Category Confusion

[ElectricBlue]

The tricky bit really comes with the two most diffuse categories - erotic couplings, and romance.

I think the what you have said here Ianus, is incredibly useful. I think romance is more given to monogamy, ie a romantic relationship focussed on two people, rather than anything else. It's really helped me to see that, so many thanks.

Pretty much this. I get the sense that the Romance category is couple focussed, whereas EC allows the protagonists to wander about a bit. Romance readers seem to be more vehement (tribal) with their views as to what is acceptable in their category.

EC and Romance are both sort of the plain vanilla if you've got nothing striking that should put it somewhere else. I began my career with Romance because I didn't want to get too complicated early on. Turns out the Romance people want a bit more, they want a happy ending, but mine was tolerated and liked because I pushed most of the buttons, not all. You don't have to fit an exact formula.

Agree.

 

[Britva415]

The tricky bit really comes with the two most diffuse categories - erotic couplings, and romance.

EC is just for stories which don't have any of the requirements you noted, regarding the other categories. Or maybe they do but not at an intense enough feature / focus level to really fit there and please the readers of the "less diffuse" categories. Like for example I'm not going to put incestuous anal into an otherwise complete story just to "escape" the EC category, though there are people around here who say you should or they would. I don't feel the need to bastardize my work just because T/I gets more views or Anal scores better.

Romance is just that. If the romance element of the story is the main feature / focus, AND doesn't trip any of the no-no wires, it's eligible for that category.