Comments on Lust Bites: An Interview with Pam Rosenthal

Wow. You so totally have my number, RfP. I'm delig...

2008-11-18T14:54:00.000Z

Wow. You so totally have my number, RfP. I'm delighted and astonished to find my own apprehensions of romance reading so clearly and beautifully put.

I always write about intimacy. My intent in the first argument scene in The Slightest Provocation was to communicate that this couple has to end up together, if for no other reason than they're so knowing in the ways of

Intimacy seems to be a common thread here, both be...

2008-11-18T14:29:00.000Z

Intimacy seems to be a common thread here, both between characters and between author and reader:

Pam: "there's a way in which exposing the far reaches of one's imagination is as intimate an exposure as anything else."

Laura: "what happens if the pornographer and/or reader are aroused by ideas, by thinking intellectually about what's being depicted, and if that's an

Hi Caffey! Great to see you here -- I think you mi...

2008-11-18T14:26:00.000Z
Hi Caffey! Great to see you here -- I think you might have sent me some of my earliest supportive feedback. Much appreciated and never forgotten.

And more recently, I've really enjoyed hearing from RfP:

...the way we *live* a relationship. Partly in our own heads, partly in the moment, and partly feeling our way into the other person's head...

What a great

"I like to mix it up."I've just finished reading T...

2008-11-18T13:52:00.000Z
"I like to mix it up."

I've just finished reading The Slightest Provocation, and the "mixing up" of viewpoints worked beautifully for me. Being in Mary's head, or Kit's, being now or more distant... that welter of experiences reminds me of the way we *live* a relationship. Partly in our own heads, partly in the moment, and partly feeling our way into the other person's

Hi Pam! I had the joy of reading some of your boo...

2008-11-18T03:24:00.000Z
Hi Pam! I had the joy of reading some of your books right when you started out with Brava. I can still remember well ALMOST A GENTLEMAN, THE BOOKSELLER'S DAUGHTER and all! I'm thrilled you have a new one out! I find with your books, they will take me places that I'd be surprised with, more so that you have the characters really open up themselves so I get to see really alot of them. This was

(blushing) thanks, Feisty, and thanks for stopping...

2008-11-18T02:00:00.000Z
(blushing) thanks, Feisty, and thanks for stopping by.

Pam is one of my idols and a real inspiration. Tha...

2008-11-18T01:57:00.000Z
Pam is one of my idols and a real inspiration. Thanks for the fabulous interview!

I think, Laura, that I (and Carrie, and -- now tha...

2008-11-17T22:43:00.000Z
I think, Laura, that I (and Carrie, and -- now that I think of it -- my hero and heroine Joseph and Marie-Laure from The Bookseller's Daughter) come out of that highfalutin French intellectual porn tradition. Story of O was absolutely formative for me in the 1960s, and so was Sontag's essay The Pornographic Imagination. I read a lot of the Marquis de Sade in my teens, too. <

But I'm not so sure that this so far outside the n...

2008-11-17T20:38:00.000Z
But I'm not so sure that this so far outside the norm, Laura. Or that there aren't more "normal" conditions than we think.

I suppose it depends how one defines "normal" and "norm." They do get used in lots of different ways and depending on how they're used can have different connotations. I certainly didn't mean to imply that being intellectual was a bad thing. I was using the

perhaps part of the difficulty in making the disti...

2008-11-17T19:26:00.000Z
perhaps part of the difficulty in making the distinction between erotica and pornography...could be that for some pornographers and readers of pornography certain things which might not normally be expected in pornography might be among the most sexy/arousing aspects of the experience....because these pornographers/readers require intellectual content

"True, dat," as the little

"...but it seems to me that there's a way in which...

2008-11-17T18:25:00.000Z
"...but it seems to me that there's a way in which exposing the far reaches of one's imagination is as intimate an exposure as anything else."

Beautifully put! And I totally agree.

Thanks for the congrats, lil, and to everybody who...

2008-11-17T18:18:00.000Z
Thanks for the congrats, lil, and to everybody who said they found the interview thought-provoking. I quit grad school in English in 1968 (because it was 1968!) and part of me has always regretted it -- I think I have the flashy idea part down, but I wish I'd learned the research skills, the discipline, sheer heavy lifting I've learned is required (most especially from My Son the Victorianist) to

I really do want to confound my reader as to wheth...

