So during my hiatus in order to keep sane I read (spending hours at the hospital and waiting for test results will do that to you!) And because I'm an erotic author and needed to get my kicks some how while on "pelvic rest" I picked up erotica.
One of the things I love about erotica is its millions of different styles, tones, sub-genres, etc. Almost every piece I've read has been vastly different, some are even different at the start versus at the end. Take Fifty Shades of Grey, there are some obvious kinks in there, BDSM, controlling, spanking, lashing.... and yet the undercurrent of romance ends up winning out, Christian and Ana find their love and balance.
Another piece I'm reading is an indie published one called Erotic Hauntings by Kevin Guest, its an interesting read, different from most I've read, but its all about the kinky fuckery. There is zero romance in it, and it works for this piece.
When I first started reading erotica, I assumed all erotica was a romance short story on crack, but I very quickly realized my mistake. Sex in real life is not always about romance. Sometimes its about healing, sometimes its a way to pay penance, sometimes its a way to vent anger, sometimes its just about fun, and some times its a way to say goodbye.
In erotica, many times, sex is used as a tool to explain how a character is, what he or she feels... often, especially in the very short erotica all we get is the sex. The good sex comes through not with wild trysts and throwing every toy you've ever heard of in the mix to make it new and exciting, but with the connection to those characters, and how they grow and evolve.
One of my characters, Charlie from the Penance Through Seclusion Series, is a Dom but due to severe trauma long ago he chose to bury it and has lived a life as far from the "lifestyle" as possible. Its through sex that he finds his way again. It is about the blending of
All in all, romance and kink are all part of this world and make for good pieces, whether wrapped together or held wildly apart.
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