Sex and Horror
How much sex is too much in a horror story?
I have written a lot of stories that focus on supernatural sex but have eased off on the horror theme. In Possessed (free to read) a woman waits for a demon to come for her. She is aware he could ‘wipe her from the face of the earth’ without thinking but it is the sex that is the key to the story. No More Virgins (another freebie) features a frustrated demon and a hoard of equally frustrated women. The sex in these stories is consensual and the horror is virtually non-existent.
In my succubus stories, the roles are reversed. The supernatural beings are female and their victims are male. The men approach or often attack the succubus and there is an element of ‘they deserve what they get’. This line is blurred in The Confession but it is still one of my favourites.
The problem with demons is that they rarely seek consent. In the last of The House trilogy, The House of Demons the cocks of the boys who have become demons are now horns and they are more interested in feeding rather than fucking which is how one unfortunate girl meets her end.
The question is, how rampant can a demon be in a horror story? In two classics of the genre, Rosemary’s Baby and Bram Stoker’s Dracula the sex is explicitly implied within the constraints of mainstream films.
What do you as a reader want to read? Stories about rampant demons with huge cocks that need to be overcome by strong and wily heroines (they are nearly always heroines in my stories) or tales of highly erotic supernatural beings with a soul or a conscience (I know that is a contradiction).
I will add one rider to that; I am not a blood and guts horror writer. I favour psychological suspense or creatures that drain their victims rather than splattering them all over the walls.
I’d love to hear your comments and ideas.
If I’ve wetted your appetite for a bit of supernatural sex here’s my complete collection of free and subscribers Supernatural Sex Stories
I enjoy reading erotic horror because it’s something I can’t write on my own, horror isn’t a genre I’ve ever been good at. That being said, I love monster romances, but the kind I read aren’t horror. There’s usually an initial introduction of all the horrifying things the monster could do and there’s tension around the human lead meeting the big terrifying monster lead, but then the rumors prove false, the monsters are lovely, and they end up living happily ever after. From the proper horror stories with erotic elements that I’ve read, I like the thrill of uncertainty and the tension of fear that adds to the already charged emotions that come with erotic encounters. However, consent is important to me which I imagine is hard to do in horror (never really wrote horror stories so I wouldn’t know if it is actually hard). And I don’t need an HEA to like the story, but I don’t want to read something where someone has a really unpleasant end.
This is a tough balance!!! The horror/sex combo is truly my favorite!! Now, it need not be monster or supernatural horror, although I love that too. I think that having a good, intriguing story is most important, with the sex being just icing. Readers that are after just the sex... they'll slog through it all, just to get there anyway. But having a reader enjoy the whole thing-PLUS getting a lil excitement from the naughtier parts, well, that'd be (is) what I'd strive for. I suppose it comes down to what you want to write, and who you want your audience to be.
(In retrospect, that might be the most vague, nonspecific, generic, unhelpful comment on Substack today, sorry...🤣)