HOW MUCH SEX IS TOO MUCH SEX?
I’ve been having trouble lately as I struggle to find my identity as a romance writer. Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of preparation for two more erotic romance short stories to complete the collection for “Beyond Curious” and I have been having a growing concern of, “Am I putting too much sex in my stories or not enough!?”
Some of you might be surprised to know how involved these early stages can be at times. Usually it will begin with general brainstorming about the basic idea for the new story with a heavy emphasis on the characters: What my main characters are like? What’s their background? What do they look like? What are their strengths, flaws and/or addictions? What motivates them? What obstacles are they facing preventing their love from happening? How is this is all resolved? Is it all resolved?
So all this stuff is very important to me because I am trying to create a storyline with these characters that the reader will really invest in. Establishing my characters is crucial because other than a loose outline of the beginning , middle and conclusion of the story, I pretty much dive into the story’s dialog just letting the characters kind of direct me as to what happens next. That’s the fun part – getting into that zone where it almost feels like I’m just copying this sexy movie that’s in my head, even I don’t know where its going exactly.
Anyway…I got off track a bit. – As I build this story, I also get to recognize my creative tendencies which makes me concerned that I may be more romance writer than erotica writer. Is there a creative zone in the middle true to romance as well as newer more raw forms of written erotica? Am I selling out by straddling the fence. Should I emphatically choose one or the other?
I don’t have to worry about losing my hardcore erotica readers who tend to be impatient with involved story lines and pretty much want to hurry up and get to the sex scenes. I don’t want to feel like I’m forcing sex scenes when its not appropriate to the story nor do I think I will be able to write them as effectively. But… in writing a more true romance style, I also don’t want to feel restricted to using a softer, more white-washed version of my love scenes. I want to be free to be as explicit in language and description as necessary without being over the top.
The angle I “try” to write erotic romance is with the goal that the reader identifies with the character or characters, becomes invested in their story, both the pain and joy, so when that character is finally making love, their emotional investment (hopefully) is at its peak. That is IF I can create that love scene descriptive enough, no sugar coating it, but revealing all of the sexual tension that can take place, the smells, the taste, the sweat, the visuals of sex, whatever. I need this love scene to affect my reader “physically.” Yes, I want to entertain you with the story, but I must admit, I also want you so turned on you can’t wait for more.
But…what takes priority in the desires of most readers? The story leading up to the sex scenes? Or the sex scene itself. Do I make a bigger effort to include more sex or will that be too much for “my” brand of stories? Hmmm.
I dunno. Maybe a few of you have some input, but until I figure it all out, I will just keep writing the only way I know how and just let my natural creative DNA point me in the right direction. Hopefully it works to entertain my readers as well as turn them on in the process. I suppose this is the ongoing journey of becoming more comfortable and more skilled as a romance writer or erotic romance writer or romantica writer or sex writer…or whatever!
Nice writing. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.
Allen Taylor