Ever wonder what the author is thinking about when writing
those steamy scenes? What's the difference between pornography and erotica?
What distinctions do you make in your own mind? Ben shares a little from his
heart on this matter.
Reflections On My Writing
by
Ben Hannigan
Sex is
something that is always special. Sex holds a power regardless of time, of
space, sex can be gentle, sex can be rough, it can hurt, it can heal. Sex is
something that I write about often but I would like to think that the focus of
my work isn’t sex. Sex to me is something that is both beautiful and
terrifying. It opens you up as a person in ways that cannot be foreseen;
opening up to a lover in a kiss bares your soul in ways that simply talking
will never do. To me if a lover is to cheat, taking them back if they confessed
to fucking another would be easy but sharing a slow loving passionate kiss
would be far harder and I take these views about what is meaningful into my
writing.
The
passion, the love, the desire I believe must come from more than sex, more than
the simple act of making love. My characters have in my mind an image and a
personality before they have their sexuality. In the piece that I am currently
writing for this blog, I tried to create not only a plausible relationship but
also create characters that are real and more importantly, can draw on the
emotions of a reader. The erotic for me as a writer is more about the build-up
to the act than the act itself. While the act is exciting; the moments of
frantic thrusting, kissing, tasting, biting and the ultimate explosion of
release, the teasing passionate build-up of anticipation, the lingering longing
kisses and the slow gentle stroking are the things that keep me coming
back to a piece, to an author.
The foreplay and the lust have to intertwine in a deeper story. Simple sex has
nothing in my view, it has no substance, no draw and no interest. If we use an
analogy of food, crude hypersexualised writing that is concerned with the
reproductive act and nothing more is a fast food hamburger, whereas the full
piece focusing on the hunt, the chase and the challenge of courtship as well as
the highs and lows of two lives colliding.
Sex without
a reason to me isn’t interesting so I try to create a world for my characters. I
want them to feel like people. Erotica that doesn’t have that feel of realism
for me is similar to porn on the screen, it doesn’t feel quite right, it feels
hollow and doesn’t have the same depth to it. For some reason, it doesn’t grab
my attention and hold it. For me starting at “he was inside her deep, fast,
rough, the sweat dripping down his back as he moved, driving his lover down
into the silk”doesn’t appeal in the same was as starting at say, “they sat
opposite each other at the bar table, she rubbed her bare foot over the younger
girls thigh as their hands touched gently as they moved, reaching for the
bread”. That’s not to say that the sex isn’t interesting or something that I
want to read about, but it I think requires building up to it.
The role of
the author, I believe is to inspire and create a world that a reader can lose
themselves in for as long as it takes them to read. To create a world that you
can be lost in eagerly awaiting the next instalment. I draw my inspiration from
conversations with other writers, friends, things I read or have seen. I start
with an image and spend my time trying to put the ‘thousand words’ that image
contains onto paper.
I want to thank my fellow writers on Storytime for their
encouragement, patience, and guidance as I test my new wings. They provide
inspiration and support that I didn't realize I needed until I had it. There
are people I talk to about my life, my writing, my hope and dreams; they know
who they are and they are an amazing help. Thanks to all!
