My first published MM story, The Dream of a Thousand Nights, was an experiment. I’d never written explicit sex. I wasn’t sure I could. I probably don’t need to tell you that my experiment worked out just fine—Dream is part fairy tale, part erotica. Since I wrote that book, I’ve written more than a dozen gay romances, all of which contain explicit sex.

I’ve read books with lots of sex, no sex, and books that have some sex. I settled into my own sex-writing comfort zone through my reading. But it wasn’t a simple process, and it’s still evolving. Put differently: the “just right” balance (to quote Goldilocks) depends upon the book. Without getting into the pros and cons of writing explicit sex in romance (that’s another blog post and then some!), I thought I’d take a big brush look at sex in romance and lay out the “bones” of the process as I see it. So running with the Goldilocks analogy, think of sex in romance as a recipe that includes balance and emotional context.

Balance. There is something to be said for the ratio of sex to plot and character development in a story. I’ve read some books with well-written sex scene after well-written sex scene, and I’ve gotten bored with the sex. Don’t get me wrong, I love a great sex scene. But too much of a good thing isn’t a good thing if the plot gets lost in the sex.

Balance is key. Sex scenes can break up the action in a story, or break the tension in a story. They can help (or hurt) pacing in a story. As a reader, I want sex to add to the romance plot. I want to feel the emotions of the characters as they have sex. I want the sex to move the plot forward or, alternatively, break up a very tense or action filled section of the book to give me an emotional breather.

Emotional Context. Let’s face it. There are only so many ways people have sex. Sure, every once in a while I read a scene that surprises me with an “I didn’t realize you could do that” sort of position or act, but most sex scenes in gay romance boil down to a few sexual acts. It’s the description of the action that matters here, not the act itself. Getting the body parts in the right places is the easy part. The hard part—the part that really matters? That’s the emotion running throughout the scene. Without the feelings, sex is just sex. Even good erotica (with or without plot) needs some emotional context, or it’s just boring.

This is how it all comes together (By the way, I’ve re-written that sentence three times now, and every version has been some sexual double-entendre!). Romance is, first and foremost, about love. Yep. The “L” word. That’s what readers expect (and rightly so!). If sex scenes don’t show emotions, they tend to fall flat and lose the “love”. Ask yourself: What happens in the sex scene? What does the scene accomplish? Do I feel something physical and emotional as I read the scene?

Think about your favorite sex scenes in contemporary romance. What about them makes them great? Are they first time encounters? Are they make-up sex, or sex after a prolonged separation? Are they scenes that show a character learning to trust another character? Are the characters trying something new? Are there strong emotional undercurrents in the scene?

How does this work in practice? I can only tell you from my personal experience. I’ve added sex scenes in books after they’ve been contracted, and I’ve edited scenes out. If you read the first edition of Blue Notes and compare it to the second edition, you’ll notice there are fewer sex scenes. Much as I loved having Jules and Jason in bed, and much as Jason’s exploration of his sexuality was a focus of that book, I realized in retrospect that the sex began to overshadow the story. So I took a few scenes out that I didn’t feel added to the plot or the emotional growth of the characters and I added a few scenes that upped the emotional ante.

In another book, The Melody Thief, I added a phone sex scene toward the end of the story. Why? Because the characters were separated by events beyond their control, and I felt the reader needed to see their physical and emotion connection continuing to grow in spite of the distance. Ironically, I think it’s one of the hottest sex scenes I’ve written.

I could give you more examples, but I think you get the idea. The recipe depends on the story. In my upcoming release, Blood and Rain, there are fewer sex scenes than in some of my other books, but they’re longer than many I’ve written and are integral to the story. Let’s face it, vampires ooze sex, and the sharing of blood in vampire lore is tantamount to sex. What better way to write vampires than to have the act of sharing blood wrapped up in the sex?

On that note, I’ll leave you all with a brief excerpt from the book and a little taste of a sex scene. Enjoy! –Shira

Charles brushed François’s lips with his fingertips. François sighed at the delicate touch and licked Charles’s fingers, then sucked on them as he held Charles’s gaze. Charles nodded almost imperceptibly as François grazed the delicate skin with his teeth. François bit down with relish and tasted the warmth of Charles’s blood on his tongue.

Charles pushed François onto the sheets and pinned him there. A willing captive, François moaned as Charles nipped his shoulder, then licked and sucked until the sting of his bite melted into the sweetest pleasure, like the feeling of the wind in his face as he rode his horse hard, or the heat of his soul’s blade in his grip.

François gasped as Charles ghosted his lips over his neck, pausing where the pulsing of his blood was the strongest. François moaned, willing Charles to take his blood as he had before, wanting to give himself to Charles as he’d done the night he’d been transformed. But Charles did not bite him here as he’d hoped. Instead he traced a line downward to François’s chest and paused there to lave one nipple, then the other.

Even though he’d lain with other men, none of them had ever touched François in such a way. His mind blurred and his body responded. He growled, an unearthly sound that seemed both familiar and strange. He realized he craved more of the delicious pain of Charles’s teeth, that he welcomed it.

“Don’t fight your body’s hunger,” Charles said, perhaps sensing the turmoil in François’s heart. “You won’t harm me. Give in to your need. Pleasure yourself as you wish.”

François hesitated. “I want… I….”

“Do it,” Charles hissed as a flush spread over his pale cheeks. “Use your teeth. Your body will show you. It’s in our nature to want this. I want this. Pain. Pleasure. Blood.”

Blurb: Adrien Gilbert has spent several lifetimes searching for the love he lost. Born in the 1800s into a clan of fabled vampire hunters, Adrien once wanted nothing more than to tend his family’s vineyard in southern France or read a good book. But Adrien’s peaceful existence ends abruptly when his older brother, François, is murdered. Bound by his hunter’s oath, Adrien sets out on a path that will forever change his life when he agrees to execute his brother’s killer, the vampire Charles Duvalier.

After months chasing the elusive Charles, Adrien reluctantly makes a bargain with Nicolas Lambert, an ancient vampire. Adrien will escort Nicolas to Paris for his marriage to a rival clanswoman, and Nicolas will help Adrien find Charles. Nicolas’s quiet strength and gentle heart soon convince Adrien that Nicolas is nothing like the vampires he has sworn to destroy. As the wedding date draws nearer, a force intent on destroying the fragile peace between the vampire clans threatens to tear apart both the vampire realm and the world of the hunters. To secure both past and future for those he loves, Adrien must find a way to stop the looming war between hunters and vampires. But first he’ll have to let Nicolas go.

Release day: December 15, 2014

Pre-order Blood and Rain at Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, or AllRomanceEbooks.