Writing Erotic Novels

[bbarney]

As some of you may know, I am a writer. I recently graduated with both my BA's and I am currently working on m master's. I am used to writing at a degree higher than paperback fiction. Frankly, my professors would not allow anything less than a story that gets to the heart of the character etc. etc. However, that being said, I had the thought recently to try writing erotica, and to try writing it for profit.

The idea mostly came to me because I was talking to people about kinks and fetishes and it was quite enjoyable, because there is a lot you can learn from someone who has done it, but I kept getting asked the same questions. The first being "Are you actually 22?" and this is a question I have been asked before (because for some reason 22 year olds often don't take the time to learn in order to please their partner) and then the question "Do you write erotica?"

I have never written it before, I have been curious though. My main hang up as I am considering it, is if there are any rules that I would not usually suspect. What I mean by this is what I would expect of erotica is usual description working toward a scene that is a turn on, that builds a sexual tension and narrative. Instead I saw an example where at one point, the woman becoming turned on and getting wet was instead referred to as "her vertical juices flowing out of her." Really? Is that a turn on? Because I think if I was reading that I would either start laughing, or put it down. Is that just a different market?

So I guess I am mostly wondering, has anyone written or tried to write erotica? How did it go and what did you learn?

[square]

Sort of. When I was about 13, after reading a couple of trashy novels. Banged out a few pages on the ol' Underwood. Then left the pages out without thinking, and my old man found them. He was some mixture of livid and embarrassed and not sure of the best way how to holler at me. He sputtered out some words, I got the point, and learned not to leave such stuff out where your parents can find it. That was the end of my erotica writing efforts.