The Erotic Writer's Thesaurus (with notes on usage) Updated second edition

by Terrance Aldon Shaw

With over 10,000 entries and more than 1,500 examples of words in ‘real-world’ context, the new, updated second edition of ‘The Erotic Writer’s Thesaurus’ is not only the most thorough, in-depth, serious reference of its kind, but also the most fun! Besides all the expected “obvious” words—with long lists of creative substitutes—users will also find entries representing a wide range of gesture and emotion; words to establish erotic context and setting including common expressions, expletives, “swear words” and insults with “clean” alternatives, plus many antiquated or obsolete words and phrases of value to writers of erotic historical narrative. For all serious writers, editors, and fans of adult genre and literary fiction.

1501 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 22, 2022

About the author

Terrance Aldon Shaw has written four novels and nearly one-hundred short stories. His work has appeared in print, audio, and on-line publications, multiple-author anthologies, and literary magazines, as well as four self-published collections. TAS is the sole editor of The Erotic Writer’s Thesaurus (With Notes on Usage), (2018, Updated Second Edition 2022) a unique, single-volume reference work, which began, modestly enough, as a simple help-feature on his blog, Erotica for the Big Brain. He collected many of the essays and reviews from EftBB's seven-year run in his 2021 collection 'Fearless Fiction: The Best of Erotica for the Big Brain.' He is currently at work on his fifth novel, and still finds time to turn out the occasional short story.

TAS lives and writes in an 1850s-era farmhouse in the heart of southeast Iowa’s Amish country. His neighbors do not know what he does for a living.

Reviews

[Reader B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, as its title spells out, a resource intended for writers of erotica who care about their craft. It’s not just for variety that this volume was compiled. While it’s true that many writers rely on tired and overused terminology—although it has long been argued, accurately, that overreaching for the sake of variation can lead to ridiculously purple prose—one of Terrance Aldon Shaw’s main intentions was to help those writing historical romance/erotica to use terms and idioms that were correct and accurate for the age in which the stories take place. Nothing takes the reader out of the narrative of historical fiction (in any genre) faster than inappropriate, contemporary language.

The compilation is thorough. For any bodily term, options are provided up and down the clinical-to-shocking scale; historical examples from different periods of history are offered, as well as translations across many foreign languages. Some of them are ridiculous, but then people have always invented ridiculous names for body parts and actions.

Not all of the synonyms in the book are for the naughtier parts of the body, of course; not even the non-naughty parts, nor the more profane verbs that we writers of smut so need. The greatest percentage of terminology referenced in this book are words that radiate away from the hardcore center of the genre outward, terms that romance and erotica writers need no less:

Edge. Dishevel. Dishonest. Checkmate. Black Widow. Anxiety. Slovenly (why not? Think about it), Strict, Taut, Ultimate, Vindictive, Wave, X, Yielding, Zulu Style.

One of the most interesting aspects of this book is the Notes on Usage that follows the thesaurus, which the author himself calls “Mr. Shaw’s Literary Pet Peeves”. Some you may agree with, some not; that’s how I felt anyway, but that is the point. Just the mere discussion of certain terms—what he perceives as a biased unfairness in the usage of “Vanilla”; the complex reactions people have to “Moist”—is wonderful food for thought.

What I like most about this book is the pleasure in browsing it. Not only finding new and unfamiliar words, but new interpretations of words I know well—or thought I did. This book is simply fun to flip through, in no particular order, as fun as it is helpful when it is needed.

In any case, consider buying this book, if you are a writer of erotica or erotic romance, or if you are just interested in language, especially the language of Desire:

DESIRE (2) (n)
appetite; ardor; craving; fancy; hankering; hope; hunger; longing; lust; relish; thirst; want; wanting; yearn; yearning; yen