The Long and Winding Writing Road

I've been writing explicit erotic stories for a long time now. Started out with m/m, moved to some m/f (though m/m is more fun for me to write). Sometimes for money, sometimes for the sheer joy of storytelling. Of my most recent releases (Blue Plate Special in the Naughty Literati anthology Naughty Flings came out yesterday, and Lodestone from Dreamspinner Press comes out in a couple of weeks) one is erotic paranormal m/f and the other is PG-13 paranormal science fiction m/m. Maybe more than PG-13, but not by much. I'm not sure I'm much of a judge of such things any more.

In short, I have no idea whatsoever where I'm headed at the moment. My big project (which has been sidelined a bit by a flood of smaller ones and life in general) has virtually no romantic or erotic content at all. In many ways it's bringing me back to my roots. I'm a spec fic writer who wandered into romance/erotic romance/erotica and decided to hang out and have tea and cookies. When I'm working on Phoenix, I sometimes feel like I've looked at my watch and realized how late it was and that I really need to go home now. (But OMG the shortbread and chai are wonderful! And such lovely people!)

One thing my sojourn on the erotic side of the writing world has done for me is to open my writing up to possibilities I never would have considered in the past. A few things have happened in recent weeks that got me thinking. First there's Lodestone. My guys, Al and Nick meet up on a space station, sparks fly and things happen. Both have paranormal abilities, which they have to hide due to prejudice in the larger society. The fact that they are attracted to other men is a complete non-issue in their culture.

Then I thought about one of my works in progress. It was going to be a submission for an anthology, but got too big. It's either going to be The Glass Spinner's Tale or Bastard's Fee, I keep changing my mind. My two guys in that one have known each other for years. And they've loved each other for years, too, but their respective guilds would strip them of everything and toss them out were they to be involved with each other. Again, their attraction to one another is a non-issue. Instead a century old (though it could be longer--another thing that keeps changing and growing in my head) guild rivalry keeps them apart.

I have explored some thoughts on what's going on in my head with regard to this on my own blog. Mostly, though, I love what stumbling into romance has done to broaden my writing options. I think even for my non-romance, non-erotic work, my characters will be the richer for it.