I get asked all the time, “Why erotic romance?” by both writer and non-writer friends (I also get asked with the same frequency questions like, “What’s up with the hair?” and “When are you getting furniture in that house?” but that’s an entirely different saga). My answer, which I thought was simple, isn’t. In fact, I had to sit down and think about it.

To me, erotic romance is a tale told through sex. Characters develop and relationships grow through encounters of a sexual nature (although not solely from sexual encounters). All my erotic romance stories seem to have a theme to them of either a character’s development of his or her sexuality, or a character’s discovery of their full personality via expression of their sexuality.  If I took out the sex, there would still be a story.  It would be thin, and would probably suck to read (if not be outright boring and ignorant), but it would have the bare basics of story requirements.
Straight erotica is a different ball of well…sticky substance. :P  If I’m writing something that’s erotica, the story is the sex. The premise is sexual in nature, and the goals of the characters relate directly to sex.  The plot is directly related to the sexual encounters. If I took out the sex, there would not only be no story, but what is there wouldn’t even make much sense.
One of the enduring themes I love to tackle in writing is the idea of emerging self-awareness. What else is life, on one level, besides discovering who you are and all the many facets of your own personal Human Condition? Some of us who call ourselves writers just do it with other people. And, of course, a huge part of me is doing its part to envision an existence where people aren’t so damn hung up about sex.

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