Making Yourself Hot

By A.J. Llewellyn

So I was at an Oscar party like almost everybody else in L.A. on Sunday and one of the people present asked me about writing sex scenes for my books.
"Do you ever turn yourself on with your scenes?" he asked.
Hell yeah! I mean, if I didn't...if my scenes don't get me at least er...happy, how can I expect my readers to get worked up over them?
I think long and hard about each sex scene I write. Sometimes they're brief and hot, sometimes they're long and romantic. I am mindful of the fact that I have two groups of readers. Those who read and re-read every sex scene and remember every detail - and those who skip over them for the story. I guess it's a good sign that there's something for them to read when they're skipping over the sex, right?
But I digress.
Anyway, sometimes these scenes come naturally. They're no effort at all. I had a whole sex scene from page one in Diura that I swear just came into my mind like a movie. Sometimes I have to work on it...especially when it's part of a series and I think - hey, have I written one like this before? But after 60 books published, you do run out of original ideas considering each one has several sex scenes.
I look to a variety of sources for inspiration when I am feeling stumped.Beyond gay porn which is a sparkling novelty always guaranteed to ignite some creativity, I like to read. Right now, Nick Capra's blogs are providing a lot of grist for the mill.
He's not only one of the hottest porn stars out there but frankly the best of the porn star bloggers.I love his Confessions of a Recovering Hooker posts. I think he needs to write books and I've been encouraging him to do so.
He is a tremendous, important new voice in the world of gay erotic writing.
Porn star Erik Rhodes blog once inspired a scene for my Waikiki Vampire book Ma Ma Loa. The way Erik feels about his porn star career seemed perfect for my fictional gay vampire, Tem.
Steve Cruz's tales of traveling with a portable douche bag seemed perfect for my male escort Mio in the upcoming The Book and the Rose.
I recently renewed my Men at Play subscription and I've been enjoying those hot little trysts.Of course with two more books pending for me with gay porn director John Bruno, my thoughts are straying toward creating, not being inspired by such scenes since what I'll be writing in the Massive Studio series will be filmed.
I think the thing about writing love scenes and sex scenes is to make them as imaginative as possible while keeping them plausible. I have been accused of having an aversion to beds since most of my characters use them as little as possible, but hey, ya gotta keep it interesting. On the page and off.
What about other authors and readers?
How do you feel about this subject?

Aloha oe,

A.J.

Lessons in Erotica

By A.J. Llewellyn

I am often asked by readers and interviewers what I have learned as an author of gay erotic romances. I've learned a lot. So much in fact, I have assembled a top 10 list of Lessons in Erotica.

10. I am no longer shy using words like 'penis' in public. Yes, I walked into an adult boutique the other day to purchase penis cupcake pans as gifts for a couple of readers. The store assistant called them pecker pans. They're penis pans, woman. PENIS! It took me a long time to be comfortable with this. When I first started writing my books, I went to Circus of Books and felt like a deviate when I asked, "Do you have a movie called Fuck Holes?"

9. I no longer wait until a store is half-empty to ask the clerks what gay movies are hot. I ask the customers. Although I still don't like the ones that rub up against me. Guys who rub up against you in adult book stores are not hot. They are usually creepy, smell and missing several teeth.

8. I feel quite comfortable discussing sex in public.

7. I am no longer shocked when readers email me with sex questions. I'm no therapist but I like to think I give good head...er, I mean advice...

6. I am stoked when readers ask me about sex scenes and ask if I really tried the licorice rope ties in Shipwreck Bay or the Popsicle blow job lessons in Summer Love. The answer is yes to both.

5. I am not above a bit of shameless self promotion, such as mentioning book titles. See Number 5 above.

4. I love it when readers email me quirky sexual experiences they've had, especially when they tell me I can use them in my books. Quirkiest one yet? The reader who told me he came just by his lover licking his ear repeatedly. I haven't tried it yet but one of my characters did. He rather enjoyed it. I forget which book right now. Sorry. Missed opportunity for another bit of shameless self promotion, drat the luck!

3. I no longer get irate when church-abiding people who find out what I write make moral judgments about me and my books, especially when they haven't read them. I just feel sorry for them. I go to church too, but I don't tell them what to do in their bedrooms, but I can imagine fisting and water sports are part of their secret regimes...

2. I no longer get upset when I get bad reviews. That's what voodoo dolls are for. (Kidding)

And the number one thing I have learned...drum roll please!

1. I am in the fortunate position of being able to tell supermodel Adam Killian to please remove ALL his clothing. And he does!! Yeah, baby! Unfortunately only cover photography is involved, but still...what a thrill.

What have you all learned from writing and/or reading erotica?

Aloha oe,

A.J.

Fictional Menages vs REAL Menages

By A.J. Llewellyn

We romance authors know what's hot. Our publishers let us know and so do the top ten lists at every romance publishing house. Some authors defy the trending genres and sell their pants off regardless of what is considered currently "hot".
Some authors jump on the new, glowing tide with mixed results.Menages is hot. Paranormal menages, even better. Some are frankly ludicrous...even frightening.
What kind of a REAL menages involves one women and say three, or even four men where the guys don't touch each other? That's not a menages it's a gang bang and in reality would make for one sore woman.
I am gay and I write gay menages. I have also written two books with men and women (My Hawaiian Song of Love, Quartetto) the latter of which featured three men and a woman.In romance writing parlance it was a M/M/M/F which indicates the men get it on. I've noticed a new genre cropping up: M/F/M which signifies the girl gets lucky with the guys but the guys don't get lucky with each other.
Now, I've talked to many friends who are het and who swing. They tell me in real life, this is possible. However, in real life, the fantasy acted out in reality is often one man and two women. For a guy, for example, who wants to see his wife taken by a hot, hung stranger, he might sit by and watch and join in...but not every single day.I have a friend who wanted to swing and she and her husband went to a sex club.
Her sex partner was apparently a very free and easy guy who grabbed her husband and as she said to me, "he got my husband ready for me. It was a total turn on."
"For you or for him?" I asked her.
"For me...and later on, he admitted he was taken by surprise, but he liked it. Would we do it again? I don't know. He wants another woman with me, but I'm not interested."
As for three or four men taking on a woman and not even getting near each other, I am told, and as I suspected, it is highly improbable.
My friend Leslie who performs in and directs straight porn tells me that when she and her hubby play with others, some guys love the feel of another man's cock, especially when it's just been inside the woman they're playing with.
"My husband is great for playtime with other women, but would never touch another man," she told me last night.
I asked her about a scene in a book I described to her, one that I had just read where three men took turns having sex with the woman. I found it unbelievable that they placidly took turns er...enjoying her and nothing else was going on.
"That sounds like a damned dreary party," she said. "I can't imagine that happening."
Leslie is heavily involved in the swinger scene and has shot a couple of orgies for camera.
"What you are describing is an orgy and is borderline gang rape," she said. "If it goes on for hours and the chick is spent and still the guys are doing her...in real life, she'd be in a lot of pain. Besides, Ive been in a real orgy and there is nothing like them. There is an urgency...a pure picnic of pleasure. It would take at least two women to entertain a few guys. I'm a porn actress and I wouldn't want to take on three or four guys on my own. I mean, come on."
So I am curious.
Why do you think this genre is now hot to the point of being a little...er, ridiculous? Maybe they're written for women by women who have a fetish for being the center of attention, but is it even remotely realistic?
Or am I the one who's eating crazy pie?
I'd really value your thoughts.

Aloha oe,

A.J.