Writers' Nook

The Women of Blaze Speak:
What turns them on

How to Write a Blaze from the RWA National Workshop in New Orleans, Summer 2001.
Vicki Lewis Thompson, Carly Phillips, Julie Elizabeth Leto and Harlequin Editor, Brenda Chin. Carly's Portion of the Speech is below.

ecember 1999. Over a year and a half ago, Harlequin decided to launch the Blaze line. As the original Harlequin Temptation/Blaze authors, we got phone calls from our editors. They were excited. You could feel the energy over the phone. Push the envelope, they told us. More of what you're already doing. Hotter. More intense. Distinguish your Temptation voice from your Blaze voice. They were thrilled. We were terrified.

Carly, Janelle, Vicki and Leslie

At least I was. But I sat down at the computer and decided I was going to give Brenda a synopsis that would knock her socks off and make sure that Birgit was so impressed they just had to buy the story. But this was Big Blaze. And this was supposed to be my first Blaze. (Turns out it isn't, but that's for later on in the story ). I needed to make an impression on my editors as if this were the first time they were reading anything from me. Just as you'll have to make an impression on any Blaze editor you submit to.

Where to begin? I needed a sexy premise, but that wasn't enough. My Temptation/Blazes all had sexy premises. And the Big Blazes would have more length than the Temptations. What would keep the story moving forward? That question led to what has become the most important concept of Blaze, at least for me: I needed to tie the plot to the sexy premise.

Armed only with the concept of Laura Corn's book 101 Invitations to Great Sex, I started to work on the story, using the Invitation concept. My heroine is an attorney in the male dominated field of law. She's suppressed her femininity and done everything possible become the first female partner in her firm. Nothing can stop her—Until she's sent on a business trip with the firm's sexiest partner. A man known as The Terminator. Marriage terminator. And he's been my heroine's secret crush for years.

My arrogant, unsuspecting hero—aren't all men?—figures he'll have no problem spending the weekend with the office ice queen, a conservative looking woman he's never given a minute's notice. But to his surprise, her scent arouses him and her tough, callous attitude bothers him in a way he can't understand—prompting him to goad her: For once I'd like to see the woman beneath that ice princess facade. He's insulted her femininity and her pride.

Carly

She can't let that insult pass no matter the risks—she's a Blaze heroine after all. And there are risks—a no office romance policy which means this man can jeopardize the partnership she's worked towards for years. So what? Being that Blaze heroine Vicki described so well, she's a woman who goes after what she wants, and what she wants is the hero.

He receives an anonymous poolside "Invitation to Seduction". Who do you think he finds when he takes off his blindfold, which was part of the instructions given to him in the invitation? Hence the name of my December Blaze, EROTIC INVITATION.

So what did I discover to be the key ingredients to Blaze after writing that first story?

1. Sexy premise tied to plot... In this case, hero and heroine issuing sexual challenges in the guise of invitations. Each invitation, each encounter ups the stakes, both sexual and emotional so the story peaks at the same time as the plot—the client's divorce and the hero and heroine's future both with their law firm—and with each other.

2. A strong heroine to duel with an equally strong hero... Of course this may differ from writer to writer but for me, the story started to fall apart when only the heroine was issuing invitations. When my editor suggested the hero reciprocate, invitation for invitation, the story and the characters came alive.

3. Seat squirming... Let's face it, if you don't turn yourself on while writing your story, you won't turn your reader on and this is a Blaze. I'll leave it at that. *g*

PART TWO

Unfortunately for me, I didn't have the luxury of working from scratch for my next Blaze (which turns out to be my first Blaze release). Fortunately for you, the experience gives me the opportunity of explaining another way of coming up with a Blaze premise, other than browsing sexy books and websites. *g*

My September Blaze, BODY HEAT, book 2 in the Sexy City Night series, was originally slotted as a Temptation. The plot wasn't detailed and given the shorter length, that was fine. Then the powers that be decided to make Sexy City Nights, the first Blaze series and I had a real problem on my hands. How to take a short book that although was planned to be hot, wasn't planned to be as long or as in depth as a Blaze demanded.

