Guest Blogger: Bel Anderson

Erotica and Me.

I have a dirty mind and a vivid imagination. Way back when I was a virginal 13 or 14, my best friend and I used to spend Saturday evening sleepovers writing ‘stories ‘ – in the form of scripts starring ourselves as the main characters, to be read out for extra comic effect – which involved meeting and (inevitably) having sex with members of the band ‘The Boomtown Rats’. To add a little squeal value, we used to often graphically describe each other having sex with the Rat we liked the least. If I was writing, I got my favourite (Bob, always Bob) and ditto for her. It was hilarious and I’d still love to have sleepovers and play that game – unfortunately, she doesn’t feel the same way!

I was the one who gathered sexual information from magazines, encyclopaedias, my parents’ collection of ‘Tree of Knowledge’ – anywhere. I explained to any innocent, ignorant friend (again, graphically I daresay) what blowjobs were, what cunnilingus meant, what an orgasm was.

Not one of my friends has expressed surprise that I am writing erotica!

If they were to read what I’ve written (to date, I don’t think any of them have and to be honest I haven’t really pointed them in that direction) they’d think I’m up to all sorts of sexual shenanigans, but this is where the imagination I used aged 13/14 comes in. I’d never had sex, but I described in one memorable story a ‘grinding’ as he moved his cock inside her (me!) When I actually got to have sex a few years later, I was delighted to find that there is a sort of grinding – not of the peppermill kind (unless a peppermill is your chosen instrument of pleasure, but that sounds like another story) – involved in sex. My imagination was correct!

I love to use my imagination to dream up situations and play that I haven’t experienced myself. That’s not to say that my husband and I don’t have a perfectly satisfying love-life, but we certainly have never been up to some of the things I’ve written about and are not likely to be in many cases. In my mind I get to do all sorts of things (safely in the guise of a character) with young, muscled, sexy men, in situations that I will never find myself in in real life. It has to be the biggest perk of writing erotica!

I read erotica – I love reading erotica. I have no idea whether what I read is based on the author’s experience or gleaned from reading erotica, looking on the internet, magazines… and it doesn’t matter. If it’s good, it’s good. If they can imagine what the sex act they’re writing about would feel like and describe it effectively, that’s enough for me.

My sister’s husband recently observed to her that I must be thinking about sex all the time as it’s what I write about. (Yes, it made it slightly difficult to meet his eye without giggling the next time we met!)

I can’t deny that I think about it a lot and always have (although possibly not quite so much when I was a mum with a head full of young children). It interests me greatly – in theory and in practise. It’s hard for me to be with couples without imagining them having sex. I find myself studying people at work, in shops, anywhere. Nobody is safe!

Erotica, to me, is the honest expression of something that fascinates all of us. Just like the act of sex itself, sometimes you might fancy ‘wham, bam, thank you, ma’am!’ and sometimes something a little more sensual and slow-moving. So far I’ve found something for every mood. Along the way I’ve also discovered a lot of writers to admire and some very high writing standards to aspire to. I’m delighted to have had a story accepted for Lucy and Victoria’s upcoming ‘Smut Alfresco’ collection. What excellent company to be in!

My other published erotica can be found here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_2?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Bel%20Anderson&search-alias=books-uk

I’d really like to make some more bloggy friends, so if you’ve been reading this please do come and find me on http://belandersonwrites.wordpress.com or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bel.anderson.56

Finally, Lucy, thank you so much for having me here!

Bel x