In July, I interviewed Ella Light about her erotica writing. We both loved our talk, and we wanted to get into it more. Continuing our interview by audio chat, I could respond to what she was saying in real time, and we could banter. Everyone loves podcast banter!
So we talked via Zoom. I recorded it in the podcast studio of RealSpace, a digital nomad socializing and coworking hub in Chiang Mai. They were nice enough to offer me an hour in their studio. However, we were only limited to the free 40 minutes on Zoom because "I'm a digital nomad, but not one of the ones that spends a lot of money on this kind of thing."
Ella talked about how she finds inspiration from her life—past and present.
When I was single and I was dating, I was having lots of sexy conversations with a lot of people. As soon as I say I'm an erotica author, people tell me their fantasies, which is just the best market research ever. So then I would be like, oh, this is fantastic.And then those would become... Yeah, those would become stories...
We both agreed, as I said, that erotica is “one of the most honest genres of writing.”
Ella also talked about her work as an online dominatrix dedicated to bringing out the best in her subs.
I've had so many people seek me out who, for lack of a better word, are at rock bottom. They've just been through a suicide attempt, or they've just lost their job, or they're just, you know, they're at a low point. It's so misunderstood. People see it as, you know, 'oh, you just get to yell at people and they give you money.' And it's so much more than that. It is really a service, and it's something that, I think, for the most part, a lot of people just don't have access to.
Punishing a masochist can be difficult, though:
It's a fine art trying to punish a submissive masochist... because, of course, they love a lot of punishment. So sometimes I have to do something really evil, like make them write lines, which no one likes.
Read the latest twist in Ella’s “Choose Your Own” adventure about Theo, the librarian who knows just what his readers are fantasizing about:
Listen to the podcast on Substack, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts, or watch Ari’s video of the interview YouTube:
