Erotica or Porn?

[Bramblethorn]

In other words, porn is what the other guy reads....

It's like that Yes Minister line: "I am an individual, you are eccentric, he is round the twist".

 

[Carnal_Flower]

Or writes.

In other words, porn is what the other guy reads....

 

[ElectricBlue]

Maybe all writers write erotica and all readers read porn.... or vice versa

Or writes.

 

[Gorza]

Maybe all writers write erotica and all readers read porn.... or vice versa

Damn readers, get your filthy eyes off my finely crafted smut!

 

[PervOtaku]

Trying to give distinct definitions to "erotica" and "porn" is like trying to do the same for "geek" and "nerd". Some people insist there's a difference, exact definitions depend on who you're asking, and most people don't really care and consider them to be synonymous.

 

[Ennis Piceo]

Versions with and without explicit sex.

To my mind,
'Erotic' is slightly sensual, more of feelings and mental impressions.
It's best when it is part of a story.

'Pornographic' is very descriptive of the physical bits involved.

A really good story is one where, if you took out the porn, you'd still have a decent story.

Ha! My first full story (First chapter is here on lit--First Day in the Caribbean) has a "clean" version and one with, um, all the details. (47K words, 65K words). I'm willing to publish the short one under my real name, but because of family and background, I prefer to use a pen name for the explicit one. Unrelated titles, of course. Is it okay for me to do this? (I kind of slipped up using my real name with that first chapter.)

 

[SamScribble]

I have a theory - perhaps not widely shared - that it's very, very difficult to write porn. Even if you try, it tends to come out as erotica. I suspect that porn has to be visual and pretty shallow. If you use the pictures to tell a half-decent story, you're headed back in the direction of erotica. Discuss (as they used to say in English 101).

 

[JackLuis]

Erotica is what you carefully craft to show the reader the inner emotions of the characters.

Porn is what 'those perverts' read.

 

[Handley_Page]

Erotica is what you carefully craft to show the reader the inner emotions of the characters.

Porn is what 'those perverts' read.

Nice one, Jack

 

[ElectricBlue]

Or as Colonel Bat Guano said:

"are you some kind of deviated prevert?"

 

[Hypoxia]

Erotica? Pr0n?

I keep it simple.

I write smut.

 

[Gorza]

Erotica? Pr0n?

I keep it simple.

I write smut.

Lamp black used to be extensively used in ink making. So, at one time, everything written was smuts.

 

[Hypoxia]

Lamp black used to be extensively used in ink making. So, at one time, everything written was smuts.

Which are also a fungal infection of poaceae (grass-grain family) plants. (There's a fungus among us!) Or your old UK comic. Or the South Lake Tahoe Municipal Utility-Transit district. (I'll be in their jurisdiction today.)

 

[Handley_Page]

Lamp black used to be extensively used in ink making. So, at one time, everything written was smuts.

So was Oak Galls; for many, many years

 

[Gorza]

So was Oak Galls; for many, many years

Nuts to that!

 

[Athalia]

Kinda like a definition I read here on this forum a few years ago: If you can remember anything of the plot after your orgasm, it's erotica. Otherwise, it's porn.

I think I was the one that posted that. (I was quoting somebody else.)

I recently heard another definition. You know that you're reading erotica when, after the sex is finished, you find yourself saying "....and then, what?"

 

[Savage_Henry]

Neither and both at the same time.

It's all in the perspective of the reader. A point of view more than intent.

To a pimp, the hardest core porn out there is simply what he has his whores doing on Saturday night.

To a priest, the lightest romance novel is "A SIN IN THE EYES OF GOD!"

I put tab "A" in slut "B" and don't worry about it too much.

Like cum, it will all come out in the wash.

 

[Tigersman]

What makes something porn is the mindset of the vast majority of the uptight citizenry. Paintings, sculpture and books are often said to be porn by the prudes of our world.

 

[JKendallDane]

Kinda like a definition I read here on this forum a few years ago: If you can remember anything of the plot after your orgasm, it's erotica. Otherwise, it's porn.

My take on that would be: If you get them to touch themselves, it's porn. If you touch their heart or soul, it's erotica.

And if you have them doing this...it's probably both.

http://www.onlycandid.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/nacktemaenner-3-27-small.jpg



.

 

[Handley_Page]

My take on that would be: If you get them to touch themselves, it's porn. If you touch their heart or soul, it's erotica.


.

A very good definition

 

[Hypoxia]

And if you have them doing this...it's probably both.

I'll take 'both' for $500, Jake.

Some of my stuff is intended for pure stroker effect -- I don't let a plot distract readers from the sex. Some of my stuff is snarky-subversive, even with frantic fucking. Sometimes I try to tell a moving story that happens to include lots of sex described in nice detail. Some upcoming pieces are romances with almost zero explicit sex -- but they may be literally 'pornography', writing about whores.

Pr0n is a function of attitude. If I consider it pr0n, it is -- for me. YMMV.