The Quick Guide to Purchasing My Work

Shorter Work

"Crimean Fairy Tale," an erotic romance set during the Crimean War. About 7000 words, available for Kindle and for Smashwords and for Nook.

"The Magnificent Threesome," a 6000 word short story set in a loosely historical American West, is available for Kindle and for Nook.

"Under Her Uniform," a Spice Brief - tie-in to The Moonlight Mistress (electronic only): (2012)
Kindle
Nook
Harlequin e-book (Adobe editions)
Google e-book from Powell's
Mills and Boon e-book (UK)
The Sony Bookstore
Audiobook at Audible.com, read by Kelsey Larsen.

Erotic Exploits (electronic only):
Seven Tales of Speculative Lesbian Erotica by Victoria Janssen. Includes: "Free Falling"; "Camera"; "Wire," a sequel to "Camera"; "Toy," a sequel to "Wire"; "The Princess on the Rock"; "Place, Park, Scene, Dark"; and "Mo'o and the Woman."
Kindle
Nook
Smashwords

Download my first published erotic story, "Water Music," in PDF format. Also available for Kindle and for Nook.

NOVELS

The Duke and The Pirate Queen: (2010)
Kindle
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Indiebound
Powell’s
Audiobook at Audible.com, read by Phoebe Stewart.

The Moonlight Mistress: (2009)
Kindle
Amazon.com
Barnes & Noble
IndieBound
Powell's
Audiobook at Audible.com, read by Patsy Kelland.
FlipKart in India.
Italian translation.
Italian translation for Kindle

The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover: (2008)
Kindle
Amazon.com
Barnes & Noble
Indiebound
Powell’s
Audiobook at Audible.com, read by Helen Stern.
Russian translation.
French translation.
German translation.
Download "Camille, Henri, Maxime," a free outtake in PDF format (please note this outtake is explicit).

Descriptive Worldbuilding

When I was writing The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom & Their Lover, I was doing a lot of my worldbuilding on the spot, whenever I felt something was needed.

I do think about aspects of the world before I begin writing, but probably just as much comes along in the middle, or during revisions, when I suddenly realize, "I never described this room, and that would set the scene better."

If I'm in a hurry, or just can't decide how to "dress" a room, I sometimes use the internet to find items I think would be appropriate for my setting and story. I use the pictures I find to inspire me and decide how to describe the often-vague images in my mind. The octopus lamp that illustrates this post is one such. I'd already decided I wanted octopuses to be a theme of Maxime's duchy, and had planned to give the decor a mingled Mediterranean/Asian feel. This lamp gave me the idea to have oil lamps as described below. Sea creatures of other kinds would also be popular there, as the duchy's economics depend on its port. In addition, I wanted to give the duchy's aesthetics an Art Nouveau feel, for two reasons. I like that aesthetic; and decor can subtly show how this duchy is different from the oppressive duchy shown earlier.

Camille's palace furnishings are shown as heavier and more medieval in style, mixed with eighteenth-century French decor, that I intended to hark back to Louis XIV and the French revolution. Sometimes I was even more explicit: ...the corridor of red marble was lit by yellow beeswax candles, sweet-smelling and thick as his forearm, in gold sconces shaped as unearthly smooth disembodied feminine hands, braceleted in cruel red stones. I actually saw a picture of a lamp in the shape of a woman's hand, though it wasn't as disturbing as the sconces I wrote about! I looked at a whole variety of pictures of medieval and Renaissance beds.

All of my ideas about the various duchies, plus looking at images online, yielded these descriptive passages for the scenes set in Maxime's duchy:

[Henri] entered the room, which flickered with oil lamps behind colored glass, red and gold and sunset orange. On a second look, he saw the glass had been blown into the shapes of bulbous octopuses with bronze tentacles and bright bubbles encircled by bronze dolphins.

He'd left his red and black lacquered portable writing desk on a bamboo stand nearby.

She strolled with Captain Leung...up a short staircase to a tower room filled with padded divans in shades of cream and buttery yellow, bamboo tea tables, and potted plants, some large enough to be called small trees, others draping vinelike from the walls and ceiling.

Luckily for me, I'm using some of the same settings for The Duke & the Pirate Queen; that saved me a little effort when I had scenes taking place in Maxime's ducal palace.

Die Herzogin, ihre Zofe, der Stallbursche und ihr Liebhaber

Today is release day for The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover in German. Read the German excerpt here.

Order Die Herzogin, ihre Zofe, der Stallbursche und ihr Liebhaber. (Published by Mira Taschenbuch Im Cora Verlag, translated by Ira Severin.)

"Herzogin Camille ist verzweifelt: Ihr grausamer Ehemann will sie umbringen, damit er sich eine junge, gefügige Frau suchen kann, die ihm endlich einen Erben schenkt. Statt tatenlos auf ihren Tod zu warten, entschließt Camille sich zur Flucht. Mit ihrem jungen Geliebten, dem Stallburschen Henri, und ihren ergebensten Dienern sucht sie Unterschlupf in Bordellen und gibt sich tabulosen körperlichen Freuden hin. Doch während sie noch lustvoll seufzt, sind ihnen die Männer des Herzogs bereits auf den Fersen...."

Victoria Janssen hat bereits mehr als dreißig erotische Kurzgeschichten unter ihrem Pseudonym Elspeth Potter veröffentlicht. Soweit sie weiß, ist sie die einzige Autorin, die jemals eine Geschichte geschrieben hat, in der menschenfressende Schildkröten vorkommen. Die Herzogin, Ihre Zofe, Der Stallbursche Und Ihr Liebhaber, ist Victoria Janssens erster Roman. Wenn sie nicht schreibt oder liest, gibt sie Workshops über das Schreiben und Verkaufen von erotischer Literatur.

The German edition was mentioned at buecher.ueber-alles.

