Is it Porn, Erotica, or Erotic Romance?

Mommy porn. That's what people are calling the not-so-new and exciting genre of erotic romance and erotica. Thanks to Fifty Shades of Grey, many doors of writing opportunity have opened for authors, but the definitions of what is being written has become blurry business. Perhaps this post will help clarify the boundaries between porn, erotica, and erotic romance, because each classification is subtly, but distinctly, different from the others.

Porn

This one's simple. Porn is sex written for sex's sake. There is no story. No romance between the characters. They are simply boffing to boff. At the end of the day, Character A could care less if he or she never sees Character B again, and vice versa. It's written for sheer gratification, and nothing more. There's no love...no emotion...no connection...and no story whatsoever. It's just sex. 

Erotica

Going a step beyond porn, there is a strong sexual tie in erotica, but it's about more than just sex. Yes, the sexual relationship is key to the story...BUT!!! There is a story. There are feelings and emotions, and while sex is central to the story, the characters don't spend their entire time in bed screwing each other or other characters.

To that end, in erotica, sex can occur between and among more than just the male and female protagonists. All sorts of fun can be had with all sorts of characters, because in erotica, it's not about falling in love, but about something else. It could be about how a character finds him- or herself through their sexual escapades, or about how someone ventures into the world of BDSM and experiments with multiple Doms until he or she either decides on one or decides to walk away. Or maybe a divorcee starts dating a mysterious man who invites her into a world of debauchery, orgies, and partner swapping. She doesn't fall in love with the guy, but they sure have a lot of fun together, even though their adventures create pressure and conflict with her ex and their children. The story resolution is in how the woman makes the two parts of her life work...or not work, as the case may be. But do you see what I mean? A story is being told, the sex is central to the story, but it's not about falling in love.

At the end, the characters get what's called a Happily For Now (HFN) ending. Either they agree as characters that they're not meant to be together and are fine with that, or the story is left open with regard to whether these characters end up together or not. Or the resolution has nothing to do with the couple at all. The key is that at the end, the characters are content with where things stand, even though they are not "fated" to be together, or at least they aren't fated to be together at this moment.

Erotic Romance

This is where most "mommy porn" writers reside. By definition, a romance has to end with a Happily Ever After (HEA). The characters who have been getting it on for the duration of the story have to end up being together at the end, or it's not romance. In erotic romance, there is love and emotion and conflict. A story is told both when the characters are in and out of the sheets, and they are out of the sheets a lot as their story unfolds. But when they're in the sheets, it's ON! The bedroom door is wide open, and we, as readers, get to see all the action unfold. All the naughty bits are described in rich detail, and we're invited inside the heads of the characters to experience the pleasure with them, much like in erotica. But where erotica ends with HFN, erotic romance ends with HEA. The story is about these two characters, not a bunch of others, and about how they fall in love with one another. The resolution of the story has to show that they end up together...that they're in love...and that they will live "happily ever after." That's the biggest difference.

Hopefully this clears up the confusion.

As for me, I write erotic romance, both paranormal and contemporary. I love leaving the bedroom door open for my readers to see and experience all the fun my characters are having, and I like going into kinkier aspects of eroticism (and my upcoming Mark Strong Tetralogy includes a fetish that is very exciting and will be a source of sexual tension from almost the word go). In my stories, I've used knife play, BDSM, and fetishes as means to heighten the erotic aspects of my stories, but that does not mean they are porn. But a few people describe what I write as porn, anyway. Hopefully now, those people will see that it's not, because while I do get gritty and naughty and down-home dirty with my characters, their stories reign supreme. My characters are on a journey both within themselves and with the people they love, as well as with their surroundings and friends. And that's what I love about writing: the journey the character embarks on. I just happen to expose their personal intimacies rather than close the bedroom door and keep what they do with their partners private.

Mommy porn? Okay, sure...if you want to call it that. But just make sure you understand that mommy porn is really just another way to say erotic romance. :) 

Happy reading and writing!

