by Elizabeth Nelson- 2012

When I first learned that human trafficking is in the world’s top three crime industries, behind illegal drugs and arms, I was shocked. It’s $15.5 billion dollar industry. I knew right then and there that I wanted to write a story about this issue. Over the following couple of weeks I began playing out a plot in my head. Soon it developed into a story of love and crime with a political twist. I was worried about what people may say about the topic and how I chose to tell the story. 

When the book was first released the only thing people could talk about was the sex. What about the bigger picture? I wondered. I wish Americans were as outraged by war as they are by sex. Many people think I’m in pornography mainly for the vivid descriptions I write and present to my readers. Let me first say, writing is not pornography. It is imagination of the mind. There are no risks of disease, no testings, no cast calls, none of that. I sit at my computer and write a story. Do adults not have sex in our society? That’s what I write about and intertwine it with much bigger issues that need our attention. I write about experiences that could happen to someone and how they chose to deal with those experiences. Some of those experiences in my stories just happen to be sexual.

It’s funny. Have you ever taken the time to read through the reviews of Fifty Shades of Grey on Amazon. If you haven’t I suggest you do. This book exploded on the American public because the American public wanted it. It was time for the Erotica genre to be mainstream. But just like in politics these days you either really like it or you really hate it. There is very little in-between.

Now my stories have erotica in them, yes. But they are so much more than just sex! They have believable characters. They have a story that could actually happen to someone. This is what makes me an artist. Sex sells, there is no doubt about that. However, that is not why I include it into my stories or why I wanted to write about human trafficking. I write sex scenes because it is a human trait that defines us as humans. Perhaps the folks who criticize my writing should take the time to make love to their companions more often and ask themselves if their own love lives are ugly and inappropriate.

Elizabeth wrote her first romance novel at age fifteen when she discovered writing about boys was way easier than actually talking to them. Since then, her flirting skills and relationship techniques have helped hundreds of others find their mojo. After earning a master’s degree in secondary education from UNC, she worked abroad teaching English, bar-tended at late night clubs in Chicago, and continues various philanthropy projects that focus on empowering women. But she always returned to writing. Though she’ll forever be a free-spirit at heart, she now lives in Los Angeles with her two dogs. If she’s not working on her latest sexy story, you can find her reading, watching reality television, or indulging in her unhealthy addiction to rock concerts.