Wordles for my novels!

I made some Wordles. Actually, I did this before, but I didn't save them. Click to see a larger version - you'll be sent to the main site. It's an application that transforms a large chunk of text (in this case, a novel) into a cluster of the most common words. Larger words appear more often in the text. You can then play with the layout to some extent, mainly the orientation of the words, the overall shape of the cloud, and the colors.

German edition of The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover

Want to read The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover auf Deutsch?

You can now pre-order the German edition, Die Herzogin, ihre Zofe, der Stallbursche und ihr Liebhaber, scheduled to release August 1, 2010 from Mira Taschenbuch Im Cora Verlag, translated by Ira Severin.

"Herzogin Camille ist verzweifelt: Ihr grausamer Ehemann will sie umbringen, damit er sich eine junge, gefügige Frau suchen kann, die ihm endlich einen Erben schenkt. Statt tatenlos auf ihren Tod zu warten, entschließt Camille sich zur Flucht. Mit ihrem jungen Geliebten, dem Stallburschen Henri, und ihren ergebensten Dienern sucht sie Unterschlupf in Bordellen und gibt sich tabulosen körperlichen Freuden hin. Doch während sie noch lustvoll seufzt, sind ihnen die Männer des Herzogs bereits auf den Fersen...."

Victoria Janssen hat bereits mehr als dreißig erotische Kurzgeschichten unter ihrem Pseudonym Elspeth Potter veröffentlicht. Soweit sie weiß, ist sie die einzige Autorin, die jemals eine Geschichte geschrieben hat, in der menschenfressende Schildkröten vorkommen. Die Herzogin, Ihre Zofe, Der Stallbursche Und Ihr Liebhaber, ist Victoria Janssens erster Roman. Wenn sie nicht schreibt oder liest, gibt sie Workshops über das Schreiben und Verkaufen von erotischer Literatur.

The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover Excerpt - Animals

#

Perhaps an hour later, Camille heard hooves approaching, a horse at a gallop. She ran to the doorway, bridle in one hand and cleaning cloth in the other, determined to see. From a distance it was clear there was no danger; Henri rode Rhubarb, bareback, jumping him over a small bush here and some plant clippings there, letting the stallion burn off some of his energy. Camille found herself smiling. His seat was not just secure, but a thing of beauty.
He saw her from across the paddock and cantered up to the barn door, grinning hugely. He had no idea, Camille knew, how lovely his smile was; he had no trace of vanity. After knowing so many preening courtiers, she felt this was one of his most attractive traits.

"Your Grace," he said. "He's glorious! Would you like to ride him? He's well-mannered." He flushed. "Oh. He's really yours, you can ride him whenever you wish."

Camille hung the bridle and cloth on a hook, and picked up the man's hat Sylvie had given her as a disguise. With that and her loose jacket, from a distance she ought to be safe from curious eyes. She now knew she'd hear another horse's approach, and any guards would come in a group. After quickly covering her hair and pulling on her gloves, she walked into the yard. The mares and gelding were far across the pasture, too far to go to just now. She would visit with them later. Now, she would ride. Her heart beat faster with excitement. "Give me a hand up."
Henri gingerly held out one hand and extended his foot, to give her a step. He blushed furiously. Camille hoisted her habit's skirt in one hand and in a few moments was astride a horse, for the first time in four years.

She gloried in the minute shifts of muscle beneath her, in the hum of living power along the stallion's skin. The aroma of horse rose up around her. Laughing aloud, she clasped her arms firmly around Henri's slender waist. She could feel his muscles shifting, too. His smell reminded her of mulled wine. "Glorious!" she agreed.

#

c. Victoria Janssen, 2009

Buy The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom & Their Lover from Amazon.com.

More excerpts.

More Snippet Saturday:
McKenna Jeffries
Taige Crenshaw
Ashley Ladd
Shelley Munro
Mari Carr
Jody Wallace
Shelli Stevens

Leçons de plaisir - Happy Book Birthday to my French edition!

Leçons de plaisir

Au moment de prendre la fuite, la duchesse Camille n'imaginait pas une seule seconde que ce voyage forcé jusqu'aux confins du royaume allait prendre une tournure si... excitante. Une seule chose comptait alors : fuir loin de son terrible mari, le duc Michel, décidé à se débarrasser d'elle par tous les moyens. Aussi avait-elle demandé à ses plus fidèles serviteurs de l'accompagner : Sylvie, sa servante aussi dévouée que débrouillarde, Kaspar, son garde si loyal, et Henri, le jeune palefrenier qui avait toujours eu une place particulière dans son coeur. Tous, ils avaient accepté sans hésiter, trop heureux de pouvoir servir leur maîtresse. Et ils l'avaient servie au-delà de toute attente : jusque dans ses moindres désirs... Doublant, à eux quatre, cette fuite vers la liberté de troublantes leçons de plaisir...

The translation is available at Amazon France and Harlequin France.

Victoria Janssen ne pourrait pas vivre sans livres, qu'elle dévore avec un insatiable appétit quand elle n'est pas elle-même en train d'en écrire: romances historiques, science-fiction et nouvelles érotiques, elle s'est essayée à tous les genres avec succès. Avec Leçons de plaisir, Victoria nous offre un superbe roman historique qui n'hésite à repousser les limites de l'érotisme.

Related post: Voilà the French edition!

The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover Excerpt - Kickass Heroines

This excerpt comes from The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover.

#

"Give us the horses or you die," the lead rider demanded. He was a big man, heavily bearded and, like all three of the brigands, wearing a mask bound over his eyes and nose.

"No!" the Duchess said.

Henri grinned in reflexive agreement--never the horses!--then his belly went cold with horror. He should have spoken up immediately, said they had money. Except then the brigands might have demanded the money and the horses. Did that matter? There were other horses in the world, much as he loved them. There was only one Duchess.

