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Interview
with Mitzi Szereto
Why
were you drawn to writing erotica? It
happened by accident. I was already familiar with erotic literature – the
classics like Fanny Hill, the works of Anais Nin. But I’d never really
thought about writing it myself until after I met someone who claimed to write
erotica. Note I say claimed, because he showed me some of his work!
Having said that, it wasn’t any worse than most of the other stuff I’d seen
being written and published. I suppose this experience must have rooted itself
in my subconscious, because a short time later I found that I kept waking up
with scenes inside my head like trailers from a film. This kept happening every
morning for about a week. Finally I had to give in and write it up. This grew
into my first erotic novel, The Captivity of Celia, which I penned
under the name M. S. Valentine. That pretty much started things rolling as far
as my foray into erotica is concerned. I should add that I was spurred on by the
fact that I continued to see so much crap being written that I decided to try
and produce some work I’d want to read. I knew there had to be others
out there who shared a similar mindset to me. And it seems I was correct. Did
you ever have any "shameful" feelings about the kind of work you were
doing? Did you tell your family? I
suppose there’s a sense of that when you write this type of material – and
it doesn’t help that some of these books are packaged in a way that makes them
so top-shelf oriented. Granted, I’ve grown a lot more comfortable with it as
my writing has evolved. My early work as M. S. Valentine was extremely explicit
and a lot more in keeping with the work of the Victorians. However, if you read
Philip Roth or Mary Gaitskill, you’ll find explicit prose that rivals anything
on the top shelf. But somehow I don’t think you’d be asking them this same
question! I suppose it’s writing about sex in general that pushes people’s
buttons and makes it seem like the writer is doing something wrong or shameful.
There will always be that sense of the forbidden attached to it, though I think
that’s changing as erotica moves more into the mainstream. As for telling
family or friends, I never hid what I was doing from anyone. If others are not
comfortable with what you’re doing, that’s their problem. Sure, erotic
literature is not everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s fine. But if you produce
work of a high standard, why should you be ashamed? That’s the crux of it:
does the work have quality? Does it have literary merit? This is what should be
important, no matter what you’re writing about. You
have been described as an author and editor who has put the
"literature" back into erotic literature. Tell me what this
means. Erotica
has become the poor cousin of literature, especially during the latter part of
the twentieth century. We’ve moved away from the fine prose of the past. Yet
ironically, if you look at non-English-language erotica writers, there’s still
more of a literary tradition happening. So why have our English-language writers
continued on this course toward mediocrity? I suspect the increasing prevalence
of pornography. Much of contemporary English-language erotica reads like a
script from a porn video. Assuming, of course, they have scripts! A lot of it
has to do with motivation – or the perceived motivation – of people who read
erotica. It’s assumed that these readers are only looking to get off – and
to get off as quickly as possible. If you operate under this assumption, then
the work you’re going to produce will be very one-dimensional. You’re going
to dumb down to readers, and that’s what has been happening with so much of
our contemporary erotica. I, on the other hand, do not dumb down to readers. I
do not see them as drooling halfwits who can’t understand words that contain
more than two syllables. I see a reader who wants quality, content, and yes, who
wants arousing prose. But give them some style, some artistry. This is what
literature is. And this is what I’ve been trying to put back into erotica. You've
been outspoken about what you think of the quality of most of the erotic books
on the market, meant for the "one-handed read." But when someone
picks up an erotic book, do most of them care about how elegant the prose is?
Again, this relates back to the perception – or misperception – about who this erotica reader actually is. As I’ve made clear, my work is not typically aimed at the one-handed reader. I think most people can see that right away. This is not to say that someone looking for this type of material will not find satisfaction in what I’ve produced. I’ve no doubt they will. There are erotic thrills aplenty! But I think I am offering readers more than mindless porn. They can get that from a video or a skin magazine. I want my readers to become involved with the story, engaged with the characters – it should hit some emotional chord beyond merely the sexual. The prose and the content should make their breaths catch in their throats. I believe we are having a renaissance of erotic literature – a return, albeit slow, to the kind of reader whose parallel is the aficionado of the elegant prose of the past – a reader who has been mostly ignored by our contemporary erotica writers and publishers. Remember that these classics were aimed for an educated elite and were often written by some of history’s most respected authors. Theories abound as to who was behind all those books penned under the name Anonymous. As for
today’s readers, they are busier than ever. Therefore, when they finally take
time to sit down and read, they should be able to enjoy a work of erotica that
not only functions as an arousing piece of work, but functions as literature. In
some ways the prevalence of pornography has actually helped erotica, in that
it’s further segregated the audience into two tiers – one who’s interested
in a cheap and quick means to an end, the other who’s looking for quality, a
savoring of the prose. The arousal factor is there in both cases; it’s the
presentation that differs. It’s just taking some erotica writers and
publishers a bit longer than others to catch up! You've said, "When you're writing erotica, I think it's even more important to get things right, because there are some people out there who don't consider erotica a legitimate form of literature... and they're just looking for yet another reason to relinquish it to the dung heap of literature." Now, I understand how to "get things right" when you're talking about researching a place, a time period, etc. But what about researching sexual acts? Let's say you want to write about a sexual act you've never tried (and don't want to try). How can you "get things right"? That’s
