The Mothman Cometh...

It is, after all, Hallo’w’een--or Samhain—today so I will break from my usual tradition of blogging purely writerly and/or erotic topics and move to the whimsical if not downright spoooooky.

My husband told me recently about a creature called the Mothman. Apparently this is a furry beast with strong hindquarters and no arms. It has glowing red eyes and enormous wings and appears to people in remote areas just before a monumental in cident of some kind. Some people regard it as a harbinger of personal doom, whilst others are more positive and view it as a kindly warning of impending danger. Whichever it is, the outcome generally remains the same: disaster.



I had never heard of this being before and, to me, even the name was faintly comical, never mind the mystical beast itself. I burst out laughing and won myself some black marks in hubby’s book – here’s why.

We were driving along a narrow country lane. It was late at night and the rain was driving down on us almost horizontally. Dead leaves whipped across the car, occasionally flapping against the windscreen in a gruesomely visceral manner. Suddenly, from out of the shadows on the verge, sprung a creature about the height of the car bonnet. Its eyes reflected the car’s headlights and two small, pointed horns glinted faintly in the reflected glow.

Hubby slammed the brakes down and swerved the car violently to avoid it, almost skidding on the wet leaf slime and muttering strange curses under his breath.

I laughed nervously and turned to get a second look at the skittery Muntjack deer now backing away from the road where it had nearly met its death.

“What’s the matter? You missed it, it’s fine. Calm down.”

Only surly silence met my soothing comments. I waited a moment, then tried again.

“What’s wrong with you? You missed the deer and we’re fine.”

A grumpy shrug, then a terse comment was volunteered. “It just freaked me out ‘cos I was thinking about something.”

“What?” I was shocked – hubby is pretty hard to freak out generally, even though I sometimes try to ruffle his feathers for fun.

“The Mothman.” His voice got low and he mumbled, half as if he was scared of saying it out loud, and half as if he were ashamed.

“The Mothman?” I laughed a little. “What the fuck is a Mothman when it’s at home?” And that’s when he told me the ghoulish tale that had been running through his mind when we rounded the corner and came upon a crouched, furry beast with horns and glowing eyes.

Well, I nearly bust a gut laughing at him, then had to spend the rest of the journey reassuring him that it was really a deer and I bet that the Mothman was actually a guardian angel trying to protect people, but they misunderstood his intentions.

As for me, well, I’m just bloody grateful he hadn’t told me the tale beforehand, otherwise I, too, might have freaked out at the pair of glowing eyes waiting in the shadows by the side of the road!

If you want to read a bit more about Mothman, then there’s some articles on Wikipedia that you can find here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothman


x
~E~

Inspired

So what inspires a story? That’s a hard question to answer because it changes each time I write a story. Sometimes sheer horniness is the inspiration, but that’s rare. It happens when I’m keyed up and sex is being denied, so the frustration grows greater and greater until all I can think about is sex. When I reach this stage I find myself fantasising continuously and inventively and it is in this state that I create some of my long-running sex-fantasies, which eventually get too hot to stay in my head and have to be written down. “Tease” – the story I’m currently editing – was conceived like this, as was the next story to be worked on, “For Love Or Money.”

However this is by no means the most reliable method of inspiration, especially not now I’m married to a handsome, sexy man who satisfies me pretty much whenever I demand it – my frustration just doesn’t reach boiling point any more. Something which I find sparks off ideas more than anything is the simple need to write a story. On Literotica, for example, they run a story contest called Survivor which encourages authors to create as many stories in a year as possible and gives extra points if they are in different categories.

When I was a contestant in Survivor I attempted to fill every single genre of erotic story, it was this that led me to explore categories that I had not personally found erotic or exciting – or even palatable – and try to create a story around them that would excite me as a reader if I happened across it. It was this attempt that led to the creation of “A Bad Influence”, my ‘first time’ story that is due to be released on Excessica next Monday. Having created this first time tale, I grew attached to the characters and felt that a first time could only lead to a second and third and so on – and what would happen then? I was compelled to follow them for a little longer and watch as the character who had been so sweet and innocent grew to be even filthier than the original bad influence!

Pictures can also inspire stories, and not necessarily by just looking at them. I was thinking, the other day, about a photograph that I would like to create and whether it would be good as a book cover for any of the things I’d written. Having realised that it wasn't, I was disappointed, as it seemed ideal as the cover to an erotic story. Only one thing to do, I decided, and that was write a story to go with the photo. Now if only I could find a title so I could tell you what the story is called…

Congratulations!