The lead brigand rode towards the Duchess, blade held out. She backed Guirlande with consummate skill, keeping a distance between them. The brigand said, "Now, lady, we could use some nice mounts like these."

Henri opened his mouth. She cast him a warning glance, and he closed it. "I'm sure you could," she said. "However, they are mine."

"You wouldn't like to die in the road, would you?"

"You can't shoot us both," she said. "The survivor would make quite a lot of trouble for you."

The archer said, "Want to bet there'd be a survivor?"

Henri thought furiously. He could rear Tulipe and perhaps distract their horses, allowing the Duchess to run, but that would expose his horse's belly to both swords and arrow, and they might cut her down as she ran. How could he use his knife? Kaspar's singletail would have been of more use right now. He sidled Tulipe left, then right, trying to draw their attention away from the Duchess. Maybe that would be enough, a distraction so she and Guirlande could run.

"Don't move!" someone shouted.

Henri froze. Casting his eyes to the trees, he recognized Lilas first, the small figure on her back second. Sylvie held a long-barreled pistol in each hand. The brigands were easily in range of her shot, and he did not doubt she could hit anything at which she aimed.

The first rider wheeled his horse to face her, while the second took over menacing the Duchess. "There are three of us, if you haven't noticed," he called.

A shot ripped the air. Henri quickly controlled Tulipe. Guirlande barely flinched. The archer had lost his bow, and was clutching at his shoulder. Sylvie dropped her spent pistol, seized another from her belt, and shouted, "Two of you. I would go now, if you wish to live."

#

c. Victoria Janssen 2009

Buy The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom & Their Lover.

More excerpts.

More Snippet Saturday:
Jody Wallace
Jaci Burton
Elisabeth Naughton
Ashley Ladd
Moira Rogers
Taige Crenshaw
Lauren Dane
Vivian Arend
TJ Michaels
Juliana Stone
Lacey Savage
Eliza Gayle
Sasha White
Shelli Stevens
Shelley Munro

Excerpt from The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover - Humor

Excerpt from The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover- Humor



#

Two days later, the last of the horses was slung aboard Captain Leung's ship. Watching from the dock, Henri bounced on his toes. He'd never been to sea before, though the coast was less than a day's journey from the ducal seat, if one wasn't picky about where one took ship.

Sylvie jabbed him with her elbow. "Be still. You are older than five."

Henri grinned at her. "We're going to sea!"

"We will likely drown," she said, dourly. "Or be eaten by sharks. Or the tiny fish, who attack in flocks and shred the flesh from your bones."

"Those are only in rivers, Captain Leung said."

"Rivers run into the sea, and fish can swim along them," Sylvie said. "You seem insufferably pleased with yourself. It could wear on a person's patience. There might be an accident. Do you swim?"

Henri rose to his toes again, this time to try and see how Lilas fared as her hooves met the deck. He glanced over his shoulder at Sylvie. "She turned you down, didn't she? Captain Leung?"

"Not all of us are so lucky as you," she growled, and stomped away.

Kaspar strolled to Henri's side. "And she gets seasick as well," he said. "Won't this be a pleasant trip?"

#

c. Victoria Janssen, 2009

Buy The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom & Their Lover.

More excerpts from me.

More Snippet Saturday!

Jody Wallace
Lauren Dane
McKenna Jeffries
Moira Rogers
Shelley Munro
Taige Crenshaw
Vivian Arend
Leah Braemel
TJ Michaels
Shelli Stevens
Mark Henry
Shelley Munro
Kelly Maher
Juliana Stone
Elisabeth Naughton
Michelle Rowen
Ashley Ladd

Character Sketch, The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover

Back in 2000 or 2001, when I wrote the original short story that, many years later, becamse The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover, I had a different idea of the main characters than I later developed.

I quote myself, from an email to a friend: Henri--He never stops objectifying the Duchess. First she's an icon, then she is generic flesh, indistinguishable from someone disguised as a Duchess; she never becomes an individual to him. Of course, I don't think he's an individual to her, either.

When I thought that, the story consisted solely of the duchess summoning her stableboy because she needed to get pregnant. The story ended in a cliffhanger just after their sexual encounter. For that story and its tone, my darker presentation of the characters worked. Years later, when I began work on turning the story into a novel, that interpretation was no longer viable.

I didn't want to write an entire novel about two people who saw each other as objects. I edited the chapter that originated as the short story over and over again, gradually making both characters more sympathetic, and giving them a wider range of emotions and conflicts. Rather than leaving the reader hanging at the end of their encounter, I added a conversation, in which Henri expresses worry over the duchess' fate, and offers his assistance to her if she should need to escape.

In the new first chapter, I laid in some background; they'd known each other since he was a young boy, and she chose him to be given advanced equestrain training; she trusts him because he cares for her beloved horses. In a chapter following their first sexual encounter, I emphasized Henri's dedication to the duchess and his longtime crush on her, feelings he never thought would be reciprocated.

Though the duchess never mentions it, throughout the novel she thinks of Henri as someone whom she trusts and with whom she wants to be together. Rather than objectifying Henri, by the novel's end she thinks of him as someone in whom she can confide, and shows her feelings for him by giving him the gift he most desires. And Henri has begun to break through to the duchess emotionally.

It's not a standard Happily-Ever-After, but I feel it suits the story and characters.

Buy The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom & Their Lover.

Excerpts from my fiction.

I'm a guest today at The Naughty Girls Next Door, on "Sneaking in Historical Detail."

Read more Snipper Saturday by these authors:

Eliza Gayle
Jody Wallace
Lauren Dane
McKenna Jeffries
Michelle Pillow
Moira Rogers
Shelley Munro
Taige Crenshaw
Vivian Arend
Mark Henry
Leah Braemel

Voila!

