Has anyone else had the issue of when they are writing a story they cant decide to make it erotic or not? I have a story I'm writing, and I know it would be adult oriented. But I could make it go either way, just adult or erotic. I dunno which way I'd want it? How do you all decide?
Depends on how many drinks you get in me first. Kidding... not really. Pretty simple, but it depends on what I'm writing. If my target audience includes young adults I'll probably skip over my 50 Shades of Grey repetoire. If I'm writing a novel oriented towards adults, I'm going to cuss like a sailor and fuck like a stallion. Not always at the same time. Mmh, erotic notes in a story though. For me, there has to be some buildup. If you're just throwing in a quick sex scene it seems cheap to me. Unless it's somehow building one of my characters or is relevant to the plot, I'm not about to put eroticism in the book. If I can build it up to where I feel like it works, then I have no qualms about putting it in. Sex sells. It's natural and everyone, well mostly, does it. I don't see why people make a bigger deal out of it than normal.
Well that just depends on which you prefer. But what do you mean by adult? Cause pretty much everything associated with that 'rating' tends to be very in depth of either extreme sexual or extreme violent content. So technically you can make it erotic. I have a question for you since you know more about the subject than I do: Does erotica have a plot, or is it like reading a porno with a thin veil of a story around a lusty romp in the bedroom?
Which one would you rather do? I mean, keep in mind that if you commit to labeling it erotica, prospective readers will be turned off (I'm hilarious) if the main thrust (all right Izzy stop) of the work isn't smutty content and relationship-centric narrative. But I mean, you can still have semi-explicit sex scenes in a novel for adults that's genre is sci-fi or political thriller or whatever. If by adult-oriented you mean that it deals heavily with sexual themes, then erotica might be the right fit. But if you just mean it's not YA / a book for kids, then you can call it whatever other genre the plot dictates, and just also have your explicit content. So yeah, the only question is do you want to write erotica, or do you want to write something else that has a few sex scenes and more adult themes in it?
Way to go with that joke. I here by award you with the highest thing we can award you for that brand of humor. Be proud we don't issue these all that much.
The way I decide is I look at the context of my story. Are the sex lives of my characters in any way relevant to my plot? My back-burner fantasy WIP: Yes. Very. My current main-focus vampire WIP: Not in the least. So, the fantasy story gets to enjoy X-rated content, while the vampire tale has no need for it. The advice I would give is this: just write what feels right.
Just remember to keep it on ice, otherwise it will go bad. Unless you like it with a moderately priced bottle of wine.
Can I just say how I loved all your responses? hahaha As far as my story goes, there's been buildup before or at least hints at it. (Think of it like a time traveler's story, a man remembers his past with a woman and is playing it out to get it just right, as far as he knows shes oblivious of their past relationship.) so I could build up some scenes easily in my opinion but I'm afraid of turning away readers with the erotica label. The story is laced with curses and situations (bars, clubs, rape, suicide and the like) For instance, I have a situation where the main character (A man) and the female counterpart have this sort of tender moment where she breaks down and falls asleep in his arms, after he puts her to bed he watches her sleep. I could trickle into a memory of a timeline past and work it into the present via a one man show, or I could totally void it out (the version I have now) I keep a few steamy written pages off to the side and read back and forth to see which seems to flow best, but in total honesty I can't decide lol As far as if it is important, I guess I could go the pg-17 route and make it one of those "we are waiting" type of romance, but i feel as if there's a skin connection the heartache and pain of a loved one not remembering anything would make it worse.
erm, Erotic has to be literally built around sex (if I'm accurate). If it talks about sex or mentions characters have sex, but does not get all "gooey" over it, it would still fall under the young adults section. Bad choice of words. I'm sorry senpais.
Erotic can vary from having some plot to a friggin' awesome plot... just with a whole lot of steamy- you need a couple of ice packs- scenes. It depends on the author. I also agree with @Imaginarily about the sex. Is it relevant or not? When you answer that question then proceed. In terms of whether or not to classify your book as an erotica, don't worry about it until you have finished writing out your story. Don't forget that between the YA and Erotica there is Romance.
This question is very hard-on new authors. If you've committed, pulling-out isn't advised. All i can say is you really need to get your head in this story, you'll come out feeling much better about your decision. Sex joke.
