Characters in erotica are usually fabulously good-looking, between 25 and 35 years old, and have some kind of white-collar high-paying executive career in a glamourous big city--like just about everybody you know, right?
The cliche probably comes from those sex-and-shopping novels that hit a peak in the 1980s. Great fun if you like that kind of thing, but the sex is a little too reserved and predictable for my taste, and I don't recognize a lot of the designer labels. Not much is left after that.
So who would you never expect to find in an erotic novel? Here are a few I'm including in my stories: A plus-sized caterer. An inn-keeper in a small town. A carpenter. A middle-aged couple--married, no less! Yes, marriage can be sexy, and I'm going to prove it.
See the following books for more on diversity in erotica:
On my bookshelf:
Stranger, by Megan Hart
The female main character is, of all things, a funeral home director. The author is some kind of genius; in spite of the serious setting, the story is unexpectedly amusing and erotic. Hart also takes one of the old stand-by fantasies--an older woman initiating an inexperienced younger man--and puts a subtle twist on it. The "younger man" coyly engages the "older woman" in a charming role-playing game. I think one of the reasons it's hot because it's so realistic.
The Joy of Writing Sex, by Elizabeth Benedict
Benedict lists different sexual situations (adultery, gay, first time, etc.) and gives examples and advice on each. It's not a book about writing erotica, but it's a good one to have if you want some realism and variety in your sex scenes.
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