Getting my feet wet

cardanise

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I've been reading erotica to get my feet wet into the genre and one aspect that's bugged me is the MC (typically female) seems so bland and lacks character qualities. For me personally if I'm not digging the MC, I'm not going to be into whatever sexual escapades that falls her way. The same goes for the person she's having a jolly time getting her bits soaked. I want to be the person rooting on these two believable characters getting hot under the sheets instead of two blow up dolls rubbing latex, human replica genitals.

That's where I'm at with my novel I'm writing. At times it's like an erotica, but we get plenty of romance and in-depth character development between the two characters. It follows the traditional 'three acts' of most novels, which from my understanding isn't the typical for erotica since the point is to arouse the audience and not much in terms of story. Ultimately the novel is going to have lots of drama to it as well and the Feels(c). At this point, I can't make head or tails of it. I am enjoying writing it regardless.
 

c.m.n.

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Maybe you're not writing "erotica"? If there's romance and drama, and if there's more plot than what is necessary to get the two together, then you may be writing erotic romance. It's sometimes difficult to distinguish between the two especially if you've never written either genres.

As long as you are enjoying what you're writing, I wouldn't worry about it until you're ready for a beta reader. At that time, then the beta can help you determine which genre best fits your book.

As far as reading material, perhaps try several different erotica and erotic romance books. You might not have found the 'right' book that features an interesting female MC.
 

Maryn

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IMO, therein lies the difference between erotic fiction and porn. Erotic fiction, whether it's romance or erotica, has strong character development, an actual plot (which may be sexually based) with conflict, rising stakes, and resolution, a character arc in which its events change the main character, who was of course flawed from the onset, all the elements of quality fiction of any genre.

Porn has just enough to keep the characters straight in the reader's head (although they may not be straight, yuk-yuk), has various situations rather than a cohesive plot, and has far more visual description than depth of character. Its whole purpose is to arouse the reader, and the telling of a good story featuring characters the reader cares about is not a requirement.

So yeah, write yourself some erotic fiction!

Maryn, pleased to meet you
 

cool pop

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I've had a few pen names where I wrote erotica but never lasted more than a few weeks. I got so bored. The problem is that in erotica you can't write what you want to. You have to write in certain niches or the stories won't sell. Erotica depends highly on filling a niche and many of the popular niches just didn't appeal to me. I tried to be too unique with some of the stuff but in erotica it's best to stick to a trope and niche that sells or you will end up releasing a bunch of stories that go nowhere.

Most the erotica authors I know aren't writing erotica as their main genre. Many do it on the side but some of them do very well because they have the ability to detach themselves when writing. Meaning, they don't have to even care about what they write. They just hammer out the stories with the same tropes for the same niches and they sell every time. One of my erotica author friends told me I'd fail if I stepped outside the box and she was right. My stories sold a bit at first then quickly fizzled. My erotica pals who sell great have a few basic plots they stick to and they just change characters, settings and even the sexual orientations of characters and that's it. Most of their stories are exactly the same with just little tweaks here and there but they sell because they fulfill a popular niche.

After I tried writing erotica the third time I think I am done for good. If I can't write what I want and have to just pick from niches that don't appeal to me, I can't do it. That's why I laugh when people think writing erotica is easy. It's more complicated to write than most realize until they start it. I have much respect for erotica authors who can write it constantly for years and make a living at it.

Another thing I was doing (in my friends' opinions) was too much character development in my erotica. Erotica readers don't want all that. They want to read a story to get off, period. If you put too much in it bogs the story down and that's not what you want in erotica.
 
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cool pop

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IMO, therein lies the difference between erotic fiction and porn. Erotic fiction, whether it's romance or erotica, has strong character development, an actual plot (which may be sexually based) with conflict, rising stakes, and resolution, a character arc in which its events change the main character, who was of course flawed from the onset, all the elements of quality fiction of any genre.

Porn has just enough to keep the characters straight in the reader's head (although they may not be straight, yuk-yuk), has various situations rather than a cohesive plot, and has far more visual description than depth of character. Its whole purpose is to arouse the reader, and the telling of a good story featuring characters the reader cares about is not a requirement.

So yeah, write yourself some erotic fiction!

Maryn, pleased to meet you

See, this is where I get confused. So many erotica authors claim you don't need too much character development, etc. They say in erotica romance you do because that's more romance and follows the convictions of romance but I don't know if it's a new breed of erotica authors or not but these I see out today are saying they just stick to a niche and keep the stories simple. They don't do much character development (if any) and just focusing on the sex. That's what is confusing because erotica gets defined in different ways. Some say it's not porn and others say it's porn unless it's erotic romance.

I joined some erotica writing groups when studying the genre and they all act like erotica is just porn. I always thought it was different but then I see all these books that claim to be erotica but really are porn so I guess it's in the eye of the beholder what it's called. Just too many people defining it differently.

Also, most erotica authors now call their work "smut", which ads to confusion. I definitely wouldn't equate something called "smut" with something that's supposed to have deep character development, etc. No offense to those who proudly call their work smut or anything, just saying I don't believe these authors are considering their work anything other than porn if they are calling it that.
 
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Maryn

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Writing to a sexual niche is probably not something to discuss in further detail on this public board, but I find it easy, not only for my real life practices but for those I can imagine in some alternate universe.

It sounds to me like the people you're referring to aren't writing erotic fiction but porn. Good fiction in any genre has plot and developed characters. Have you read their books? Are they porn?

It's entirely possible their feedback on your work is of no use if their expertise is writing porn to a niche readership and you're attempting erotica.
 

veinglory

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It seems to me that you might need to read some good erotica. There is good and bad of any genre but the idea that the entire genre lacks characterization seems like a problem with finding the good rather than the entire genre being bad. If you post subgenre, tone, and length preferences I am sure we could give you masterwork recommendations.