What kind of erotica do I write?

Like most good things, erotica comes in many different flavours, and I've certainly turned my hand to more than a few of them.

One of the few guiding principles in my life is the belief that we should be open to experience and not judge those who behave likewise. I like to explore; I like to find out what works for me and doesn't, without prejudging it first. In my erotica, I like to write about that exploration, but it's also fair to say that I write about the kind of sex I enjoy, or at least have tried. Why would I do otherwise?

Areas like BDSM fascinate me, but aren't really my thing. I like the occasional spank, and I like to tie and be tied, but the whole sub-dom thing doesn't really float my boat. So while I have some lovely BDSM friends, I don't tend to explore it too much in my fiction. Or, at least, I haven't yet: as I say, I'm open to experience, and who knows where curiosity might lead me one day?

I like couples sex. I like the challenge of writing erotically about people who are in a relationship. I like illicit relationships, danger, people coping with being judged and living their lives accordingly. I like sex with men and women; I like group sex, but I'm not really that interested in boy-boy. As far as group sex goes, while two girls can work wonders on one man (and on each other!), there's nothing like one girl and two men, as featured in my story Easy as One, Two, Three .

And of course, where I say "I like..." this also means "I like to write about..."

I love to talk with my friends about sexual experiences, too, and where I feel able to I write about these (this mostly comes out in the Girls' Club series, and in my first collection of adult tales, You ). I'm very lucky to have friends that not only like to talk about the things I do, but encourage me to capture some of the anecdotes in stories.

Recently, my work has taken a surprising turn, too. With Letting Go I found myself writing a paranormal story about a woman who can't let her man go, even after she has died. I had never intended to write that kind of story, but it just came to me and demanded to be written. I'd like to write more of these: intense, steamy stories with a paranormal, gothic vibe.

And now, with The Virgin and the Three Brothers (coming soon), I've written a contemporary story based on classic fairytale ingredients: the rich daughter/princess having to choose between three suitors, guided by her father's PA/good witch. It's fun, and while lighter than some of my other stories it's still as explicit as ever.

In fact, explicit sex is one thing that is common to all of my stories. Some are simply stories about sex; others are more fully-developed stories, but still revolving around sex. I make no apologies for that: I write about sex. It's what I enjoy doing, and it's what my readers enjoy reading. Maybe that's one reason why my work seems to appeal to both men and women. I write what turns me on, and I'm a woman, so I assumed that would be my audience, but so far there seems to be a fairly equal split, which pleases me.

Might that change if I start to write stories that are tradionally more the preserve of female readers? All of my stories so far have been about relationships, and in my non-erotic writing I always tend to return to relationships. I can easily seem myself writing stories in the future that balance the two: erotic love stories.

Will these stories continue to work for men as well as women? I hope so. As I say: I'm open to experience. I hope my readers are too.