As a glamour model, in my early twenties, I was asked to put my name to a feature in a men's magazine. I duly agreed, but when I actually read what was written by some middle-aged man on my behalf, I decided it just wasn't good enough, so I set about penning the 2000 word article myself. That was my first foray into erotic writing and once I got going, I found it easy and incredibly enjoyable. As an avid reader of books of all genres, I always thought there was a novel in me and I finally got round to realising my dream with Every Shade of Blue, which I had so much fun writing. Here are my top ten tips for writing an erotic thriller.
- The most important piece of advice I would impart is sit down and plan. Don't start writing until you have some sort of beginning, middle and end, no matter how loose, because the storyline will undoubtedly develop during the process, but you can waste a hell of a lot of time going off track if you don't adhere to this.
- Plan your characters meticulously and keep notes of their likes, dislikes and traits. I read somewhere that Jackie Collins had a huge whiteboard in her office just for this specific purpose.
- Chat to your friends and probe a little about their sex lives. You'd be surprised how candid some can be!
- Most erotic thrillers are read by women, so make sure the men in your book are drop dead gorgeous. It works for me! Sebastian Black, the delicious hero in Every Shade of Blue, is my fantasy man to be honest!
- Interweave the erotic moments with a plausible storyline, but keep a balance. I think there needs to be some steamy action every few chapters. It's a good idea to hit the readers with some raunch early on, so they are well aware it's going to be racy.
- Keep the chapters fairly short. A 'can't put down book' for me has shortish chapters that tempt me to start just one more.
- When writing sex scenes, make sure they work physically! Many's the time I've got myself into all sorts of unusual positions on the floor of my office, to see if it's doable!
- There are only so many ways to write about people making love, so achieving that variety takes time. I tend to write a sex scene as it flows, and then return and re-edit many times, adding words, shorting and lengthening sentences for impact and making sure words aren't overused.
- Show, don't tell. The senses are so essential in erotica. What someone feels like, tastes like and smells like are just as important as what they look like.
- Make your characters either likeable or intriguing so the readers are drawn to them.
Good luck with you erotic efforts!