Sitting here in front of my computer staring at a blank page waiting for that wonderful muse to come, I wonder what new way I can have my characters make love today.  Bedroom, kitchen table, living room couch, in the shower (caution, slippery when wet), on the floor or at the beach, under the stars on a slow moving yacht.  Hmmm, gotta make it hot, sensual and physically possible (see sometimes the aerobatics defy physics!) At the same time this all important love scene must be romantic, bind my lovers (no pun intended) irrevocably together and have a purpose (beyond getting my reader all hot and bothered). And what new turn of phrase shall I use to describe those illicit body parts, and for lack of a better term, the ‘mechanics of having sex?’ Let me just say it ain’t easy, certainly not as easy as many folk think.

You see there are rules to writing these sexy tomes. The main rule is that once the girl meets the boy and it’s on and popping in that hot sex scene, that’s it, finite. No more messing around through goodness and badness, wealth and poverty to jealous ex-boyfriends, the conniving ‘other woman’ to their happily ever after ending.

Oh, yes, I’m talking about those ‘trashy’ romance novels with the buff, bare-chested men on the cover with the beautiful damsel swooning in his well-toned arms. Say what you will but romances have been and continue to outsell every other genre, even in these depressed economic times. And I am happy to say that, yes, I am one of those writers that pen steamy romances for a voracious readership.

However, for decades those cover images were all fair maidens with blond hair and blue eyes, and the tall dark and handsome hero only meant that his hair was dark! These tales of love, romance and hot sex didn’t include our fine black brothers and beautiful sexy sisters.  All that changed in the early nineties with the arrival of Odyssey Books (1990) and then Arabesque (via Kensington, 1994). The romance game finally changed and like the new and improved television version of The Wizard of Oz it was colorized!

When I wrote my first romance novel, Rooms of the Heart (1990, Odyssey Books), I had no idea that twenty years later I would still be in the game. Through the years, the discipline of writing romances helped to make me a better writer (at least I think so). So when I branched out into commercial fiction, Rhythms (2001),  An Ordinary Woman (2002),  In My Bedroom (2004), Getting Hers (2005), and most recently What Mother Never Told Me (March, 2010) that romance discipline and focus on character development, emotions, relationships and yes, sex, served me well. Although the content of my commercial fiction is much broader than the relationship between boy and girl, the emotional pull and the flavor of romance still shines through.  In What Mother Never Told Me, my characters although they are searching for their own sense of self and validity for their lives, which have been upended by the machinations of their mothers (yes mamas are acting badly), they all are looking for someone to love, someone to call their own. A little bit of romance.

Romance novels with all of our black ‘beautiness’ on the cover and between the pages shows us in all of our glory, pays due tribute to black love and particularly our incredible black men—all the ingredients missing from television, movies and in the news. And I love writing about it.  So you may ask where do I get my inspiration and ‘do you really do some of those things you write about in those steamy love scenes’? Hmmm, I’ll never kiss and tell, but I will confess that I do have my very own real life, personal muse, the inspiration for my tall, dark, and handsome hero, who still rocks my world with a kiss behind my ear, a touch in that special place, and that  ‘come here’ smile.

Speaking of which, my muse just walked through the door with that ‘come here’ smile. Ta-Ta for now. See you between the sheets… I mean pages!

-Donna Hill

Best-selling author Donna Hill began her career in 1987 with short stories, and her first novel was published in 1990. She now has more than fifty published titles to her credit, and three of her novels have been adapted for television. Donna has been featured in Essence, the New York Daily News, USA TODAY, Today’s Black Woman, Black Enterprise and other publications. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. For more information, please visit www.donnahill.com.