Bestselling Harlequin Presents author Penny Jordan, whose next book Captive at the Sicilian Billionaire’s Command is in stores in North America in April and is up on eHarlequin now, shares her thoughts on what how important feeling desired is to women — and to her books!
by Penny Jordan
As a Presents author I am constantly looking for ways to underline and stay true to the magic that has always made Presents books both so loved and, by some, so reviled. We know it’s all down to the ‘emotional intensity’. We know too ‘what works’, but it can be very difficult to frame those features of our books in a media/discussion group-friendly way.
However, this weekend I found help with this from a very unexpected source. In fact I had to break off in the middle of reading an article in this weekend’s UK Sunday Times Magazine to whoop with joy when I came across the words: For women being desired is the orgasm.
Initially, when I began reading this article, I was put off by the same-old same-old implication (or so it seemed) that during experiments women react sexually to stimuli which they later deny finding ‘desirable’. In fact I was so put off that I put the article down. Then later, over a cup of coffee, as the magazine was still open on the same page, I continued to read. And there it was: the golden nugget of ‘scientific’ belief that for me has underpinned a deep instinct about what makes a Presents-type romance work. An instinct I have held for over thirty years and which I still believe is the golden chain that links the reader, through the heroine and hero, to the writer, to create the ‘magic’ that makes the books work.
The words I quote above from the article, ‘being desired is the orgasm’, are so in tune in many senses with what I put over when I write romance that I quite literally punched the air in delight. At last someone outside my world had discovered what we know instinctively and put it into the public domain as an essential part of female sexuality.
I have always said (and of course I’m not alone in this) that for the woman reading a romance the fact that the hero — a powerful alpha male who commands everything and everyone around him — desires the heroine against his own wish to do so, and above all other women, is a core element of the ‘attraction’. This is because it equates with her ability to arouse that desire within him — to have that female power and ultimately to control their relationship. Surely this is part of nature’s way of not just inclining a woman to want the very best genes available for her children, but also ensuring that a) he will continue to give her those children and b) he will remain faithful to her – because he is helpless in the face of his desire for only her.
When a reader reads our books (and for me as a writer when I write my books) there is a sense of ‘being the heroine’, and of feeling and sharing what the heroine is experiencing. I now realise, having read this article, that we connect with something within us that can ignite that all-important feeling of being desired.
Normally this isn’t something I think about directly when I write, because it is something that goes on at a deeper, more instinctive level -– i.e. I just ‘know’. I have always known that, for the reader, the hero’s inability to stop himself from desiring the heroine is tremendously empowering and a vital part of the read. (And by desiring I do not mean forcing her to have sex with him — the desire works far better at that level for me when it is expressed via his fight to suppress it within himself.)
This article has really reinforced for me something that I believe is essential for my books. It has helped me to clarify where the ‘true line’ of my story should lie, and I feel both vindicated and empowered by that aspect of its content.
The article also refers to other aspects of female sexuality, such as the myth of the ‘pleasure’ of being taken by force. Again I thought this was an interesting and informed take on this facet of some romance novels and well worth reading, in my opinion.
In all, an interesting read? I think so — especially as it proves that Harlequin’s authors and editors instinctively know something it has taken scientists years to work out (vbg)!
Penny Jordan
– As I am currently involved in some ‘serious’ edits on my current book, sadly I won’t be able to post further on this subject.
While Penny is working hard on her next great Presents, she’s left us with a very interesting topic to consider! What do you think is the key to attraction — either in real life or in romance novels? ~Amy
Penny,
Thanks for posting this! Wish I’d read the article. Isn’t it interesting the way science boffins now seem to be catching up with what romance readers and writers have known instinctively for so long?
One of the reasons I’ve always come back to Presents stories through the years is that intensity of focus by the hero on the heroine and of emotions sparking between the two. What’s between them is strong and inescapable, particularly given the fact that the hero is in a position to pursue this woman using every available resource, even though he might do so against his judgement or inclination.
Desire (and as you say, not sexual desire alone) drives our stories. Now I want to go off and read a great Presents story!
Annie
An excellent piece, Penny. Men speak of ‘The Thrill of The Chase’, but women often prefer to keep the erotic pleasures of being pursued their secret.
Annie, you can read it online if you follow the red highlighted link in Penny’s piece. It’s a really long article (the first half or so is mainly concerned with the science bit! If you’re pushed for time scroll down and pick up reading at the bit about Cirque de Soleil) but it couldn’t be more pertinent to the books that we write. Penny, THANKS so much for this! I do get the Sunday Times every week, but am so locked into deadline panic at the moment I wouldn’t have read this if you hadn’t drawn attention to it. Having done so I completely agree with your comment about feeling vindicated and empowered by it.
We all knew Presents tapped into something fundamental that women across the globe want and need, but it’s nice to have a scientific explanation for it!
