All the up and coming good stuff from my blog and all the latest writing news is now available at my new Hopeful Romantic website, kdgrace.co.uk
Join me and my friends there for all the fun and all the latest.
Monday, 27 December 2010
Sunday, 19 December 2010
You don't ACT like someone who writes erotica
Closely linked to the discussion of what erotica writers look like is the discussion of what erotica writers act like. Most of us don’t mind so much when people say we don’t look like erotica writers. What really bothers us is when people just assumed that we have DONE all the things we write about.
No one assumes Thomas Harris is a cannibalistic serial killer. No one assumes Anne Rice drinks blood and sleeps in a coffin. No one assumes Tom Clancy spent time being a terrorist. And yet, there are those who assume erotica writers have done everything we write about. For people who make that assumption, I have just one question; what part of the concept of FICTION don’t they get?
Fiction writers don’t have to experience what they write in order to write about it. In fact, that’s why it’s fiction. IT DIDN’T HAPPEN! At least not anywhere outside the fertile mind of the writer. Erotic fiction is no different.
Fiction allows the reader and the writer to experience safely situations and worlds that in reality would not be safe or even possible. In a world where safe sex has become a battle cry, even its own form of bondage, this is especially true with erotica. The erotica writer allows the reader to participate safely in a world that can be both very wonderful and very dangerous. It is no more necessary for erotica writers to have an orgy so they can write about one than it was for Thomas Harris to kill and eat a few folk before he could create Hannibal Lector.
Imagining an erotica writer who must experience firsthand her orgy, bondage, or sex in a bus before she writes about it adds another layer to the psycho-sexual fantasy. The fantasy may be very sexy indeed. But in reality, IT’S FICTION!
No one assumes Thomas Harris is a cannibalistic serial killer. No one assumes Anne Rice drinks blood and sleeps in a coffin. No one assumes Tom Clancy spent time being a terrorist. And yet, there are those who assume erotica writers have done everything we write about. For people who make that assumption, I have just one question; what part of the concept of FICTION don’t they get?
Fiction writers don’t have to experience what they write in order to write about it. In fact, that’s why it’s fiction. IT DIDN’T HAPPEN! At least not anywhere outside the fertile mind of the writer. Erotic fiction is no different.
Fiction allows the reader and the writer to experience safely situations and worlds that in reality would not be safe or even possible. In a world where safe sex has become a battle cry, even its own form of bondage, this is especially true with erotica. The erotica writer allows the reader to participate safely in a world that can be both very wonderful and very dangerous. It is no more necessary for erotica writers to have an orgy so they can write about one than it was for Thomas Harris to kill and eat a few folk before he could create Hannibal Lector.
Imagining an erotica writer who must experience firsthand her orgy, bondage, or sex in a bus before she writes about it adds another layer to the psycho-sexual fantasy. The fantasy may be very sexy indeed. But in reality, IT’S FICTION!
Sunday, 12 December 2010
Lily Harlem's Scorching Hot Novella, 'The Mother of All Hen Nights'- What happened just before Happy Ever After
After the glass slipper and before happily ever after, ever wonder what Cinderella and her girl friends got up to on her hen night? Well, Lily Harlem did, and her resulting novella, The Mother of All Hen Nights, is a kick-arse, fast paced, hotter than fire night out at the Turret Club with Belle, Rapunzel and Tinkerbell all out to show innocent little Cinders a good time and hopefully teach her a thing or two about men before the big fairy tale wedding to Prince Charming and the mother of all surprises on the wedding night.
While Cinders gets educated in ways to handle a lusty prince, Rapunzel gets tied up in the basement where she brings out the animal in The Beast. The tongue in cheek fun never ends and the temperature never drops below the lusty boiling point. Lily Harlem’s fun feisty fairy tale Mother of All Hen Nights is a must read.
While Cinders gets educated in ways to handle a lusty prince, Rapunzel gets tied up in the basement where she brings out the animal in The Beast. The tongue in cheek fun never ends and the temperature never drops below the lusty boiling point. Lily Harlem’s fun feisty fairy tale Mother of All Hen Nights is a must read.
Kinky Christmas Reading Worth the Wait
The Kinky Christmas Read at Sh! Women’s Erotic Emporium, Hoxton, may have been postponed for a week due to snow, but, wow! When it happened, what a party it turned out to be!
The lovely Ladiez at Sh! went all out to decorate the shop for Christmas, and in addition to Christmas bobbles and fairy lights, the walls were adorned with the kinky, sexy works of artist, Compulsive Behaviour. Add to it all the comings and goings of Christmas shoppers picking out just that right sexy gift for someone special, and the stage was set for a fabulous evening.
