Erotica By Helen E. H. Madden

Sunday, October 14, 2007

When Writing Erotica, Please Don't Forget...

For all you writers out there, here's a request. When writing erotica, please don't forget to include the erotic material.

Maybe I'm just being snarky, but I recently read "Sabine" by A.P. The quotes on the back cover stated that this book was supposed to be a really sexy read. In fact, one quote (by Reveal, whoever the heck they are) proclaimed the book to be, "Provacative... deemed so scandalous by its author that she refused to put her name to it. But despite its lusty content, the real shock is the scary secret unearthed toward the end. Spooky!"

Obviously the folks at Reveal don't get out much.

I bought "Sabine" based on the back cover blurbs and the artwork on the front, a chopped head-shot of a nifty fifties-style B-movie babe with fangs. I paid $12 for this book, and I was really hoping to get something damned sexy for that amount. What I got was a tired cliché of vampires who don't know they're vampires with barely any mention of sex. I have no idea what the author - A.P. - found so scandalous about the book that she had to hide her true name. Honestly, the damned thing nearly put me to sleep. So the main characters are lesbians. Big deal. You want hot lesbian erotica? Read anything by TreSart L. Sioux. Tre knows hot to write a hot story, and I guarantee the sex in it will curl your hair. Plus, she's a real horror fiend, so if you visit her website you're bound to find more goodies there. But "Sabine" by A.P.? Sorry, neither erotic nor horrific (except for the price I paid -- that was scary).

So please, if you're going to write erotica, be sure to include what's erotic in the story. Not just two characters doing a lot of misty-eyed angsting from across the room at each other. Give me some heat! Show me the characters in a state of arousal. Seduce me with their desire, and make me want them as badly as they want each other. They don't actually have to do the dirty deed. In fact, sometimes it's better if they're left wanting. Hot and bothered really does work in erotica. But please, please, please, don't just label your two main characters as lesbians and expect me to find that hot. That's just sheer laziness on the part of the writer.

Writing erotica is like making love. You have to seduce the reader, and it takes work. You really have to want to turn your reader on. Otherwise, switch to writing something else. Or else don't bother writing at all. I wish someone had given that advice to A.P. Then I'd still have my $12 to spend on something really sexy.

Labels: Rant, Reading, Writing tips

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Is Anybody Reading This?

The April 25th opinion column by Kathleen Parker of the Orlando Sentinel stated people who read books are a dying breed, and that newspapers are only helping them into the grave. Apparently, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has recently fired its book editor in an effort to cut costs, a move that has many people, including Ms. Parker, up in arms. I have to admit, I think it sucks too. My local newspaper gives short shift to book reviews. We get a single page each week in the Sunday paper that includes maybe two book reviews and that’s it. I would kill to have an actual book section in my newspaper. In fact, one of the joys of visiting my in-laws in D.C. is that I can steal the book review section from their Washington Post and enjoy it on the drive home. You see, I love reading about books almost as much as I love reading books.

So I agree it’s a tragic loss that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has decided to do away with their book editor. However, I think Ms. Parker goes a bit far in stating that this is a sign of the end times for literacy. She quotes a 2004 report from the National Endowment of the Arts as stating that fewer than half Americans read literature, and that literary reading has dropped 14 percent. I have some questions about this.

First off, how do I get a copy of that NEA report, because I’d like to take a look at it? Yours truly suffered through a course on research and statistics in grad school, and the one thing I definitely remember from that is that numbers in a report can be massaged or misinterpreted to look like anything. So between 1992 and 2002 the percentage of Americans reading any book dropped 7 percent, and the percentage of Americans reading literature (defined in the op-ed piece as non-work related reading of novels, short stories, poems or plays) dropped 14 percent. Is it possible that Americans are reading something other than books, like say magazines or (god forbid) blogs and websites? When I want to read short fiction, I buy a magazine like Asimov’s or I visit the ERWA.

Which leads me to my second question - Ms. Parker’s definition of literature. Are we talking novels, short stories, poems and plays in all genres of fiction, including sci-fi, fantasy, horror, mystery, romance and erotica? Or do those not count as “real literature?” I’d like to know, because it could make a difference.

Third, if we’re not reading books, does that only mean we’re not reading printed books, or did anybody even bother to take a look at the number of e-books folks read these days? I have a vested interest in this, as my forth-coming novel is being e-published. In fact, a lot of erotica writers are e-published. Did anybody count our readers?

Fourth, Ms. Parker makes a connection between the decline of newspapers and the decline of reading in general. If newspapers don’t promote books to people who read (because as she rightly points out, if you read the paper, you probably read books), does that really impact the number of books being read? I would have thought people were reading less not because newspapers don’t review books anymore but because people have less leisure time these days than in decades past. The reason I read less these days has nothing at all to do with my local paper’s pathetic book section and plenty to do with the fact that I’m a working mom who has no free time to spare. I’d like to see if there’s any correlation between the decline in leisure time and the decline in reading books.

I think Americans are reading. We’re just not reading what Ms. Parker and the NEA expect them to read. I may not read a lot of books, but I am reading. I read my pathetic local newspaper. I read two or three magazines a month. I read stories for my writers’ group. I read blogs, just like you’re reading right now! So I don’t think we’re illiterate. If Ms. Parker doubts that, maybe she should take a look at bloggers. We might not be Herman Melville or Virgnia Wolfe, but we’re literate enough to write, and if you’ve looked at the blogsphere, you know we’re doing a lot of writing.

Labels: Reading