Genre Writing

What is it about erotic romance that gets people so tied up in knots? Because someone chooses to write a romance that uses frank (sometimes blunt, Anglo-Saxon) words for the sexual act, people are--pardon the expression--titillated.

Somehow it's more acceptable for someone to write about a serial killer (and get a movie (or several) or TV show out of it--I'm thinking the Hannibal books by Thomas Harris and Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay) than it is for someone to write about two (or more) people falling in love and naturally expressing that love physically.

Murder and mayhem is apparently better intellectually than sex. At least, that's what I get from conversations I've had with some members of my family. (And, yes, I had yet another conversation with my sister-in-law--they happen every once in a while, and they leave me scratching my head in confusion. It would be better for me, according to her, to write about murder and mayhem than it is about people falling in love--because my characters anticipate their wedding night and have sex outside of marriage. Sometimes lots of it.)

And because I don't know how people will respond, I don't usually share just what type of romance I write. One of my cousins has said a couple of times she'd like me to send her one of my books so she can read it. (Okay, first of all, where's the offer to buy it so she can support me? Even my sister has never asked me to give her my books for free. Because, as she's said herself, by buying my books she can contribute to my success. Isn't she the best?!) But, that being said, there's no way in hell I'm going to send my cousin one of my books. I can see her face--almost hear her thoughts: My sweet little cousin is writing this kind of smut?!? I'd never hear the end of it!

Sometimes it's just easier and less painful to stay in the closet. So to speak.

To change the subject somewhat, today is my critique group meeting day--I'll be getting the critiques on the last part of my second Praetorians book, which I think is going to come in at right around 37,000 words, much longer than the first one. But the longer I write, the more I learn and the better I am at coming up with more complicated plots that will support the longer word count. Once I've made changes based on the critiques, I hope to get this one submitted to New Concepts by early March. Then we'll wait and see where things go from there.

Tomorrow I go back to work after a couple of days off. It's gonna be hard. Oy. I'm beginning to think I shouldn't take vacation days, because I don't want to go back to work after I've been able to sit and write all day.

Ah, well. Maybe some day...





"A little bad taste is like a dash of paprika." ~Dorothy Parker