The lovely Ladiez at Sh! went all out to decorate the shop for Christmas, and in addition to Christmas bobbles and fairy lights, the walls were adorned with the kinky, sexy works of artist, Compulsive Behaviour. Add to it all the comings and goings of Christmas shoppers picking out just that right sexy gift for someone special, and the stage was set for a fabulous evening.
Kristina Lloyd, Scarlett French and I read kinky stories to a full house of happy, pink-fizzing drinking partakers of kink – every erotica writer’s dream audience.
I kick-started the evening with hot sex on a Harley from the pages of my novel, The Initiation of Ms Holly.
Scarlett French, looking rather cow-girlish for the evening, read her very hot story of two girls and a purple strap-on in ‘Dinner at Crompton’s from Sacchi Green’s fabulous anthology, Girl Crazy.
Finally the elegantly sexy Kristina Lloyd ended the evening with a dark and twisted tale of jealousy, ‘Such a Special Couple,’ from Alison Tyler’s hot anthololgy, J is for Jealousy.
While we readers read, the lovely Sh! Ladiez made sure all glasses were well-topped with fizz and no one went away cupcake-less. The atmosphere was festive, relaxed, and fun. But if my experience was any indication, I’d have to say we readers had the best time of all. It was a great beginning to the Christmas season.
I kick-started the evening with hot sex on a Harley from the pages of my novel, The Initiation of Ms Holly.
Scarlett French, looking rather cow-girlish for the evening, read her very hot story of two girls and a purple strap-on in ‘Dinner at Crompton’s from Sacchi Green’s fabulous anthology, Girl Crazy.
Finally the elegantly sexy Kristina Lloyd ended the evening with a dark and twisted tale of jealousy, ‘Such a Special Couple,’ from Alison Tyler’s hot anthololgy, J is for Jealousy.
While we readers read, the lovely Sh! Ladiez made sure all glasses were well-topped with fizz and no one went away cupcake-less. The atmosphere was festive, relaxed, and fun. But if my experience was any indication, I’d have to say we readers had the best time of all. It was a great beginning to the Christmas season.
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
You don't LOOK like someone who writes erotica...
'You don’t look like someone who writes erotica.'
I get that all the time, and I have to smile. It’s a bit like being told, ‘you don’t look like you’re not wearing any knickers. You don’t look like you just had extra cream in your coffee. You don’t look like you’ve been reading Cosmo in the ladies room.’
Contrary to popular belief, most erotica writers actually do look exactly like erotica writers. In fact I look exactly like an erotica writer. Problem is most people don’t know what erotica writers look like. And, fair enough, I have to admit we’re a very difficult lot to recognize, so I’m going to give a very short crash course in how to spot an erotica writer. Not that it’ll help much. We’re masters of disguise. But perhaps it will give some idea of what you're actually up against so you won’t feel so bad next time you discover that the woman checking you out at the pharmacy, or the bloke tapping away on his laptop at Starbucks, or the chick picking up her kids after school is an erotica writer.
First, you need to know what NOT to look for in an erotica writer. Unless said writer is doing a reading from her erotic writings and is trying to look like people expect an erotica writer to look, the person least likely to be an erotica writer is the one dressed in fishnet stockings and nose-bleed stilettos. Likewise don’t expect her to be the one with peek-a-boo cleavage and a leather mini, or the one with Dita Von Teese make-up.
In fact, the most outstanding thing about an erotica writer is that she doesn’t stand out. In fact it's to her benefit not to stand out. She’ll be the one in the coffee shop in the corner in the back. She’ll be wearing jeans and a jumper because minis and tiny tops are just too damn cold and uncomfortable to sit around and write in, and erotica writers are endlessly practical. She probably won’t be wearing any make-up because the time it takes to put on a face is time that could be spent getting down the fab hot story idea that came to her while she was cleaning her teeth this morning.
Yep, chances are very good you won’t notice her at all, but she’ll notice you. She’ll notice everyone and everything around her, and she’ll filter it all through the mind set of possibilities, sexy possibilities, stories to be woven, and heat to be generated on the written page. She’ll have her head down, writing like a mad woman. And if she has a quirky little smile half plastered across her face, you’ll know she’s found the hot idea she’s been looking for.
Some erotica writers don’t stand out because they didn’t even make it to the coffee shop. They’re still curled up at home in their pajamas with a cuppa writing a story sparked off by a dream they had. They may be in their most comfy track suit, hair pulled back in a ponytail, feet snuggled in fuzzy slippers while they tap away on the laptop at the kitchen table. They may be scribbling away in a little purple notebook during their lunch break at the office.
It’s hard to say where they’ll turn up, or how they’ll disguise themselves, or what occupation they might take up to fit in to every-day, non-erotica-writing society. But it’s a pretty good bet that when they do decide to reveal themselves, you’ll still be picking your jaw up off the floor saying, ‘Wow, you sure don’t LOOK like someone who writes erotica.’
