As a romance writer, the fact that I have found my niche in erotic romance is something I still find surprising given my childhood. I grew up in the suburbs of northern New Jersey, the oldest of three children. I attended Catholic school from kindergarten to college. I was the shy one, the quiet one, the good girl who never misbehaved.
Okay, maybe it really shouldn‘t be such a surprise then.
Let me state from the start: erotic romance and erotica are NOT the same thing. Erotic romance is about the relationship between two people in which sex plays a role in the story, while erotica focuses on the protagonist‘s journey of self-discovery through sex and does not always end in an HEA or HFN.
There are two important components to erotic romance:
1. The sex and the story MUST balance each other out. This is the reason for the title of this article. Let‘s break down the term “erotic romance” itself. “Erotic” refers to the sexual component of the story, while the “romance” refers to the relationship between the two leads. Without one, you cannot have the other. If there is not an even balance in an erotic romance, the reader will become bored very quickly. Sex in erotic romance has to have justification for it, and not just be sex for the sake of sex.
2. The hotter, the better. Now it‘s time to talk about the fun part of writing erotic romance. Don‘t be afraid to push the boundaries when you‘re writing a sex scene. Specifically, I‘m referring to the language you can use to describe genitalia or the action verbs involved in a sex scene. The best critique an erotic romance writer can get is “Make it hotter.” That happened to me, and I let my sex flag fly! This former Catholic schoolgirl let loose, and it was incredibly liberating.
If you‘re interested in writing erotic romance, I‘d like to offer one important piece of advice: READ, READ, READ!
I discovered erotic romance thanks to a review of SINFUL by Charlotte Featherstone in RT Book Reviews, which in my opinion is one of the best historical erotic romances ever written. Other historical erotic romances to check out are the House of Pleasure series by Kate Pearce and the Mistress Matchmaker series by Jess Michaels. On the contemporary side, Sylvia Day‘s Crossfire series should be at the top of your list, followed by Raine Miller‘s The Blackstone Affair series, FORBIDDEN FRUIT and THE LOVERS by Eden Bradley, and ON DUBLIN STREET and UNTIL FOUNTAIN BRIDGE by Samantha Young.♥
AUTHOR THE AUTHOR: Ulyana Dejneka writes contemporary erotic romance under the pen name Flora Vesna. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing (fiction) from Adelphi University. She is a member of RWA-PRO and can be found on Twitter: @floravesna.
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