"You're A PORN Writer!"

Lately, I've had an unpleasant argument with an M/M fangirl who have NEVER read my stories. Basically, she said if a porn scene is filled with lots of non-sexual plots, it's still a PORN-WITH-LOTS-OF-PLOTS. She insisted I couldn't distinguish erotica from porn.

So, I wrote to Smashwords:
Let's say I write about a couple who struggle for their love. Lots of emotion, in fact in the end, one of them die. It's a touching story... But in the middle, there's an explicit love scene (pages long, complete with ejaculation)... Does it mean I still write PORN? And not romance-erotica???


And here is the reply....
Thank you for your question, though you would probably get perfectly fine answers from my co-workers, I'm actually writing in the Paranormal and Science Fiction Romance and Erotica genres.  There are shades of gray to all this and some people think that sex automatically makes for a porn categorization.  From how you describe your book, I would say it is an Erotic Romance.

If you develop characters that face the "requirements" of sexual relationships and grow through the relationships and challenges of their story, that would be an Erotic Romance, no matter how explicit the sex scene(s) is/(are).  It's a matter of ratio, what percentage of the text is used for sex scenes.  Porn writing is generally 90% or so sex, those writings are geared towards creating "desire" in their readers and are sometimes referred to as "one-handed reading."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_novel#Erotic_romance
http://www.abebooks.com/books/romance-vs-erotica.shtml (interview w Author)
http://www.rtbookreviews.com/content/how-rt-rating-system-works (See the Sensuality Ratings)

In modern romance there are degrees of "spiciness" and in many of the Romance sub-genres sex is expected.  Times have changed and these are not your grandmothers romance stories, or even your mother's stories. There will be people who equate sex with porn, but if you look into the current trends and note the differences between porn, literary erotica, and contemporary romance, there are differences, though there are shades of gray.  Consider your goals and motivation as a writer, what do you want your stories to do for your readers.  In the end, it all depends on the level of sensuality and personal labeling of the reader and their thoughts about the levels of sensuality.

Cheers,
Marcus V. - Smashwords Service Team, Apple focus


According to Marcus' reply, there's no such thing as PORN-WITH-LOTS-OF-PLOTS. It's erotica! I'm more confident as ever after reading Marcus' reply because he works in ebook business. Thank you Marcus for your reply. It really helps me :)