The delights of the obvious.

[AG31]

I spend a lot of mental energy in the AH environment trying to clarify ideas. Often they are my own ideas, but also often they are ideas posed by other people. One of the ideas I noodled about for several years, after my re-introduction to the world of erotica, was, "What is erotica? How does it differ from sexy mainline stories?" I came upon an answer that satisfies me a few months ago, "Erotica is about sex. If a story is about something else, with a lot of sexy scenes, it's not erotica." Aha!!! I take that out and savor it regularly. I savor it for its obviousness.

Today I had another aha experience. Another question got a delightfully obvious answer. The question has been how to describe my favorite kind of erotica. It had something to do with subtle, nuanced ideas like describing things as the MC experiences them, which, I subsequently learned was "close 3rd person" narrative. But here's the obvious answer, thanks to @HordHolm, "Help the reader to understand what the characters are sensing." I expect to take this out and savor it as well in the coming months/years.

Does anyone else savor obvious answers to long standing questions? This is probably not a fruitful thread starter, but I kept thinking about this and just wanted to share.

Thanks, all.

 

[LaotianLass]

I spend a lot of mental energy in the AH environment trying to clarify ideas. Often they are my own ideas, but also often they are ideas posed by other people. One of the ideas I noodled about for several years, after my re-introduction to the world of erotica, was, "What is erotica? How does it differ from sexy mainline stories?" I came upon an answer that satisfies me a few months ago, "Erotica is about sex. If a story is about something else, with a lot of sexy scenes, it's not erotica." Aha!!! I take that out and savor it regularly. I savor it for its obviousness.

Today I had another aha experience. Another question got a delightfully obvious answer. The question has been how to describe my favorite kind of erotica. It had something to do with subtle, nuanced ideas like describing things as the MC experiences them, which, I subsequently learned was "close 3rd person" narrative. But here's the obvious answer, thanks to @HordHolm, "Help the reader to understand what the characters are sensing." I expect to take this out and savor it as well in the coming months/years.

Does anyone else savor obvious answers to long standing questions? This is probably not a fruitful thread starter, but I kept thinking about this and just wanted to share.

Thanks, all.

Yes.

 

[lovecraft68]

I try to always apply the KISS principle to any question or topic because a lot of times oeverthinking and not seeing the forest for the trees seems to come more naturally than the obvious so I push myself to try to see it as simply as I can.

 

[TheRedChamber]

My approach to writing stories is based on the philosophy of 'Just say what happened'

 

[Britva415]

Just say what

and when, and who, and where, and why, and how

 

[TheRedChamber]

and when, and who, and where, and why, and how

Stop it! You're overcomplicating things!

 

[Cagivagurl]

Erotica doesn't have to include "SEX."
Not in my mind...
For me erotica is a story based around desire, attraction, chemistry... Real people pulled together by some strange force.
It is their interactions, the expression of their needs...
The build up is far sexier than the mechanics....
Strong luscious dialogue full of emotions. Love, fear, loss, lust, uncovering secret desires, and hopes....
All of those mushed together equals erotica...
The sex act itself is totally unimportant...

In my opinion anyway.

Cagivagurl