Author’s Note: Today I’m speaking mostly about terms that are in my wheelhouse: erotica and romance. People often conflate the terms erotica/erotic/smut, romantic erotica, and erotic romance. I’m going to explain what I see as the difference and why the specific terms you use are important to your readers. It’s okay if you don’t agree with me, or if your terms are different, as long as you understand what you might be stepping into by using one term over another.
As erotic writers, we write with basically one frame of mind, one important goal, if you will. To get people off. That’s the general purpose of erotic content, anyway. And in a lot of ways, it's pretty much porn on paper. (I’ve also written about this; see Internal Thoughts: Erotica vs Porn) Not as many people care about character development, the plot holes that may appear, or things that aren’t ‘realistic’ because that’s not the point of the product. The point is to get off, end of story. In many ways, it’s exactly the same as most other fiction genres, minus the getting off part.
For erotic content, it can be hard to make it a compelling story with a single focus and endpoint and still keep people engaged in the story if all you’re doing is making your characters bang. That’s typically why erotica works are short and to the point. This is also why we typically refer to these stories as Smut. There is no specific point to them other than getting the reader hot and bothered. If your MC’s aren’t banging right away, you’re probably going to lose readers, and in turn, not have what people would call ‘good smut.’
But what about when you can and do create compelling stories?
There are plenty of examples I could give in erotica where a writer chose to write a novel or novella instead of just a short. When we do this, there’s usually more to it than just the characters bang for a bunch of pages. The naughty bits are not the entire point of the plot, just a part of it. The characters have compelling arcs that make you relate to them or loathe them. They make you want to read more, jump into their lives, and see their story fleshed out. The themes explored and how it’s told matter, and they make a difference. The story has to be both compelling enough to hold the reader and have enough of the ‘good stuff’ to keep those who want it hanging on until you can get there. It’s not enough to have plot or sex, you need both. In order for a good erotic novel to be successful, you have to blur those lines until they don’t exist anymore. This is why erotic subgenres exist and flourish as they do. This can also be difficult to do well.
These stories are referred to as Subgenre + Erotica. For example, if your story is about a monster who aims to bang the hot chick, it’s probably called Monster Erotica, or it could be Paranormal Erotica, Urban Fantasy Erotica, etc. If your story is about a wife who bangs other guys throughout the course of the story, you’d either call it Hotwife or Cuckold Erotica, depending on the situation. I could do an entire deep dive into this alone, but I’ll save that for later. On the other hand, if your story has elements of love and relationships, regardless of other elements, and the loving couple’s relationship is a pillar of the story, you’d probably call it, you guessed it, Romantic Erotica.
So, how are those things different from just turning them around? What makes, let’s say Romantic Erotica different from Erotic Romance?
Glad you asked.
For a story to be Erotic Romance (or insert any other genre, it’s all the same), you have to follow the plot structure of the genre you are referencing. In a Romantic Erotica, the relationship is important, but it’s not the whole of the plot. The erotic parts are important to the plot, and it wouldn’t be a story without both. They are intertwined to the point that you need them both, or the story doesn’t work. The same works with other genres. Pick one.
However, if you remove all the erotic bits and you still have what amounts to a story, that’s where you get Erotic Romance. The story doesn’t need the sex to be compelling, but it’s very happy you added it in. It adds more layers to the story you’ve presented, and you can find readers who are stuck in specific genres much more likely to read them. Generally, this is because they can just skip over the sexy bits if they don’t want to read them, or the author can lead up to them and not be so explicit. This is the part that would fade to black in a standard, non-spicy or 'clean' romance novel. But the fundamental thing about the story is that it follows the generic plot cadence of the genre. I couldn’t write an Erotic Romance where the MC dies at the end. I’d be on the pyre for sure, lol. Romance DEMANDS a HEA (happily ever after) or HFN (Happy for now), and if I don’t deliver that, then my readers aren’t going to be happy. They expect that of Romance, so it has to be there. If romance is not the core fundamental plot of the story, then it’s not Romance, even if you choose to call it that. It’s romantic, at best.
If I flip the script and write an Erotic Horror and someone doesn’t die or the story doesn't experience extreme elements of violence/gore/horror themes, then I’m likely to face the same scrutiny. But if I wrote either of those as Romantic/ Horror Erotica, it wouldn’t matter as much. If there are elements of the parent genre there, I’m probably okay. Again, there will always be people who are purists and hate it anyway, but what can you do?
I’ve forever called myself an Erotic Romance author, but that’s not entirely true. Sure, I have some that fit that category, where you can strip out the sexy bits and still have what amounts to a Romance. But many of them fit better as a Romantic Erotica. There is plenty of angst and graphic sex scenes that might dissuade regular romance readers, but underneath it all is a romantic subplot weaving its way through the story. You can’t just take out the romance and have the story make sense, or remove the sex and have a compelling story. There is such an interconnectedness between the two things that you hardly know where one ends and the other begins. But isn’t that what makes a compelling story, especially for someone who likes the fantasy and immersion of it, and also wants the adrenaline rush of the sex scenes?
I think so. That’s why I write what I do. I want the story, and I want the sex. I want them to go together as if they are halves of the same whole. The yin and yang of the story. The puzzle pieces that fit together the way only I can make them fit.
This is where you see the most use of the novella or novelette. You can create a story from elements of your parent genre, without needing so much space to fully develop a major plot with branching subplots. You absolutely can do this, and in fact I have. Most of my stories fall into this category.
On the flip side, Star-Crossed Enemies is a Romantic Erotica novel that depends on both the romance and the sex to tell the story. I need them both, or it makes no sense. But it is chock-full of sex scenes and BDSM exploration, so it fits better into erotica.
At the same time, it’s almost impossible to write an entire novel that is all sex without breaching into other categories. It’s also nearly impossible to write an entire plot-based story as a short. There just isn’t enough time to smush all the things you need to say into that small of a space, even for the most succinct writers. That’s why most of those Erotic _____ stories are novellas at a minimum and more often full novels. You need that space.
And I’d know because my verboseness only grows with every story I write. I find myself in need of developing those characters and making them play out something other than banging. I need it to be longer to fulfill its desired outcome. Sure, I still write shorter things, but those are generally one-offs, and almost always Medium stories. I can get away with ‘wham, bam, thank you ma’am,’ and move on with my life. But for anything else, I need it to be something other than just Smut. I need the eroticism to transcend the story. An element, for sure, but not the entire plot.
Is this less popular? Perhaps. Maybe Smut is all people want to read. I get that. Sometimes that’s all the time you have to get in a quickie read. Nothing wrong with it. But I write what I want to read. And I need more. I need the plot, and I want the sex, and I’m not particular about how connected they are. Just give them both to me. This can be tricky when you try to write or find your niche readers because you have to keep them engaged. You have to have enough elements of a whole story and enough sex to keep them going. Telling this story the way you want doesn’t always amount to flocks of readers. You have to show them that the story is compelling and worth the wait. And for erotica readers, you have to make them want to wait. Make them yearn for the sexy bits while they travel through the narrative with your characters. It can be a hard mix to achieve.
But I think it’s important to call things what they are. If I’m expecting one thing and you give me another, I’m going to be annoyed, and I’m probably not the only one. You, as the writer, are free to call something whatever you want. Just be sure that if you do, you are willing to face the consequences if what you are delivering is not what you are promising. Readers remember, and we can be extremely hateful and judgmental sometimes. We should be better, but in the end we are only human. Do your research and pick correct terms. Hopefully you find people who love it, either way. Writers, after all, are also only human. Food for thought.
