Wednesday 13 June 2012

The Importance of Sex in Erotic Fiction

Now this might seem like a silly topic. After all, erotic fiction is all about the sex, isn't it? However, when a friend of mine wanted to read my latest novella, Sextraterrestrial, said she wanted to read it for the storyline but she'd skim over the sex, I realised how important the sex actually was to the story.

Okay, we all like our erotic fiction to leave us squirming in our seats or even taking part in a little one handed reading, but the sex in erotic fiction is so much more than that. When done well, it's about growing the characters - their relationship with each other and within themselves. It's about building trust and discovering  as side of themselves they may not have known existed before.

During sex, we're often at our most vulnerable and exposed. It's a time when we're as intimate with another person as it's possible to get.

In Sextraterrestrial, the main character, Jessie, is suffering from agoraphobia after losing her husband suddenly two years earlier. She's confined to her house and no longer does the one thing she loves, which happens to be writing. She's closed herself off, both physically and emotionally. It's not until a mysterious stranger - in  the form of a hot, naked man appearing in her backyard after a lightning storm - enters her life that she allows herself to explore all the sides of herself which she's blocked out for so long.

Would I have been able to write this book with the bedroom door closed? Yes, I would have, but it wouldn't have been anywhere near as emotional as the book I did write.

Sextraterrestrial is now available to buy from Amazon!

Amazon US
Amazon UK