Donya

Bitten by Paranormal Romance #bloghop

Paranormal romance. Mmmm. Vampires, werewolves, and shifters. Oh my. These days, paranormal romance seems to be synonymous with erotic romance, and the more erotic the better for many readers. But how did the ideas of erotica and paranormal come to be such cozy bedfellows?

I just started reading Dracula for the first time, and the edition I have comes with a long introduction with a breakdown of Bram Stoker's history, as well as the manuscript. Did you know that Bram Stoker was quite possibly gay and might have used his writing symbolically to illustrate his true feelings? Or that many of the vampiric/blood references in Dracula were sexual in nature, even alluding to fellatio and infidelity, and that Dracula himself was sexually ambiguous with an eye for men as well as women? For its time, Dracula was an extremely erotic book, even though we don't see much in the way of outright sexuality. So, could the Granddaddy of all paranormals simply be the first erotically flavored paranormal romance, and all vampire stories that have come since simply carried on the tradition and followed the natural progression into racier and more obvious eroticism? Who knows, but today's paranormals certainly make for good reading, don't they?

So tell me, which do you prefer: vampires or werewolves? Who's your favorite paranormal author, and what's your favorite paranormal book? Because even I, an author of paranormal romance, love to find new books to read. :)

PRIZES
A winner will be drawn on September 17 to receive a $10 Amazon gift card and a copy of one of my books: Rise of the Fallen, Heart of the Warrior, or Micah's Calling. Please leave your email where I can contact you if you win. If I am unable to contact the winner within 24 hours after the draw, I will select a new winner.

Make sure you visit the other blogs on the hop to enter for one of many more prizes.

Good luck to everyone, and happy paranormal romance reading!

...Since this is an over 18 giveaway, here's an over 18 excerpt from my latest work in the AKM series, Micah's Calling, which is a follow-up to Rise of the Fallen:

Trace took a deep breath and blew it out as he stood, and then he made the short walk to the door and carefully opened it. He couldn't even breathe, he was so nervous. And yet, something drove him onward.

After entering the hall, Trace quietly followed the sounds of their muffled grunts and gentle, rhythmic gasps. A soft cadence of slapping flesh beckoned him forward, and his cock kicked up to full mast as he thought about the two people dearest to him making love in the way of true mates.

Damn, but he wanted what they had so fucking badly.

He kept to the shadows, using his power to partially cloak himself, which wasn't hard to do in the dark hour before dawn. The blinds and drapes hadn't even closed over the windows, yet, and no lights were on. Only the lights from the city below, brightened by the snow, illuminated the room.

And then he saw them.

On the couch.

Their coupled forms faced each other, and their bodies moved in perfect synchronization. Sam was on top, her hands pressed against the back of the couch on either side of Micah's head, her body churning and bouncing aggressively as Micah took her hard from the bottom. She faced Trace, but her eyes were closed. Her face was the picture of bliss with her bottom lip dropped open as she breathed heavily.

Her breasts were small, but buoyant, and they jiggled with the power of Micah's thrusts.

Trace pressed his back against the wall and watched, his cock straining as he gaped.

The two of them together were beautiful. So in love. What did it feel like to love someone like that? And to be loved the same way in return? To want someone so badly you didn't care about anything else?

Micah suddenly changed tempo, slowing down, breathing hard. Sam's eyelids opened halfway as she smiled at him and rotated her hips around and around.

Trace hardly dared make a sound for fear of being discovered. He didn't want them to stop.

The air smelled of sex and of lilacs mixed with Micah. Sweet and sultry. Heavenly.

Then it happened. Sam's gaze lifted and caught Trace's. He froze, unable to turn away, unable to move, and unable to speak.

Almost immediately, Sam's body seized and shuddered as she fell into orgasm. Her eyes rolled back as her body collapsed forward against Micah, her breathing erratic and choked as she wrapped her arms around Micah's head and held his face against her chest before opening her eyes and staring right into Trace's once more. And she came again, gasping, but not looking away from him.

Oh fuck! Fuck! He was dead. Micah was going to kill him. And yet, Trace couldn't move.

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