I had a fun premise: a physical therapist heroine who is working at night as a waitress to support her younger brother. She has only her fantasies to sustain her. Fantasies of the hero, the sexy guy at the café where she works. They've flirted but never actually met. IT's a seductive dance they both enjoy, but the hero's wealthy sister ups the stakes. She gives her brother use of her penthouse and leaves him a birthday gift—His very own physical therapist, every night of the long, hot summer. I envisioned the story as sexy and fun, using whirlpools, and pulsating water jets, and banter between my hero and heroine. Only now I needed a plot to sustain more length.

Remember now, based on my own criteria, I needed that sexy premise to PROPEL the plot and keep the story moving forward. It wasn't enough for the unsuspecting heroine to move into the penthouse with the unsuspecting hero, have hot sex and then be unable to walk away. I needed more intensity. More heat. Just MORE. Which brings me to the next way to tie plot to the sexy premise. CHARACTER.

My hero was a cop whose life was dangerous. My heroine raised her brother after her parents died. She didn't want a man who put his life on the line. But how could I take a used idea and make it different? Keep it sexy? So I started to play what if. What if her parents died taking risks? What if she had bouts of anxiety since childhood, each time they left for an adventure? What if their death had proven her fears correct? Being a Blaze heroine, she's strong. She's overcome her past and raised her brother alone. But she's got a hint of vulnerability about her and when she discovers the hero's job, this triggers those fears all over again. I still didn't want to do the whiny heroine who wanted her man to give up his dangerous job for her. MY heroine would never do that. BUT what if my hero brought his job, his danger to her front door?

My sexy premise was and is the title—BODY HEAT—And that premise, of BODY HEAT every night of the long, hot summer, could escalate along with the plot—the danger element! Danger everyone knows about but the heroine. The hero knows but he's protecting her and her past fears so he keeps her in the dark—even though he's sleeping with her by now.

Carly and Janelle

And the bad guy knows—this is a Blaze—I can use third party point of view. I can use harsher language to make my villain more real. And I can show my heroine's strength when she discovers she's been kept in the dark. She wonders: has the hero slept with her in order to keep her around and ensure her safety? Does he think she's that weak? That's no good. It's time she showed him she's a woman who takes care of herself. She's a Blaze heroine despite her insecurities, so she goes after the bad guy in an attempt to protect the hero from himself.

There's fun stuff thrown in—the hero can handcuff the heroine—for her own safety of course—leaving her alone and vulnerable at the hands of the villain. Isn't it great, the things you can do in the name of BLAZE?

So what have we discovered are possible elements in creating a Blaze:

1. Sexy premise... a must.

2. Sexy premise tied to plot... this can help sustain the sexual tension throughout the 75,000 word story.

3. Strong heroine with equally strong hero... my Temptation heroines have tended to gather their strength as the book progresses, but in writing this workshop, I realize my Blaze heroines have that inner strength from the beginning of the story.

4. Character... what about your characters can sustain a hot, sexy story?

5. Seat Squirming... This workshop is called the women of Blaze, what turns them on? It's all well and good to have that great bondage scene in your story, where your heroine ties up your hero, but if it's out of character and done for shock and sex value, you've cheated yourself, your characters and most importantly your readers. In my opinion, seat squirming comes from building sexual tension and a union of characters who are developing mutual respect and feelings for one another, no matter how strong the denial. I'm not talking about seat squirming because you're reading porn, but because you are reading a good, solid, romantic, monogamous story that is hotter and goes farther than other books. A hero and heroine who can partake in deeply sexual, fantasy-oriented sexual situations with each other because of the trust factor. Because they make each other feel safe.

So if you're going to write Blaze, I hope I've given you some things to think about. And remember if you're going to write a Blaze, you're going to have to turn yourself on too. *g*

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