A fundamental question

[LaRascasse]

I posted this on a different thread as well, but would urgently like some opinion from you guys. I have a question for the most experienced writers on this thread.

What exactly is an "erotic story"?

a> a good story, with solid plots and characters and incidental sex between them. The sex is not necessarily the focal point of the story, it just accentuates the characters. Like a good story with more than an average amount of sex. (I try writing these)

b> a montage of unrealistic (bordering on bizarre) sexcapades between the characters. They are just emotionless, characterless sexbots who keep going at it like cymbals. There is incessant, unrelenting sex from the first paragraph right to the last line for no apparent reason. Aspects like plot and structure gone to hell.

I have personally read some really good stories on this site that fall in category 'a', most recently lovecraft68's SWB series and have tried to work along those lines. It would suck to have to switch to type 'b' stories.

Advice?!

 

[sr71plt]

I don't think that sex is incidental in erotica. That can--and frequently does--happen in mainstream fiction. I think that sex--arousal and sensual emotion, even if not consummated--has to be integral and significant in the story for it to be erotica rather than mainstream. As the physical, minus the emotional, aspects of sex increases and plot, characterization, setting, and atmospherics recede, the story moves away from erotica and into porn.

I see no reason to smugly denigrate even porn, though. So you don't like to write B-category stories. Then don't. They do very well here both with writers and readers and there's plenty of room on the website for a wide variety of tastes in writing and reading.

 

[KatieTay]

well you know my stories. my thinking was, if i want to focus on great plot, full characterization, etc etc, i might as well write a novel and try to get published.

i'm on here to write about sexy stuff that gets me gushing wet.

but maybe i ought to swing more towards the other end.

 

[sr71plt]

well you know my stories. my thinking was, if i want to focus on great plot, full characterization, etc etc, i might as well write a novel and try to get published.

i'm on here to write about sexy stuff that gets me gushing wet.

but maybe i ought to swing more towards the other end.

You mean toward writing gushing wet stuff that gets you sexy? Seems that would be about the same stories.

 

[CarlusMagnus]

I posted this on a different thread as well, but would urgently like some opinion from you guys. I have a question for the most experienced writers on this thread.

What exactly is an "erotic story"?

a> a good story, with solid plots and characters and incidental sex between them. The sex is not necessarily the focal point of the story, it just accentuates the characters. Like a good story with more than an average amount of sex. (I try writing these)

b> a montage of unrealistic (bordering on bizarre) sexcapades between the characters. They are just emotionless, characterless sexbots who keep going at it like cymbals. There is incessant, unrelenting sex from the first paragraph right to the last line for no apparent reason. Aspects like plot and structure gone to hell.

I have personally read some really good stories on this site that fall in category 'a', most recently lovecraft68's SWB series and have tried to work along those lines. It would suck to have to switch to type 'b' stories.

Advice?!

Both a) and b) and everything in between. You've given the opposite ends of a spectrum.

My own stuff tends to be closer—a lot closer—to a) than to b). Though, like Pilot, I don't think the sex can quite be "incidental" to erotica—by the very meaning of the word "erotica".

 

[KatieTay]

You mean toward writing gushing wet stuff that gets you sexy? Seems that would be about the same stories.

Well I meant writing more "realistic" stuff.

I am consciously staying away from it, for the most part. I mean, I do not want to be writing about mundane things like job worries, housing loans, stuff like that -- unless it feeds in some way directly into the sexual elements in my stories, e.g. work schedule meant Katie hasn't been working out properly for the last 5 years or so.

I mean if I want to do that, I may as well write a proper novel or novella. It gets in the way of the erotic elements, and I find that my erotic stories shouldn't contain such things.

That's why I also have slightly mixed feelings about WrestlingQuill's stuff. The basic premise of his stories is that because of the current financial crisis, some couples have actually decided to take part in this sexual wrestling league, where winners get paid more than losers. That's alright as far as it goes, but what nags at me is the constant harping on their financial worries. I guess I just don't like to mix financial and sexual elements together -- possibly I would make a very poor prostitute.

As for more mundane story elements, I don't see much value in terms of erotica writing, in spending entire tracts talking about this conversation this character had with a friend over coffee, over some issue that arose during college, etc. I think it has good literary value in general, and makes the stories good reads, but it's not the reason I come on this site. I could go pick up a book or read some good fanfiction if I wanted primarily that.

I could always change my mind, though.

 

[sr71plt]

Well I meant writing more "realistic" stuff.

I know. I was just having a "fun" with the word phrasing and concept.

 

[sunandshadow]

I think this is a false dichotomy. If you want to define erotica, the simplest definition is that it has to be about sex. But no story is 100% about one thing, so a piece of erotica might be 30% about sex or 90% about sex. There's an audience for both, and reasons to write both. If you like plot, great. The sex should never be incidental to the plot though. The plot should be about sex or at least tangentially related to sex. If you like characters with real personalities, great. Just don't go so hard for realism that your stuff is depressing and gritty instead of sexy. Sexiness requires at least a little idealism.

 

[SevenSquared]

Agreed, I think there is plenty of room on this site for all levels of sexual content. Whether it's a 1000 word story that is basically just one sex scene, or a big long serial with every character screwing every other character in every which way with little pretense of a story, or a 50,000 word story with just one sex scene at the end, or Larascasse's new series with several sex scenes, but not very detailed and playing second-fiddle to the excellent plot. As long as there is at least some sex in it to justify calling it erotica, and even if there isn't there is a section for that too.

So come one, come all, you will be read and judged by the council of anonymous