I like things more like “Story of O” something that has some depth of meaning to it beyond just the sex.

That’s the kind of erotica I want to write with my other pen name. Erotica that makes you think.

All Sleeping Beauty made me think was that there was too much spanking and not enough of anything else.

Victoria, The Duchess is showcased at my Borders, very prominently, in the middle of the fiction/romance section, on a shelf with the reissues of Georgette Heyer and some Jane Austens. Some folks are in for a surprising read…

Weeks after I turned in the manuscript, I finally, tentatively, glanced at a couple of pages and promptly found a spot where I’d pasted the same 3-4 paragraphs twice in a row. *forehead smack*

That was early September 2007; it was due the end of October.

Well. Now I’m just in awe.

I’ll be looking for another one. 🙂

I don’t feel I was limited as to wordcount–the problem for me was that the original conception of the novel was much LESS than it turned out was required. When my agent was shopping the proposal, I had no idea where it would be bought, so I wrote an outline for an 80K book, an average novel length.

Once Spice bought it, I didn’t immediately realize their line was in the 100-120K range, and didn’t think to check, either [duh! in my defense, I was pretty excited!]. That was early September 2007; it was due the end of October. I had to expand a lot of plot elements and add description and such in the final month before the due date, while at the same time doing some edits based on workshop comments. So there are a few things that didn’t get the attention they deserved.

I fixed some things in revisions, but again I had a tight deadline, and had to replace two major scenes that were cut for pacing reasons. I suppose it’s a good thing that time is often limited in publishing, because otherwise I would rewrite and rewrite forever, and never move on to something new.

I really think I plateau if I keep rewriting, either from my skill running out or my brain just getting too tired of the project. I can’t get better until the next project, when I can apply what I just learned.

Personally, I would’ve liked it darker, but I’m only one reader.

I thought using Henri as the ingenue was brilliant and I should’ve said so. It does turn that device (I don’t use the T-word) on its head, doesn’t it?

And I do understand your point about wanting to bring the uninitiated reader along, as if introducing her gently.

Now, I am curious about something: Was your word count limiting to you in any way as to what you felt you could/should include or not?