Safkhet Publishing ~ Summer Reads

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Stephanie Keyes talks about Sexual Tension!





Hi everyone! A special thanks to my host for having me as a guest today!
 
Ah! Now that got your attention, didn’t it? Sorry for the blunt title.
 
About a month ago, I got feedback in my local writer’s group that I needed more “sexual tension” in my second book. So I thought I’d discuss sexual tension in writing and the challenges in getting it right.
 
When I started out with my book The Star Child, I assumed that there was no need to include any sexual tension in it. Why? It’s for kids! Why would I ever need to include any such thing? After all, I didn’t know the first thing about, well, um, tension in highschool. Why would my readers?
 
Then the truth hit me. Sexual tension is normal and it happens, particularly when you put your characters into situations, where they’re in conflict. Especially, when you are writing teen characters. That doesn’t mean that the book needs to be a sexual romp with teens doing who knows what, but it means that the “tension” piece should have an integral role.
 
If you’re a parent, I hope I haven’t scared you off from introducing your teen to The Star Child. Stay with me for another paragraph. Tension can be in the form of a touch on the cheek, a hug. In The Star Child, it comes in the form of an intense kiss after a long separation.
 
You don’t even need to write in the details of a S-E-X scene, should your story go there, which mine hasn’t. Write about the romance around it and then let the readers’ minds fill in the rest.
 
My host, Sheryl Browne did a great job with this in her own book Recipes For Disaster. Throughout the entire book, you don’t actually “see” anything. You experience the tension through the thoughts of the characters.
 
I went back to the drawing board and wrote in the desired tension. All that I can say is that I actually blushed when I had to read it at my writer’s group, but it was worth it. I got a thumb’s up.
Thank you, Sheryl, for hosting me today! If you’d like to learn more about my book, The Star Child, check out the information below!
 
 
About the Book
 
The world is about to be cloaked in darkness. 
Only one can stop the night.
 

Kellen St. James has spent his entire life being overlooked as an unwanted, ordinary, slightly geeky kid. That is until a beautiful girl, one who has haunted his dreams for the past eleven years of his life, shows up spinning tales of a prophecy. Not just any old prophecy either, but one in which Kellen plays a key role.

S
uddenly, Kellen finds himself on the run through a Celtic underworld of faeries and demons, angels and gods, not to mention a really ticked off pack of hellhounds, all in order to save the world from darkness. But will they make it in time?

The Star Child Trailer



Giveaway!!  
Inkspell Publishing is giving away free books, posters and bookmarks!
Win your copy of The Star Child here!
 (Posters and paperback open to US and UK only.  Ebooks are international)
 
 

Buy Links ~
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, All Romance eBooks : http://bit.ly/ShtG4J
Amazon.co.uk  http://amzn.to/UT6lwb 
 
About the Author
 
Stephanie Keyes holds an undergraduate degree in Management Information Systems as well as a Master's in Education. A seasoned, facilitator, Mrs. Keyes worked in Training and Development for an international telecommunications corporation for twelve years; spending the first eight years of her career as a Software Trainer and Technical Writer and the last four working in Human Resources and Employee Development. 
 
 
In May of 2012, Mrs. Keyes left the corporate world to focus on her family and her writing full-time. She also operates a freelance graphic and instructional design business, Sycamore Road Design. 
 
Inkspell Publishing released her first novel, The Star Child, on September 21, 2012. She is now currently at work on the second book in The Star Child Trilogy, The Fallen Stars. Keyes lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, two children, and Riley the dog. 
 
Contact Stephanie
       



2 comments:

Linn B Halton and Lucy Coleman said...

This made me laugh! I would love to have been a fly on the wall at that writers' meeting. Lx

Lisa Voisin said...

Me too!