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How to Write Erotica when the Sex does Nothing for You
Aim for the big finish
My first foray into ghostwriting taught me a depressing lesson; everyone wanted sexy books, but no one was looking for lezzy love stories.
I came out at 28 and ventured into professional writing a few years later when I was comfortable in my gay skin. To my surprise, tons of clients in search of ghostwriters wanted a new, gay-for-you kind of love story, but only if the two main characters were men.
The premise goes something like this: a straight man gets a divorce, then goes on a trip/gets a new job/has a new experience that introduces him to Openly Gay Man who makes him all a-flutter. Straight man takes a chance and goes out with Gay Man and is even more blown away to discover he wants to get naked with this new person in his life.
Note that there’s no coming out here, no self-discovery, but a kind of prolonged experimentation that allows Straight Man to try something new. It’s never two straight guys together, one has to be out and gay and down to date a newbie.
What’s a queer lady with no interest in M/M sex to do? I didn’t let the onslaught of male-centric demands stop me. Rather, I drew on what I knew about fiction and asked myself some essential questions.
