I got the chance to interview my friend and fellow erotica author, Miranda Merriweather. Get her thoughts on craft, inspiration, and what's sexy!
How long have you been writing erotica?
Actual writing, only a few months. In my head...I've probably been writing this stuff ever since I read (and reread) a dogeared copy of Judy Blume's "Forever" as a teenager.
What's your writing process like? Do you come up with characters first? Plot? Do you discover where the story is going as you write or do you like to know before you start?
I think I'm inspired by themes, first and foremost. Both my novels so far explore repression -- I'm fascinated by the way women -- including myself -- hesitate to discuss, let alone try, any kind of sexual exploration. I've been amazed at the response from readers, who -- sometimes quite poignantly -- express how powerful and debilitating a force repression has been in their sexual lives.
As for the plot vs. characters question, it's a variable. Virgin Wife was inspired by a friend, who had to confess when her husband left that he'd been her one and only lover. I was intrigued by her odyssey, as she started dating as a mature woman.
Sex Assassins was inspired by the concept. I've loved games like Risk and Diplomacy since I was a kid -- games that require trust and betrayal as much as luck in order to win. Throughout college, I often thought how much those same qualities went into an evening hookup at a bar. When I started writing erotica, I couldn't help but think how liberating it would be to excuse your desires with one of those games as a template. You're no longer bound by social mores -- what your partner will think of you if you ask for what you want, or what they'll think of you if you do what THEY ask. All the toxicity of simply asking for your sexual desires to be fulfilled is removed: you HAVE to do this, if you're going to keep playing the game.
And I always know where I'm starting and where I'm ending before I begin. It's the middle that gets kind of murky. I have loads of ideas, I just have to test the sequencing a few times before I'm happy.
I think I'm inspired by themes, first and foremost. Both my novels so far explore repression -- I'm fascinated by the way women -- including myself -- hesitate to discuss, let alone try, any kind of sexual exploration. I've been amazed at the response from readers, who -- sometimes quite poignantly -- express how powerful and debilitating a force repression has been in their sexual lives.
As for the plot vs. characters question, it's a variable. Virgin Wife was inspired by a friend, who had to confess when her husband left that he'd been her one and only lover. I was intrigued by her odyssey, as she started dating as a mature woman.
Sex Assassins was inspired by the concept. I've loved games like Risk and Diplomacy since I was a kid -- games that require trust and betrayal as much as luck in order to win. Throughout college, I often thought how much those same qualities went into an evening hookup at a bar. When I started writing erotica, I couldn't help but think how liberating it would be to excuse your desires with one of those games as a template. You're no longer bound by social mores -- what your partner will think of you if you ask for what you want, or what they'll think of you if you do what THEY ask. All the toxicity of simply asking for your sexual desires to be fulfilled is removed: you HAVE to do this, if you're going to keep playing the game.
And I always know where I'm starting and where I'm ending before I begin. It's the middle that gets kind of murky. I have loads of ideas, I just have to test the sequencing a few times before I'm happy.
Both The Virgin Wife and Sex Assassins have streaks of darkness in them. At least some of the characters in both are going through tough times. Is that something you're drawn to exploring?
Absolutely. Why do we get on a roller coaster? To experience a dangerous thrill -- in hitting the height of fear, we achieve a greater exhilaration on the downhill. Extrapolate that out: there's no greater exhilaration documented in all of literature than an incredible orgasm. So much in the same way you ride the roller coaster, you look to take your partner to the greatest depths of fear, in order to achieve an even greater release sexually. And this seems to hold true throughout the course of our sexual lives. When we're young, just having sex is illicit. It's hot having sex in your parents living room, knowing they could walk in on you and your boyfriend any time. Once married, you explore with sexual toys to achieve that same sense of illicitness. And after years of being married, why do so many people have affairs outside of marriage? Because it's dangerous. A major rush, purely in the secrecy.
How many books do you have planned in the Sex Assassins series?
How many books do you have planned in the Sex Assassins series?
I'm hoping there will be many, many books in the Sex Assassins series, some written by me, but also stories by some writer friends. it would be a literary version of a very drunken evening with your best friends, confessing all the things you've ever done, as well as the things you'd like to do and never have, played out in an arena where anything is okay.
Can you give us a hint about your next story?
The next one's Sex Assassins: Spanked by the Competition. I'm sure you can work that one out for yourselves.
Is there anything special you do to get in the mood to write? Listen to music? Have a drink? ;)
I cycle. It's very meditative. I do half of my writing on my morning ride and it's great. No phones, no one calling for me. Just me, off in my head.
Everybody's still talking about 50 Shades of Gray. Do you think it's something that will have lasting impact on what readers are looking for?
I do think it will have a lasting impact, but not in the way most people think, which is with the BDSM stuff. I think the lasting impact comes back to my theme of repression. How many women do you know will walk in and buy tampons from a guy cashier at the store? Not many, right? Now put those same women at the bookstore counter -- how many were willing to buy a book of erotica? Far fewer than would walk up to the convenience store counter. I think 50 Shades has liberated a lot of women to simply admit, "That's right, I like sex. I like to read about it, get new ideas. I even like to get turned on while I'm reading it. And you know what? I love it."
Are the sex scenes the easiest part of a story to write or the most difficult. (You'll see I avoided the word "hardest." I have some self-restraint!)
What's the sexiest scene you've read or seen? Seen? 9 1/2 weeks when Mickey Rourke drips the ice cube on Kim Basinger. Read? I'm still turned on by the opening scene in Sex Assassins with my chocolate girl. A guy licking hardened chocolate off you until it goes gooey soft and he gets to...well, you'll just have to read it. :-)
Any advice for writers?
The old adage of 'write what you know' is taken to a whole new level in writing erotica. Because you have to write about not only what you've done, but what you've always wanted to do and never have. And yeah, it can be a little embarrassing, especially when you have friends read your story. It's an incredibly intimate thing to share, something you normally wouldn't, outside of a lover. But if it doesn't turn you on, how can you expect it to turn anyone else on?
The Virgin Wife sounds very interesting. I'll bet a lot of women could relate to it.
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