I have to say I love the name. I think it’s very creative and could prove to be a very wise choice. Some women will consider erotica by a female writer that they would not read by a male. (Sorry Eric)

I also wanted to congratulate you on the sale of your first short story. Here’s to many more.

Dyanne

Eric: Good points and agree with you. To your question regarding why hide behind a woman’s name? When I first started writing romance it was focused to the more mainstream romance novel. What I discovered is that the industry (including publishers, writing groups, critique groups) in general ignored men. A reverse of the good ole boys club, in the romance arena it’s a good ole ladies club. I also, think women don’t believe men get romance so we are dismissed easily. Now these are general statements but it has been my experience. I will say the RWA chapter that I belong to, the women have been wonderful to me and supportive. Since I moved to the more explict genre of romance writing you do see more men using their names. I started with Lisette and decided to stick with it, also I’m very private about my personal life, so it works for me in that aspect as well.

Kelsey: In erotica, I don’t believe it matters which gender wrote it. I have read both and have liked both views. The thing about erotica, is that there are so many veins of it, it has it’s own unique following. To Eric’s point, if the plot is good, characters come to life, I usually forget the authors gender. Yes, I do hope to cultivate both genders as readers. My approach is to make both the hero/heroine have an equal desire to explore their deepest passions while falling in love. The goal is to have a man or a woman reader say to themselves, this is hot and I could do this in my own life. Did I answer clearly enough?

Ann: Yes, I do try to have the man and woman sound differently. In fact, I use to female beta readers for just this purpose. They do not critique the work but read it from a female view to make sure I don’t make them sound the same. I also role play out the scenes in my study, as if it was a stage play. Two more comments on this. I read alot of romance novels of all genres, so I have become a student of how woman talk, react and relate. Also, Kristin Daniels, critiques my work for dialogue and plausability from a female pov. Bottom line, it is a constant work in process.

Tracey: I have always been an avid reader, and wanted to write for a long time. What stopped me were two things, one I was intimidated that I was not creative enough. Secondly, since I played football in high school and college, my english classes were taken in the summer and taught by the football coach(s). My entire english education was game films! So those two things stopped me cold. Then I read an article, and can’t remember which one, and it taked about fiction writing had little to do with creative writing but was a craft that can be learned. Now some are more talented than others, but if you apply yourself and learn it you can become a good writer. So I jumped in and have not looked back. The english side of it, well slowly but surely, and thanks again to Kristin Daniels for being my grammar tutor.

A question about voice. Not the author’s, but the male and female characters. Do you consciously try to make the women sound differently than the men? For example, one “rule of thumb” is that women talk more, use more and different words, describe things in greater detail. Where as men don’t.

Would an educated woman sound different from an educated man, especially when both are used to using words in their professions?

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Ann

A couple of questions for you: Based on Eric’s question above, do you think women are more likely to pick up erotica written by a “woman” than a man, believing the story would run more to their liking because of the author’s gender?

Do you hope to cultivate a readership of both genders? And if so, how do you appeal to both?

Again – thank you for being with us at RU today!
Kelsey

Thanks again for joining us! Have fun.

Why don’t we seek out people who have experienced a medical procedure, ask them to show their scar; we could all decide if it’s the work of a male or female doctor. — I hope that sounds absurd.

My formula; a good Author will come off the page as genderless, creative, captivating and full of fiction (we won’t notice the latter).

There, I’ve had my say. —- Thank you Lisette and Tracey — for an interesting blog.

I have a question. Why is it that male author’s involved in woman’s fiction always seem to hide behind a girlie name? Who does this to us? —— Eric