Penny thanks for this post, I read the article too and like you, it really resonated with me. The truth is that it’s still so hard to truly define and quantify what really turns women on (we’re so much more complicated than men (!)) – but being desired utterly and exclusively by one man whether he is an alpha male for the purposes of our books, or Ned down at the library, is certainly a huge part of the mystery. It’s the heart and kernel behind our stories…and it’s great to see that in print, written by someone else!
thanks Penny!
x Abby
The sad thing was all those comments from men after the article!
Thanks for the link Penny, fascinating.
I agree, the real turn-on is being wanted, desired solely and totally, not for what we do but for who we are. It does need to be by a man who is a worthy mate though, otherwise he becomes the equivalent of a stalker- definitely NOT sexy!
What makes a man worthy is not necessarily money, as so many of those cynical male commenters seemed to believe, but an inner strength, integrity, and honour, that makes a man worth respect.
And the flip side is the fantasy of being swept away by our own feelings, that we love and want this man so much that we will go beyond the everyday, take risks we wouldn’t normally take, open up, let go.
Penny,
It is very nice to see you posting here. Over the years I’ve spent many pleasurable hours reading your HPs.
The comments that you wrote are so true. I especially liked this part: ” a powerful alpha male who commands everything and everyone around him — desires the heroine against his own wish to do so, and above all other women…he will remain faithful to her – because he is helpless in the face of his desire for only her.” I only wish that this were true in the HPs.
Unfortunately that are very many HPs nowadays where for a variety of reasons the married H & h “lost their way” and the alpha male is not faithful to her during their separation. Instead he proceeds to betray her in thought and deed to such an extent that it is unthinkable to believe that they could ever have a HEA. And yet, the h being so generous in nature (and wimpy in some regards), forgives and takes him back — even if he doesn’t even bother to apologize for betraying her.
To me at least, he is no longer a true alpha male, but a “cad.” There is nothing alpha like in that type of behavior and gives alphas a bad name. What happened to his sense of honor, his integrity? For any relationship to succeed you need, love, trust, respect, loyalty and fidelity. Once you take away fidelity, respect and loyalty drop off, then the other person can no longer trust you. Love by itself cannot sustain a relationship.
The good thing is that there are still many authors who will not write books with those type of so called Hs. There are many ways to show emotion, conflict, angst between the h and H without resorting to adultery. The writers that succeed end up writing books that are much more powerful than those involving adultery. The main reason is that instead of needing to focus on the physical – adultery, the forgiveness and getting past that betryal, the books focus on the emotional relationsihp between the h and H. They focus on what made them lose their way and how they can find their way back to have that HEA that was at the forefront of why they got together in the first place.
In the end, I find those books more satisfying to read and find myself hoping that the H and h resolve their issues quickly — even though at times i would like to “shake” either one or both for being so stubborn that they can’t see what is in front of them. These type of reunion stories are probably the most emotional to read. Nothing demonstrates the characteristics of a true alpha better that having him say that of course he was faithful — no other woman came close, couldn’t substitute for the h, wasn’t her, etc…
For whatever reason romance books have always gotten a bad rap — the mainstream books as well as the series and line books like the HPs, HRs, SSE, etc… And yet, so many romance writers are recognized over the entire world.
I went to college and graduate school at night while working full-time. If I wasn’t working, I was at school or studying. Whenever I had some spare time, I would read romance books. I read historicals, HPs, etc… My husband once asked me why with my education would I bother to read those type of books. I explained to him, that those books “took me away” from work, from school and let me relax – biographies and history books took too much work and didn’t have the same effect. To this day reading a romance has the same effect.
Desiring and being desired is intoxicating, and I couldn’t agree with Penny more that the strength of the true Presents hero ensures he remains constant and true, loving and passionate- always the protector, the lover, the friend; the man who encourages the heroine in everything she does both in and out of bed, and in so doing becomes the only man our heroines could ever envisage sharing their lives with.
Suex
Hmmm, I’m not completely convinced by that article. From what I can gather much of the study is based on studying bonobo chimps having sex, or else showing images of porn in a Clockwork Orange sequence of clips! (Was Beethoven’s Ninth playing in the background during the study?)
I’ve heard this type of thing before, and I’d much rather recommend people like Donna Haraway and Julia Kristeva. Of those two I’d prefer Kristeva because almost all her work is based on the history of desire in language. One reason why we find a particular man, or “type” attractive is because that type appears repeatedly in books, films, tv,…, etc going back to some particular point in history.
I’ll stop there because it gets into some pretty heavy, ponderous critical theory.
Um, it was studying women’s reported and actual physical responses to being shown porn of the chimps having sex, amongst other clips, not actually trying to extraplolate from chimp sex to human sex!
The studies quoted by the article may not be the best research from the scientific view (every researcher brings their own bias, after all), but it still raises some interesting questions. And at least someone is looking at women’s sexuality and desire as different from that of men, unlike good old Masters and Johnson!
The main message I took away from the article was that women’s sexuality is far too complex and diverse for simplistic research studies to ever find an easy answer!