I have a French edition! It goes on sale in France October 1, 2009 as Leçons de plaisir.

Amazon France purchase link.



Thanks to Marnie for her link!

The Daily Grind of the Writer - The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover

This might be the most boring blog post ever, but I hope at least a few people find it interesting. This is my writing log for The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover, in which I tracked how much I wrote each day, and sometimes what I specifically worked on. "Ducal Service" was the original title for the short story, and I referred to it as both that and "The Duchess and the Stableboy" until the final title for the novel was chosen.

When this log begins, I already had a version of what would eventually become the second chapter of the novel. Note that the chapter numbers in the log are no longer accurate, because the new chapter one was added very late in the process.

2/20/06: some notes for possible expansion of "Ducal Service."
2/21/06: 698 in outline for "The Duchess and the Stableboy" proposal.
2/22/06: 592 on proposal outline.
2/23/06: 505 on chapter 2 of proposal.
2/25/06, on plane: 432 on proposal outline.
3/1/06: 514 on chapter 2 of proposal.
3/2/06: 1011 on chap. 3 of proposal, since I'm stuck on 2.
3/4/06: 215 on proposal outline, changing focus of 2 and touching up the rest to match. 1684 on chapter 2, morning and early afternoon. 365 more in the evening.
3/5/06: 942 on chapter 2 (finished draft, 3822; chapter 1 draft, 3163). Edited outline to add more chapters, increased wordcount = 501. In evening, 1277 on chapter 3.
3/6/06: 521 on chapter 3.
3/7/06: 182 on outline. 1018 to finish draft of chapter 3.
3/11/06: 618 on edits.
3/12/06: 526 on proposal, both outline and chapters.
3/19/06: 85 words on chapter 4 of the duchess/stableboy. (Also worked on short story, 381 words.)

Sent proposal to agent.



By June, the proposal had not yet sold, but I was still working on the next chapters, to be ahead of the game should it sell. My enthusiasm for the project waxed and waned. I worked on some other projects, as well (logged separately). I worked on it only twice in July of 2006, four times in August.

6/7/06: 127
6/11/06: 773
6/13/06: 723
6/14/06: 555
6/18/06: 73
7/27/06: 603
7/31/06: 534
8/7/06: 525
8/8/06: 530
8/9/06: 575
8/10/06: 71
4/21/07: 1014
4/22/07: 686 morning; finished chapter 5 draft. 95 evening.
5/15/07: didn't count words; did some edits on chapters 1-4. Didn't finish editing chapter 4 yet. Changed spelling from Duc and Duchesse to Duke and Duchess. Trimmed out a lot of adverbs.
5/18/07: 729 on edits of chapter 4, setting up Maxime chapters.
5/19/07: 1006 morning and early afternoon, finishing major edits to chapter 4 and working on chapter 6. 655 on chapter 6 in evening; 1661 total for day.
5/20/07: 133 in morning. Outlined sex scene that goes in chapter 6; prepared files for chapters 7-12 with notes on what goes in them.
5/22/07: 736 on chapter 6.
5/29/07: 1017 on chapter 7.
5/30/07: 689 on chapter 7.
6/2/07: 1342 to finish chapter 7. 1085 on chapter 8. 35 words and some edits evening.
6/3/07: 735 in the morning on chapter 8. 1202 evening to finish chapter 8 draft. For a set value of "finish."
6/4/07: 542 on chapter 9. First foray into Sylvie pov.
6/5/07: 1238 on chapter 9 morning. 1530 to finish chapter draft evening.
6/6/07: 2001 morning and early afternoon; 2006 evening/night on chapter 10.
6/7/07: 2025 morning on chapter 11. 438 evening, to finish chapter 11. It's a bit under wordcount for other chapters.
6/8/07: 2435 morning/afternoon on chapter 12. 1278 evening.
6/9/07: 548, on chapter 13 and 16.
6/11/07: 500, on chapter 13.
6/12/07: 535 on chapter 17.
6/14/07: 611 on chapter 13.
6/16/07: 581 on chapters 13 and 17.
6/17/07: 532 on chapter 17.
6/19/07: 654 on chapter 17.
8/11/07: 1273 on chapters 13 & 17.
8/26/07: morning 1601, finishing chapters 13 & 17. 409 evening.
8/27/07: 1217 morning, chapter 15.
8/28/07: 1162 morning, chapter 15.
8/29/07: 1572 on chapters 16 and 18.
8/30/07: 1518 morning, on chapter 18. 272 afternoon.
8/31/07: 296 on chapter 18. Notes on 14, 16, and 18.
9/1/07: 330 on chapter 18.
9/5/07: 603 to finish chapters 18 and 15.
9/8/07: 1014 on chapter 16.
9/9/07: 516 on chapter 14.
9/10/07: 841 on chapter 14.
9/11/07: 533 on chapter 14.
9/12/07: 567 on chapter 16.
9/13/07: 529 on chapter 16.
9/15/07: 859, to finish chapter 16.
9/16/07: 353 and 1219, on 16 and 14.
9/17/07: 503 to start chapter 19.
9/18/07: 225 on chapter 19. Seems to be going in the wrong direction.
9/20/07: Cut about 650 from chapter 19. Added to chapter 18, editing it a bit. New start for 19. 1023 total.
9/21/07: 543 on 19.
9/23/07: Brainstormed 3 new proposal ideas. Edited outline for chapters 20-23. 541on chapter 19.
9/24/07: 1062 on 19.
9/25/07: 1012 to finish 19.
9/28/07: 581 on 20. Removed old chapter 20 (Sylvie/Maxime) from outline as unnecessary.
9/29/07: workshop.
9/30/07: 1293 on 20. 146 more in evening, and some notes on 21.



