Character Development in Erotic Romance

The sun is out for the first time in a month and I am thinking… Man I would love to be home cleaning my house and sitting on the porch, reading a good book instead of in my office at work, trying to look as if I am not staring out the window at the sun shine.

I know that many of us have day jobs and write and have families. But how do you fit reading into all of that?

I seem to only have time to read when one of those three important things above is not present… like now… I am not writing, so I am reading.

I have been drawn to people books of late… books about why people are the way they are. Such as Mating in Captivity… mentioned in my last post. I have really been enjoying this book. I have just gotten to the section about the different needs of intimacy vs desire… intimacy needs closeness… Desire needs separateness… and how that all works. I am a slow reader. Smiles.

I also have been reading other people books like The Loving Dominant and Finding Meaning In The Second Half Of Life.

I seem to go in spurts with my reading. Reading history books like crazy… then switching to fiction… then to people books…. Etc.

I am finding all sorts of inspiration not only for my own life in reading theses books but in developing deeper characters.

I always find myself asking my characters... what was their first sexual experience?
from there I ask all those questions... do they like oral? do they have kinks? if they do have kinks, where did those kinks stem from? They say... your early sexual experiences shape your desires for life... so pretty important to know for ones characters.

Then to go deeper... do my characters have relationship patterns? Do they have choice patterns? Are they following society rules? or following their souls?

So for you other authors: I am wondering how do you go about developing characters that have real life issues, sexualities, and lives? Do you base them on someone you know? A mixture of people? On people in history? Or do you read People books?

For Readers and Authors: If you read people books do they ever affect you? Do you find things in them to relate to or want to try?

I myself dove into the world of sensuality and erotica because of something i read that moved me and made me look a small piece of myself that I had buried... that was my sensual, sexual being. I read and I looked deep, and I have yet to turn back.

Lacy.