How do you define "softcore?"

[Clockwork_Flame]

Hello everyone! This is my first post! Whee!

I put the softcore tag on all of my stories so far. I want to know if my definition of softcore matches this community's, and if I should keep using it.

I'll start by defining what I compare it to - hardcore.

To me, hardcore means explicit descriptions or visual depictions of sex acts, with the physical nature of said acts being the focus. I see the most popular forms of porn on the Internet seem to be like this. It's not appealing to me at all.

I define softcore as almost the opposite. It might mean no actual penetration, and/or a focus on the sensations and feelings rather than raw, dirty action.

I guess my definition isn't concrete. A penetration scene can still be softcore if it's done a certain way.

Traditionally, for example in a porn film, softcore to me is those scenes that show a couple having sex but doesn't zoom in on the private parts actually doing the deeds, or even show them at all.

I use the softcore tag because when I write about sex, it's less about describing what the sexy parts do (though it's certainly in there!) and more about how it affects each participant.

I don't consider this a binary choice, either. I'd say a scene can be in the middle, neither softcore nor hardcore. I consider them extremes of a single spectrum of presentation. A single work can certainly sail between both ends and still be viable.

Do these definitions make sense to any of you? Please let me know what you think, and how you define these terms!

 

[Handley_Page]

Whilst your definition is 'logical', the stories on Lit are Hardcore, for the most part.
And by 'most' I really mean most, not a simple majority.

What you define as 'softcore' may well be considered by many readers to be 'non-erotic', although I could be convinced.

Good Luck

 

[NOIRTRASH]

SOFTCORE is when your parents do it or people like PILOT and TEX-RAD. Soft is the key word.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

There's not a strict definition, of course. But generally speaking I'd go with the idea that hardcore focuses on the mechanics of sex - in visual porn, close ups of cock in pussy. Softcore focuses on the emotions of sex - vulnerabilities, desires, pleasures, fears, etc.

Maybe it's just my age showing, but when I see a video with a cock and pussy shot that lasts over a second or so, I get all "Yeah. I know that part. I've seen that before. It's not actually hot. Show me the girl's face as that's happening. That's where the good stuff is going on." But show me fingertips slowly teasing a girl's lower belly or the side of a breast and I'm 100% focused, and listening to her breathing. The emotion of seduction and need are hot and fascinating.

Despite the fact that I'll describe positions in enough detail to create a visual image for my readers, I consider all my stories to be softcore. They are all about characters and what they feel as erotic situations occur. But I could understand someone debating the point.

It never occurred to me to use softcore as a tag. I tend to stick to nouns in my tags - babysitter, submission, kidnapping, etc. Value judgements can be left to the readers.

 

[NaokoSmith]

Hi honey, welcome to the board.

Don't mind anyone who's grumpy, the trolls have been put on a diet lately so don't give them extra food

There are a lot of 'softcore' stories on here, some of which do very well. While a lot of readers come here (ho ho!) looking for stroke fiction, many will also value a story for its good writing.

I review a lot of stories on my blog which are softcore - as those are by definition 'safe sex'! I have a rating system: 0 is just romantic, there might be a kiss. X is getting a bit naughty and then it goes up to the triple X, which would be a story that I warn readers might not be to everybody's taste. (Acksherly cunnilingus is usually in X or XX - LOL.)

I think there is a lot of mileage in writing about the sensual rather than the sexual.


(BTW, you only get an avatar after you have done a certain number of posts - I think it's 100.)

 

[ElectricBlue]

There's an occasional debate / discussion here about the distinction between porn and strokers, vs erotica (shock, horror: emotion, run away quickly....)

"Most" agree that Lit is "mostly" porn - but it's unwise to assert anything here, since there's not much that can actually be quantified.

The question then becomes - what's erotica? FIIK

 

[elfin_odalisque]

One of the reasons I don't read many stories here anymore is because they have become more and more gynecological.

HP is right that most stories here are hardcore because they are predominately concerned with detailed description of intimate body parts and avoid the erotica completely.

I am pretty familiar with my intimate body parts and not bad with guys' intimate equipment.

Softcore, for me, melds bodily functions with erotic intent and gets me excited.

 

[SecondCircle]

Hmm. Softcore is a word I've not seen here often.

I'd imagine we all have different definitions as applies to Lit. But I'll give mine a try.

In the world of porn, softcore and hardcore generally point to one defining element, which is just how sexually explicit the content gets. More pointedly, if you're getting DP and full on spread eagle views of genitalia, that's hardcore. Whereas a simple sex scene in any given Hollywood movie where none of this is explicitly shown (penetration I mean) is usually softcore. Both can be highly erotic. Both can be considered hot. But like anything else, it has to be handled right.

In erotica, I would say this applies similarly, by gauging just how explicit you are being. I don't think ALL hardcore sex is just close up descriptions of sexual anatomy. It just means the sex in the story is a lot more explicit. Whereas in "softcore" reads, the sex may be a lot more subtle, implied even.