10/4/07: 73 on 20. Still recovering from cold. In the interim, lots of paper edits.
10/16/07: 539 on 20, and more entering edits.
10/20/07: In the interim, finished entering edits. 1029 morning to finish chapter 20 draft. 657 afternoon on 21. Notes in evening.
10/21/07: 1872 on 21.
10/22/07: 1009 on 22.
10/23/07: Added words to compiled document, approximately 1500. 264 on 22.
10/24/07: 925 during day. 1116 handwritten during day, typed up later.
10/25/07: 257 from handwritten from previous day. 1198 on chapter 23.
10/26/07: Approximately 1300 during day. 1032 on 22 and 24, night.
10/27/07: 2366 morning. 1674 evening.
10/28/07: 1335 morning. Done with draft. ending wordcount 89K. Submitted draft to editor.

Revisions on DMGL, based on editor's revision letter: 5/10/08-5/12/08: notes, cuts, trifling edits.
5/13/08: 1005 on new chapter one
5/14/08: 570
5/15/08: 579
5/17/08: 1552
5/18/08: 1002 morning. 87646 total count
5/27/08: 729
5/28/08: 189. 88051 total count
5/29/08, 5/30/08, 5/31/08: writing by hand, about 4 pages each day. 5/31/08: 1678 typed. Wordcount at end of typing, editing: 89703 total.
6/1/08: 91142 total wordcount. 1623 typed and written new.
6/2/08: 91648 total. Cut some. Typed 662.
6/3/08: 93068 total. 1422 typed plus written new.
6/4/08: edited on paper.
6/6/08: entered paper edits. Typed handwritten words, edited, 597 words. 93646 total wordcount.
6/7/08: 483 words. 94034 total.
6/8/08: 1198 words, some new, some typed from earlier.
Final Revision Wordcount: 95193.

Edits after this point were done on paper, so I don't have a count of them.

Related Posts: How To Write a Novel (in 72 Easy Steps!) and Zero Drafting.

The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover Outtake Excerpt

This is an outtake from The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover. It's the beginning of a substantial menage scene which was cut mostly for pacing reasons; it involved the Duchess Camille, Henri, and Lord Maxime. I later auctioned a single, signed printout of the scene to benefit marriage equality in the United States.

This version has been altered to fit your television set, ummm, the age rating on my blog.

#

After Camille's bath and meal, one of the blue-garbed manservants escorted her into the depths of the castle, to a door carved with sea creatures who writhed across panels and wrapped around the handle. The door had no lock or bar, and when Camille pushed it open, it swung heavily but silently, revealing a tableau out of sybaritic fantasy.

Steam rose in lazy coils from the pools, blurring the outlines of the two men who sprawled naked on the hot floor. Maxime's head was cushioned by a crumpled towel. Henri's rested on Maxime's hairy thigh. His lean muscularity seemed slender and youthful next to Maxime's heavier, more massive build. He was idly stroking himself, his eyes half-lidded, his skin rosy in the heat.

Maxime had seduced Henri. Camille pondered this fact as she gazed silently at Henri and what he was doing. She flicked her gaze to his face and met his eyes. He'd been waiting for her to look at him. He wanted her, not Maxime. Maxime had seduced Henri, but had not won him.

Henri licked his other hand, slowly, and lowered it to grasp himself. He glanced down, back at her, then down again, until her eyes followed his hands.

Maxime stirred, and Camille held up her hand. He subsided, except for reaching down to flutter his fingers through Henri's hair.

She would draw this, when next she had the chance to sit down with her sketchbook. She could see the charcoal shadings in her mind, the hard outlines of male bodies in the indirect light of colored lamps, the whole softened by steam. Henri rested one hand on his belly now. The other hand teased himself. His chest rose and fell as he sucked in a quick breath. Droplets of water on his skin caught the light.

There was a bench near them, holding a stack of towels. Camille sat and leaned over Henri, close enough to see fine details. He met her eyes, his gaze so open she almost had to look away. She clenched her fingers in her skirt's folds. She could hear the heavy silk crush, and remembered Henri's hands snagging on another skirt, at another time. He'd smelled of horses, and she'd wanted to bury her nose in his clothing just for the memories of freedom and love that scent brought her.

Henri asked, "Would you like to join me?"

"Or us?" Maxime said. He thumped his fingers lightly against Henri's skull. "Though I think you and Henri, here, have taken all I have to give for now. I don't think I could get it up even for a roomful of scarf dancers."

Perhaps it took a roomful of scarf dancers to wear him out, Camille thought. Where had he found the energy for Henri, after the afternoon they'd had together?

Henri sat up and said to Maxime, "You may join us if Her Grace wishes. Isn't that right?"

Camille straightened, furling her skirts across her lap. "Absolutely. Though this is his home, I hold the highest rank. When Maxime is restored to his position, of course, he will be my equal. But for now, I can do whatever I like. And I think I should. Don't you?"

"If it would please you, I would be glad to do as you command," Henri said.

"Maxime?"

He smiled and ran his hand over himself, stroking lazily. "Tithing to you will be such a pleasure," he said. "Please, direct me as you will. Shall I lick Henri? You'd like that, wouldn't you? There are delicate places I could lick. It might be interesting to see him feel my tongue in places he's kept hidden. I didn't get that far earlier."

Camille looked to Henri with a question on her face. He said, "I'd like to touch you, but before that, I remember how you enjoyed what Sylvie and I did for you."

"You are experienced with men?" Camille asked, trying not to show her surprise. Of course, Henri was a man himself, and it looked as if he'd been successful with Maxime earlier.

Henri's face went red. "I had hoped you would tell me what to do."

Maxime chortled. "What a mind he has, Camille!"

He sounded intrigued, and she knew him well enough to catch a hint of arousal in his voice, as well. She caught his eye and crooked a finger for him to sit up. "Then you are willing to help provide him with experience?"

