Emerald's Blog, page 19

Writing Tips at the How to Write Erotic Fiction Blog

Ashley Lister is one of my favorite people I’ve never met in person. He has written a nonfiction book that is forthcoming in March US titled How to Write Erotic Fiction (in the UK it may be pre-ordered now here). He has asked some authros to offer writing tips to share on the book’s blog prior to its release, and mine have been posted today. I was truly honored that Ashley asked me to participate as such, and it was my pleasure to do so.

Seeing my tips today also reminded me what they were—and that I should go right now and follow them myself!

Love,

Emerald

“It shouldn’t be so hard to be inspired, it shouldn’t be so hard just to write this song…it shouldn’t be so hard to change the world…”

-Siszter Hazel “Effortlessy”

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Published on January 28, 2013 09:03

Reverence, Connection, and Universality: My Experience of Duty and Desire

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Duty and Desire: Military Erotic Romance, edited by Kristina Wright and published by Cleis Press! You can follow along the other tour stops at Cleis’s tumblr page and, while I’ll remind you of this later, you can purchase Duty and Desire any time in Kindle or print from here. :) (Spoiler: I highly recommend doing so.)

I’ll be honest—when I saw this call for submissions, I felt a slight twinge of apprehension. I personally feel deeply disturbed by war and by what seems to be humanity’s collective propensity to see it as inevitable. I feel no resonance with nationalism at all. I don’t know that I would necessarily label myself “patriotic,” though I appreciate where I live and a lot of things about where I live. In some part of my consciousness I felt a small degree of concern that I might see the final version of this anthology as filled with “us vs. them” bravado, anti-”enemy” sentiment, and/or lacking the considerable reverence I feel even a peripheral association with the topic of war calls for.

When I mentioned this to my partner, I interpreted him as pointing out that sex and romance could develop even in circumstances of military and war. I immediately agreed, elaborating that that wasn’t my concern and that I too felt and feel romance—and most definitely sex—may arise within virtually every circumstance. (It’s one of the reasons I love erotica: there is infinite opportunity to explore this.) I did realize when he said that, however, that this book wasn’t likely to be focusing or commenting on war much but rather on the universality to which he had just alluded—namely, that of erotic and personal connection.

I found that to be the case, and I further discovered my concerns to be entirely unfounded. Never in these stories did I feel that a reverence for this theme wavered in a way I found discomfiting. This I found not only a relief but also something noticeably impressed me, and I appreciate the (unsurprising) sensitivity with which I feel Kristina compiled this anthology, as well as the depth and sincerity the authors brought to each of the contributions within it.

In fact, the stories here also made me feel more connected, reminded me that sexuality is a universal subject area, and like effective erotica, it brought me to that place regardless of the actual context or circumstances. Throughout them, I myself also detected a tone a bit more reverent, more serious, than most of the erotica or erotic romance anthologies I’ve read; a constant undercurrent of solemnity I found fitting given this volume’s theme.

It would be disingenuous of me to not also admit that frequently, I found the subject matter very hot. In the course of the inner Work I have been doing for several years, I have come to realize that protection and safety are trigger areas for me, both positively and negatively, and that means (in my experience anyway) that they seem to have an intense potential to stimulate. These stories happened to be filled with those themes, and I will admit there was a part of me that found the electric evocation of arousal in them difficult, if not impossible, to resist.

Each of these stories touched or affected me differently. I am aware of that, but I also feel aware of an unusual (in my experience) cohesiveness, of how this volume affected me as a whole, not even as a collection of stories but as a work encompassing a theme I approached with slight trepidation and emerged from with profound desire, even yearning, and gratitude for the universal oneness we share (whether we realize it or not). Whether I wanted it to affect me that way—and before I read it I might have questioned that—and whether I feel comfortable with what about it did so, it nonetheless did.

That, of course, means it is an opportunity for me to learn about myself. Which is one of the opportunities I appreciate most in life.

