Issues with writing erotica 2 — isn’t this just pornography?

There are a number of issues I face due to my choice of genre for the books and short stories that I write, so I’m going to go through a few and see if others have similar thoughts — and any insights!

A question that comes up, and which I have a certain measure of sympathy for, is whether the erotica I write is really just pornography — or maybe porn lite if someone is being charitable. Whether that is true of stories like 50 Shades of Grey is one thing, but my own stories are all much darker than that, and there is a lot more in the way of descriptive sex as well. At least a lot more than the first of that series — which was all I could face reading!

There is a lot on the web talking about the difference between the two, and not just from dictionary definitions. I’ll give a couple of quotes that I like during this piece.

“Erotica is for nice middle class literate people like us, pornography is for the lonely, unattractive and uneducated.” Lucy Fisher

“Pornography is erotica which is not to the taste of the person describing it.” Tony Green

For myself, I think a lot of the difference comes down to what you are focussing on. There is an old trope in porn films of the plumber coming round to fix something and getting straight down to having sex with the ditzy, improbably busty, blonde householder. For those watching it the build-up is probably irrelevant and could be fast-forwarded until the ‘action’ starts. That is porn.

If, on the other hand, the story had been about her day so far, getting the kids to school, husband off to work, dealing with life and what is getting thrown up — and then the plumber was introduced… that sounds more like erotica.

Many of my stories though, don’t fit quite so neatly into that thinking. I mostly write about young, attractive, women, who get blackmailed for sex and money. Or mind-controlled in some form for sex and money. Or… well, you get the idea. Sex is a major activity of the stories.

In fact, without sex, I’m not sure that there would be much left in some of the novels and, as for the short stories, well, they would end up very short! Plot and characterisation do matter — absolutely they do — but sex is certainly a major driver in the progress of the stories.

I never set out to write either porn or erotica. I always assumed that I’d write a thriller, or maybe something in the lines of science fiction — or even a good fantasy novel.

As an avid reader, I’d talked about writing something myself for years, but it had never seemed to happen. It was only when I almost forced myself to sit down at a keyboard and write something — anything! — that the words started to flow.

That they were a story about blackmail, sex, and a female getting dominated by a man truly shocked me. I had no idea that was in me. The second, stand alone, but follow-up, story was just as much a surprise. What kept coming out after that surprised me less, as I was getting used to it, but still shocked me — and those that I let read them.

“Pornographic film has as its primary purpose the graphic depiction of sexually explicit scenes. It generally depicts these scenes in a way that is degrading to women or, less frequently, to men. Erotica, on the other hand, seeks to tell a story that involves sexual themes.” William J. Gehrke

I suppose that this quote is the one that I find most helpful. What I am trying to do is indeed tell a story. It just happens that there is a strong sexual theme to it. That’s not what I’m there for though. First in my head is the overall plot, the blackmail, the situations that this would lead to, and what the consequences of this would be.

It’s not that the sex is a minor thing, but it is, I hope, still secondary to the plot. Sure, I imagine that it is a major factor in why people come back for more, but I hope that it is the overall package that they enjoy, rather than focussing purely on that one aspect.

And, lets face it, if it was just the sexual thrill that they wanted, there are far easier sources to find it in than stories on the web. Cheaper ones as well!

At the end of the day, it does matter to me which category people place my stories. I think of most pornography in a negative way, even though I watch it myself at times. Degrading, exploitative, cheap, and good only for quick thrills, is my usual thinking.

While there is certainly degradation and exploitation in what I write, that is only a part of what is going on, and not the whole. I hope the overall package gives a thrill, and not just the sex. (Although, of course, I want that element to be good for the reader as well!)

So today’s question is, what do you write? Would it matter to you if your stories were categorised as pornography rather than erotica? Do you really see a difference? Or is it all fine lines anyway, and a case of whatever works for you is good!