by Ellen Tevault
Since agreeing to write this guest blog entry, I have
struggled with several things. Does humor belong in the bedroom? We’ve all had
bedroom mishaps, but are they erotic? Will the reader think so? Or will the
humor kill the romantic or erotic moment for the reader? Another thing I’ve
struggled with is that I haven’t written much in a long time. Editing has been
my main focus for the last couple of years. Even as an editor, I’ve gotten away
from erotica and erotic romance. Also I’ve been trying to find a REAL job, so
I’ve tried to limit my names attachment to erotica in case a potential employer
searches the internet for me.
I know it is crazy. If I wrote mysteries, employers wouldn’t
think I am a murderer, but for some reason writing erotica gets me listed in
the freak-don’t-want-to-hire file. In other words, the gate keeper deems me
inappropriate. I’ve never had an erotica
editor look at my automotive repair articles and decide I’m not someone they
want to work with on a project. I find that funny. Sex is a natural part of our
lives, but writing about it makes me unemployable instead of showing that I can
write and edit about a variety of topics, including the most difficult one of
all – Sex
I’ve had romance writers ask me about how to write sex
scenes. One time a writer in my writing group tried her hand at an erotic
scene. It was a mere paragraph long, but she couldn’t read it to the group.
When she finally read it, I couldn’t understand what the big deal was. I’ve
read scenes like that in a Danielle Steele novel and wondered why the novel was
deemed erotic in a book review. In other words so tame that I was waiting for
the action to begin. As an editor, I would have said, “Show, don’t tell.” I
know, that phrase haunts us writers.
Eventually that same writer did write an erotic romance and
sold it to Loose Id, but she refused to share the news with the rest of our
writing group because she was ashamed of the erotica content. Can you believe
it? She didn’t want to lose the respect of the other writers in our group for
“writing such stuff.” The writers she was worried about have always been supportive
of my writing, whether it was erotica, technical articles about auto repair, or
my venture into children’s literature. It doesn’t make sense to me. Sex and
erotica are a funny business, but that takes me back to do the readers want
humor in their smut reading? Let’s face it, sex is serious business. So it
depends on the sales.
When my friend, Gavin Atlas tried to help me with this
entry, he said, “Heat is difficult for me to maintain if I'm also wanting the
reader to laugh.” I’m sure a lot of writers feel this way. How do you make it
hot and funny? Can it be both?
One of the first qualities women choose as important in a
partner is sense of humor, but does it belong in the bedroom? I’m not sure. It
can help you connect to your partner, but it can also be a distraction. I say
it depends on the couple.
Once upon a time, I wrote If a Dildo Could Talk. Oceania recorded it on one of her websites,
which is no longer available. I tried submitting that story to several places,
before it made its way to Oceania’s inbox.
The story is about a lesbian who hides her sex toys because
her mom is coming to visit, so the dildo decides to get even for being stuffed
in a sock drawer by telling the reader about sexual conquests. I purposely set
out to write a humor piece when I decided to write it, but that was why it was
so hard to find a home for the story.
One editor enjoyed the humor, but didn’t find it erotic even
though it was sexually explicit. Eventually Jamie Joy Gatto decided it didn’t
fit her website, but emailed it to Oceania for hers.
Since the other editors commented that it wasn’t erotic, I
struggled with whether humor negates the sexual content as erotica. I don’t see
how. I think it just depends on the reader. To write this blog entry, I looked
at several of the top erotic romance sites and a few of them has humor listed
as one of their genres, but some didn’t. I guess there really isn’t an answer
to the question. It depends on the writer, publisher, and reader whether the
two genres can hit it off and live happily ever after together or just have an
occasional fling.
~~
Find Ellen's blog here.
And her story in Back Door Lover here.
Ellen - Welcome to the Grip!
ReplyDeleteIt's so hard to mix humor with sex. I'm glad you try though.
Oh! And you know Gavin Atlas? He's a real sweetheart.
ReplyDeleteHi Ellen! Welcome to our blog!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that book cover gets your attention.
I'm hoping that fifty shades of Grey will do for erotic writing what Harry Potter did for witches. I tried hard to read that book and failed, but I'm cheering for it all the way.
I've noticed also that humor rarely seems associated with erotic writing. Two literary exceptions I aspire to imitate if I ever can are Phillip Roth whose Portnoy's Complaint got me busted in high school history class in 1971 when I was caught reading it in class. They caught me because I disintegrated in laughter over one of the masturbation scenes during a lecture about the holocaust, and currently Nicholson Baker whose erotic passage in "The Fermata" about Marian and Kevin and Susie (you can read a preview on Google books) is the funniest piece of erotic writing I've ever read or imagined possible.
Garce
Ellen, I remember your dildo story! It's hilarious & also erotic, IMO, but more hilarious than seductive. Welcome to The Grip.
ReplyDeleteHi Ellen and Kathleen,
ReplyDeleteKathleen, you just made my month way better. ::BIG hug::
When Ellen brought up sex and humor, I wondered why I found the combination difficult. For years, I’ve wished I wrote and published in “mainstream” humorous fiction because I love being silly. I’ve written humor (or attempted it) in stories, but almost never in the actual sex scene.
I think I’ve identified the disconnect. In my fiction, the heat comes from exploring my own bottom boy psychology and “sex-negative fantasies” although I hate that term. I mean thoughts like “I’m scared I have no control, but I’ve never had better” or “I’m ashamed I want these men to do this to me, but I desperately need it.” If I added levity, I doubt I’d take the character seriously when he’s supposed to be helplessly drowning in submission and lust. Although I bet readers would say I don’t venture close to sadism, it’s still often aggressive, banging-the-headboard-almost-to-the-point-of-concussion sex— a combination of the agony and the ecstasy, I guess, so my characters understand the connection between suffering and passion. And they want more.
Okay, but what would it take to make them laugh? Perhaps if I were to write more “sex-positive” erotica where the tension is not related to what’s happening in bed, humor might feel natural.
A confession: I once told my boyfriend, “I think a person is most alive when he’s having sex.” He said, “I think someone is most alive when he’s laughing.” I wonder what both at once would be like?
Gavin :)
Gavin - you've obviously put some real thought into the problems with writing funny sex. I think it's hard to laugh with a character because no one has the same sense of humor, so we're forced to laugh at them,but that's hard to do if the writer has you rooting for that character.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post, Ellen, and equally magnificent comments!
ReplyDeleteGavin, thanks for visiting and sharing your insights. I personally find it almost impossible to be funny even when I'm not trying to be erotic. To deliberately combine the two...well, maybe only if this were an assignment from my master!