Romance Vs Erotica Vs Smut

It's that time of year again.  The stores are packed to the gills with red and pink.  Chocolatiers and candy stores are upping their visibility game standing about with free samples.  The lingerie ads are pumping out more erotic lingerie than one can possibly wear.  Wine and champagne are on sale.

Valentines.  

As a writer of bdsm and lgtbq stories that do have sprinklings of romance and erotica, I don't detest the holiday.  I just feel that where love and passion exist, a holiday like this is redundant because such things occur more frequently and are more genuine.  There isn't need to put on an elaborate show of "love" and "romance."

I was on facebook and one of the writers was struggling with classifying their story.  Their story had romance and erotica and didn't fit either category.  That's because many stories don't fit one category and are a blend.  They were trying so hard to make it fit one category on the other and worked themselves into a frenzy and couldn't move beyond that one point.

This is a major barrier for so many writers.  I thought I'd take a moment to make a few distinctions below and use movie ratings and peppers to illustrate their spice level.

Photo by Holdosi on Pixabay

Romance

Romance stories are where one or more people meet and fall in love.  The story's focus is on the development of the relationship.  Plot happens but only so much in how it develops their love for each other.  There may or may not be a few sex scenes but they are mild and the language ranges from PG to R rating.  (I say that but I wouldn't want anyone under 16 reading spicier romance stories.)  The spicy factor is from Pepperoncini to Jalepeno.

Romantica

Whuuuut?

I rarely see romantica discussed.  It's either romance or erotica.  Romantica is a nice little blend of both.  There is a development of the love interests but the sex scenes and language are more graphic and is definitely NC-17.  There is a plot, but again, it serves to put them in situations that develop their relationship further.  On the pepper scale Thai Chili.

Erotica

Sex, sex, and more sex.  They may or may not have a relationship but sex is a heavy part of the story.  There is a plot in there... somewhere.  If you squint you'll see it.  However, the plot doesn't necessarily have to do with furthering their relationship.  They could just thrown into the mix and happen to have sparks fly.  NC-17 to X rating.  On the pepper scale Scotch Bonnet.

Smut/Porn

Do I even need to explain?  These stories are no holds barred, explicit, graphic, dirty sex.  Might be a relationship.  Might be strangers hooking up.  No storyline beyond the first meet then it's just sex.  The vocabulary would make most of us blush.  These are stories you have to go to the adult store to find as they are rated X.  On the pepper scale it's hotter than pepper spray.  


Now that I read this, I think I need to revise what I categorize my stories as.  I'm just going to go with 'plot with porn.'  That's simple enough.  Check out my story "He Chose Me."  Tell me what you think.

If you would like to read more on the subject, check out the links below

Erotica Readers - Erotica vs Porn: Is it the same thing?    

Hazel Mills - Erotica vs Porn: What is the difference?

Did I leave anything out?  What are your thoughts?  Leave me a comment.

Thanks for reading!