Sex~
*Grin* I’ve got your attention, haven’t I?
I’ve been enjoying Lany’s links to articles. I thought I’d take a moment and voice my opinion.
Sexual explicit stories without ROMANCE is NOT part of the ROMANCE genre. And I personally feel should not be marketed as such.
If a story doesn’t have a HAPPY EVER AFTER it is NOT romance.
The new “thing* is HAPPY FOR NOW endings. If a ROMANCE doesn’t at least have a HAPPY FOR NOW ending it is NOT in the ROMANCE genre.
What is it then, some may ask? Porn. Or for those that prefer the more gentle term, it is erotica. Sex. Sex. Sex. And MORE sex for the simple sake of sex.
Do I have something against those who write in the erotica genre?
Nope, not at all. I’m betting there are many good erotica authors out there. After all writing love scenes in a romance is challenging enough, I can't imagine the work erotica authors put into their stories. The only thing I ask is please do not market them as a romance.
I’ve been reading the romance genre since my senior literature teacher gave me a copy of Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss. I have read every genre in romance from inspirational where there is either fade to black sex, or no sex at all, to erotic romance.
There are many great writers in all genres of romance, all with their own allotment of sexual content. As the erotic romance market grows I do hope those authors who -up until now- don’t start writing heavy, explicit sexual content simply to get “in” on the erotic romance boom. I bet many of us can name favorite historical authors who jumped to the romantic suspence genre when it exploded into a craze. I for one still desperately miss a few faves who used to write historicals.
Some of us have to have it. (Sex) I think good sex is part of a good relationship. For me sex is part of romance.
Angela Knight is very talented at writing erotic romance. Very, VERY talented. She’s posted an article on her blog titled STEAM 101. It’s a must read for any romance writer. http://angelasknights.blogspot.com/
Until later!
Mel
I’ve been enjoying Lany’s links to articles. I thought I’d take a moment and voice my opinion.
Sexual explicit stories without ROMANCE is NOT part of the ROMANCE genre. And I personally feel should not be marketed as such.
If a story doesn’t have a HAPPY EVER AFTER it is NOT romance.
The new “thing* is HAPPY FOR NOW endings. If a ROMANCE doesn’t at least have a HAPPY FOR NOW ending it is NOT in the ROMANCE genre.
What is it then, some may ask? Porn. Or for those that prefer the more gentle term, it is erotica. Sex. Sex. Sex. And MORE sex for the simple sake of sex.
Do I have something against those who write in the erotica genre?
Nope, not at all. I’m betting there are many good erotica authors out there. After all writing love scenes in a romance is challenging enough, I can't imagine the work erotica authors put into their stories. The only thing I ask is please do not market them as a romance.
I’ve been reading the romance genre since my senior literature teacher gave me a copy of Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss. I have read every genre in romance from inspirational where there is either fade to black sex, or no sex at all, to erotic romance.
There are many great writers in all genres of romance, all with their own allotment of sexual content. As the erotic romance market grows I do hope those authors who -up until now- don’t start writing heavy, explicit sexual content simply to get “in” on the erotic romance boom. I bet many of us can name favorite historical authors who jumped to the romantic suspence genre when it exploded into a craze. I for one still desperately miss a few faves who used to write historicals.
Some of us have to have it. (Sex) I think good sex is part of a good relationship. For me sex is part of romance.
Angela Knight is very talented at writing erotic romance. Very, VERY talented. She’s posted an article on her blog titled STEAM 101. It’s a must read for any romance writer. http://angelasknights.blogspot.com/
Until later!
Mel
posted by Melany at 2:39 PM
5 Comments:
Hi Melany!
I totally agree with you,woman.
If it don't have romance and a happy after ending it just ain't a romance!
jan :-)
I'm confused. You say you don't write "Erotica", yet you got a plaque for second place for Torc's Salvation that clearly says "EROTICA".
Can you explain that??
Sure can. I'm not Mel but I'll try to explain.
We write Erotic Romance. Yes, there is a distinction. Pretty much, what Ellora's Cave sells is erotic romance. It's all they sell. That's why they were going to start an erotica line under a different name. (And I can find great links on the differences between erotic romance and erotica (some even distinguish the categories further by defining porn). Jaynie R. has done a great one.)
However, there is a great misunderstanding about what's erotic romance and what's erotica. Some don't make the distinction, including...RT Magazine. If you look at what they review, the great majority is erotic romance from Ellora's Cave, Loose Id, Liquid Silver, etc. But they call the category erotica.
We do make the distinction between the categories, even though some in the industry do not.
Besides the muddied distinction between erotica and erotic(a) romance, the group that sponsored the contest we finaled in *squeee* is through Romance Writer's of America. I'm not sure they felt they had to put in romance in the title because every entry HAD to be romance. The category was for steamy erotica romance, even though it doesn't say the word romance. If we'd finaled for Paranormal, I'm not sure it would have had romance in the title either.
Does that help? We write erotic or erotica romance not straight erotica.
Lany
Jan, I'm the say way. I need the happily ever after and the romance. Or it doesn't do it for me.
Lany
I met an author,Monica Burns, at NJRW two years ago and what drew me to her table was her Cozzie giveaway. It said Sex without romance is like a cookie without the milk. That Ahh! sensation is missing. She writes very good historical romance with a steamy edge. Romantica
I am one who needs that. When reading something that claims to be romance, I need a story where I can see the relationship grow, feel the characters fall in love.
If it is not there, it is not romance. And I agree, Just because it has sex does not make it romance. I have read many sci-fi and paranormal books with sex in it, but they are just that sci fi or paranormal. There are a few series out there being sold as romance that i would definitely rank as Sci-Fi.
Erotica is like that too. and i agree there should be a separation. It has sex, it has only sex.Intersting settings, inventive ways to see how many times you can get characters to have sex. But just sex.
A Book that is based only on Sex as graphic as it can be written that has nothing develop between the characters is not romance. The HEA does not take place, the relationship between the hero and heroine is not the main subject of the story.
Now I can take a "happy for now" ending if the story is a part of a series and we know the two character's reationship is still developing and eventually will reach that HEA.
I like the term Romantica to distinguish erotica from erotic romance. I consider Angela Knight a romanctica writer, along with Robin Schone. Their characters have depth, dimension to them. You see them work through their conflicts, overcome obstacles. There is more between them then how many positons they can do and how wet the sheets get. The sub genre is erotic but the core is romance.
So you have erotica as a genre, sci-fi as a genre, romance as a genre historical as a genre,Etc... And each of them can have a subgenre of the other woven into it.
Post a Comment
<< Home