Karena Marie wrote a post on her blog about the scorn some “authors” aim towards writers in the erotic
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| Karena Marie’s Website |
genre. I have not read her books- yet- but they are on my list- so many books to read and write I wish there were 48 hrs in a day! However, her post got me thinking…
I don’t normally get too personal here, because I really want this blog to be about my writing and writing in general. However, her post struck a chord with me. When I attend writers groups or lectures from authors and publishers I’m always just a tad hesitant to mention that I write erotic romance, which is silly of me. I tend to think they won’t take me seriously because of my genre. I write a lot of vanilla work, too. Mostly thriller type stories, but overall I love erotica and romance. I love books that make me feel all fuzzy all over and at the end I get the long sigh of fulfillment.
I have never been outright criticized for the genre, but I do sometimes see a look pass over a few faces that say “Oh, she’s not really a writer”. For the most part I ignore it. The presenters have never had that look and have been more than helpful to me when I’ve had questions.
This April I’m attending Spring Fling Writers Conference held in a suburb of Chicago hosted by the Chicago-North Romance Writers. There are a few erotic romance writers that will be in attendance for book signings and to present workshops and such. There is one particular workshop I’m really excited about. BDSM Book Reviews will be hosting a writers critique one of the evenings. Each writer brings a sample of their work and critique each other. There is also a class specifically about BDSM romances. These things make me believe that erotic romance is very much a credible genre.
I will always remember the awkward moment of telling my parents what genre I decided to focus on for the time being. My mother is responsible for exposing me to romance (Historical Romance), but she didn’t really know I was going to take it a step further. My father’s reaction was extremely surprising to me. He was all for it. “So what?” was basically his answer. He said that if people wanted to read it, and I wanted to write it…who cares what others thought. If you knew my father, you’d know how shocking his response was.
There will always be those that believe they are more of a writer than someone else because of their style, their voice, or their genre. I won’t play in their sandbox, and they aren’t allowed in mine.
If any of you are planning to attend the Spring Fling Conference, please let me know! I’m hoping to meet a lot of people and make a few friends.