What is it like to write erotica?

My name is Kim Chambers. I'm a single mom of two teens and I live in the Cincinnati area. I'm often times insecure about such things as my weight, my writing ability, my future...but one thing I've never been is ashamed of my stories.I write under the pen name Pepper Pace but it's not because I'm afraid to write romantic erotica under my real name.


When I first began to share my stories it was in an online forum. No, not Literotica but a place called IMVU. In IMVU you can create avatars and interact socially with people from all over. My avatar's name was Pepper Pace and I continued writing under that name when I joined/began several IMVU online writing groups.


Role-playing is one of the best things that I could ever do as a shy introvert. It brought me out of my shell and though I didn't really share the stories that I had penned in private I was able to express myself and to feel comfortable about being blunt, raw, sweet, innocent, etc. I have been many 'characters' online from a High Priestess to a witch with a shikigami demon to call.

Unfortunately, anonymity is important because some can't separate fantasy from reality. When I created the name Pepper Pace it was to make sure that no one could trace me in the course of role-playing. It followed me on my other online endeavors and when I finally decided to publish, I didn't mind giving 'Pepper Pace' the credit. 


Now that you understand where the name comes from, let me explain a bit about why I've written so much erotica. No, I'm not any more preoccupied with sex than any other person (smile). In my time I've written stories about coming of age and being accepted. I've written horror stories and sometimes I've written some mind-blowing sex scenes in some of my romance stories. One day I said to myself; 

I want to be a writer. Now what do I have to do to make this happen?


The answer was; I have to practice and then share my work without being afraid. No...not with family and friends; they will just politely smile and say 'Oh that's nice.' I knew I had to share it with people who will tell me if I'm hitting or missing.


So first came practicing. I sat down and pulled out a pad of paper and wrote some experimental stories that I didn't intend to necessarily share, but which would help me to free myself of all of the things that scared me. Could I write a story that used curse words, that had sex, that talked about taboos? What would people think if I wrote from the heart about things that cut deep?


I thought the hardest thing that I could write is erotica. I said to myself that if I could write erotica then I can write anything. 


Understand that at that time I was a woman that had barely used a curse word. I was sweet, shy and dependable. Damn I still blush when someone pays me a compliment and drop my eyes if someone meets my gaze. I smile when someone smiles at me and I would never dream of hurting anyone intentionally. 

I do not fit the image of that sultry erotic writer that so many might picture. 

But it was never my intent to be known as an author of erotica. I just wrote these experimental stories to challenge myself. On one day the challenge might be to write the raunchiest story that I could. Another challenge might be to write something sexy but sweet. I discovered freedom in writing like this; not worrying about what others would think, but what interested me and where I saw the story going instead of based on others 'moral' fiber. When I wrote Urban Vampire, by the normal standards, Kim would only have 1 lover. But I don't have to write like others. My characters will do what they do regardless of what the 'writing industry' claims the readers want. I AM THE READER and I know what I want, right? If I followed that theory then it's perfectly cool to have a love story between a white boy with cerebral palsy and an anxiety ridden black girl, or between a burn victim and drug addict. 


In freeing myself by writing hardcore emotions I discovered something. I wasn't writing erotica. I was writing about being honest, about what it feels to be hurt or alone, about how good sex can feel when it's right and with the right person; I was just writing from the heart without worrying about who would read it or holding back out of shame. 

After filling up 5 notebooks with stories such as Babygirl and the Mean Boss, They Say Love is Blind, Miscegenist Sabishii, and My Special Friend--as well as others, a member of one of my online IMVU groups told me about Literotica. She knew that I loved interracial stories but had a hard time finding them and said there were hundreds upon hundreds of stories in that genre at Literotica.com. 


I remember feeling so excited that I would have so many free IR stories to read, and I tore through them never intending to share. At this time, 2 years had passed since I'd last written in my notebook and I had given up my dream of being a writer for a while. Then one day I decided I would share one story just to see what people thought. I think it was UV but it may have been Juicy. The feedback was more than I ever expected. And before I knew it, I hard garnered a following.

What is it like to write erotica? Well the answer to that is this; if you write from the heart, without holding back, then it's liberating. It's beautiful, and there is no shame in that.