Erotica Without Sex?
Is Erotic Tension EROTIC Enough?
Is Erotic Tension EROTIC Enough?
-----Original Message-----
"Can a story still, be considered erotic without lots of sex? Can the sexual tension throughout the story make it erotic?" -- Shy-writer
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YES! A story can be VERY erotic without actually having sex. The point of eroticism is to excite the Reader, and I'm sorry to say even graphic sex is not always exciting. However...
If you label a story Erotic, the Readers are going to expect Sex.
My publishers all want stories with graphic sex, but they also expect a compelling story. In fact, many of them will take a good story with lousy or very little sex over a wall-to-wall sex extravaganza. However, they Do expect at least some sexual content because that's what their readers are shopping for.
If you don't want people to expect sex in your story, don't use the word Erotic to describe it. Many authors that don't write detailed love scenes, but do have a lot of sexual tension use the word Sensual to describe their work.
The trick to Eroticism is ANTICIPATION.
The Catch is DELIVERY.
The Catch is DELIVERY.
If you build an expectation, (whether you're writing erotica, romance, horror, or suspense,) you had better deliver on it. If you don't - you will Pay Dearly! Think: Hate Mail. This of course comes after your book has been thrown across the room by a frustrated reader, and already hit the wall.
Lack of Delivery is like being on a roller coaster that has this HUGE climb and then drops about three feet - and stops. The riders look at each other and say: "What happened? I thought I was in for this big swooping, falling Whoosh of a ride? Where’s the whoosh?"
Just like with that roller coaster, Erotic build-up must have a corresponding action sequence of some kind (a whoosh) to diffuse the tension generated by anticipation.
This is true in any genre that uses anticipation, whether it's erotica, romance, horror or suspense. No matter what you write, the anticipation must lead to a scene explosive enough to match -- and diffuse the build-up.
Untapped Anticipation = Monumental FRUSTRATION.
Frustration is BAD. Anticipation needs RELEASE and that means an action scene strong enough to invoke a visceral and / or emotional response in the reader Equal to the amount of tension built up.
However... Action doesn't always mean SEX! There ARE other ways to deliver Whoosh!
-- The problem with releasing sexual tension is that Sex is an ACTION, so only another high-tension Action will do. However, it doesn't have to be the same kind of Action, it doesn't have to be Sexual. What it must possess is the same level of Sensory and Emotional detail to keep the story level.
Examples of scenes that can be used to diffuse Tension:
> Dramatic Dialogue (funny, angry, terribly poignant...)
> Fight Scenes (swords, guns, knives, fists...)
> Chases (cars, horses, on foot through the forest...)
> Pratfalls (Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplain anyone?)
> Graphic Violence (blood, gore, etc...)
Mary Janice Davidson uses seriously snappy dialogue exchanges and lots silly situational comedy. Angela Knight delivers perfectly balanced Whoosh by using a blend of rip-roaring Adventure Action, in addition to snappy dialogue and roasty-toasty sex! (And a twisty plot too!)
The key is to a sufficient Release in Tension is EMOTIONAL INVESTITURE.
-- In your story, what Emotion is also being invoked with your rising Tension? Fear, Love, Hate, Anger...? Whatever emotion that tension invokes MUST be Present and Countered along with the Action to enact a sufficient release.
For example, if your heroine is physically attracted (sexual tension) to someone she Doesn't like, (anger) then an angry kiss would diffuse that tension, as would an angry sex scene. (Grudge-fuck anyone?)
"Can a story still, be considered erotic without lots of sex? Can the sexual tension throughout the story make it erotic?"
-- Yes! You can have an amazingly erotic story that has no sex in it. Anne Rice is a master at sex-less erotica. She uses graphic violence to diffuse her sexual tension. Most horror stories are erotic in nature and they ALL use graphic violence to diffuse their sexual tension.
BUT ~ Anne Rice's books are NOT labeled as Erotic! Nor are Laurell K Hamilton's, and LKH has LOTS of sex -- as well as violence -- in her later books. Their books are labeled Horror.
The problem is not the STORY.
It's the Publishers and the Readers.
If you label a story EROTIC, they EXPECT SEX.
It's the Publishers and the Readers.
If you label a story EROTIC, they EXPECT SEX.
-- If you don't plan to have a lot of sex in your story, you can get around this by NOT calling it EROTICA. But don't worry, all that lovely Erotic tension will get noticed just the same! (Reviewers are funny that way.)
Erotica & PROFANITY?
Vocabulary Issues
Vocabulary Issues
-----Original Message-----
Is it necessary to use profanity when writing love scenes in erotic romance? Like the measure of how graphic the sex should be, is profanity in love scenes a publisher requirement? I realize each publisher has different requirements, but I'm, talking about a general accepted, EXPECTED format for the genre in question.
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How much Profanity should go in your Erotica?
-- However much it takes to tell the story from THAT character’s POV.
This is where we get into the controversial subject of VOICE. My opinion (and that of ALL of my editors’,) is that the level of profanity used in dialogue and to describe the actions of a sex scene should be in direct correlation to the POV characters involved. Ahem... Text should always reflect the POV character’s Voice PERIOD. Anything else is AUTHOR INTRUSION.
A nice girl is not going to use profanity in her dialogue or in her descriptive thoughts. It would not be unusual for her to refer to a guy’s dick as a thing, or thingie, or a penis.
However, a Marine never refers to his dick as a penis. It's a dick. Penis is considered a girly-word. Someone’ else’s dick is a ‘prick’ and he calls his dick a 'cock' when he’s actively engaged in using it. And a Marine fucks, he does not make love. Only wimps, pansies, and limp-wristed mommas’ boys ‘make love’.
If the Nice Girl is the POV character, the descriptive text will not be all that profane as the scene is being told from her view. However, the Marine’s dialogue will have loads of profanity peppered throughout it. Profanity is a guy thing, especially if they are Military or work outdoors.
I have NO Respect for an erotica writer that wimps out and uses; member, penis or vagina in their fiction. We’re adults writing for ADULTS. Let's have some realistically Adult Language. Thank you verra much.
If you have problems writing profanity:
DON’T use a POV character that would use profanity.
or
DON’T write EROTIC FICTION.
or
DON’T write EROTIC FICTION.
It’s that simple.
DISCLAIMER: As with all advice, take what you can use and throw out the rest. As a multi-published author, I have been taught some fairly rigid rules on what is publishable and what is not. If my rather straight-laced (and occasionally snotty,) advice does not suit your creative style, by all means, IGNORE IT.
