Endings are hard

Very small update, but I’m trying to be better about that sort of thing. Endings are hard. I usually always struggle with them. This isn’t because I’m necessary bad at writing them or that I don’t know how to write them. It’s more of a motivation thing. I swear I’ve written this before, but when I get to the end of a book or a series about characters that I’ve grown attached to, then writing their endings is a bit like saying goodbye.

I also don’t like saying goodbye.

I have written half of this story, all the way to the first major turn of the plot. It’s good. I’ve revised it some, but it’s mostly staying in place. I’ve had to scrap all that I’ve written in the second—even some really fun scenes with cool cameos from other books—because it wasn’t feeling right. The end of Heather and Paul’s story must feel right.

I have restarted the second half, though, and I believe I’ve got it worked out. These pieces coming together feel better. Hopefully we’ll have a solid book soon.

Thank you all for your patience. This was my biggest fear when I started publishing these books. I had the first four largely complete, and hadn’t started on the fifth. Even with all that buffer, I wasn’t able to deliver, but believe me, I’m writing.

Erotica in a woke world

I never thought that I’d have anything in common with Jerry Falwell Jr., and then news hit that he (most likely) enjoys watching his wife sleep with other men. That news has also cast the fantasy into the mainstream spotlight, and while my life is mostly filled up with other noise (kids back in virtual school, still living a life mostly quarantined at home while trying to keep a business afloat in a world where companies aren’t buying things like they used to), one article from the Washington Post did catch my attention: “Why conservative men are more likely to fantasize about sharing their wives”.

Kirsten McCurran sent it to me, and after I got past the shock of thinking she was calling me a conservative, I actually read it, and it resonated with a lot of things that I’ve been thinking about lately. The gist of the article is that we want what we’re told we can’t/shouldn’t want. We’re drawn to taboo. As the article references, the “erotica equation” is:

Attraction + Obstacles = Excitement

As an erotica author in this woke era, there’s a lot to tackle, and there’s this precariously line to walk between our dirty fantasies and promoting harmful mindsets. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the #metoo movement and how the words I write could potentially contribute to that harmful perspective. Similarly, Black Lives Matter, which I support, has me considering the crassness of some interracial themes and tropes that are often featured in hotwife erotica. Is Mason Coles reinforcing racial stereotypes, for example? What about Heather Kingsley-Fletcher/Manhattan and her wild past?

I’d like to use this internal debate as a reason for the slowdown in my writing. Maybe it has something to do with it, who knows, but it’s largely just all those other things that are going on in my life. In the end, this is what I tell myself: I try to write characters that feel real and complex, and just as I struggle with these things and how to be a good person, so do my characters.

We are drawn to what we shouldn’t want. I am. You are, as readers. My characters are, too, and that erotica equation is at the heart of what drives a good story. Hopefully, in that process, it’s not a harmful one.

Friday Update on Sunday

So I’m off to a bad start already. I said I’d post updates on Fridays, and now I’m too days late for my very first of these. Okay, better late than never?

First, let’s get one thing out of the way: I’m still working on Bull’s Eye 5, but it’s not quite done. This was my fear when I started publishing this series. I had four written and was working on the fifth. I was afraid that even with a lead time of a few months, I wouldn’t be able to get the finale completed in time. I ended up editing and revising the first four books more than I’d anticipated, and now here we are.

That said, I really am working on this final book. I’d say I’m about a third to a half in, but have most of it plotted out (as much plotted as I ever do). It’s just down to time and execution. I’m happy with what I’ve written so far, though, and fans of the first four should enjoy this last.

In other news, I’ve started a collaboration with the talented Max Sebastian. Inspired by his recent pandemic book, A Lockdown Affair, we got to talking about other pandemic-related hotwife plots this weird new and scary world has opened up. What we landed on was a classic tale of a man waking with amnesia, with a coronavirus twist. I’ll leave it at that for now and tease it out in other updates (hopefully on Fridays).

Bonus, though, Max is a machine when it comes to writing. We have already written twice as much in that collaboration than I have with Bull’s Eye 5. Good things are coming your way. Hang in there, everyone.

And stay safe!

Bull’s Eye 4, now available!

Fourth book in this series is now live on Amazon and Smashwords (with more retailers to come). And just to set expectations, this book is almost entirely about Heather (aka Manhattan), told from her perspective.

Like book 4 of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series (not that I’m anywhere in the realm of that man), we dive into the past so that we can understand the future. The main plot doesn’t advance very much, but I feel that it’s important to understand Heather as we launch into the finale.

Also, if you’re looking for a more straight-forward hotwife book, this one should scratch that itch.

Bull’s Eye 3, available now!

The third book in this five part series is now available at Smashwords and Amazon (click those names for direct links). Follow Paul’s evolution, not only into that of the bull, but his evolution as a person.

Now that we’re half way through, I’m curious though, what are things that you’re looking forward to reading about. After you read this book, drop me a line in either the comments, on Twitter, or through email (kennywright.writer (at) gmail (dot) com).