That kind of depth aside, I truly found this book beautiful. It may sound flippant, but I am not intending to be so when I say I feel these authors outdid themselves, offering stories of a world with which some of us are wholly unfamiliar and possibly can hardly imagine and illuminating what is both unique to that and what is universal—the expression of that universality being, again, something I see as a hallmark of successful erotica writing.

Incidentally, it’s unusual for me to have felt turned on by almost every story in an erotica anthology. I can easily enjoy or appreciate an erotica story without feeling turned on, and for me, that doesn’t lessen the story’s appeal. It happens that in the case of this anthology, that point was moot—story after story left my breathing faster, my heartbeat accelerated, and lower parts of my anatomy pulsing (I suppose I could say “pussy,” but it seems to interrupt the flow of a serious exposition on a literary work, don’t you think…?).

A couple asides: Being a considerable fan of references to safer sex in depictions of sexual interaction, I was delighted to see the condom mentions many of these stories exhibited. (“Snake Dance”‘s was actually a special treat given the protagonist’s inner narrative of, “That was good; she was on the pill, but that wouldn’t prevent anything else.” Exactly!) Additionally…did I mention this book has what I find a ridiculously hot cover??

The collection starts off with a bang with Delilah Devlin’s “The Long Ride Home.” This hot, fast tale sets the tone for the scorching heat that is to come. It’s followed by the flawlessly rendered “Night Witch,” (Connie Wilkins) which sets the tone for the profound emotion, sacrifice, and connection I experience as frequently depicted as a part of this anthology’s theme.

When I was considering the ambiguity of how I felt about the theme of this anthology before I read it, I did note Shanna Germain‘s name in the table of contents and felt an unquestionable confidence that the volume contained at least one story that held almost no chance of eliciting any kind of the discomfort I feared. That’s simply the level of respect the way I’ve experienced Shanna’s writing has imbued in me, and that assessment was indeed accurate in this case. Shanna did her usual, in my experience, extraordinary job of displaying humanity, arousal, connection, and challenge through the medium of words.

Sacchi Green‘s offering, “Sergeant Rae,” struck me similarly. Of course, I found Sacchi’s writing so exquisite it almost distracted me from the story’s actual content, but only almost—I certainly appreciated “Sergeant Rae” for the remarkable tale I found it to be.

As I see it, Craig J. Sorensen nailed everything that’s beautiful about this anthology with his story that was one of my very favorites, “The Grunt and the Ditty Bop.” This story stayed in my consciousness for days after I read it, often coming back to me in visual form due to the clear view of the setting Craig’s evocative prose elicited in me. Lynn Townsend‘s “Snake Dance” (another favorite) had the same effect on me; I found myself recalling her main female character’s lushly described physical appearance numerous times after I’d finished the story.

“Against the Wall” (Catherine Paulssen) struck me as a story with both intense heat and literary beauty at the same time, rich with imagery and boasting an ending I found exceptionally captivating and well-done. I went back and read the last several paragraphs more than once as I finished the story. This story also held a special place in my reading appreciation for its depiction of soldiers on “enemy sides,” reminding us of the humanity in every soldier regardless of his/her/their military affiliation.

Numerous other stories, such as “Fighting for Fresno” (Ericka Hiatt) and “Passing out Passion” (Lucy Felthouse) struck me in various ways (with character description I found unusually sharp and humor and lightheartedness that made me smile or even laugh even as it turned me on, respectively), and overall, I experienced this volume as profound, beautiful, moving, and well worth both reading and owning. I am so very glad I did (and do!), and I extend true admiration and gratitude to editor Kristina Wright for conceiving and compiling such an extraordinary collection, as well as certainly to the authors for surprising and moving and arousing me with their resplendent offerings I didn’t even know how to expect.

Once again, Duty and Desire: Military Erotic Romance is available for purchase here, and thank you for visiting my stop on the virtual tour, of which it is my honor to be a part! :)

Love,

Emerald

“Would you cry if you saw me crying, would you save my soul tonight…”

-Enrique Eglesias “Hero”

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Published on December 27, 2012 07:56