When do we get to the sex part? In my case, on page 13.

I’m referring to the latest short story I’m writing for my next erotic romance anthology. It’s true: there’s no sex until page 13 (although when it arrives, it does so with a bang). There’s a certain risk in this, I’ll admit. After all, people will buy the book because they like erotic romance, and I don’t want any readers to be losing patience at page 12 and demanding their money back.

It’s a tricky issue.

I recently encountered a short story in an online e-zine that started right in with the sex—or at least references to it—in the first paragraph. I’m not saying it wasn’t well written. The author had a fine enough command of the language. But to be honest, I didn’t care about the woman in the story, and I didn’t care that the guy she had just had sex with was really good in bed…and I didn’t finish reading it.

I didn’t care because I didn’t know them. I had no idea if this lovemaking had been the fulfillment of long-hidden desire, or was a one-night stand. I didn’t know what this woman’s deepest needs and yearnings were, or if this man met them. I had no knowledge as to whether the heroine was at all like me, or if her lover was the sort I would find at all desirable. So the fact that he had made her nipples tingle and made her scream with release was completely uninteresting news to me. I suppose I would have learned more about the characters eventually, but the sex scene had already been wasted.

Nevertheless, I had to be impressed that it was no-waiting sex! No readers would be demanding their money back because they got to page 12 without a big payoff.

Unfortunately, I just can’t write that way, and my theory is that in the final analysis, it’s better if the erotica writer doesn’t. I could be wrong, but I’ll lay it out for you for your consideration.

I recently wrote a short story of similar length and format, to be published in an e-zine in the near future. I wanted to grab my readers quickly, but rather than kicking off with the purple prose I went with a trick I think does the job much better: conflict and suspense.

I set up my heroine as a woman who has been secretly in love with the hero for years. They are doing a theatrical production of "Dracula” together and she is unable to yield to his vampire in the play because she is unwilling to risk her heart in reality. The rehearsal is intense and we feel for her plight. Why exactly is she hesitant? Is the hero in fact trustworthy? Will the scene get the best of her somehow? And would that be good or bad? Will she let on the truth? What will happen if/when the hero finds out how she feels?

No sex, but plenty of tension, some of which is actually sexual tension. So by the time something happens, the reader doesn’t have to imagine tension and release, she’s had it built for her by the story line.

That’s the theory anyway, and in my opinion the best romance and the best erotica take this all into account. This is why sex-free classic tales like Gone with the Wind, Jane Eyre, and Pride and Prejudice are beloved of romance readers decade after decade. If an author can get a reader to yearn with all her heart for the heroine to end up with the hero, you can put in nothing stronger than a meaningful glance and the sexual sparks will fly automatically. Mr. Darcy in a wet shirt and trousers has it all over that guy in the e-zine story I read, regardless of the wonders of the latter’s "technique.”

Of course as an erotica writer I’m all for pouring on the spicy language, sparing no details, exploring every sensual aspect of a sex scene, and I do. However, I call my writing "erotica with soul,” and one aspect of that is that I try to give the characters as much soul and personality as possible in the time allowed. To be sure my readers will experience the deepest possible sort of eroticism, I personally have to really want my characters in bed before I put them there.

Even if it isn’t until page 13. So…my apologies for the long wait, and I hope it will prove worthwhile.

Diana Laurence is the author of the Soulful Sex anthologies published by Living Beyond Reality Press (www.livingbeyondreality.com). Visit her at www.dianalaurence.com, and read her blog at www.eroticawithsoul.blogspot.com. Download her free fiction from the LBR Press READ FREE Project at www.livingbeyondreality.com/readfree.html.