GUEST BLOG: Erotic Angst—Is There A Place For It? by Dee Tenorio
Friday, October 22, 2010 10:00I love a good erotic romance.
It’s okay, I admit it pretty openly—which comes in handy since I’ve written several of them. 
What I find most interesting about the genre is how everyone has a different view of what makes a book an erotic.
Some people feel it’s a book with a lot of nookie. Or a book with graphically described nookie. Others still just think it’s a bunch of fluffy girl porn. My current editor, though, gave me the best definition ever.
“It’s a a book where the sexuality is intrinsic to the plotline. If you can take the sex out of the book and still have a complete story and plot…it’s not an erotic.”
Yes, my editor is full of awesome.
Now the good news is, sex goes with most things, thematically. Chocolate. Competition. Danger. Relationship difficulties. Friendship. Disaster. Comedy. Grief…
Weeeeeeell…there’s kind of a question on that last one.
Erotic romances are supposed to be uplifting, putting you on that “hawt” track with fantastic sexxoring. Grief would kind of…bring on a the bummer, wouldn’t it?
Well, that’s what I kind of wondered too.
See, people handle grief in different ways. Some folks take the pain inward where they either work it out or it eats them up. Others deal with their losses outwardly, being physical as a means of coping or as a means of destroying themselves. Grief is complicated and one adult way of coping is to turn to others as a salve—hoping to feel…or not feel. It simply begs the question: Is there sexiness in the darker aspects of sexuality?
I really wanted to know. And so I worked on my project, a short novella now called Shaken, about a couple torn apart by grief, trapped together in an elevator after an earthquake. This is their last chance to make right what they’ve lost. Their connection—their physical need—is still there…but so is the pain. Will they work it out? The bigger question is, will you, the reader, be there to find out?
Tell me, do you think there’s a place in romance for Erotic Angst? Or should mixed themes like sexuality and heartbreak stay far, far apart?
Share your thoughts in the comments and be entered into a drawing for a free ebook from my backlist—reader’s choice!
Hope to hear from you!
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Ilona F says:
October 22nd, 2010 at 2:20 pm
I was once told that the biggest response to death is a need to reinforce being alive by having sex. So although I’ve never really thought about sex and grief in the same sentence before, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work if done sensitively.
Cathy M says:
October 22nd, 2010 at 2:46 pm
I have no problem with mixed themes in erotic romances, as long as it works with the storyline and doesn’t give me tedious characters. And since I am a HEA girl, I would like a satisfying resolution by the time I reach The End.
Wendy says:
October 22nd, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Tell me, do you think there’s a place in romance for Erotic Angst? Or should mixed themes like sexuality and heartbreak stay far, far apart
…
Yes, and I want to see more of it. Hey, don’t get me wrong. I like my fluffy, fun erotic romance just as much as the next gal, but there’s something so….gut-wrenching and thought-provoking when an author can successfully mix the themes of angst, heartbreak, grief all within an erotic framework and make it…well…work. But then I’m a bit of a ho for damaged characters, so maybe I’m in the minority on this one?
Evanne says:
October 22nd, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Dee, you do angst well
Lindsey Ekland says:
October 23rd, 2010 at 3:35 pm
I think people can connect and comfort with sex. If it makes sense in the story all these themes can be mixed together.
Fedora says:
October 23rd, 2010 at 8:48 pm
For me, it depends on the author–if she can write it well, YES, there’s absolutely a place for them both in the same story. After all, real life can be like that, and it can be really wonderful for good reads to reflect that. You absolutely mix them well–please keep writing these!
The Good, The Bad and The Unread » Dee Tenorio Winner! says:
December 1st, 2010 at 11:39 pm
[...] we’d like to thank Dee Tenorio for guest blogging with us a few weeks ago. It was a fun day and if you didn’t stop by, well, you [...]
Random Friday – Dorchester, NKOB, Mud, and Erotic Angst « Fiction Vixen Book Reviews Fiction Vixen Book Reviews says:
December 6th, 2010 at 3:28 am
[...] currently reading Shaken by Dee Tenorio. She is guest posting today over at The Good, The Bad, and The Unread about erotic angst. I recently had a discussion with a friend about Erotica, Erotic Romance [...]
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