Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 Playing with Ourselves: Games and Short Writes for One 11
The Character Generator 12
Fantasy Phrases 16
Dirty Limericks 18
Interview with Chris Orr 23
Fiction: "Just Right" 26
2 Building Character: Meet the Inner Neighbors 29
Character Builder Activity 30
Interview with Charli Allan 34
Fiction: "The Scotsman's Birthday" 39
3 Plots and Plotting 45
The Counter-Trope Plot Premise 47
Exploring an Example Counter-Trope: Stepwise Plotting 49
Expanding Plot Steps: The Heroine's Journey 50
Your Turn: Plot Activity 53
Interview with Dorothy Freed 54
Fiction: "Nancy Has a Baby" 59
4 Sensuality and Sensory Detail 67
Your Senses Right Now: Activity 67
North Carolina Study 68
Adding Sensory Detail: Activity 69
Bare Bones Scene 70
One Possible Fully Expanded Version of Scene 70
One Possible "Happy Medium" Version of Scene 72
Additional Activities about Sensory Detail 74
Interview with Billie Berlin 75
Fiction: "Summertime 1957" 79
5 Writing Dialogue for a Sexy Story 81
Writing Dialogue 82
Dialogue Activity 84
Writing Sexy Scenes 84
Sexy Scene Writing Activity 86
Bringing It All Together: Activity 86
Interview with Rene Johns 88
Fiction: "Delights of the Flesh" 92
6 Creating Erotic Poetry 93
The Mind of Poetry 93
Poetry and the Erotic 94
Erotic Poetry Games to Get You Started 95
Interview with Jan Steckel 106
Poetry: "I Believe That the Stars Will Shine Again" 112
7 Ecstatic Editing 115
The Cocoon Phase 117
The Playful Phase 117
The Focus Phase 119
The Fine-Tuning Phase 122
The Self-Compassion Phase 123
Interview with Rose K. Mark 124
8 Writing Sisters 127
Forming and Facilitating an Erotic Writing Group 128
Fiction: "At the Museum" 139
Fiction: "Cynara's Altar" 141
Interview with Mya Thomae 147
Fiction: "The Haunted Boner" 150
9 Performing and Publishing 151
Opening the Door to Sharing in Public 151
Performing Erotica 151
Publishing Erotica 156
Interview with Lynx Canon 159
10 Resources to Continue the Journey 163
Erotica by Women of a Certain Age 163
Books about Midlife Sexuality 170
Especially Relevant Books about Writing 173
Visual Books That Celebrate Women past Midlife 175
A Selection of Relevant Websites, Magazines, and Social Media 177
11 Conclusion 179
Appendix: Potential Character Names 181
About the Author 185
About the Contributors 187
