Erotica Class--Ever Taken One?

Maryn

For the first time, the local writing center, which is generally excellent, is offering a class on writing erotica. The instructor is multiply published in romance and mystery (and, I'm assuming, erotica, perhaps under another name).

I've published short erotica, so I'm reasonably confident I'm already fairly good at it. But I'm tempted to take the class (which meets for a single session) just to see what it's about. Maybe I'd learn something--maybe even a lot--and maybe not, which is what happened with the last class I took.

Of course, it's not free, nor especially convenient. Would you take the class, if you were me? Why, or why not?

Maryn
 

Nyki27

I don't personally feel any attraction to taking writing classes, I've always preferred the feedback of my peers. But that's just me, and it doesn't mean they're not worthwhile.
 

AprilBoo

How much can he/she teach you in one session? If this were a workshop I would be inclined to take it, but a one-off "class" just seems like the author is going to lecture, and your money would probably be better spent elsewhere. And if the author's credentials don't list erotica as his/her genre, then you really don't know if you're going to get general info that you could get anywhere or something genre specific. I would pass on this one. JMO.
 

veingloree

I think I would take the class out of curiousity. You never know, the teacher might have some great tips top share and just hanging out and talking 'in person' about it would be fun.
 

maestrowork

What do you have to lose? You may even meet some cool people and network. Or there might be some creepy guy lurking in the corner (no, I'm not taking that class, rest assured)...

:rollin
 

Maryn

Creepy Guy

Actually, maestrowork, one of the small negatives is that there is indeed a creepy guy who takes a great many classes at this place. People who are pleasant to him find themselves running into him in public places way too often for it to be coincidental.

(It's happened to two members of my critique group, each of whom started seeing him two or three times a week at stores, malls, etc. When they compared notes--does the guy you told us about look like this? :hat --the one taking a class in the current session called the center's director, explained the problem, and got the only full refund when the class had already begun that we've ever heard of.)

I'm thinking that if he signs up for only one class this session, it'll be this one!:eek

And frankly, if I were picking guys to take this class with, you'd be it! ;)

Maryn:eek:
 
Maryn

Maryn

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Just a quick FYI: I decided to take the erotica-writing class and wrote the check before I could change my mind.

I figure, the instructor (who many people in my critique group think highly of) knows plenty about writing and publishing in her primary genre (Romance) and some in her secondary genre (mystery), so the likelihood of her having published erotica under another name seems high.

So even though I've published some, too, there's probably plenty to learn, and if not, war stories to swap. I figure at the least I might gain insight in writing romance-tinged erotica :kiss: that seems to be so hot (pun fully intended) these days, if not something a bit 'harder.' :whip:

Maryn
 
Maryn

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"Tell us how it went"

I intend to--but the class isn't until the end of March, so don't wait up!

Maryn
 
Maryn

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The class met last weekend and I was supremely disappointed.

There were about 25 students, perhaps a third of them men, which was a pleasant surprise. The instructor has indeed published erotica under a pseudonym, in addition to her romance and mystery. She brought a large and very dusty box of erotica novels for the class to thumb during the break, most of them erotic romance but including a sampling of 'harder' stuff like Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty trilogy and The Pearl.

The history of erotica section had elements that were new to me. I enjoyed her stance on the lack of agreed-upon difference between erotica and pornography, the label seeming to depend upon the moral judgment and tastes of the beholder.

Unfortunately, for the sort of erotica I do, it was all downhill from there. The instructor knows only erotic romance, and only respects print. She spent virtually all of the remainder of the class focused on what she knows and respects.

For most of the attendees that seemed sufficient, although more than half never said a word, so who knows what was going through their minds. I just know that I certainly wasn't going to be the one to raise her hand timidly and inquire about the fetish market or what was wrong with my fellow writers at this board who seem pleased with the deals they make with their ebook publishers.

I will say that although the focus was too narrow to do me any good, the woman does know her erotic romance. It's just a damned shame that limitation wasn't in the course description, since I don't want to write one.

Maryn, older but no wiser
 
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veinglory

veinglory

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Hmmm. A pity that she couldn't take a broader view, even if she did dwell on what she knows best. Or the course should be given a more specific title, surely?
 
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