Erotica

Now that I've got your attention...

I've written a few short erotica stories in the last few years. It's a genre I really never considered before. Most of my writing is journal writing, straight fiction or adventure fiction. I've even dabbled in a Lovecraft-inspired horror story. Erotica is something I thought too tawdry, but once I explored it in writing, it became deeper and meaningful in a certain way. Considering most of my work has humor in it, combining humor with erotica proved challenging. One of the first humorous stories with sex was My Bachelor Party, a true documentary on my bachelor party with some fiction bits thrown in. My second straight-up erotic story was called Night of Bacchus, a snapshot of college life as told by a group of friends into group sex. That one, unfortunately, was not autobiographical. I think personal erotica is the strongest because you're placing your own feelings and thoughts into the work. Many people are turned off by graphic descriptions of sex, but if you're writing about sex and the carnal experiences in question happen to be your own, you approach the work with authority. My latest erotica story is called Riding Veronica, and it's my most personal work to date. It's about reconnecting with an old love in the middle of our lives and rekindling passion after unsuccessful marriages. It's also about heartache and emotion, two things seemingly absent from erotica. I think for erotica to work, it can't simply be pornographic. There has to be an element of desire, of lust, and of willingness. Above all, it can't be a blow-by-blow gropefest. There has to be an element of passion.