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 their readers and how much their readers’ opinions and reactions matter to them. I think it is fair to say that the reader/writer relationship in erotic romance is a truly unique one.
So now it’s time for me to talk with erotic romance readers. This is really the most important part of my research: to learn more about how happily ever after and happily for now endings shape the reading experience. I want to find out what constitutes a HEA for you. Is it a wedding? A pledge of undying love? Do they move in together? Is it a plateau on which you feel the lovers have reached a place of emotional settledness and safety?
Knowing that the book will end happily, how does that affect your reading adventure? Does it allow you to engage more deeply and emotionally with the characters? Do you forget what the outcome will be while immersed in the middle of the story?
I would be very grateful if you would consider giving me between 30 mins and 1 hour of your time to talk about your relationship to the genre of erotic romance. As with my writer research, I’m using a conversation-based style of data gathering because I feel it gives me more insight, it allows the conversation to go where it wants to go and it doesn’t limit the discussion to questions that may be too narrow.
If you have Skype and you are willing to have a conversation with me, please contact me via email at remittancegirl(at)gmail.com or you can always get in touch with me via twitter at @remittancegirl .
I wish I had more experience than a couple of novellas to share with you, but if you’re interested in hearing from me, I’d be glad to share.
I’ve sent you an email!
if I’m reading a romance, erotic or otherwise, the HEA is expected – it’s integral to the genre. If there’s no HEA, it’s not a romance. I know that if the author wrote a sequel, the couple (or group, if it was a poly story) may have gotten tighter, looser, or even broken up, but the romance needs to end with the right conditions for ever after.
There’s an internet author with the nym “Uther Pendragon” whose specialty is the continuing saga of the happily ever after. Most of the words he’s written and nearly all of his net reputation concerns the lives (and sex lives) of Bob and Jeanette Brennan. The first story starts with the honeymoon, and the next several continue it. Short stories chronicle more than ten years of marriage and the birth of a daughter. These stories are *not* romances. The meeting and courtship are handled as small flashbacks or discussions spread out over the whole series. But they *are* the HEA.
Hello Gary,
Yes, I do realize that if it doesn’t have a happy ending, it’s not a romance. However, my question is: what, knowing that there will be a very specific sort of ending, enable in the reader. HEA doesn’t just act as a way to finish the story. It’s presence has consequences outside the narrative itself. It affects the way a reader approaches the story. It affects the way a writer will write it.