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Today on Fable and the Verbivore, guest writers C. L. (Cami) Walters and Kieran (Kate) Lamoureux speak with us about writing sex scenes and all about sex on the page.

Kate is an author of dark fantasy romance and contemporary fantasy stories. Her short story ‘Daughter of Darkness & Son of the Sun’ was published last year in the Worldsmyth’s Darkness & Moonlight anthology and her short story Deconstructed won first place in Tribus Polaris’s 2020 flash fiction contest. She’s also a micro editing professional who provides line editing, copy editing, proofreading, and pitches, blurbs, and synopses services. Kate is currently working on revisions for her debut novel The Guardian (Book 1 of The Terramica War planned trilogy). More information on her work and services can be found on her website at kieranlamoureux.com.

Cami is the author and self-publisher under her Mixed Plate Press imprint of eight contemporary YA novels under the name C. L. Walters and two adult romantic fantasy novels under the name Maci Aurora. She’s also a macro editing professional and teacher who provides one-on-one writing consultations, creation of custom writing curriculum, developmental edits, and line editing services. Her YA novels include The Letters She Left Behind, the Cantos Chronicles (Swimming Sideway, The Ugly Truth, The Bones of Who We Are), The Stories Stars Tell, In the Echo of this Ghost Town, When the Echo Answers, and The Messy Truth About Love . Her adult romantic fantasy Fareview Fairytales series includes In the Shadow of a Wish (Book 1) and the newly released sequel In the Shadow of a Hoax. She also has written a step-by-step self-publishing guide The Indie Author, Book Publishing Planner: Navigating Indie Publishing to Establish Your Brand as an Authorpreneur. Cami is currently working on book 3 of the Fareview Fairytales series. More information on her work can be found on her website at www.clwalters.net and maciaurora.com, and her services can be found at mixedplatepress.com/services.

This conversation might be one of our favorites to date on the podcast. Cami and Kate happen to know each other very well, have a history of sharing their work together, and both have worked with Fable. That combined with their experience and thoughtful approach to their writing craft made for a uniquely open and candid conversation that was delightful and packed full of great writing takeaways.

In this episode we talk about:

• First introductions to sex on the page

• Giving yourself the invitation to write intimate scenes

• Making sure that steamy scenes have a purpose that furthers plot and character arcs

• Treating a sex scene like an action scene, choreographing what happens, and visualizing/acting it out to ensure it’s logistically possible

• Bridging the gap between your vision for the scene and how it’s perceived by a reader

• Approaches for drafting and editing these scenes

• Reading widely to learn expectations of language and content for the genre

• Abstract vs. concrete word choice and writing to evoke emotion in the reader and engage their imagination

• Sex positivity and how that looks in their work

Towards the end of this conversation, Cami and Kate share some of their recent favorite romance authors and series. Their recommendations include: Chloe Liese’s Two Wrongs Make a Right and Bergman Brothers series, Tessa Bailey’s romance novels, Raven Kennedy’s Gild Series, Zoey Draven’s The Horde King, and Laura Thalassa’s The Four Horseman series.

It was such a pleasure and privilege to be a part of this conversation. We hope you enjoy it too!

Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Notes:

Kate is an author of dark fantasy romance and contemporary fantasy stories. Her short story ‘Daughter of Darkness & Son of the Sun’ was published last year in the Worldsmyth’s Darkness & Moonlight anthology and her short story Deconstructed won first place in Tribus Polaris’s 2020 flash fiction contest. Kate is currently working on revisions for her debut novel The Guardian (Book 1 of The Terramica War planned trilogy).

Kate’s website is KieranLamoureux.com and her Instagram account is @kjlamoureux.writes. We’d highly recommend checking out her bibliophile posts, atmospheric pictures, teasers of her current work, and the flash fiction pieces located in her Instagram stories. We also love her open and candid posts about her personal life and creating as a neurodiverse writer. Her website also lists the micro editing with heart services that she provides - line editing, copy editing, proofreading, and pitches, blurbs, and synopses – as well as her current rates.

Cami is the author and self-publisher under her Mixed Plate Press inprint of eight contemporary YA novels under the name C. L. Walters and two adult romantic fantasy novels under the name Maci Aurora. Her YA novels include The Letters She Left Behind, the Cantos Chronicles (Swimming Sideway, The Ugly Truth, The Bones of Who We Are), The Stories Stars Tell, In the Echo of this Ghost Town, When the Echo Answers, and The Messy Truth About Love . Her adult romantic fantasy Fareview Fairytales series includes In the Shadow of a Wish (Book 1) and the newly released sequel In the Shadow of a Hoax. She also has written a step-by-step self-publishing guideThe Indie Author, Book Publishing Planner: Navigating Indie Publishing to Establish Your Brand as an Authorpreneur. Cami is currently working on book 3 of the Fareview Fairytales series.

Cami’s websites are www.clwalters.net and maciaurora.com, her Instagram accounts are @cl.walters and @maciaurora, and her TikTok account is @clwaltersofficial. We’d highly recommend checking out Cami’s funny, thoughtful, and bookish TikToks, reels, and posts as well as her beautiful pictures of her home state of Hawaii and glimpses into her personal and writing life. We also love the way she posts about her upcoming releases and how they do such a masterful job of capturing the aethetics and flavor of her work. Her Mixed Plate Press website also lists the macro editing and teaching services that she provides - one-on-one writing consultations, creation of custom writing curriculum, developmental edits, and line editing services - as well as her current rates.

Kate references a series that we did on Fable and the Verbivore about writing Physical Intimacy taken from a behavioral psychology perspective. Here are those two episodes:

• Episode 71: Let's talk about writing physical intimacy

• Episode 72: Let's talk about writing physical intimacy (part 2)

Both Cami and Kate give their take on the term Sex Positive. Here’s a definition from PsychCentral:

• “My personal working definition of ‘sex positivity’ is operating around the topics of human sexuality, health, and pleasure with respect and without shame or stigma. This includes gender identity, orientation, sex education, nudity, relationship styles, body positivity, safer sex, reproductive equity, and much more.” - Goody Howard

Books Mentioned:

• Cause Celeb by Helen Fielding

• Swimming Sideways by C. L. Walters

• In the Shadow of a Wish: Fareview Fairy Tale, Book 1 by Maci Aurora

• In the Echo of this Ghost Town by C. L. Walters

• Two Wrongs Make a Right (The Wilmot Sisters Series) by Chloe Liese  

• Bergman Brothers (6 book series) by Chloe Liese

• The Plated Prisoner Series (5 book series) by Raven Kennedy

• Horde Kings of Dakkar (6 book series) by Zoey Draven

• The Deal by Elle Kennedy

• The Four Horsemen (4 book series) by Laura Thalassa

Music from: https://filmmusic.io
‘Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)