Erotica

e-rot-i-ca

noun

literature or art intended to arouse sexual desire

I write erotica and I take a great deal of pride in it. There is a beauty in writing sex scenes that people actually want to read. It takes a certain measure of skill to keep a reader interested in a sexual encounter--to make them care that the lovers commit the act of loving one another in a sensual and satisfying way. Good erotica is impossible to write unless you can make the readers care about the characters involved. I believe this is the critical difference between erotica and writing porn. While pornography is known is the visual. It can be written too, I've read it. But, if people love your characters and have come to care about them, then this adds an element to the writing that takes it from the realm of porn and into the realm of the erotic.

I am writing this because I received, a few minutes ago, a emailed package for a company that does books reviews--something that authors desperately need. Book reviews are particularly important to me because, since I stopped working to support whatever publisher that was currently pimping me like a two dollar whore, a book review is a hard thing for me to find. The company that sent me that packet would help find reviews for any kind of book available except the kind that I write: the erotic. 

Frankly, this pisses me off. With everything, there is a such a thing called quality. If a writer can write an erotic book with characters that are loving and lovable, why should that book lack promotion? It's like a judgement for writers like me. It is as if that company, and many others like it, are saying: your work is somehow flawed simply because of its nature. 

-Insert annoyed little sigh here-

I understand that there is a lot of bad erotica out there, but that is because a lot of writers get caught up in the act itself, instead of the people committing the act. I don't read that shit--hmmn--that's a lie. I read some of it and laugh my ass off. I have a fanfiction.net account that I cherish with all my heart. And still, among all the ratchetry that I've found there, I have still found some beautiful works of art. Mostly though, I laugh. 

My sense of humor is twisted, and, believe me, that's a good thing. Otherwise, I would have slit my wrists long ago for the level of unmitigated bullshit I've found while trying to make this writing thing a paying and satisfying 'career'. 

I had a publisher tell me once that using the words "dick" and "cock" in a story about 17th century England was ... crude. This person wanted me to change my book to suit their vision of what was right and correct. It was a real struggle to keep the thing the way I wanted it to be, but I managed...mostly. 

I can write anything. I have a passion for horror stories in particular and am writing one right now for free and under the pseudonym that gets me that addictive thing I need -- which is feed back from reader on their enjoyment of the worlds I create for them. This is something I rarely get when I use Raquel Taylor to publish something. But erotica is just my...thing, despite the negative connotations that come with writing it. 

If I had any advice to give an erotic author, it would be this: Make sure that you love your characters, build them well and strong, make them people, not just caricatures and just let them love each other. It will flow like a river is you do it right. Love is most important, if you build that, all other things will follow. 

...or so I have found. 

Also, for those who judge erotica:

Seek therapy. You might have some issues with your Puritanism. Or your sexuality. Idk. 

People have sex. So do birds, bees, frogs, dogs...

Calm the fuck down. 

Damn.

__________

Sidenote: .(if you are a reader and are just over here checking up on me, then this sidenote is not for you, please ignore it, and have a lovely day).

I don't bake no motherfuckin' pancakes. And my life is not an imitation. 

Yes, bitch. I'm talking to you.