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For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been concentrating on short erotic fiction. Somewhere along the line, I developed a real love for writing erotic shorts. It was probably the first story I wrote for a Cleis submission call that hooked me. That story, Indecent in the Peep Show anthology edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel, forced me to learn how to plot and pace in just 4,000 words.

That was when I discovered how freeing it can be to write a happy-for-now instead of a happily-ever-after. Sometimes those HFN stories come easier than the HEAs. Jeez, it takes so much planning to figure out a believable way to develop a happily-ever-after in ten, twenty, fifty or even eighty thousand words. It’s not easy but it can be so rewarding for the author and the reader to bring two (or three or four because I love me some menage!) into a committed, loving relationship.

Writing a couple (or threesome or foursome) exploring their sexuality or a new romance in five or ten thousand words with a satisfying happy-for-now ending sometimes offers a nicer payoff for the reader. (And the writer!) It brings fantasy a step closer to reality.

So anywho. That’s my thought for this Wednesday morning. What about you? Are you a fan of the HEA or do you prefer a nice HFN?