Again, I don't think either is better than the other. Both can be pulled off beautifully, both can be fucking massacred.

So for me, Softcore erotica wouldn't necessarily mean "non erotic". The sexual elements are just handled with more subtlety. One can still be erotic while not being explicit.

 

[DreamCloud]

Hardcore is sex for the sheer animalistic pleasure of it. It needs no plot to support it. A strong story can make it more entertaining.

Softcore is erotic romance. There is a purpose beyond the titillation and to many dirty words would weaken it. The plot is extremely important.

 

[Clockwork_Flame]

Wow... Thank you so much for all the responses!

It seems like generally I was on the right track.

While my stories (especially my new ones that are still being approved) don't always stay strictly softcore, I think I've been using it suitably up until now. I know it's not a terribly popular tag, especially in my category of choice.

I don't know that I'll ever get too far down the hardcore road in my own writing, based on these definitions.

Thanks again for the healthy discussion and warm welcome!

 

[NaokoSmith]

Post a link to your stories when they upload, won't you, sugar. We are so lazy, we will often only look them up if we can click the link and go straight there.

You can have a link to 'your submissions' in your signature (as you can see many do who have posted above you), or you could come back here to this thread and post a link specially for us.

 

[JKendallDane]

Harlequin has made a small fortune many times over with softcore paperbacks. From what I can see, they still are. They were the ones that first legitimatized erotica as far as the general public, although 25 and 30 years ago it was a dirty little secret that was pretty much only whispered about at bridge games and cocktail parties.

If EL James actually accomplished something positive with the trash she wrote, it was semi legitimizing the more hardcore offerings most of us write. At least the longer, more plot-centric stories.

Would softcore fly here? Of course it will and already does. Sometimes it becomes a fine balancing act to keep an erotic edge to a story without jumping off into the pure stroke abyss, but there is a definite fan base for such stories.

Write what your Muse points you towards. The readers that get off on the characters getting off without needing the clinical details will find and fav you.

.

 

[sr71plt]

Hardcore is sex for the sheer animalistic pleasure of it. It needs no plot to support it. A strong story can make it more entertaining.

Softcore is erotic romance. There is a purpose beyond the titillation and to many dirty words would weaken it. The plot is extremely important.

I agree with Second Circle on this and not with the difference having to do with whether or not there is a plotline. I think there can be as strong a plotline in hardcore as in softcore (and I don't think the plotline depends on a lot of space given to plot. The good plot can be succinctly given--it depends on how well the reader is thrown into the plot threads and how coherent they are.) I think the hardcore/softcore difference is how explicitly the sex scenes are described.

 

[Clockwork_Flame]

Good feedback all, thank you!

Here's a link to my submissions, with my newest story being the least softcore, in my opinion.

Click here for my submissions!

At the same time, it is still very much plot driven and is actually the first of at least a few stories I intend to share the same setting.

My next submission in the series is probably not going to have the softcore tag... Those of you interested will see why! (^_-)

Edit: I have added the link to my signature as well, though I'm not sure my signature is enabled and I don't know how to go about fixing that... Post count, perhaps?

 

[Hypoxia]

I'm a bit late here but what the hell. I define hardcore as explicit oral | genital | anal contact, and softcore as... not. I also have a filter to triage LIT-erature.

* Non-erotic - sex is not crucial to the story.
* Erotica - sex is crucial to the story.
* Pr0n - sex IS the story.

I'm writing a period romance about actual historical naturalists -- they're only celebs in the world of botany, alas. There is harsh language but no explicit 'hardcore' sex because such would be out of character given their age and social standing and the story's tone. Thus I'll categorize it as softcore erotica.

As for your .sig: Hit USER CP at the upper left corner of this screen. Click on Edit Options, then scroll down and tick Show Signature. That's all it takes.

 

[Clockwork_Flame]

Oh my, I read those options as the opposite of what they are for some reason. Thank you, Hypoxia!

In other news, I have two stories in my new series waiting for approval! Coming here has been so inspiring to me. I love it!

That brings me to another question, though... Is it bad to submit new stories too quickly? I feel like it takes so long to be approved that I end up with a good staggered timing of uploads, but I just realized that I might have three stories on the front page of my category at once...

While I'm at it, can anyone think of a reason I may not be able to upload avatar images? I've tried .jpg, .png, and .gif, 75x75 pixels and 74x74 pixels of my preferred image and it just won't take.

 

[SusanJillParker]

As a thumbnail definition, I always thought hardcore was pornography and softcore was erotica.

Just as softcore was Playboy magazines and hardcore were those magazines that the shop owner hid behind the counter and that cost four times as much.

 

[Hypoxia]

Is it bad to submit new stories too quickly? I feel like it takes so long to be approved that I end up with a good staggered timing of uploads, but I just realized that I might have three stories on the front page of my category at once...

