LITEROTICA

Erotica Writer Mary Anne Mohanraj

Goes Mainstream with Bodies in
Motion: Stories
An Interview by Terry Hong

Over the past eight years, Mary Ann

Mohanraj has published 10 books,
establishing herself as a master or
should that be mistress? of erotica.
With titles like Wet: More Aqua Erotica
and covers not suitable for G-rated
publications, Mohanraj is anything but
shy when it comes to sexuality. Im
something of a sexuality activist, she
says. I believe strongly that we need to
bring healthy sexuality out of the closet
and into mainstream discussion
which explains Mohanrajs recent move
toward the so-called mainstream
audience.
What began as her doctoral
dissertation yes, thats Dr. Mohanraj!
debuted this midsummer as Bodies in
Motion. Told through deftly interwoven
short stories, Bodies is an engrossing
tale of two Sri Lankan families and their
American descendants. Her next book
her first novel The Arrangement, takes
three characters from Bodies, so the
story continues. Too bad we impatient
sort have to wait until next year to find
out more.
Born in Sri Lanka and brought up in a
small Polish Catholic town in
Connecticut, where she was the only

South Asian in her school until her

younger sisters came along, Mohanraj
was for awhile fluent in Polish (she can
still count to 100). She went to the tony
Miss Porters School, once considered
the finishing school for fine young
ladies. It isnt as much of a finishing
school as it used to be; the emphasis is
very much on academics these days,
she says. She adds with ironic humor,
My parents regret sending me there,
though they didnt realize how much
of an emphasis Porters places on
teaching its girls independent thought,
which caused them some trouble later
on.
So how did erotica become your genre
of choice?
MAM: I would say, rather, that I focused
on erotica for about five years, and then
switched primarily to mainstream
literature, though still with an interest in
sexuality, in the way peoples sexual
choices influence their lives. I started in
erotica somewhat by accident. I had
read some erotic stories on the net,
been unimpressed, and realized I could
write better than that! I tried it, and
found that I was deeply interested in
the way character reveals itself around
sexuality. I think most people are
different in the bedroom, with a
partner, than they are in the rest of
their lives. Theres often a lot of buried
tension there, and I love working within
that intimate and emotionally charged
environment.

Also, given that some of the hardest

decisions in my life, causing the most
conflict, have been around whom I date,
whom I might marry, sexuality has
always been a clear locus of dramatic
tension. I think thats true for most
people, and especially for many young
South Asian women. It makes for
interesting stories.
How do you deal with the whys a nice
South Asian girl writing thatmentality? How has your family
reacted?
MAM: Any writer working with sexuality
has to deal with societys hang-ups in
that regard, and even more so in the
Asian community. Its much more taboo
to write about sex than it is to write
about violence. It would be funny if it
werent so sad. I could write a story
about a serial killer going on a homicidal
spree, murdering a dozen people, and
no one would say a word. I write a
sweet little story about the first night of
an arranged marriage, and I get hate
mail. Its bizarre.
My family and I had fierce
arguments for years about my subject
matter, and my parents still wish that I
would write childrens picture books
instead. But Im 34 now, and Ive been
doing this for more than a decade.
Theyve figured out that however much
I love and respect them, which I do,
theyre not going to change my mind.
You have to make your own choices in
life, and decide what you think is

important and worth fighting for. I think

speaking openly and honestly about
sexuality is incredibly important.
Why the switch to mainstream?
MAM: Writing erotica is like writing
horror: its a focus on a particular mood,
a close examination of one aspect of
human life. I spent a few years with that
focus on sexuality, and then became
interested in how sexuality interacts
with race, class, culture. I pulled back
from a close focus to a wider one. You
lose some fine detail in that move, but
you gain a wider perspective, a sense of
how complex structures interact.
When and how did your interest in
writing develop?
MAM: I was always a big reader, the
kind of kid who spent recess sitting on
the steps reading a book. Youll often
see me walking down the street with an
open book in my hands people always
seem convinced that Im going to get
into trouble, but I havent bumped into
anyone yet, and I always put the book
down when Im crossing the street. I
never thought I could be a writer; I had
planned on a career as an English
professor. But when I applied to seven
literature PhD programs right out of
college, and didnt get into any of them,
I realized that I might need to rethink
my career path.
I had started writing stories by then,
and in the next few years, I wrote more
and more. I was posting them on the