Maxime's grin widened. "I don't mind in the least. It would be a waste to discard so many years of practice without passing it on to such a fine pupil."

#

c. Victoria Janssen 2009

Buy The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom & Their Lover.


More excerpts.

Read more outtakes by following authors:

Cynthia Eden.
Lauren Dane.
Leah Braemel.
McKenna Jeffries.
Moira Rogers.
Sylvia Day.
Vivian Arend.
Mark Henry.
Shelley Munro.
Jaci Burton.
Mandy Roth.
Eliza Gayle.

On writing The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover

This post originated as a guest post for Lust in Time in December, 2008.

The inspiration for The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover was in a contest; I think it was in 2001. I am often inspired to write something by a call for submissions, even today. There was a five dollar fee, and you had to submit the story on a diskette, so it was rather a pain, but the prize was $1000. I believe the theme was "danger," though I might be remembering wrong; it doesn't matter now, because the story didn't make the final cut, and then the contest folded before final judging ever began, and I was left with a story on my hands, about an Empress and a stableboy named Jirin.

In 2004, I finally sold the story to Jim Brown at LL-Publications for an e-anthology titled Eternally Erotic. Jim worked with me on the story, and it's thanks to him that the setting became less fantastical and more like eighteenth-century France. The Empress became a duchess and the stableboy's name changed to Henri. Perhaps most importantly, I added the possibility of a happy ending, when the original story had ended on a cliffhanger.

First, I named the duchess Camille, so she wouldn't have to spend an entire novel being addressed by her title. And though the original story was from Henri's point of view, for the novel I would need to get inside the Duchess' head.

When writing an outline for the novel, I knew immediately that the two characters from the original story wouldn't be enough. I was working on the assumption that there should be a sex scene, or a partial one, in every chapter, and I knew I'd find that easier if I could vary the partners and the goals of the scenes. For example, the first chapter has a "first time" scenario with the duchess and Henri. If I had more characters, I could also have a "first time" scenario with Henri and someone else, which could serve a different purpose in both Henri's relationship to the duchess and in the plot.

The original short story referred to other characters who weren't seen: the duke, the duchess' maid, and her eunuch guards. The duke was of course the villain of the piece, the reason the story began. As soon as I tried to picture the maid, I realized she would need to be a much sharper, more sarcastic character to contrast with the seriousness of the duchess and her plight, and the innocence of the stableboy. As part of that idea, I decided the maid would dress as a boy while on the road, an homage to all those Georgette Heyer novels I've read. Because her personality was in many ways at odds with the other characters, she became a third point of view character as well.

I decided on a pair of eunuchs. It easily followed that they would be extremely loyal to the duchess, and could be involved with her sexually as well, in the classic fantasy of "woman pleasured by two men." I liked the idea very much, eventually giving them their own subplot: They're in love! But their love is forbidden! Which doesn't stop them from consummating it anyway!

Finally, I thought more on the stableboy. The duchess was clearly the leader in this relationship, tired and embittered from years of an unhappy relationship. Therefore, Henri was the ingénue. Almost everything about his character snapped into place with that realization. I particularly enjoyed playing with the tropes of the innocent as applied to a young male character, when in romance that role is usually assigned to a female.

Finally, there needed to be The Other Man. I never seriously considered Maxime as a rival to Henri, but for my own amusement I did feel an erotic novel needed a character who was, shall we say, well-endowed. The rest of Maxime's character and role developed later in the writing process.

Once I had the characters, the outline took shape. I already knew the plot. The duke is going to kill the duchess. She flees. Eventually, she defeats the duke. The tricky part was creating sex scenes that showed changes in the relationships between the characters, all while moving the plot towards the final goal of the duchess' victory. However, as I tend to figure things out as I write, my outline didn't necessarily show that movement. For instance, one chapter's summary read simply: "Camille ponders how to find out if Henri trusts her, and how to make him her lover." Or "The Duchess, while riding the next day, remembers an encounter with Maxime in her youth, before she married the Duke." Some of the chapter summaries were more detailed, but all of them left plenty of room for invention. In the process of writing, I changed not only minor plot details, but also some major ones, including changing an off-camera coup d'etat into the final action scene.

I'll sum up the various pairings in The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover. I had a lot of fun with choosing these scenes and playing with erotica tropes to see how far I could push the envelope of genre expectations.

There are, of course, several sex scenes between the Duchess Camille and her loyal stableboy, Henri; but Henri also has an unexpected encounter with a bathmaid and several encounters with Sylvie, the duchess' maid, including once as a performance for the duchess' benefit. Sylvie enjoys herself with the duchess and, later, with a brothel owner, Master Fouet, who also obtains a valuable service from Kaspar, one of the eunuch guards. Both of the eunuchs, Kaspar and Arno, pleasure the duchess, and later in the story have their own love scene. The duchess remembers her first affair, in her youth, and later consummates it with Maxime. Alas, I didn't have room for Maxime's projected scene with Sylvie, and his scene with Henri was cut for pacing reasons.

As one review stated "something for everyone."

The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom & Their Lover at Amazon.com.

WisCon 2009

Today, I'm on my way to Madison, Wisconsin for WisCon. I attend WisCon almost every year, and wanted to attend long before I had the financial means to do so. For many years, it was the only feminist science fiction convention, and is still the largest.

For me, WisCon is like a giant party, one of those good parties where you run into someone you know every few feet, and have to make appointments ahead of time so you can make sure to see all your friends. As most of the conventions I attend are in the northeast of the United States, traveling to the midwest for WisCon means I get to see friends from that area, as well as friends from farther away, for example California and England. Most of them, I see only once a year, at WisCon.

The convention officially begins on Friday, but like many WisCon regulars, I arrive on Thursday to hang out in the lobby of the Concourse hotel and greet friends as they arrive. It's a chance to have a leisurely dinner in one of the many nearby restaurants, and hear that year's guests of honor read at the local feminist bookstore, A Room of One's Own.

I am on deadline at the moment, and am participating less in the convention programming this year than I usually do: only two panels, neither of which I'm moderating. I decided not to participate in a reading, either. But this year is different for another reason. This is the very first time I will be attending as the author of a published novel.

Last year, I had a single cover flat for The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover, which I brandished and forced everyone to admire. This year, I have an actual published book. I'm bringing a few copies to sell at the Broad Universe table, and will have one on hand for people to look at if they're curious. Many of my friends who'll be attending have already read it, but I haven't seen them in person since last year, so this will be my first chance to discuss it with them in person. So exciting!

It feels like I'm going to show off my book at a family reunion.

In the Flesh Reading Tonight!

Stop by and say hello! And have a cupcake!

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES

March 19th at 8:00 PM AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE

302 BROOME STREET, NYC

(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey or F/V to 2nd Avenue http://www.happyendinglounge.com/)

Admission: Free, 21+

Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

http://inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com/

March brings an eclectic mix of true sex stories, erotic romance, hotel sex, a graphic novelist and a former Jehovah's Witness! Featuring Paula Derrow, editor of the anthology Behind the Bedroom Door, along with contributors Anna Marrian and Pari Chang, graphic novelist Koren Shadmi, author of the fabulously titled In The Flesh, memoirist and former Jehovah's Witness Kyria Abrahams (I'm Perfect, You're Doomed), first-time novelist Victoria Janssen (The Duchess, Her Maid, the Groom and Their Lover) and Tess Danesi and Rachel Kramer Bussel reading from Rachel's latest anthology Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories. The Do Not Disturb book trailer will also be shown.

Mobile Libris will be selling copies of the authors' books. Free candy and cupcakes will be served.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city's best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words.

Since its debut in October 2005, In the Flesh has featured such authors as Laura Antoniou, Mo Beasley, Lily Burana, Jessica Cutler, Stephen Elliott, Valerie Frankel, Polly Frost, Gael Greene, Andy Horwitz, Debra Hyde, Maxim Jakubowski, Emily Scarlet Kramer of CAKE, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Edith Layton, Logan Levkoff, Suzanne Portnoy, Sofia Quintero, M.J. Rose, Lauren Sanders, Danyel Smith, Grant Stoddard, Cecilia Tan, Carol Taylor, Dana Vachon, Veronica Vera, Susan Wright, Zane and many others. The series has gotten press attention from the New York Times's UrbanEye, Escape (Hong Kong), Flavorpill, The L Magazine, New York Magazine, New York Observer, Philadelphia City Paper, Time Out New York, Gothamist, Nerve.com and Wonkette, and has been praised by Dr. Ruth.

Kyria Abrahams is the author of the memoir I'm Perfect, You're Doomed: Tales From a Jehovah's Witness Upbringing. She is a 34-year-old standup comedian, spoken-word poet, and web producer. She lives in Queens, New York.

kyriaabrahams.blogspot.com

Rachel Kramer Bussel is an author, editor, blogger and reading series host. She is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations and a former sex columnist for The Village Voice. She's edited numerous anthologies, most recently Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories, Best Sex Writing 2009, Tasting Him, Tasting Her, and Spanked. Her writing been published in publications such as Clean Sheets, Cosmopolitan, Fresh Yarn, Huffington Post, Mediabistro, Newsday, New York Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Tango, The Village Voice, and Time Out New York, and in over 100 anthologies, including Best American Erotica 2004 and 2006. She has hosted In The Flesh since October 2005.

rachelkramerbussel.com

Pari Chang is a former litiagator whose personal essays have appeared in the New York Times, Self, Glamour, and The Bark. She lives in Manhattan with her family.

Tess Danesi is writer of erotic fiction with a D/s twist, who also blogs about her varied experiences and often tumultuous life at Urban Gypsy (http://www.nyc-urban-gypsy.blogspot.com/) as well as a sex toy reviewer for Edenfantasys.com. Tess was a winner of Babeland's erotica contest and has been published in Time Out New York. Paula Derrow is the editor of Behind the Bedroom Door. She has worked for more than twenty years at a variety of magazines and other media, including Glamour, Harper's Bazaar, and Lifetime Television. She is the articles director at Self magazine and teaches writing workshops for MediaBistro.com. She lives in New York City.

Victoria Janssen's first erotic novel, The Duchess, Her Maid, the Groom and Their Lover, is a December 2008 release from Harlequin SPICE. Her second, The Moonlight Mistress, is a December 2009 SPICE release. She enjoys playing with genre tropes. Frequent themes in her stories include role reversal and empowering women, usually through unconventional means. Under her pseudonym, Elspeth Potter, she's sold more than thirty short stories to various anthologies, including Best Lesbian Erotica, Best Women's Erotica, Best Lesbian Romance, Periphery, and The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica. She's also sold to Fishnet Magazine. Her latest publication, a one hundred word story titled "Unlimited Minutes," appears in Alison Tyler's Frenzy: 60 Stories of Sudden Sex; and Never Have the Same Sex Twice: A Guide For Couples.

http://www.victoriajanssen.com/

Anna Marrian has written essays, articles and reviews for Newsweek, The Observer, the Village Voice, Jane, Glamour, the New York Post, and Modern Bride. She is the reciepient of a Hertog Fellowship, teaches creative writing at Hunter College, and is currently at work on a memoir.

