What Are You Working On?
Writers on their works in progress
Sage Vivant
author and anthologist
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Sage Vivant operates Custom Erotica Source, where she and a small staff of writers create tailor-made fiction for individual clients. With M. Christian, she has edited several erotica anthologies, including Leather, Lace and Lust, Confessions, The Best of Both Worlds, and the forthcoming Amazons, which has a release date of March 12. She is the author of two forthcoming books, Giving the Bride Away, a novel from Orion's new Neon imprint, and a non-fiction book, Your Erotic Personality, from Berkley Books. |
Right now, I'm working on several projects (like most writers). I
have to finish Your Erotic Personality by mid-April, so that's really
the priority for me for the next several weeks.
This is a book that, through quizzes and tests, helps readers to determine their erotic personality. Once they score their tests and learn which of the twelve types they are (they can be more than one, but one will likely dominate), they then turn to the section of the book that describes that type. That's where they learn more about themselves and their erotic personality. The book's premise is fun but it's also intended to help people understand and feel good about who they are and what they like.
I developed the list of types after writing client stories for eight years. When I took stock of the many hundreds of stories I'd written for clients, I noted definite "personality" types revealed in the subject matter, and certain themes emerged over and over. Those trends evolved into the erotic personality types in this book.
And all along I'm filling my client's orders -- anywhere from four to ten stories per month.
Man, that's a lot of stories each month.
Yes, but some of them are short -- "Quickies" are only 500 words, for instance.
How did you come up with the idea for Your
Erotic Personality?
An editor who rejected another project of mine suggested it. (Odd how a rejection can actually turn out to be positive....) The publisher was intrigued by the idea of my business, but wanted more than just erotic stories -- she wanted me to use my experience with clients to talk about what I had learned about them. What's strange about it is that I think it's a much more compelling concept than my original one was, and I'm getting such a kick out of writing it because I really have learned a lot about human sexual psyches by writing stories for my clients. I guess sometimes it takes a third party to be able to zero in on what we're too close to see -- I'm so grateful to that editor for giving me a new perspective on my original idea.
For me, the writing is the easiest part. It's figuring out what publishers are looking for, how they think, and how to market my work that is the most challenging for me. I can often use my business to pave the way for some types of publicity, but there are just so many writers out there today with so many great ideas, it can be difficult to be heard or seen. And my biggest challenge of all is not to turn into one of those desperate types who blogs about every creative thought or pretends to be far more successful than she is. I just don't want to turn into a self-absorbed jerk! I've seen it happen to so many writers and to be honest, I am trying my best not to suffer the same fate. But the writing world is a difficult business and it takes a whole lot of strength not to let it erode your serenity.
What's next for you?
Berkley wants my manuscript by mid-April, and then I'm going to pitch some sequels to them. After that, I'll be assembling a collection of my stories requested by female Custom Erotica Source clients -- I hope to sell the collection to one of several publishers who have expressed an interest.
But I also want to start working on a second novel. For me, novels are very challenging because my focus has been on short stories for so many years. I think to truly grow as a writer, I need to work on novel writing.
Links
M.J. Rose writes about Sage Vivant in her blog; and also here, on selling erotica
See more What Are You Working On? interviews.
published 28 Feb 06 on Too Beautiful. email copyright 2006 Mark Pritchard, Bernal Heights, San Francisco