net, getting nice e-mail from people

telling me they liked my work, and
thats what gave me the confidence to
start trying to write seriously.
Im assuming that The Arrangement
will be your first mainstream novel?
How different has writing a
mainstream novel been, compared to
the process of writing your previous
works?
MAM: Well, its my first novel, and I
think thats the main difference,
actually. The experience of writing a
novel has so far been completely
different from that of writing short
stories, and after 10 years of writing
short stories, its something of a shock.
Im still figuring out how to do it. I cant
hold it all in my head, the way I can with
short stories, so writing the novel has
been much more layered a process I
write about the plot first, then I go back
and do a draft working on characters,
then I go back and do a draft working on
scene and sensory detail and so on.
Do you have a preference for what sort
of writing you most enjoy? Novel?
Short story? Poetry? Mainstream?
Erotica?
MAM: Nope. I love them all.
In the last eight years with 10
published books, youve been
incredibly prolific. What plans do you
have for future titles? Other genres you

might want to discover, explore, try

out?
MAM: The novel, The Arrangement, is
obviously the next book. After that, I
hope to write a nonfiction book, a
combination of memoir and travelogue,
set primarily in Sri Lanka, where I just
spent a month traveling. Ive drafted
about 40 pages so far theres
obviously a lot to go, but at this point, I
know that I want to try to trace some of
the similarities between arranged
marriages and nationalism, the ways in
which we can have an arbitrary
connection to a person or place, which
develops into a deep and enduring love.
Its tentatively titled Arbitrary Passions.
After that well, I do have a young
adult fantasy novel about three
chapters written, about a 16-year-old Sri
Lankan American girl. Well see if that
comes next, or another novel thats
been poking around in my head, about a
woman who fought for the Tamil Tigers,
and then ended up marrying in America,
having children here. That ones going
to require a lot of research to do it right,
so it may get put off for a while. The
problem right now is having too many
ideas, and not enough time to write
them!
How do you go about deciding what
youre going to write?
MAM: What am I passionate about?
What perplexes me? What do I end up
having late night conversations about

with Kevin [Mohanrajs partner], with

my friends? What do I see people I
know struggling with in their own lives?
These are some of the questions that
lead to attempts at answers in my
fiction.
Whats a typical writing day for you?
And what might you consider a perfect
writing day?
MAM: When Im writing well, deep into
a project, Ill leave the house around
9:00-ish, go to a caf with wireless
internet. Ill go online until 10,
answering e-mail, reading journals,
doing work for the two arts
organizations I run, the Speculative
Literature Foundation and DesiLit
[www.desilit.org].
At 10:00, Ill close the e-mail
windows and open up the text file with
my current book, and start writing and
revising. Ill try to write for at least four
hours sometimes I dont manage that,
sometimes I go longer. Then I come
home, do more e-mail and other work,
including answering interview requests.
I read, which counts as work for a writer
(one of the best parts of the job). Most
days, I work about a 12-hour day; some
days, longer. I dont get weekends off. I
dont think Ive taken an actual vacation
in at least five years, but there are times
when Ive gone months without getting
any writing done, which generally just
makes me feel cranky and ill.

Just exactly what is speculative

literature?
MAM: Speculative literature is a catchall term that encompasses any nonrealistic literature: science fiction,
fantasy, magical realism, surrealism,
fairy tales, ghost stories anything with
an element of the fantastic. Most of
human storytelling has been speculative
fiction; the rise of realistic fiction has
been a very recent development, and I
think were seeing a resurgent interest
now in non-realistic, speculative, fiction.
Some excellent speculative literature
authors would include Salman Rushdie,
Haruki Murakami, Gabrel Garca
Marquz, J.R.R. Tolkien, Ray Bradbury,
Michael Chabon, Isabel Allende, Aimee
Bender, George Saunders and Chitra
Divakaruni.
How do you think having mass access
to the internet has changed writing?
Your personal website,
www.mamhanraj.com, is quite active
MAM: The main difference for me is the
immediate feedback I can get from
readers, which I love. I dont think its
actually changed the kind of writing I
do, or the quality of it, but Im sure its
affected my productivity. Getting
responses from readers keeps me
motivated, spurs me on to keep writing.

Books by Mary Anne Mohanraj

The Arrangement (2006)
Bodies in Motion: Stories (2005)
Silence and the Word (2004)
A Taste of Serendib: A Sri Lankan
Cookbook (2003)
The Best of Horizons: Year One (2003)
Kathryn in the City: Create Your Own
Erotic Fantasy (2003)
The Classics Professor: Create Your Own
Erotic Fantasy (2003)
Wet: More Aqua Erotica (2002)
Aqua Erotica (2000)
Torn Shapes of Desire: Internet Erotica
(1997)