Koren Shadmi was born in Israel, where he has worked since his early teens as an illustrator and cartoonist for various magazines. At seventeen, his graphic novel was published in Israel, followed by another book collecting his work from children's magazines. He then proceeded to serve as a graphic designer and illustrator in the Israel Defense Forces. Upon completion of his service Shadmi relocated to New York to study in the School of Visual Arts, where he acquired his bachelor's degree. His graphic work has appeared in numerous international anthologies, and his books Cours intérieures and Dissymétries have recently been published in France. His illustration work has appeared in publications such as Spin, BusinessWeek, The Village Voice, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, The Progressive, San Francisco Chronicle, and many others.

http://www.korenshadmi.com/

In the Flesh Reading, 3/19/09

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

a review of The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover

Fellow Spice author Saskia Walker reviewed my novel The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover here: http://saskiawalker.blogspot.com/2009/03/erotic-reading.html

Philadelphia Fantastic Reading

I'll be reading at Philadelphia Fantastic this week:

February 27, 2009
7:30 pm
Moonstone Art Center
110A S. 13th Street (13th and Sansom)
Philadelphia, PA

Philly Fantastic readings usually last approximately an hour, so this is a long reading. Attendees are invited out afterwards for dinner and/or drinks.

Thematic Worldbuilding in The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover

Greetings! My December 2008 release was the erotic novel The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover.

It's my first published novel, and though there are no paranormal elements, it's set in a fantasy world. More accurately, it's a land of Fantasy, of sexual fantasy. I thought the story would be best served by creating an alternate world, just enough different from our own world to free the reader's imagination but enough the same so that she doesn't have trouble navigating the story. Also, it was just plain fun to integrate real historical details with ones I made up completely, or borrowed from different time periods. It was even more fun to worldbuild in ways that would deepen the story's meaning.

On the surface, the world of The Duchess looks a bit like eighteenth century Europe. I altered the clothing as I saw fit, and tied in elements of nineteenth century European clothing as well. The details of décor are hodgepodge--I used elements of Medieval and Renaissance and Beaux Arts and Art Nouveau and even some Art Deco styles. However, I chose those styles based on thematic elements of the story. For example, to emphasize that the duchess is trapped in her role and in her palace, I chose to have her avoid her reflection in a "full-length oval mirror, its wide frame like a tangle of golden brambles," which could symbolize a barrier. Later, in her audience chamber, "the walls were hung with tapestries in lush twining, leaflike patterns of blue and gold," again giving the impression of her being tangled, trapped. Finally, the motif appears more explicitly in the corridor approaching her private quarters: "gold sconces shaped asunearthly smooth disembodied feminine hands, braceleted in cruel red stones," a more direct presentation of restraint. These types of décor come from three different time periods, but they're all linked because they serve the same theme.

All the characters born in the duchy or nearby have French names; I kept that consistent to give the sense of a coherent society with a common language. The two eunuch characters and one other character, who's genetically related to one of them, have names that originated in Eastern Europe. Hopefully, that fact subtly informs the reader that those characters come from elsewhere, or from an ethnic minority within the duchy. Eventually, I layer in that the eunuchs come from families who were politically at odds with the Duke, which reinforces the difference in their names. When the characters reach the coastal protectorate, a land whose economy is based on worldwide trade by sea, suddenly the names and appearances of people become much more varied: "She saw more dark-skinned people than pale, some so dark they appeared almost like shadows in the bright sunlight, others of various skin shades from olive to brown, and a few paler than Camille, theirskins freckled and tinged red by the sun. They wore an array of styles, from pants and boots to long, billowing robes with sandals to a group in billowing trousers and short collarless coats with high-heeled wooden sandals that rattled on the cobblestones. Some looked completely foreign except for their clothing and manners, and some groups were mixed beyond her determining their origin." Names include Skeat, Kamah, and Captain Leung. To show a character who lives in one duchy but came from another, I gave a brothel keeper a combination name: Karl Fouet ("Fouet" is French for "whip," implying that it's a pseudonym). In addition, Karl has a tattoo of an octopus. Later, octopuses are a major decorative element in the coastal protectorate, implying that he was born there or lived there at one time.

I built into the novel a sense of the romance genre's history, though of course with an erotic twist. I love Georgette Heyer's novels, so from her came the idea to have Sylvie, the maid, spend most of the novel disguised as a boy. While the duchess is in hiding, rumors abound, and I drew on my knowledge of romance novel plots to create those rumors: "The Duchess had gone mad from her barren state, fled the palace, and tried to amass an army of peasants to overthrow her husband and rip him to bits…the Duke had repudiated her and their marriage, declaring her insanity the same as death. He was now negotiating with a neighboring duke for his fourteen year old daughter, or for a princess of a tiny mountain kingdom who possessed an army of eunuchs and bare-chested women warriors, or planned to elevate a lowly concubine to be his consort. Or was it two concubines?"

Finally, I had quite a lot of fun creating variations on erotica tropes. The scene in which the duchess is pleasured by her two eunuch guards is original only in that the two men are physically castrated, and thus doubly subservient to her pleasure. A bondage scene is given a new implication when the subservientcharacter points out that he doesn't need to play at being subservient, as that's his role in real life; the dominant character must recast her demands. Other scenes are given a different angle through point of view. For example, the duchess is disturbed by watching her eunuch consensually flog the brothel keeper, despite clear evidence that it's an enjoyable experience for both. In the scene between the duchess and her maid, Sylvie, the duchess is new to sex with a woman: "Something intangible was missing, like a scent or a vibration in the air. Or--not missing, but nearly so. Camille concentrated on the specific shape of Sylvie's mouth,on her taste, on her petal-soft skin. After a few minutes, she was able to settle into enjoyment of the subtler pleasures of a woman's kiss."

I might have gone a bit overboard with the details, I admit. But I started out writing science fiction and fantasy; I can't imagine writing without worldbuilding!My second novel for Harlequin Spice, due out December 2009, is set in 1914 Europe, at the very beginning ofWorld War One. I also included paranormal and pulp fiction elements. I hope readers find it interesting!

This post originated as a guest post at Deadly Vixens.