How To Write Erotica: A Mills and Boon Guide

Vanilla—A slightly derogatory term for the kind of sex that many readers feel most comfortable with between the pages of an adult novel, but still with a strong erotic charge. Vanilla sex is straightforward and unkinky, a pure demonstration of mutual passion and attraction that is fully satisfying for the individuals involved. It tends to be soft core and prefers to describe the sex act in non-specific terms: in vanilla a man has a ‘maleness’ not an ‘erection’; women have ‘buds’ in place of ‘nipples’; and no one actually ‘comes’, though they might ‘experience an overwhelming crescendo of joy that sends them crashing like a wave on to a cosmic rock of euphoria’, or any combination of similar words in a slightly different order. In terms of tone, good vanilla sex is often the hardest to get right.

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There are any number of ways in which you can turn your reader on, and it’s a safe bet that whatever you’re into is going to appeal to a surprisingly large demographic. But in order to create the kind of all-round experience any discerning reader is entitled to enjoy, you need to make sure your book is as well written as possible, and not just a string of sexual encounters held together by the flimsiest of connections. In short you need three things: characters, plot and technique.