If you ask a writer of erotic romance if there's any way to come up with a story all readers will love, she'll tell you--no way. Reading is always a matter of taste, and of all the fiction genres, there's nowhere that is more true than in erotica. That said, in my experience there may be one exception to the "matter of taste" principle: it seems to help if the sex comes from the heart.

What do I mean by that? Well, I've published three novels and thirty-five novellas and short stories, and it's interesting which of the tales seem to have the greatest impact and get the most fan mail. They are the ones that I sat down and wrote for myself, out of passion, not necessarily even thinking about anyone but the hero and myself.

Probably the most interesting example of this is my novella "Je t'aime, Etienne." Now, if I came up to you and said, "Would you like to read a story about a woman who fell for a junior hockey player from Quebec?" I doubt that you'd be all, "Oh yeah, yeah, right NOW!" Romance readers (outside of Canada, at least) are not necessarily hockey fans. I very nearly decided to leave this story out of my second Soulful Sex collection for this reason, as well as another: I originally wrote it privately for myself, for fun. It was actually several written fantasies, some in first person, some in third. I tried to make it all work as a "real novella," but I truly felt it was cobbled together. It seemed incurably sloppy and personal to me, but I left it in the book.

Well, this story won an award, received acclaim from critics, and has brought me raves from fans. Just this week someone wrote me that reading it was "the best sex she ever had." I tell you this not as some sort of commercial, but to make a point: Maybe this wasn't the most polished, professional story I've written, but it was from the heart. I wrote it originally for my own personal enjoyment, without any of the mental editing I'm sure I do when writing for others. The result, it seems, was the story is that much more heartfelt, candid, and genuine.

I received similar feedback for my story "As Commonplace as Rain," also in my second Soulful Sex collection. It started life as a piece of erotic Star Wars fan fiction, and I wrote it when I was deeply and passionately in an Obi-Wan phase. The names and places were changed to protect me from Lucasfilm's lawyers, but the fangirl enthusiasm still shines through, it seems. It's been five years since the original version was pulled off the web due to the story's publication, and I still occasionally get emails begging for a copy of it.

I get the idea that when I'm deliriously obsessed with the protagonist, so turned on by the subject matter that I read it over and over to excite myself more than to accomplish the editing (LOL), and generally overwhelmed on a personal level with the material, that's when the result is the best.

I'm sure for many romance authors and fans, this comes as no big surprise. But you have to understand, I'm an INTJ. That's my Myers-Briggs personality rating, and the "T" in there means "thinking" (as opposed to "F" for "feeling"). I generally believe that art requires things like accuracy, precision, practice, correction, and all those intellectual things. (Maybe part of the reason is that my first drafts always leave so much to be desired!) I make a practice of applying my rational brain when translating things in my imagination to paper.

But maybe the fact that my most popular works are the product of "emotional outbursts" should tell me that the best authors find a good balance of both.

This past month, while working on the third story in my upcoming collection, a totally new tale sprang up in my psyche, practically in its entirety. This one virtually grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me and forced me to write it immediately. I penned the thing in two days and it was, to say the least, intense. I edited it and sent it to a test reader, hoping by giving reign to my inner self that way I hadn't created something only I would find meaningful. Her extremely enthusiastic reaction assured me this exercise worked just fine.

It was sex from the heart.

Diana Laurence is the author of the Soulful Sex anthologies of erotic romance fiction, and released her last book Bloodchained in September 2007 (www.bloodchained.com). Diana's works are published by Living Beyond Reality Press (www.livingbeyondreality.com.)
Visit her at www.dianalaurence.com or enjoy her blog at www.eroticawithsoul.blogspot.com.