Congrats to DDurance, the only entrant in, and therefore the winner of, the contest to win a free copy of my new e-book 'A Bad Influence'. Too bad if you saw this competition too late, but don't give up hope - I have two new books coming soon only from eXcessica and I will be running competitions for those as well!
x
~E~

Published!

Please let me know how you like it...

A Bad Influence for sale

In order to celebrate I am also running a competition to win a free copy of the book. All you have to do is comment here on the theme of 'A Bad Influence' - doesn't matter if the bad influence was you, someone else or just a story you heard from a friend, just go ahead and post. I will pick my three favourites and those will then go to a poll - so get posting! The competition will close next Monday.

x
~Emelia~

New Release!

A Bad Influence is finally ready for publication and will be released exclusively on Excessica on the 6th October. The book and purchasing details can be found here and I'm offering the prize of a free copy of my 4,000 word short story But Is It Art? to the first person who writes a review for the excessica website.

Looking forward to hearing all your comments.


EXCERPT


Alistair now found himself the sole focus of Katie’s attention and, although he was oblivious to the reason behind it, it started to have an effect nonetheless. A subtle change had come over him inside his own head. First, he allowed himself to fantasise about Katie; his usual self-protective restraint abandoned. Even more crucially, however, he was beginning to believe that a liaison between he and Katie wasn’t a complete impossibility and, consequently, introduced ever greater detail into his fantasies— how she’d feel in his arms and what her lips would taste like. The more he thought about her, the more he wanted to touch her until, eventually, all he could think about was sleeping with her; holding her in his arms and sliding into her again and again until bliss prevailed.
Subsumed in his explicit fantasies, nothing could get through to him but the satisfaction of his desires. Once he realised this, he, too, began to formulate a plan.

It's Official!

I have been offered a contract by Aspen Mountain Press for my 30k word novella, 'Tease'. I have to go through it and sign my name to it, but it's official - I can now consider myself a professional author!

I was very excited and have to share the news - watch the blog for updates and excerpts - not to mention a link to buy the story when it's published!
This is the culmination of a lot of hard work and a lot of dreams. I am so proud of myself to have achieved this. Now back to the editing - oy!


~E~

Dirty Words...

I visited my mum and dad recently. They’ve just got a new addition to the family: a puppy. Personally I detect a distinct whiff of ‘empty nest syndrome,’ but that’s besides the point… The reason I bring this up is because I’ve never had much to do with a dog before, so I was experimenting with some basic training commands – ‘sit’, ‘come’, ‘drop’ etc – and I was amazed how quickly this tiny little scrap of fluff learned the words. Each time it obeyed I gave her a titbit of chicken and very soon she started sitting as soon as she saw me.

Maybe this is a roundabout introduction to the point I intended to make, but I was thinking about how certain words have an actual, physiological effect. Now, when I say ‘sit’ to the puppy, its bottom hits the ground before the word has even entered its consciousness. You can see its face going ‘hey – I just sat down’ while it tries to figure out why. Seeing the effect of words on an animal that only knows a few I started thinking about their effect on us – with our vocabulary or tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of words.

Let’s try a little exercise. I would say ‘close your eyes’, but that may make doing the rest of the exercise a little tricky, so just – concentrate really hard, OK? Now, think of a lemon. A really plump, rich, sunshine yellow lemon. The rind is firm and waxy, puckered with little dimples all over and exuding a faint aroma of Christmas and summer. Now imagine that you have a knife in your hand, sharp and shiny. Place it against the skin of the lemon, see the blade bend, then lacerate the rind. Swiftly the silver knife slices through the tender lemon flesh. Picture how it looks, lying sliced in half – the pale lemon flesh oozing acid juice, the air full of that tangy, piercing scent. You suck your fingers and your mouth puckers with the sour, fruity juices you taste…

I bet your mouth is watering something chronic!

Seriously though, it’s impossible to picture the above and not have your mouth fill with saliva – such is the power of words: words and imagination.

Because, when it comes down to it, that’s the whole point of writing, isn’t it, especially in an area as tactile and sensual as erotica. The author paints a picture with words and the reader responds to those words without even realising it, their mind creating an illusion based on the words without the conscious mind having very much to do with it.



So, if I can describe a juicy lemon and make your mouth water, what can I do to you if I described a soft kiss, lips sticking to each other slightly as they pull apart for a breath; the heavy, luscious weight of a woman’s breast in your hand; the pungent, musky scent of naked bodies as they fuck…? Can I turn you on? Can I make you come? More importantly, to me at any rate, can I make you buy my book when it’s published?!
x
Emelia Bell