There is a very interesting article in the Atlantic, “The Ethics of Extreme Porn: Is Some Sex Wrong Even For Consenting Adults“. Being the Atlantic, although thorough, it also relates some very dogmatic and (to me) quite offensive responses. But the author has written a fairly well-reasoned piece. It is all in response to...
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The topic of the mindfuck has been on my mind of late. I’ve had ongoing discussions with @DarkGracie on the subject, and a lovely face-to-face conversation about it with two people from different ends of the power spectrum: MisterGryphon and Mollena. I’d like to state up front that what follows is a very personal...
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So, today was the first of my monthy ERWA Blog posts. It may very well be my last when my co-bloggers are confronted with 2000 words of density. We’ll see. Anyway, I’ve been blogging a lot lately about the lack of well-written or arousing sex scenes in literary fiction, and musing over the possible...
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There were some really great comments on my last post about the literary world and its aversion to including erotic sex scenes in literary fiction or eliciting arousal in readers. Laughingly, and perhaps a little brutally, I said that it might have something to do with individual authors and their own feelings of sexual...
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I’ve had a marvelous time in conversation with 10 erotic romance writers. Each of them have given me wonderful insights into their craft, their challenges and their unique understanding of what constitutes erotic romance and their relationship with the genre and sub-genres. One thing that impressed me overwhelmingly was how close they feel to...
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I’ve been having a wonderful time having conversations with writers about their writing and the uses and effects of the ‘Happily Ever After’ convention. However, in some cases, it has been difficult to persuade people to speak to me via voice with Skype, or explain why a text chat or an email exchange won’t...
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If you read my blog fairly regularly, you’ll already know I’m working on a research project investigating the function of the HEA/HFN ending in erotic romance, not simply as a form of narrative closure, but examining if and how it plays other roles in how you construct, imagine, character build, etc. If you write...
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” …But we have speech, to chill the angry day, And speech, to dull the rose’s cruel scent. We spell away the overhanging night, We spell away the soldiers and the fright. There’s a cool web of language winds us in, Retreat from too much joy or too much fear…” The Cool Web, Robert...
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For those of you who are actually reading these posts on my ‘Happily Ever After’ exploration, I thank you for coming along for the ride and I do hope I’m not boring you to tears. One of my sneaky reasons for posting these blog posts is in the hope that I can encourage some...
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I’ve been giving a lot of thought to approaching the subject of happily ever after endings. I have a deep prejudice against any form of literature which prescribes plotlines. As a writer, I’ve been deeply influenced by theoreticians like Eco who view formula driven fiction as a lesser form of literature. As a creative...
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