It’s not often I rant on here. But this is one of my hot buttons and I have to say my piece. In fact, I might’ve mentioned a lot of this before. . . but I feel the need to re-iterate.:blush:
I was surfing the web tonight; reading writing articles, reviews, and author interviews. . . and I saw a common theme in a lot of them. Romance, or Erotic Romance VS Erotica.
It’s an old topic, but as a writer of pornography for one of the largest mens magazines in North America, and erotica, and erotic romance I think I have a good handle on the differences of each. Everyone knows there’s a difference. And I know that the difference can also be subjective as to what’s erotic and what isn’t. What really pisses me off is when I hear (or read) someone, especially a Romance or Romantica author, say that the difference between erotica and all the rest is that there is no emotion in erotica, it’s just sex.
It makes me want to ask them if they’ve ever read real erotica. Not pornography (which is just sex.) but EROTICA. I’d say they haven’t because there is plenty of emotion in erotica. Just because one of those motions isn’t LOVE doesn’t mean there is no emotion!!!
Come on, People! Love is not the only emotion out there. What about awe, pleasure, shame, joy, happiness, contentment? Are these not emotions?? Erotica is more than just sweat and body parts. It’s about people, and the way they feel when in certain situations! Yes, the situation is usually a sexual one. That’s the point of erotica, but the sex is usually what moves the story along (and YES, there is a story). Why is the sex what moves the story along? Because usually in erotica, the sexual situations are teaching/revealing something to, or about, the characters.
Just because the characters aren’t IN LOVE does not mean there is NO EMOTION!!
Ok. That was my point. 😎
ummmmm… I do think I have read a lot of literature that was written without emotion, they were called technical manuals!
Even Pornography is writtent to stir SOME emotion. I think you hit it on the nose …. Romance writing REQUIRES love… erotica may include love, but it is not always nessecary
(Just my buck two fifty worth)
I know you’re Canadian but I have to say this. It’s alwasy amzed me that i live in a country (the US) where personal freedoms are supposedly so important, yet we’re the most sexually repressed country in the western hemisphere (IMO).
I think the answer to your angst is mulit-fold–I was sitting thinking about it while I waited for the pharmacy to open up :blush: )
1. I think "old guard" writers feel threatened becuase they grew up in a different climate than we did (Whether they’re pubbed or not. Many of the writers in my local chapter are not pubbed and I’d say 85% of them are old enough to be my mom or grandmother).
2. The face of women’s fiction is changing (always has always will)
3. As a rule many people don’t like change. When people are threatened they tend to lash out (look at the beating e-pubbing has taken as a classic example). As much as I hear criticism of erotic romance AND erotica I hear criticism of chick lit as well, and I think it’s the same in both cases because both threaten the status quo for the old guard writers who "dont write hot" or "don’t write sassy, snarky, witty" stuff. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard "I can’t read first person" maybe it’s cause they’re reading the wrong book. 😉
WELL SAID, Sasha!
Sasha, I believe you actually answered your own question. I think, and this is without reading the comments you are talking about, that when these people refer to erotica stories as having no emotion, love ‘IS’ what they’re talking about. They aren’t thinking about any other emotion because they’re coming from a ‘traditional’ romance background. This does not make them right. I know when I try to distinguish my work from erotica, which it tends to be lumped into, I say that erotica doesn’t have to have a monogamous relationship or a happily-ever-after ending. My stories do, even if it’s implied.
Shayne~ You’re on my wavelength! 😎
Cece~ Good Points! And I know you understand what I mean when I say that, I think it’s ok for a person to be wrong, or misguided in thier answer, but if they are going to make it sound derogetory, as if erotica or even chic lit, is less. than romance just because it’s different that maybe they should read some of it before speaking.
Saskia~ I know you know what I’m talking about! 😀
Dianna~ And Cece~ I agree. I used to enjoy category romance..but I find it’s losing what used to draw me to it. (not sure what exactly it was, but I’m not finding it anymore. (except maybe Bombshell I’ve only read one so far, but I loved it! ) 🙂
Jordan~ "I say that erotica doesn’t have to have a monogamous relationship or a happily-ever-after ending. " This is great way to highlight a difference…it’s valid and it’s true. What upsets me is when Writers take a derogatory tone when talking about erotica, as if by adding a HEA that makes their story somehow better. (I admit I could be sensitive about the derogitory tone, but I see it often enough that I don’t think I am.) AND If they mean there is no love between the characters, then they should say no love, not NO EMOTION. These are writers, they should know how to use their words to express their opinions fully.
Nothing to add. Great discussion, great points and well spoken, all around. I *rarely* read category myself, even the good ones leave me vaguely dissatisfied. 🙁
LOL Sasha, thanks! :laugh:
Okay my two cents take it how you wish. As a reader and writer (un-pubbed) I like all kinds of reads, from romance to romantic erotica, to hard core nothing but down and dirty sex. Emotion is there regardless or its an unsatisfied read because its like watching two robots go at it. Or maybe two dogs humping because they are in heat and the male must dominate. Emotion is there, maybe not love, but lust most defintely and plenty of others. Don’t let those people who are probably afraid of there own sexuality ruffle your feathers Sasha.
:angry: I used to read a lot of Desires, the level of romance story and sex balanced nicely for an enjoyable read…then one authored discribed a blow job in toooooo much detail, I don’t want that in a Desire. In my niave opion I don’t think oral sex should be the first act of sex between a couple in a "romance" novel.
>> I don’t want that in a Desire.
I can’t even read traditional ST Romances anymore and I certainly cant read category–to be blunt most of it bores me. Too much navel gazing.
>>even the good ones leave me vaguely dissatisfied
LOL I’m so bad. the first thing that popped into my head was it’s like having sex with the man of your dreams only to discover he’s got a little smokey instead of a Johnsonville Brautwurst 😛
:O cece … we all know that size isn’t everything lol they got to know how to use it.
I am getting Sheri Whitefeathers Bombshell, it will be my first. I am a Bombshell Virgin.
I’d be lying if I said size didn’t matter…. It ALL Matters 😉