So, with erotic fiction…is it all unbelievably beautiful people fucking on every page? Or is there room for dark gritty stories of crime, where regular folk go through a shitty patch in life? You know, the kind of stories with fucked-up endings, where most don’t get what they want, even if they deserve it? Stories of drug use and cheap booze, broken cars and broken dreams…stories where the rent doesn’t get paid and the landlord comes knocking, where unregistered guns are sold out of the trunks of Cadillac's right next to the kid peddling dope on the corner.
I’ll admit that I don’t read the genre. I’ll also bet that changes over the next few months with my new digs here at TJ Adams Fiction? I’m deep (no pun intended) into a 1930’s, private eye, prohibition era story that is right up to the point of being erotic anyway. So far, I’ve managed to keep the private dick from doing the dame in his second floor office with noise from the traffic on the streets below streaming through the open windows and the fan on overhead. The gal is being blackmailed and the PI is more than willing to help with the case. Was planning this one in a novella length from the start and after An Innocent Act found a home, I’ve decided to let it go in that direction. It may turn out OK? It may not? But I’d like to try. I’m also working on a modern crime short. The gal in this one is a hooker set on revenge and the story lends itself well to being something that my pal TJ would think of? Anyway…enough for now and I hope that you don’t mind the vintage gals that keep these posts company? TJ
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What a week it's been so far. I've got a story in the Dead Guns Press crime anthology Dames & Sin two westerns in their Hangmen & Bullets slated for next week. On top of that, I wrote a short piece of erotic fiction that was able to find a home with Solstice Publishing on its second submission. That short story is the reason behind all of this TJ Adams pen name stuff. I'm not embarrassed by the fact that I have penned an erotic story, but think it better to separate the two. Crime, Western, Horror in one place and when the keyboard gets a little....well, you know. I will talk about that here. So I started the week updating my Facebook author page and Twitter account, the website. Just talking up the new story that hit the street yesterday. Tuesday, I awoke to the acceptance of my erotic short An Innocent Act which required me to set up a separate Facebook and Twitter account and a website for TJ. (With only the one short story out so far...I'm not rushing out to buy another domain name. We'll just have to see what the old boy can come up with. Then came bios and blurbs, dedications and acknowledgements, cover art and edits and trying to start some sort of social media presence. This morning I received another acceptance from Solstice Publishing for a really long short story Cinnamon Girl. This one is more surreal horror and tragic romance than the erotic short, so I plan to use my real name for that one. Another contract was returned along with a bio, blurb, dedication and acknowledgement. I'm sure that the editor will be in my inbox come morning. And I get to make noise when Hangmen & Bullets arrives next week. There are probably a dozen and a half submissions out there at the moment ranging from short anthology stories to novellas and a novel. Three of the novellas (written in series) could be combined for a 100k + novel. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, just busier than I have been as a writer. I never thought that I would see the day when I would write an erotic story and submit it to a publisher (staffed by women) and then have a woman critique and edit the story. It's a little embarrassing to be honest. That's a long way from the dark bloody streets where guys get high and kick the Hell out of each other over a few dollars or some gal? They say that what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger? The short story erotic that I've submitted to Solstice Publishing is moving right along. What a departure from the crime publishers that I'm used to working with? The second day after receiving an acceptance, I have an e-mail welcoming me to the family and I've been put in contact with the editor that will be helping and the cover artist. It sure as hell beats eleventh hour editing where the story is worse off after than before.
I'm not kidding. I once got an e-mail on the Friday before the publisher was off to the printer. After editing, a full third of the story read as 'she gave the horse his rein' instead of 'he gave the horse her rein'? Oh well...I made a few bucks and got a couple of good reviews. I am looking forward to working with KC Sprayberry and her team and can't wait to see the finished product. So....erotic fiction huh?
Yeah, that's what I said to. I've been a writer for several years now having found homes for my crime, western and horror fiction in both the US & England. I've got a 1930's prohibition era crime story coming out in a crime anthology tomorrow and two westerns in another Friday. But erotic fiction? Yeah. I always tend to lean toward romance with a lot of my stories getting turned down by the harder hitting crime publications as being too soft, to romantic? A while back i started into a new story with no outline (as is usual for me) and I had to make a decision...do I let the kid fall for the old gal that lived next door? I started to wonder what would happen if the kid fell for the old gal and she invited him in. I could have still turned it into a crime story maybe only eluding to the sex that might be going on, but I thought 'Fuck those guys' I wanted to see the story would go. I was both surprised at how the story turned out and how dirty it got. The first publisher that I sent it to turned it down, but was supportive at the same time. Right away i sent it to another (Solstice Publishing) and they replied with a contract for the story attached. I don't really know how you erotic genre folks get when you get a story accepted, but I'm fucking stoked. And happy to be working with the folks at Solstice. So welcome to TJ Adams Fiction my new digs as a newbie erotic fiction writer. I hope you like the place. I really do. In time, if TJ can manage to get a little traction in the genre, I'll buy him his own domain. For now he has to settle for this. Running two separate websites and paying for both could get expensive. TJ is going to have to earn his keep. I know, it's tough love, but how else is the boy going to learn?
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TJ AdamsIs the pen name of a California author Archives
August 2018
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