Keep an eye on this page for links to other bookstores (if you read on Apple Books, B&N, or Nook):

Winger – Hotwife meets Swinger fiction

Many years back, I remember working with a beta reader who accused me of writing “winger” stories rather than hotwife stories. At the time, it was meant to be a disparagement. I wasn’t staying in my lane. I wasn’t hitting the beats that a “true” hotwife author hit. As many long-time readers know, I write these stories for myself first, exploring my own fantasies and turn-ons, so I never took the criticisms to heart and changed my ways.

Now, though, as I put out Bull’s Eye and its significantly more genre-bending/challenging story arc, it occurs to me that maybe the “winger” label is worth exploring a bit more—that maybe I’m not alone in enjoying the hybrid. So I put together a quick article here.

What is winger fiction?

Not a great name (but hey, I didn’t exactly pick it), but essentially it’s the intersection of “hotwife” fiction and “swinger” fiction. The way I’ve been writing it, at its heart, the action is driven by a husband’s desire to watch his wife with other men (aka “hotwife”) but along the way, he’s not a mere bystander in the action.

There may be another couple involved in the scene that he gets to play with. There may be a hot friend. Hell, the book may actually be mostly a group sex/swinger book with serious wife-watching elements. The key, though, is that it’s not your typical wife-sleeps-with-other-men-the-end story.

Some examples?

I’ve got a few of my own, of course. More than a few, actually, and I probably missed some on that list. The quintessential ones are probably books like All In or Cool With Her. At their heart, these are swinger stories, where couples get together and wild things happen. Ben Boswell’s Summer Swing is another good example of these approach (and I highly recommended read). Max Sebastian’s Anarchy of the Heart (coincidentally the book that turned me onto his work) is another example.

But the winger-themes do thread through many of my other books. Ben and I wrote the Parallel Lines books, which are explicitly about the husband and wife taking on different lovers. Book three of Training to Love It hits on aspects of a more open lifestyle, and Max Callahan, from the Forbidden series, was never a full-on hotwife husband.

Why do I like “winger” stories?

My fantasies tend to fall on the “hotwife” end of the hotwife-cuckold spectrum. I’m drawn less to the humiliation and the power games, and more towards the shared experience that can come from a husband watching his wife do naughty things. There’s room in there for more than just the one-sided fun.

Also, I think that when the husband gets in on the action, it’s easier to write a more balanced relationship. I realize that this is the deep fear of a woman when her husband admits to having a hotwife fantasy—”you just want me to sleep with other men so you can sleep with other women”—but I don’t think that winger stories are quite so transactional. The husband still desires, above all else, to watch his wife. But if things get crazy, he can get crazy, too.

So that’s “winger” fiction. Terrible name, but it does have a place. How about you all? Read any good books that would fit this hybrid genre? Let me know in the comments below!

New books section

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m reworking this site. One of the big changes I’ve had to make is to build out my book catalog again. Most of the books are now up if you head over to kennywriter.com/books.

I also organized them a little on that page, breaking it up by collaborations and anthologies.

What I haven’t done is add much in the way of taxonomy (tags, categories, etc.). I’ve done a few, like “Kindle Unlimited” and “Collaborations” but nothing else. So my question to you is whether that’s something that you’d find useful? And if so, what kinds of things would you like to know about my books?

Bull’s Eye, Book 2, now available!

The second book in the Bull’s Eye series is now available. If you haven’t read the first, Discovering the Hotwife Fantasy, you should. It’s only $0.99 and is available at all of your major online bookstores (Apple books is coming soon).

Here’s the blurb for the second book, Exploring the Hotwife Fantasy.

Hotwives. They’re not just women in open relationships. They’re not just women who cheat on their husbands. And they’re certainly not just myths.

Now that Paul Sharpe has discovered them, it’s time to explore, and Eleanor Heller is the perfect first-time hotwife to do it with. Beneath her cultured, proper exterior hides a wild side ready for Paul to unleash. Does she have a limit? Are there any lines that they will not cross?

Find out in book two of Kenny Wright’s Bull’s Eye series.

New release: Bull’s Eye 1

At long, long last and over a year’s hiatus from the publishing world, I’m back with a new book… new series, in fact. I’ve teased about it a few times here on this blog, but now it’s real:

Bull’s Eye, Book 1, only $0.99

I’m trying something new with this series. Not only is it a different perspective on the hotwife genre (written from the other man’s perspective in a hotwife relationship), but I’m also releasing the first of this five-book series for only $0.99. It’s not as long as the others, but introduces all the main players of the whole series and hopefully gives you a taste for what’s to come.

Check it out on Amazon and Smashwords. Other retailers coming soon.

(And pardon the site. I’m trying to update it because it feels pretty rickety and dated, but I haven’t had a whole lot of time to sit down and focus on it.)

More updates later, and more frequently. Promise!