The future is perfect with fantastic erotica
This week, we catch up with Helen E. H. Madden - and it wasn’t easy catching this woman! Helen is the author of Future Perfect – A Collection of Fantastic Erotica. She is also a very devilish and cynical woman with her own pair of horns.
How/When did you decide to become a writer?
I have always enjoyed writing (doesn’t every writer say that?), but never considered it seriously until I was in my early thirties. Prior to that time, I had written one novella and a handful of stories, most of them unfinished. The ones I had finished were all erotica, and those were actually the ones I managed to sell, usually at a rate of one a year. I had a day job for many years until the stress got to me (it was a really lousy job) and I finally quit. Yes, I did the thing everybody says you shouldn’t do; I quit my day job with no plan of what to do next. Fortunately, I had a husband willing to support me while I figured things out.
While being jobless for two years, I started and failed to finish a number of short stories. I also got pregnant. I was 33 when I went into the hospital to have a C-section. I was 34 the day I came home with my first born. Talk about suddenly feeling old! I was also going crazy, being in no way prepared to handle a screaming baby that nursed non-stop, 24 hours a day. I couldn’t seem to get out of the nursing chair, and I kept thinking, “I could die, and my only significant accomplishment in life would be that I breastfed this kid!” I had to start doing something, so I turned back to my half-hearted attempts at writing. I set up a little table by my nursing chair and kept a notebook and pen there. I made myself write every time I sat down to nurse. I decided I’d write a book. One year later, I had nearly 1000 pages of chicken scratch that I swear will never see the light of day. It was really awful. But working on that awful book finally taught me how to write everyday, and once I did that, I couldn’t figure out how to NOT write.
Does your family know about and support your writing? What do they think?
Everybody in my family knows I write erotica. My husband has always known, and was the first to encourage me to keep writing erotica when I sold my first story. If I could make money at it, he was happy; if it kept me from tearing my hair out in frustration, even better. My parents also know. My mother introduces me as “her daughter who writes porn.” She introduces my sister as “her daughter the actress.” Mom says I can write whatever I want, so long as my sister doesn’t star in it.
Name an author whose work you’ve read that you enjoy?
I’m a podcast author, and I tend to love books written by other podcast authors. There are quite a few writers out there today who write a novel and then podcast it for free. Being a stay-at-home mom, I don’t often have time to sit and actually read a book, so I’ve learned to download a lot of free podcast books to listen to while cleaning house or exercising. I’ve become a podcast addict as a result.
On the speculative fiction side of the house, I’ve enjoyed Philippa Ballantine’s Chasing the Bard (fantasy), Tee Morris’ Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword (fantasy/ detective), Mike Bennet’s One Among the Sleepless (crime/thriller), Mur Lafferty’s Playing For Keeps (super heroes), Scott Sigler’s Ancestor (sci-fi/thriller), and Phil Rossi’s Crescent (sci-fi/horror). All of these authors’ works are also available in print, either self-published or small press published, and one of these authors, Scott Sigler, has since gone on to become a New York Times best selling author!
On the erotica side of things, I’ve listened to, and read, several enjoyable works by Nobilis Reed of the Nobilis Erotica podcast. Nobilis also happens to be my podcasting partner in crime, which makes it even more fun to listen to his work! In the world of print and e-published erotica, I’m a huge fan of Remittance Girl, TreSart L. Sioux, R. V. Raiment, Kathleen Bradean and Jay Lygon. Each of these writers has a unique voice in the erotica genre, and none are afraid to tell a good story as well as write steamy sex scenes.
The cynical woman
What’s the average day like for a stay-at-home mom and erotica writer?
On a good day, I get up 4:45AM, shower, and head up to the office I share with my husband. At this hour of the morning, he’s not in it, of course, so I have the place to myself. I write for two hours, until it’s time to get the rest of the family up for work and school. Then I’m a full-on mom, making breakfast (boxed cereal is my BEST friend), getting kids dressed and to the bus stop, folding laundry, whatever. I still have one kiddo who stays home with me all day. The Pixie and I ramble around the house, making messes (her job) and cleaning up (my job) until lunch time. Some time in the morning, I try to fit in some exercise, either walking, swimming, Wii Fit, or karate. After lunch, we have “quiet time,” which is when my youngest child heads into her room to play while I sit back down at the computer to work. For two hours, I work on writing, podcasting, computer graphics, or whatever else needs to be done. Then it’s back to the bus stop to get my oldest daughter, the Princess. Once more, I’m back into full mom mode, shuttling kids to karate classes, supervising homework, preparing dinner (the slow cooker is also my BEST friend), and getting the kids ready for bed. Once the kids are down, I’m usually down too. My husband helps out a lot, taking over many of the evening chores when he’s home so I can get a break. It’s a busy day, but it works.
How do you define erotica?
I came up with this question myself. Can you tell? I’ve had several discussions with other erotica writers recently over the definition of “erotica” as a genre. All too often, I see people define erotica as sexually explicit material intended to arouse and titillate readers. That’s fine — I think erotica should be arousing! We are writing about sex, after all. But I also find this definition to be too narrow. Many erotic works get relegated to the trash heap because people think erotica is nothing but sex scene after sex scene with no purpose beyond providing fodder for readers’ wet dreams and wank sessions. So many publishers state in their guidelines that they also want plot, setting, and characterization. Great! Every story should have those things, regardless of genre. But how about theme as well? Think about it. Other genres are not defined by their content, but by their theme. Science fiction is not all about rocket ships, aliens and zap guns. It’s about the impact that the technology and science of the future may have on mankind. Fantasy is more than just elves and magic spells. It looks at how people might live with magic and mythological elements in place of — or alongside of — science and technology. The super hero genre frequently discusses the ethical implications of having powers beyond the norm of man. All these genres are theme-based. I think erotica should be too. Beyond the explicit sex scenes, erotica should look at how sex and its related issues affect people’s lives. Why do we make the choice to have sex, and why with that particular partner? What are the consequences of sleeping with the wrong person? How do sexually transmitted diseases or broken hearts affect our love lives? What’s the impact of having a different sexual orientation from the norm? How does fetish influence day-to-day life? Asking questions like these add so much to a story!
What projects are you currently working on?
I’m well into the second year of writing and producing the Heat Flash Erotica Podcast, a free weekly audio show of speculative fiction erotica. I write a story a week, then edit it, record it, and put it all together in MP3 format and upload it to the internet. The show runs on Radio Dentata Thursday evenings at 8PM, and then is available the next day for download. I’m up to 87 episodes at this point, plus 7 special episodes. That’s 94 stories written in the last year and a half. I’m very proud of this particular project.
In addition to the podcast, I also draw The Adventures of Cynical Woman, a web comic about life as a stay-at-home mom and erotica writer. I love cartooning, and doing the web comic is a great change of pace from writing and podcasting. I also do 3D artwork and digital painting for a certain e-publisher called Logical Lust. Have you ever heard of them?
As for writing, I’m looking forward to this summer when I no longer have to be at the bus stop twice a day. This will give me a little more time to work, which means I’ll be able to pull out the big writing projects and indulge in some serious story-telling. I started a sci-fi/noir piece earlier this year that asks the question: how do you achieve intimacy if you can’t touch the people you love? I’m looking forward to sinking my teeth into that.
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