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Writing bestselling erotic fiction

21 November 2016

‘I've not lived any of my characters' lives, that's for sure! But I think every author bases much of their writing on personal experience, because it makes it easier to write about feelings and how you deal with certain situations. Although I've not had sex on a rowing machine or anything like that, there are certain things within the pages of all of my books that I've experienced myself. It makes the writing process easier when you can fall back on things that have happened to you...

You can make someone feel really uncomfortable when they ask what you do. I don't just come out with the fact I write erotic fiction. I tell them I write. Then, of course that leads to, 'Oh, what do you write?' But the number of people that say to me on a daily basis, 'Eugh, smut' or 'Eugh, porn!' It's just narrow-mindedness! It's people that are uncomfortable with it and therefore try to bring it down almost...

But the truth is that sex and love make the world go round, just as much as money does. I think now more than ever, erotic fiction is there to be read and people are reading it. It's maybe taken too long to get to this point, but I think it can only be a good thing. The publishing industry can see that, I think, they accept and embrace it just as readers do.'

'Queen of erotic literature' and author of bestseller The Protector Jodi Ellen Malpas in an interview in Bookbrunch