Five Tips from Jeremy Edwards

Five tips on how to write erotica from Jeremy Edwards:

1) Be aware of the wealth of options at your disposal regarding vocabulary, sentence structure, imagery, etc. Exploit this decision-making aspect of the writing process, so that you're really *crafting* your story, making deliberate choices so as to utilize the literary building blocks that you think will work best.

2) Keep your ear on the rhythm of your prose. All writers are poets, in a sense.

3) Try to give the reader descriptions and associations that he or she wouldn't have thought of without you. Make the reader need you--*your* words, *your* voice. Stay in the driver’s seat as far as vocabulary is concerned: don’t automatically go with the first word that comes to mind. Is there a better word to plug into a particular sentence? A more precise or more evocative one? A less overused one? The impact of your scene will be greater if your words surprise, stimulate, and delight the reader with the fresh images and ideas they convey, rather than plodding along predictable paths.

4) Make your details count. Some well-written scenes have a rich carpet of thoughtful detail, and other well-written scenes play out in a sparser or more impressionistic style. If you’re doing the former, make sure your narratorial voice clearly guides the reader along, so that the lushness points somewhere rather than becoming a jungle to get bogged down in. If the latter, make sure those choice few details pull their weight in terms of their effectiveness. With either approach (or anything in between), watch out for detail "weeds" that can distract from detail "flowers."


5) Master the conventions of your art's technical aspect, but be wary of too many "don'ts" and "nevers." Writing--especially fiction writing--is a creature that needs room to breathe, stretch, and strike its pose. The paramount rule for a creative writer, or any artist, might be stated as "Do what works."


Jeremy Edwards is the author of many pieces of fiction including Rock My Socks Off. More of Jeremy's work can be found by visiting: www.jeremyedwardserotica.com