Friday, May 15, 2009

Food and Romance...

In both books, AN OFFICER AND HIS GENTLEMAN and PRETTY MAN, I wrote a few scenes that combined food with romance. There are no kinky sex food scenes in either book, because the stories didn't call for that. The food scenes were emotional and romantic, not sexy. But I've been amazed at how many readers have either commented on the food and romance angle, or bought the book just because there are scenes that combine romance and food. In PRETTY MAN I wrote about cupcakes and chocolate, but in AN OFFICER AND HIS GENTLEMAN I went into great depth about food because the main character's profession is in the food industry. Below is an excerpt from a food scene in "An Officer and his..." that some readers have commented on with various blog posts. So I thought I'd share it here.

Chance was usually awake by five each morning and down in the kitchen by five-thirty. This was his creative cooking time. Sometimes he baked large blueberry muffins with buttery golden tops; other times he prepared rich loaves of pound cake, or puffy glazed cinnamon rolls, or delicate foccacia bread. Each morning he cooked something special for the day, a recipe he’d designed and created himself that he displayed magnificently in a massive wooden bowl lined with a black and white striped cloth at the end of the deli counter.

At first, Dan had been completely against the idea of having a “special” for each day of the week; his idea of running a market was to put out the basics (cans of baked beans and ketchup) and collect the money. But when he saw how the customers flocked to the black and white striped cloth and were willing to pay twenty dollars for one of Chance’s pound cakes, or four dollars for one of his blueberry muffins, he shut his mouth. Half the time he couldn’t even pronounce the specials, like when Chance baked loaves of bread and topped them with olive tappenaude; but the people knew and they bought whatever he cooked. And by the end of the day the wooden bowl was always empty. It was rumored there were people who only went to Dan’s market to see what the special for the day was. And it was always something they couldn’t get anywhere else but there.

That day he whistled on his way down the back stairs. He’d been so inspired by his dream that he decided to create an original Buffalo chicken spread, something hot and spicy you could either spread on a cracker as an appetizer, spread on a sour dough roll for lunch, or even place on a bed of baby greens for a light supper…the possibilities were endless. He’d done Buffalo chicken wings before; he’d even created a special Buffalo chicken calzone; but never a hot, spicy spread. He decided to use two extra, special ingredients: Marscapone cheese and just a hint of capers. He liked to layer different flavors, to combine an overall effect, which would add a delicate, pleasant under taste to an original recipe. With blueberry muffins he always added a hint of lime; no one knew, but the combination created a taste sensation that people couldn’t resist. The special ingredient didn’t have to be exotic and expensive either. With his remarkable Mac and Cheese special, the two ingredients that made it taste exotic were nothing more than mustard powder and nutmeg.

Tags: An Officer and His Gentleman | Food and Romance | Ryan Field | Amazon.com

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When you write a book, sometimes it's simple to envision the cover and sometimes it's hard. With PRETTY MAN, it wasn't that easy...for me. I had images of the main characters; images that would have worked with the plot; images that involved the setting. But when I clicked onto ravenous a few minutes ago to see the cover for the first time, my initial reaction was complete satisfaction. It's simple, erotic and the model looks exactly as I'd envisioned one of the main characters. Even the window he's standing near looks like it popped to life from the book.

I've been in many books over the years where I've been slightly disappointed by book covers (never really completely disappointed; just slightly), and had to wonder what the publisher was thinking when they chose these covers. But with PRETTY MAN, I was blown away instantly. And that doesn't happen often. It's perfect. It captures the erotic elements, and the expression the model's face portrays the romantic elements I worked hard to incorporate.

I'll be posting more about PRETTY MAN, and more about AN OFFICER AND HIS GENTLEMAN in the future, because there are a few interesting stories about setting and plot and character development I think readers might enjoy. But I wanted to get a post up about the cover tonight to thank the people who were involved in creating it. They did a great job!!  

Tags: PRETTY MAN | An Officer and His Gentleman | Ryan Field | Panamour

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In one of my favorite works by Edna St. Vincent Millay, there's a classic quote that reads:

And this quote is a lot like the journey I've experienced so far with ravenousromance.com. Until recently, I always worked in traditional publishing and journalism. I wrote erotic romances and non-erotic romances for many editors and publishers. I wrote short stories and pieces for magazines and other publications. Over the course of fifteen years, since I graduated from college with a BA in English Lit, I literally lost track of the list of books and publications I was in. It was always about supplying the editor with what he or she needed. But more than that, creating something that the reader would enjoy. I'll get into more of how I did this in future posts (there are stories about where I worked as an assistant editor and how I wrote that might surprise people), because when you're starting out as a writer money isn't something that comes easily.

Right now, in this first post, I'd rather discuss the whirwind of ravenousromance.com. When I was first approached about it, I wasn't sure I could do it. Even though I'd always been in at least ten books a year, I'd always had time to think and prepare and contemplate. Traditional print publishing moves along at a slow, even pace: you submit a short story for a romance anthology in March and it usually takes a year, if not more, for the book to be released. (Magazines work a little faster, but if you submit something for a Christmas issue it's usually done in late summer.) But I was used to things being done the old way; I knew the drill and had my comfort zones.

And then came ravenousromance.com. I'd done a few things for other e-publishers by then. One, because I think e-publishing is the future in all genres. And two, because I was curious about it. And to be honest, even though I'd heard a few negative things from other writers, I soon found that e-publishing in general was a wonderful, professional place to work. Every aspect was positive, from editorial to cover design to final product. So when ravenous approached me with ideas and concepts for a book, I basically jumped into it without thinking twice. I'd heard good things about the owners, and I really believed in what they were trying to accomplish. This all started late last spring, which is typically a dead time in traditional publishing. But that summer was the most exciting and intense I can ever remember as a writer. We started by brainstorming about the book, AN OFFICER AND HIS GENTLEMAN, then I wrote a detailed outline and we brainstormed again through phone calls and e-mails. I was shocked at how much I liked and appreciated the comments from the editors; we clicked on all levels and when they suggested changes, I liked the suggestions. When I came back with changes of my own, they liked my suggestions. It was almost too good to be true.

In the next post I'll get into the process of writing AN OFFICER AND HIS GENTLEMAN. It wasn't always easy, and I burned the candle at both ends because I had other publishing obligations that summer, but it turned out to be a great deal of intense fun in the end. My goal, always, has been to reach readers who like to escape to places they normally wouldn't go. But I also like to add quirks you don't normally see in erotic romance. A huge part of that goal is to please the reader, entertain the reader and hope and pray they enjoy what I've written. Without the wonderful readers, there would be no point to writing.

Tags: writing | An Officer and His Gentleman | Ryan Field | erotic romance

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