To celebrate the launch of this year’s Hot Holiday Reads charity anthology, THE STOCKINGS WERE HUNG, we sat down with the editor, erotic romance author Bethany Hyde, to chat about her process, the anthology, and the state of the erotic fiction world (excerpted from a longer interview in this month’s Fuse Lit newsletter).
Fuse Literary: What is it that drew you to writing erotic romance?
Bethany Hyde: I love love. It’s just the greatest thing in the world. And sex is awesome. Romance novels without sex often leave me feeling cheated. I’d hate for my readers to be left unsatisfied.
FL: Do you see any challenges that are particular to the erotic romance genre?
BH: Sometimes it feels like readers don’t understand the nature of fiction. No, my stories are not about my sex life. I write erotic fiction, not erotic memoirs.
FL: Where do you get your inspiration?
BH: My best friend and I used to go to bars and make up stories about the people around us. I basically never stopped. Everywhere I look, there’s a story.
FL: You also write mainstream commercial fiction. How do you balance the two?
BH: For the most part, I go where the muse takes me. The stories that tend to get attention are the ones clamoring the loudest for it.
FL: How important is it to have a community in the erotica world?
BH: Community is essential, no matter what type of writing you’re doing. This is a long, lonely process, and there’s no reason to go through it alone.
FL: What was your favorite part about putting together this anthology?
BH: I loved getting to read so many great stories by a lot of talented authors. There’s also something really exciting about getting a bunch of emails and then seeing them as a book later.
FL: The longest story in this anthology is about 1/10th the length of the average novel. What would you say is the biggest difference between writing novels and short stories?
BH: You don’t need all the backstory in short stories, all the baggage. There’s a lot less exposition. It’s more like a day in the life rather than the complete relationship. The challenge is in still telling a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end.
FL: Does writing short stories help with your novels?
BH: Writing anything helps with my craft, which benefits my novels. Short stories also help me experiment with different heat levels and explore new areas of BDSM that you don’t tend to see in novels.
FL: What would you tell a new author looking to break into erotic romance?
BH: Write what you love, not what you think will sell.
FL: What do you like best about being a writer?
BH: The writing community. I wouldn’t trade the relationships I’ve made for anything.
FL: What’s next for you?
BH: I’ve been focusing a lot on more commercial stories, but I’m excited to start working on a couple of new erotic romances in 2016.
Thanks, Bethany! Pick up THE STOCKINGS WERE HUNG today. In our third annual Hot Holiday Reads anthology, everybody’s hung for the holidays. With spicy new stories from your favorite Fuse authors and more, Christmas will soon come…over and over and over.
Contributors include: Bethany Hyde, Peggy Barnett, May B. Bridges, Kelly Cain, Amelia Creed, Laura Elizabeth, Matt Inay, Wendy Qualls, Angelique Reyes, Catherine Silver, and Kenya Wright.
PAY WHAT YOU WANT for it here. 100% of the profits will be donated to the UNHCR, the UN agency leading and coordinating international action to protect refugees.
