Julie Elizabeth Leto, Guest Blogger :: So What’s Your Strength?

Yesterday, I had a telephone interview with a fabulous reporter from the Ft. Myers Newspress. He clearly was a fan of my work and had enjoyed my latest phantom book, PHANTOM’S TOUCH, very much. What struck me about him was not that he was a guy who clearly appreciated romance novels (though this is wonderful!) was his insight into my work and picking out what I consider to be my strength.

       Julie Elizabeth Leto

You see, what a writer thinks is her strength is not always what other people think it is. A lot of times, writers refuse to see their own strengths, either out of modesty or out of the culture of criticism that is rampant in creative pursuits. But the reporter thought that the way I wrote the sex was my strength. (That and my humor, which I always find ironic because I don’t find myself funny at all, but lots of people do, so there you go.)

I’m good at writing sensual love scenes. Is this immodest to admit out loud? Well, too bad. I don’t happen to believe that there is anything wrong with pointing out the things you do well. I could give you paragraphs about all the things I struggle with and I certainly don’t think I’m the best writer of sex in the romance universe! But there is nothing wrong with knowing my strength because frankly, playing to it is what I believe got me published in the first place and what has afforded me the opportunity to have what has been a satisfying and productive career.

I’d written three books before I sold my first book. The first and second books included sex scenes, of course, but the sexual attraction of the characters was not interwoven into the plot. That changed on the third book—and it was the first book I came close to selling. The fourth book, however, was the one where I wove the sex and the plot inextricably together…and it sold.

For the record, that third book became PHANTOM PLEASURES, with a whole new plot that wove the sex and the plot even more closely together.

Since accepting that writing sensual romance was something I not only enjoyed, but was good at, I’ve continued to sell. Luckily, hot books are popular! I hope they stay that way for a long time. No matter what genre I’ve written—sexy contemporary, action-adventure and now paranormal, I’ve always made sure to fulfill the promise I have made to my readers that I will always write hot, sensual sex. It is my strength and I’d be a fool not to play to it.

In my new book, SOMETHING WICKED, I constructed the plot at first so that sex was a means to get my characters together. But as the book unfolds, the sex becomes something vital—something the hero uses to tether himself to the heroine’s goodness the more and more he is slinking toward evil. In the end, it is the expression of their love. But the sex is always tied to the plot, to the characters, to the premise…everything!

So as writers, it’s important not only to learn all the things you do wrong…but also, you need to know what you do RIGHT. That’s where your major play should be. That’s the promise you will make with your readers, to always deliver, X, Y or Z. How do you find out what your strength is? From readers and honest criticism. Too often, though, we forget to tell people, when we are critiquing, what the good stuff is. Now you’ll see how necessary it is to do so…and to be honest about it.

So, let’s play…what do you think your biggest strength is?

Tagged as: erotic romance, fantasy, Harlequin Blaze, Julie Elizabeth Leto, Julie Leto, paranormal, Phantom Pleasures, Phantom's Touch, romance author, sensual romance, Signet Eclipse, Something Wicked