As an artist, I have been caught up with the more visual aspects of romance/erotica for a lot of years. As a writer, I have been considering how the language of love and lust has changed. In literature aimed at men, the language has been pretty base, but in romance, there has always been a more subtle hand at work. Over the last few years, I have noticed the language of romance move more to the gentlemen’s side of the fence. I would be interested to hear comments about what ladies feel about that. Base language in stories. A turn on or off?
The increase of intensity of language is not universal, there is still room for the softer romance stories and I think that is a good thing, something for all tastes. I have seen an increase in submissions that would have shocked romance readers even ten years ago. Action romance is a growing genre, so many stories of cops, villains, serial killers, and armed forces. The stories have become harder and the language seems to have reflected that. You don’t see as many of those tacky euphemisms that I really do not like for example examples I have seen in scripts “fingers dipping into her honey pot” and the buttock-clenching-piss-poor, “fingers wandering through her lady garden.” Or the word “Treasure” as an alternative for female genitalia. Just some personal dislikes of mine. I am not advocating that everything should go to the lowest setting, but it is always refreshing to read authors with a good command of the language of love.