a lot easier than it sounds. You research this the same way you research
anything else. You certainly don’t have to live what you write! Does Ruth
Rendell go about murdering people to gather her research? If she did, we
probably would have heard about it by now. There’s a wealth of information out
there for every conceivable (and even inconceivable) sex act around: sex
manuals, websites, videos – you name it, and you’ll find someone who’s
either written about it or done it. Bookstores have entire sections devoted to
human sexuality. There have been television documentary series, and they’ve
covered just about everything, including things I’ve never even heard of. If
you want to find it, you can find it. Don’t be a lazy writer – put your
research skills to use! A medical encyclopedia can come in handy as well. How did you sell your first anthology? I’d
just had my first book of short stories published by Cleis Press – Erotic
Fairy Tales, A Romp Through the Classics – and I was in their San
Francisco offices one day for a meeting. Basically we just got to chatting, and
I said I’d had an idea for an anthology – one that would use geographical
location as its theme. They loved the concept and thus Erotic Travel Tales was
born. The follow-up Erotic Travel Tales 2 has just come out, and I hope
readers will agree that it’s a worthy successor. It’s the first book of
erotica to feature a Royal Fellow of Literature, which I think says something
about the elevation factor I am always banging on about. I’m already hard at
work on volume three. Plus I’ve got two other themed anthologies in progress. When searching for stories for your anthologies, aside from good writing, what are you looking for? Where can writers find your calls for submissions? I’m looking for a unique voice, a story that stands out in some way. I like stories with an edge, something off the beaten track. I’m also a sucker for poetic prose, as you’ll no doubt see if you read my anthologies. There’s got to be something there that sets the work apart from the great unwashed masses. It’s a subjective process, as is everything in the creative arts. It’s
probably easier if I tell you what I don’t want: I don’t want stories
that read like something from Hustler magazine. I don’t want stories that
feature porn-speak. I don’t want stories that are one endless sexual
encounter. I don’t want stories that are written to some formula. And I
don’t want stories with lifestyle or political agendas. As for my calls for
submissions, they are all over the place – on websites like the Erotica
Readers and Writers Association, in various e-zines, writing newsletters, etc. I
also have an extensive mailing list and send out sub calls. Writers and
organizations are welcome to contact me if they’d like to be added to my list. You've
commented that you look down on erotic authors who use the same scenarios over
and over, just changing the characters. But here's what I wonder-- once
you've built up a fan base, aren't they looking for your characteristic
subjects? That is, if you wrote an erotic novel about lesbians in love,
would those same readers follow you to a novel where the sex is heterosexual
BDSM? What I meant is that some erotica authors tend to write the same thing over and over – sexual encounters that parrot sexual encounters they’ve written elsewhere, practically down to the slightest detail. Think of it like stock footage in the movie industry. When you’re working with a low budget, you pull out the stock footage and slot it in where appropriate rather than shooting new footage. I have some examples of where this has been done in erotica, but I think for diplomacy’s sake I’d better not mention them! But it’s fairly obvious who’s doing it. The problem is that some of these writers produce a lot of work. Granted, that doesn’t always mean they are producing quality work. They become the sweatshops of erotica, mass-producing work just for the sake of getting something out in the guise of seeming “popular.” As for characteristic subjects and having a fan base, that’s an altogether different thing. You can write about the same subject again and again, but it’s your job as a writer to make it fresh and new. If you aren’t doing that, well…maybe it’s time to get another job. What's your fan mail like? It’s been overwhelmingly positive. I hear from both readers and from other writers (who are also readers obviously), and they all say pretty much the same thing: that I’ve done a lot to elevate erotica. When I hear this, I know that all my hard work hasn’t been for nothing. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do – to elevate erotica, to make it more like the fine prose of the past. In all honesty, if I’m going to have my name attached to a project either as an author or editor, I want it to be as high quality and upmarket as possible. I am not some hack who’ll write any piece of garbage for a few dollars. That’s
one of the reasons why I strongly encourage writers who use pen names to come
out of the pseudonym closet. If your work is quality, then why hide your
identity? It’s too bad some writers still feel they must use a pseudonym
because of the prejudices against erotica. This only reinforces how important it
is to continue to elevate erotica so that we can dispel these prejudices once
and for all. But back to the issue of fan mail, you probably want to know if I
ever get any strange mail from people. The answer is "no." On the
contrary, I get amazingly insightful and intelligent mail. Which must mean that
my readers are amazingly insightful and intelligent! What advice would you give an aspiring erotica author? Concentrate
on developing your own work, not parroting the work of others. Develop your
voice. But don’t expect to get rich off your writing. It isn’t going to
happen-- though in all fairness, that’s probably true of most writing,
although erotica generally pays worse than most other forms of writing! Try to
establish a good track record. Know what you want to write and where you’d
like to be published. If you’re truly a serious writer, think for the long
term. That’s the best advice I can give. Anything else you'd like to add? If
anyone would like to contact me about calls for submissions or related business,
the email address is: worddabbler@yahoo.com
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Mitzi
Szereto has nine books to her credit, including 
