Hello there!

If you're here from Laughing Squid, or any other crevice of the internet, hello!

I promise I'm alive and well (and still writing weird porn, when I have the time.) I've got another fetish short upcoming, but after that I'd like to dial things back a bit and move on to some longer-form shapeshifter romances.

I think the world is ready for the love between a man and another man who sometimes happens to be a capybara - but if you have any contrary comments, please do share them!

November Plans: Monster sex!

Do you enjoy taboo sex between beautiful women and monstrous creatures? This November is going to be kind to you, then!

I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this year with a series of 5 erotic fantasy shorts, each ~10k words long. They're shaping up nicely so far - I think you'll enjoy these!

Teasers and new releases are upcoming, so stay tuned! For the moment I just have some thoughts on NaNoWriMo for you all.

I've heard arguments for and against NaNoWriMo from all sides, but personally I think it's valuable - not just for new writers but for established ones. I'm not sure if I really count as an established writer, mind you, but I'm doing this for a living so I suppose I get a say!
I find it really encouraging to know that I'm not alone. November doesn't have to be for novel-writing, people have used it for finishing novels, or editing them, or working on all sorts of other creative endeavors... but the important thing is that it's a set time period that you can plan for, and you know there are plenty of other people working at it too. Peer pressure is useful like that.
When I write normally, if I sit down to write for the day and I end up with 1000, 2000 or 3000 words - hey, it was a good day. If I write 500 - well, not so hot, but who cares? In November I'm either ahead of or behind my quota, and I've got graphs and comparisons to other people to spur me on.

I think what it comes down to is whether or not you really need other people to compare yourself to in order to stay motivated. It's useful for me, so I really appreciate NaNoWriMo.

Will it work for you? Well, unless you try it you'll never find out...

You Are Good Enough

"I'm not good enough."

Those four little words are like a personal plague, something that chews me up from the inside out. I know I'm not the only one: I've been in any number of creative hobbies over the years, and that sentiment twisted through them like poison vapor. It's always there. Once you learn enough about something to realize how much there is to learn, how much you don't know, it can be crushing. If your self-confidence is weak to begin with, it could be too much, you might just give up - after all, you'll never be good enough.

I'm not a very confident person, truth be told. If I don't correct myself I'm shy, I'm quiet, and I have a tendency to wait so long for everyone else to have their say that I end up saying nothing. (I suppose I'm living proof of every warning you've ever had about how it's always the quiet ones that are... well, in my case, secretly a filthy pervert. But I digress.)
In short, I don't believe that I'm good enough, and maybe I never will. I deal with it. Self-doubt doesn't mean that I should give up, it means that I should try to prove myself wrong. The worst I can do is to meet my expectations, after all. Maybe some people are just naturally self-confident; I know that I'm not, but that doesn't mean the rest of the world has to know. You're the only one who knows what you think of yourself.

My point here is that even if you feel like a hack, a dunce, like all you've made belongs at the bottom of the Marianas Trench and that even there the eyeless bottom-feeders will bump into it, in the true blackness, and recoil in disgust... don't believe yourself. Keep going. Keep trying! You can only improve if you don't quit, and simple perseverance can keep you a step ahead.

You're not the best yet, but everyone starts somewhere. Give yourself a chance.

On Research...

Erotica - at least as I write it - actually involves a surprising amount of research.

No, not just "research" (although that's my favorite kind, really), I mean more traditional research that could be expected for any book or story. What is this environment like? What kinds of plants do you find here? Is it reasonable to assume there would be an excess of coffee shops in a given setting?

To be fair, this is erotica, and you get your fair share of less conventional subjects. Let me use my most recent story as an example.

The story is about an ecologist who encounters a herd of wild horse-shifter men while she's out doing field work. She makes the decision to join the herd and become a shifter herself - and of course, in order to do this, she needs to take the herd as her mates. As one does.

I was able to pull some of the material for the story from personal experience, but other topics required further research. Some of these may or may not show up until later in the series, but I wouldn't want to give away everything at once!

Off the top of my head, I had to research:

• Horse coat colors and name
• Wild horse breeds: did you know that the breeds we think of as wild horses are actually considered feral horses? Before I wrote Taming Her Herd, I didn't! It turns out that the only surviving horse species that has never been domesticated is Przewalski's Horse, native to central Asia. All the others - mustangs and whatnot - are actually descended from domesticated horses, and are considered feral rather than wild.
• Prairie ecosystems (because accuracy matters!)
• From the above, prairie predators: while they're not likely to feature in the series, black-footed ferrets are adorable, and I had never heard of them before. On second thought, maybe I'll work them in. Ferret shifters, anyone?
• The exact mechanics behind double vaginal penetration. Because this is still erotica, after all.

That's just for a single 6,000 word story - I have some longer pieces in the works that are taking much more effort.

This is really one of the things I love about writing. It always gets me thinking about new things, and I end up learning because of it!

Safe Sex in Erotica

Do you prefer the sex in your erotica to be safe or not? Safe as in everyone is verified STD-free, and (where applicable) condoms, dams, etc. are used?

It came up again today, and it's something I've thought about before. A bit of research into the subject has turned up mostly two views:

• Unsafe sex is icky and unpleasant, and it's a turn-off if the scene doesn't either include a condom or a mention of being clean and on birth control of some sort
• Condom use detracts from the scene and is unpleasant/unarousing

I can understand both the pro-condom and anti-condom sides here. There's nothing sexy about infections or unplanned pregnancies (unless you're into that, but if that's the intent of the story this doesn't really apply), but at the same time, stopping the action to get your contraceptives sorted out can be decidedly unsexy and potentially ruin the flow of the scene.

So if you're writing erotica, which approach should you take?

Well, first off I'd say you should go with whichever one you're more comfortable with. As with many topics in erotica, if you're really, genuinely uncomfortable writing something - don't! I'm not saying that you shouldn't push your boundaries, but if you know something squicks you, your writing is likely to suffer from it.

That said, if you'd like to compromise between the two options, there's plenty of room to do so. Writing about a bunch of vampire fellas taking turns barebacking a werewolf? It's all good: as the undead and shapeshifters, they obviously aren't susceptible to mere venereal diseases, and you can slip in a line to that effect. Condomless sex between an established heterosexual couple? It's all good, she's on the pill. Same couple, but with a condom? You could slip in a mention after the scene or gloss over the prep a bit - or you could work it into the sex by having the woman help out. There's plenty of options!

I personally fall under the "unsafe sex is kind of icky" camp: it's not an all-or-nothing thing and I can understand the frustration with condoms in sex scenes, but all the same I appreciate a little note that no one is going to wake up the next morning and have it burn when they pee, you know

And a caveat: much of this obviously won't apply to historical settings, and some fantasy settings.

A Quick 'n Dirty Intro

Hello there! Chances are you're here because you're looking for a fun, dirty read, and I hope you won't be disappointed.

I'm a professional indie erotica author and I've never been happier - I'd always wanted to be an author, and this job has taught me that I really can be one. :)

This blog will feature excerpts and coupons from my stories, along with my thoughts and opinions on publishing as an indie author, writing, and life in general.

Here's hoping you enjoy the ride!