2008-11-17T18:16:00.000Z
I really do want to confound my reader as to whether she wants narrative forward motion or a series of "nows" -- partly because I think that that confusion is the point of -- oh, let's just call it sexy writing, because I don't believe the label "pornographic" changes any of that.

Looking back at AgTigress's post, I saw that her core definition seemed to be that with pornography "

LOL I wish Pam-the first 6 were not too great-it t...

2008-11-17T18:02:00.000Z
LOL I wish Pam-the first 6 were not too great-it took me a while to work out that I needed to let go of the conventions and just write it the way my instinct said it should go.

And another thing that Pam said which always made me feel better about myself was that you didn't actually have to have done all the things you wanted to write about in a novel-you were perfectly entitled to use

I agree with Kate. Pam's posts and interviews are...

2008-11-17T17:49:00.000Z
I agree with Kate. Pam's posts and interviews are ones that I find myself dwelling on in the days that follow. This interview will be no exception. I love the peek into your thoughts. Congrats on the release of The Edge of Impropriety.

I always take away something to add to the mix of ...

2008-11-17T17:48:00.000Z
I always take away something to add to the mix of my own writing

Thanks for that, cc. And Kate -- wow, 16 books written by letting the imagination have the upper hand. That's wonderful!

it's always fun to see how an author, no matter th...

2008-11-17T17:42:00.000Z
it's always fun to see how an author, no matter the genre, puts things together. And to see where people in different genres and fiction vs. non-fiction cross and deviate. I always take away something to add to the mix of my own writing.

I love listening to Pam talk-she really makes me t...

2008-11-17T17:15:00.000Z
I love listening to Pam talk-she really makes me think about the hows and the whys of what I do and how I write it.
And I totally get that whole let your imagination rule. I've written 16 books so far and I am in a place where I do trust my imagination to work it all out for me-and it does-it is a beautiful place to be. and, like Pam, (and one reason why I like her books so much,) is that I

with historicals I do enjoy doing the research alm...

2008-11-17T16:11:00.000Z
with historicals I do enjoy doing the research almost as much as I enjoy writing the book...

Deanna's post reminded me of an interesting point. Which is that I find a romantic/erotic component simply in situating my work in another era. Not just because of the clothes and tchotchkes, but because there are all these rules to be learned and followed.

And whereas the

And thanks to everybody else for their lovely comm...

2008-11-17T16:04:00.000Z
And thanks to everybody else for their lovely comments. I am blessed to be married to my most astute reader -- which I mean in every possible way, and which sobriquet I first used with enormous pleasure when I gave it to Joseph in The Bookseller's Daughter to bestow upon Marie-Laure.

As for that business about trusting the imagination -- this didn't used to be a problem

First answer to Laura, because you're right, Laura...

2008-11-17T15:43:00.000Z
First answer to Laura, because you're right, Laura. I got it wrong. I got scrambled in my own distinctions, hoist on my own whatever. AgTigress said that pornography is episodic, not erotica. The problem is (and the reason I goofed) is that I don't believe in that distinction either. Particularly in the Carrie books, I tried to write against that distinction. I really do want

Wonderful! I must run but will be back to reread ...

2008-11-17T15:42:00.000Z
Wonderful! I must run but will be back to reread and comment further.
Thanks to Kate and Pam.

A great interview Kate and Pam, I really enjoyed t...

2008-11-17T15:14:00.000Z
A great interview Kate and Pam, I really enjoyed the insight.

A husband who does research for you, how lucky you are, Pam. However, with historicals I do enjoy doing the research almost as much as I enjoy writing the book. Trouble is I get so caught up in my research it slows down my writing.

to some scholars, it’s erotica if the book is stru...

2008-11-17T14:05:00.000Z
to some scholars, it’s erotica if the book is structured around its sexual set-pieces.

I'm not sure that's what AgTigress was arguing, though. She wrote that "Erotica, though focusing on sexual activity, should follow the conventional structure of novels in having a proper story and believable characters."

Perhaps in the case of erotica and erotic romance it's a case of

Wonderful interview - thanks Pam (and Kate). This ...

2008-11-17T13:26:00.000Z
Wonderful interview - thanks Pam (and Kate). This bit rang especially for me:

The point of craft, I’m coming to think, is that when the daydreams and fantasies really get cooking, you’ll have the words, the syntax, and the general fluidity so you can get it while it’s hot.