Submit them a couple or a few days apart. If you submit a sequence of chapters at once, Laurel will post them on subsequent days. They may still all be on a slow category's front page but they'll be overrun on the busy Incest or LW cats.

While I'm at it, can anyone think of a reason I may not be able to upload avatar images?

You need 100 forum posts before you get an av.

 

[Clockwork_Flame]

Submit them a couple or a few days apart. If you submit a sequence of chapters at once, Laurel will post them on subsequent days. They may still all be on a slow category's front page but they'll be overrun on the busy Incest or LW cats.

You need 100 forum posts before you get an av.

Ah, makes sense. Just noticed I already have three on my category's page, heh. Is that necessarily a bad thing? I've been submitting no more than one a day, I'm pretty sure. Sounds like my category is slower than others, but I'm fine with that. More exposure time for me!

Also, I remember now that someone mentioned the avatar issue earlier in this thread (thanks, NaokoSmith!), but it seems to me the site should tell me that instead of throwing a useless error when I try to upload one. Oh well.

 

[Hypoxia]

Also, I remember now that someone mentioned the avatar issue earlier in this thread (thanks, NaokoSmith!), but it seems to me the site should tell me that instead of throwing a useless error when I try to upload one. Oh well.

LIT is built on old software that's due to be upgraded and fixed Real Soon Now. They've been saying that for 10 years. Hold not thy breath.

Back to hardcore vs soft. IMHO it's a matter of whether the description is explicitly anatomical or suggestively euphemistic. Physicality can be irrelevant. For instance, suppose a telekineticist or mindcontroller mentally stimulates a target. If you say something about induced orgasm and describe the feelings, it's softcore. If you describe mentally working a glans or clitoris, even though no physical touch occurred, it's hardcore.

Or, as mentioned, it's Playboy vs Hustler.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

As a thumbnail definition, I always thought hardcore was pornography and softcore was erotica.

Just as softcore was Playboy magazines and hardcore were those magazines that the shop ownerno hid behind the counter and that cost four times as much.

Well,no. erotica was a name invented by booksellers for fiction (Story of O?) and porno got associated with images.

Softcore, hardcore is an individual's interpretation.

 

[sr71plt]

I'm a bit late here but what the hell. I define hardcore as explicit oral | genital | anal contact, and softcore as... not. I also have a filter to triage LIT-erature.

* Non-erotic - sex is not crucial to the story.
* Erotica - sex is crucial to the story.
* Pr0n - sex IS the story.

You keep giving this breakdown and I keeping wanting to respond that sex isn't in non-erotic at all. No sex pretty much is what "non-erotic" means at Lit. You can have stories with graphic sex acts in them that are still standalone stories if you took the graphic sex acts out of them, which would mean that the sex wasn't crucial to the story, and which blows your definition out of the water.

 

[Hypoxia]

You keep giving this breakdown and I keeping wanting to respond that sex isn't in non-erotic at all. No sex pretty much is what "non-erotic" means at Lit.

We have stories lacking explicit sex in both erotic and non-erotic categories here. We also have non-erotic stories with plenty of sex, just not explicit. "We fucked like weasels all night" is not very explicit, not very erotic, hey? That level of description will gain negative comments in many erotic categories here.

You can have stories with graphic sex acts in them that are still standalone stories if you took the graphic sex acts out of them, which would mean that the sex wasn't crucial to the story, and which blows your definition out of the water.

I seem to recall you arguing just the opposite some time ago, not in terms of graphic sex but of 'unnecessary' text in tales. You essentially argued that the author decides a passage's relevance and that giving a story texture and color is as crucial as the plotting. Note my triage is Erotica: sex is crucial to the STORY and not sex is crucial to the PLOT. Graphic sex contributes to the atmospherics, to making the story what it is; slashing the sex certainly does change the story. Removing all the 'non-essentials' may leave us with a rather dry report.

 

[jsmiam]

Hello everyone! This is my first post! Whee!

I put the softcore tag on all of my stories so far. I want to know if my definition of softcore matches this community's, and if I should keep using it. ... ...Do these definitions make sense to any of you? Please let me know what you think, and how you define these terms!

A somewhat related discussion came up regarding the Romance section a while back. In a way, the Romance section can sometimes (notice I didn't say "always", I said "sometimes", so nobody get mad! ) have less pumping and thrusting and spewing and gooing than other sections, so there are some parallels.

You're on the right track, warning (ok, notifying) people up front on what to expect. You'll get less bitter angry people giving you a low score that way. If I watch a porn movie on cable, I know it won't be full-explicit porn, so I'm not angry, I knew what to expect. If I bought a porn movie at an adult store expecting "real" porn (do adult stores even sell porn movies any more?) and it was soft-core, then I'd be really upset. Similar analogy here.

I'd even suggest one additional thing, put a short author's note at the top of every story that is soft-core, and let people know what to expect. Each click of the back key by a person who wanted something else could potentially represent one less person clicking "one" as the rating.

 

[LucidLucifer]

No penetration or oral.