I'm currently on the last fifty-or-so pages of Book 6 in an ongoing series of novels which has assumed a greater degree of sexual explicitness and eroticism as the story progressed. At the outset, merely venturing into this realm was viewed with caution and reservation as I wondered if there existed a fine line between graphic erotica and porn. Over the last year when part six has been taking shape, I've studied many opinions of writers whose chosen genre is also erotica, mainly women, believe it or not, and they all seem to agree on one issue; if sexually explicit material doesn't affect the writer, it follows you can hardly expect the reader to be affected in a similar manner. The use of certain four-letter expletives would appear to be the main hang-up, some of which are still regarded as shocking, offensive or even completely taboo. In short there doesn't seem to be any hard-and-fast rule about how descriptive erotica should or shouldn't be and different readers will view it one way or the other. Thus armed, I decided to take the plunge with this latest novel and discovered after the first few pages, my initial trepidation evaporated and developing those steamy assignations with my five heroes and heroines felt much easier, guilt-free, and, to be perfectly honest, normal. Has anyone else been down this road? Was your own conscience responsible for putting up those moral stumbling blocks or might it, perhaps, have been the narrow-minded opinions and antiquated Victorian attitudes of others? Who was it said, 'If thine eye offends thee, pluck it out?'
First of all, I have to admit a certain amount of (childish) mirth at your description of "hard-and-fast" rules in a query about erotica. Having said that, I find myself very uncomfortable writing sexually explicit verbiage. I am (mostly) not a prude, though raised in a household where "those things" were certainly not talked about, so the language doesn't come naturally to me. Some would probably call my personal manner as "unfortunately safe" regarding such things, and while I can (readily) cuss like a professional in the field, I'm abhorrent to the idea of using derogatory terms to apply to (particularly female) body parts. Finally, I find in writing sexually-explicit material from the perspective of a woman, I feel like I fail completely. One critic said it didn't sound like the character had a limbic system. Ouch. So, to answer your question, yes, I struggle too. Maybe, like you have, I'll get over it one day. I note that you express a slow change, like the classical frog in a pot. Only time (and practice) will tell. Cheers. JD