I get that all the time, and I have to smile. It’s a bit like being told, ‘you don’t look like you’re not wearing any knickers. You don’t look like you just had extra cream in your coffee. You don’t look like you’ve been reading Cosmo in the ladies room.’
Contrary to popular belief, most erotica writers actually do look exactly like erotica writers. In fact I look exactly like an erotica writer. Problem is most people don’t know what erotica writers look like. And, fair enough, I have to admit we’re a very difficult lot to recognize, so I’m going to give a very short crash course in how to spot an erotica writer. Not that it’ll help much. We’re masters of disguise. But perhaps it will give some idea of what you're actually up against so you won’t feel so bad next time you discover that the woman checking you out at the pharmacy, or the bloke tapping away on his laptop at Starbucks, or the chick picking up her kids after school is an erotica writer.
First, you need to know what NOT to look for in an erotica writer. Unless said writer is doing a reading from her erotic writings and is trying to look like people expect an erotica writer to look, the person least likely to be an erotica writer is the one dressed in fishnet stockings and nose-bleed stilettos. Likewise don’t expect her to be the one with peek-a-boo cleavage and a leather mini, or the one with Dita Von Teese make-up.
In fact, the most outstanding thing about an erotica writer is that she doesn’t stand out. In fact it's to her benefit not to stand out. She’ll be the one in the coffee shop in the corner in the back. She’ll be wearing jeans and a jumper because minis and tiny tops are just too damn cold and uncomfortable to sit around and write in, and erotica writers are endlessly practical. She probably won’t be wearing any make-up because the time it takes to put on a face is time that could be spent getting down the fab hot story idea that came to her while she was cleaning her teeth this morning.
Yep, chances are very good you won’t notice her at all, but she’ll notice you. She’ll notice everyone and everything around her, and she’ll filter it all through the mind set of possibilities, sexy possibilities, stories to be woven, and heat to be generated on the written page. She’ll have her head down, writing like a mad woman. And if she has a quirky little smile half plastered across her face, you’ll know she’s found the hot idea she’s been looking for.
Some erotica writers don’t stand out because they didn’t even make it to the coffee shop. They’re still curled up at home in their pajamas with a cuppa writing a story sparked off by a dream they had. They may be in their most comfy track suit, hair pulled back in a ponytail, feet snuggled in fuzzy slippers while they tap away on the laptop at the kitchen table. They may be scribbling away in a little purple notebook during their lunch break at the office.
It’s hard to say where they’ll turn up, or how they’ll disguise themselves, or what occupation they might take up to fit in to every-day, non-erotica-writing society. But it’s a pretty good bet that when they do decide to reveal themselves, you’ll still be picking your jaw up off the floor saying, ‘Wow, you sure don’t LOOK like someone who writes erotica.’
Thursday, 2 December 2010
Snow Daze! Kinky Christmas Rescheduled
The Kinky Christmas Reading has been rescheduled for next Friday, 10th December at Sh! Hoxton, 7:00-8:30 due to the fact that all the readers are snowbound! And I'm sure a good few of the listeners are too.
Same time, same place next week. The Sh! Ladiez will provide the pink fizz and plenty of Christmas cheer. And Kristina Lloyd, Scarlett French and I will don our reading voices and break out our best kink for the occasion. Hope to see you there!
Monday, 29 November 2010
Charlotte Stein's hot new novel, 'Control,' A Must Read!
Be warned. 'Control’ is one of those novels. Once you’ve settled in to read Charlotte Stein’s delicious erotic romance, you won’t want to put it down until you’ve properly finished and relished every last word.
Madison Morris’s naughty bookstore, Wicked Words, seems a strange place for repressed Gabriel Kaufman to take up employment, especially when Madison’s training techniques evolve to a kinky threesome with aggressive Andy Yarrow. But Gabriel is up for the training, and they all get a lot more than they bargained for.
‘Control’ is a novel full of kinky, naughty heat with a plot that grabs you from page one and doesn’t let go until the very last satisfying sentence. ‘Control’ is sexy, funny, romantic, poignant, and always compelling. But it is the magnificent chemistry between her characters and the delicious interplay amongst them that makes Charlotte Stein’s novel truly unstoppable. Absolutely a must read.
Madison Morris’s naughty bookstore, Wicked Words, seems a strange place for repressed Gabriel Kaufman to take up employment, especially when Madison’s training techniques evolve to a kinky threesome with aggressive Andy Yarrow. But Gabriel is up for the training, and they all get a lot more than they bargained for.
‘Control’ is a novel full of kinky, naughty heat with a plot that grabs you from page one and doesn’t let go until the very last satisfying sentence. ‘Control’ is sexy, funny, romantic, poignant, and always compelling. But it is the magnificent chemistry between her characters and the delicious interplay amongst them that makes Charlotte Stein’s novel truly unstoppable. Absolutely a must read.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
