAMED by Elizabeth Lowell. The hero put some kind of bells on the heroine — very odd and very sexy.” Jayne Ann Krentz said, “Bondage books? Any good list of books has to start with THE SHEIK by E. M. Hull. There's no actual tying up, just domination, but we do get whips and stuff. And then there's Angela Knight's MERCENARIES (Berkley Sensation). Lots of bondage in that anthology. But probably my favorite all-time semi-bondage book is Anne McCaffrey's RING OF FEAR. Great politically incorrect sex scene and I think someone gets spanked.” I checked in with friends and asked, “What are your favorite bondage books?” And do you know what I got back??? From Geralyn Dawson: “I had bondage in my harem honeymoon scene in HER SCOUNDREL. She ties him up.” From Teresa Medeiros: “There's a VERY sexy scene at the beginning of THIEF OF HEARTS where Lucy is tied up after being taken captive by my pirate. No actual sex or even foreplay but it's still a very hot scene. And in A WHISPER OF ROSES, she makes Morgan hold onto ribbons tied to the bedposts while she ‘ravishes’ him.” (Interesting … both books are by Teresa Medeiros.) From Elizabeth Bevarly: “I did a scene in BRIDE OF THE BAD BOY where the hero, whom the heroine thinks is a mobster, ties her to a chair with the sash of her bathrobe and gropes her. That was fun.” From Connie Brockway: “ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT — that steamy sexy classic where she masturbates him after she ties him up. THE BED IS UNMADE — that steamy sexy classic anthology story in ONE UPON A PILLOW where the heroine ties the hero to the bed.” (In case it’s not clear, Connie Brockway wrote both stories.) From Lisa Kleypas: “WORTH ANY PRICE, moi's Rita book, when Nick is feeling out-of-control because he is falling helplessly in love with the heroine, he comes to her in the middle of the night and ties her up and . . . oh, it was fun writing that!” All I could think was — wow. My friends are a bunch of perverts. But as I said, in THE BAREFOOT PRINCESS, Princess Amy kidnaps Jermyn Edmondson, marquess of Northcliff and chains him to the wall in her basement and demands a sizeable ransom from Jermyn’s uncle. It’s a simple plan, destined to succeed. Except Uncle Harrison is Jermyn’s heir and he would be delighted if someone killed his nephew and left him with the title and fortune, and it seems that Jermyn is handsome, arrogant and a little cranky with Amy for manacling him. So there is no sexual bondage in THE BAREFOOT PRINCESS. At least … not at first. So me and my perverted friends want to know — do you like bondage books? Do you think they cross the line into icky? (That’s okay! Everyone has their right to their own tastes … so to speak!) If you like them, what are your favorite bondage books? Your least favorite? And why? Posted: 11/17/2008
Christina Dodd on WRITING SEX“Do you smoke after sex?” An old joke, but one that pretty much sums it up for most of us. Sex is fun. Reading about sex is fun. Therefore, writing sex is fun. Right? Well … not always, and not for everybody. When a new writer sidles up to me to ask a question in a low tone, I can almost tell you what it’s going to be. “How did you write your first sex scene? I tried and I didn’t know what words to use, and it was embarrassing, and I kept thinking, ‘What if my mother reads this?’ Help me.” I do remember the first time I wrote sex. I was struggling my way through the opening chapters of my very first manuscript, a hundred chapter, overblown, throw-everything-in-the-plot, I-don’t-know-what-I’m-doing-historical. In between having a smallpox epidemic, an earthquake which devastated an entire city, and oppressed native Americans struggling to be free, my hero (a guilt-ridden Spanish landowning Guatemalan aristocrat) catches the heroine (an innocent Irish American pretending to be a man so she could be a doctor) bathing under a waterfall. (I know what you’re thinking — you’re thinking: Christina Dodd will never get published, or — I feel better about my own manuscript already, or — hey, I’d read that story! My replies: That shows what you know — I live to make you feel better about your manuscript, and — no way, I’m never letting anyone read it.) What was I talking about? What can I say? It was a lot more fun than the smallpox epidemic. So I’m thinking, he’s mad because he’s discovered she’s a girl and she’s defiant because she’s a fiery beauty, and pretty soon they’re rolling around on the ground, and he’s baring her virgin breast and she’s struggling and saying stuff like, “Don’t! Stop! Don’t! Stop! Don’t stop!” And all of a sudden I sit up, grab a tablet and a pen, and I’m off and running. So to speak. I wrote that sex scene in a frenzy, and I want to assure you right now, never once did my mother and her reaction enter my mind. (Actually, my mother lived a long life, and she grew older, she looked more and more like a little old lady, which is why people were always shocked when she displayed a lively and bawdy sense of humor. So I never had a reason to be concerned about my mom and her reaction to my sex scenes. She thought they were great.) My daughters … that was a whole different ballgame. These were kids who were in grade school when I was published. At the time, they were overjoyed (“We’re going to DisneyWorld!”) But later, they had to attend middle school and high school … and their mother was a romance writer. Their mother was occasionally profiled in the paper. The other obnoxious adolescents read their mother’s sex scenes aloud in school. Once when I was in the living room being interviewed by the Houston Chronicle, a teenage daughter wandered in, and when asked by the reporter if she read my books, she said, “Would you like to know what your mother knows about sex?” The reporter looked horrified at the idea. As far as I know, she’s still hiding somewhere curled in the fetal position. However, as with all things, this too shall pass. Somewhere about the time my daughters became seniors, I suddenly (very very suddenly) became cool again. They do read my books; they don’t read my sex scenes (see above — “Would you like to know what your mother knows about sex?”) My daughters have become used to getting my emails asking questions like, “What slang words do you use for penis? Vagina? Having sex? Do all the girls these days remove all their pubic hair?” As I understand it, they read these messages to their friends, laugh uproariously, and answer me. Thank God, because doing the research online results in the kind of spam I don’t want. So you’re wondering — what are the technicalities of writing sex? What problems do romance writers encounter while writing sex? Do I like writing sex? Do other romance writers enjoy writing sex? How do we do it over and over and over, the same old motions, the same old positions, the same old man and woman doing the same old dance since the beginning of time …? Unfortunately, this blog is already too long, so ask what you want to know, then check back another week for the answers to your throbbing questions. And really, what are you doing reading my blog? TONGUE IN CHIC (“Romeo and Juliet as performed by Dharma and Greg”) is on the bookshelves! You should be at the bookstore, buying your copy, settling down to read, enjoying the sex scenes. And don’t forget to report in — do you smoke after sex? Posted: 11/24/2008 Back to Previous Page | Back to Blog Home |
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