I wonder if that's why romance writers write romance. I wonder if that's why most romance writers are women. And I wonder if it correlates with the fact that it's women's sexuality that's been suppressed out of fear by men for centuries, because if it were unleashed, it'd smite patriarchy like a bug. I wonder. I don't know if any of it is true but I do know it's true for me. Writing Janna is unlocking things I didn't know we're locked. I didn't know they were there.

I'll explain. By the way, if you're squeamish about things conventionally perceived as taboo and explicit, which I think is yet another shaming bullshit designed to control women, I suggest you read no further. If you're open to it, however, what follows might just be the ticket for you.

Get yourself comfortable, loosen your belt or your pants, or just plain read this naked. Ready? Here we go.

I get aroused by images of sexual violence.

"Hello, Ksenia.

I have followed your blog and writing for a while now and you've given me lots of advice and insight into my own. I would like to embark on a writing career, but I have been constantly beset by the same niggling worry: how I didn't really read much as a child. I pretty much only started "properly" reading in my twenties and, it may come completely from a place of insecurity and doubt, but I was wondering if it would come to affect my writing, i.e. if I will ever be as good as someone who has spent their entire lives immersed in books. Do you think I am just battling insecurity, or do my silly brain thoughts have a point?

Liam"

Hello Liam.

First of all, I'm not an expert in this (nor do I think anyone of us writers is). Everything I've done so far with my own writing I've done based on my gut feeling. And my gut feeling told me to look to the great ones, and the great ones usually talk about their reading habits or researching or whatever after they've started writing, not before (and if they do talk about their befores, they're vastly different). And all the great ones happen to say that reading is crucial to writing, and I agree with this as I've experienced it myself. Yes, many writers have spent their childhoods with their noses in books. But just as many haven't.

Does this mean you HAVE to be well-read to be good at writing?

Nope.

Writing helps me reclaim my sexuality

You don't need any special skills to start writing