Definitions: What is Erotica? by Regina Kammer

Riffing off Suz’s post A Few Words About Writing Erotica, I’ve decided to offer definitions of erotica, erotic romance, and such. You can read the extended version on my blog.

Introduction

People frequently make broad assumptions about what it is I write. Friends, family, and acquaintances snicker about my "porn". Romance writer colleagues imbued with the cadence of traditional romance often bandy about the term "erotica" as if to signal the ugly otherness of erotic romance.

So I will attempt to answer the provocative question What is erotica? and by doing so answer corollary questions about misunderstood erotic-like literary variations: Erotic romance, steamy romance, smut, porn, and Romantica®.

Kammerotica Definitions, or The What is Erotica? Cheat Sheet!

Erotica
Erotica is a literary form where the core of the story is sexual in nature. As a literary form, erotica has plot, themes, character development, goals and motivations, conflicts and resolutions, and all those elements that make up a story. But all those elements deal with something sexual in nature. Typical themes include the erotic development of a relationship (e.g., a Dominant and submissive), or an innocent’s journey of sexual discovery, or a character’s exploration and development of their true sexual nature. One could not strip out the sex scenes and be left with a comprehensible story. The sex is the story.

But, blasphemy of blasphemies, I do not think erotica has to necessarily be arousing. Sometimes the erotic development of a relationship or a character’s journey of sexual discovery is sad, lonely, and depressing. Sometimes it is shocking. Sometimes it is sweet and romantic. And sometimes it is arousing.

Erotic romance
In order to define this, I have to define "romance". I'm not talking le Roman de la Rose or Arthurian chivalric knights, which are the roots of the idea of romantic love. No. I'm talking Romance Writers of America (RWA) romance.

Two basic elements comprise every romance novel: a central love story and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending.

Erotic romance takes all the elements of erotica but has a love story at its core. An optimistic resolution to a relationship—a Happily Ever After or a Happily For Now—is essential in an erotic romance.

Sex scenes are not gratuitous in erotic romance. Sexual elements form the foundation of the plot, themes, and characters. One cannot simply strip away the sex scenes and be left with a comprehensible story. The sex scenes drive the plot and character development and push toward that culmination of a HEA/HFN.

Steamy (or Sexy, or Graphic, or Gratuitous, or Explicit) Romance
Steamy Romance is a romance with a lot of sex in it. Generally, there is a very good reason for at least one of the sex scenes—the moment when the hero and heroine (or whatever permutation of H/h the story has: two men, two women, three people, etc.) connect deeply and emotionally. But in a lot of steamy romances, one could tone down the sex scenes or fade to black before the sex scenes and the story would be sound.

Unfortunately, some steamy romance novels have too many purely gratuitous sex scenes. Personally, I find these sorts of stories rather boring. I want the sex in a story to have purpose, to move the story forward. Characters should change, relationships should develop, conflicts should increase or resolve — something has to happen because of the sex. I find it interesting that erotica and erotic romance is often criticized for having gratuitous sex. It’s actually the steamy romances that too often fall into that pit.

Romantica®
Romantica® is a registered trademark of the erotic romance and erotica publisher Ellora’s Cave. The term is exclusively used for their line of erotic romance. Because it is a trademark one should never use the term unless discussing an Ellora’s Cave erotic romance. Maybe one day it will be a generic term, but until then I strongly urge people not to use it out of context.

Smut
Depending on who is using it, this word can mean "erotica" or "literary porn" or "just plain porn". It’s a cute word that seems to be used mostly by erotica authors from the UK.

Pornography / Porn
In pornography sex scenes exist purely for the purpose of sexual titillation. Plot, character development, theme, and all other literary devices are generally missing in pornography. In fact, such literary effects are irrelevant and unessential. The entire emphasis is on sexual acts. "Literary porn" is really just well-written porn, but once the story starts to have some of those literary devices, porn starts sliding toward erotica.

Pornography starts with a set-up, e.g., pizza boy goes to a sorority house and sexiness ensues. Characters remain the same after the act is finished: there is no character development, no character growth, no conflict resolution. There is just pure sexual satisfaction—although I suppose that is a resolution of some sort!

What I Write

So, what is it I actually write? I write all of the above except porn—despite what my friends think. I offer a few examples below.

Erotica
My story in Naughty List, "A Night at Valley Forge", is erotica because a HEA is not an element.

Erotic romance
Most of what I write can be categorized as this. I like a happy ending! I like my characters to explore their sexual natures! My favorite novel of mine, The General’s Wife: An American Revolutionary Tale, is pretty much textbook erotic romance.

Romantica®
Because I’ve written for Ellora’s Cave, I’ve written Romantica with my Harwell Heirs series. The Pleasure Device, Disobedience By Design, and Where Destiny Plays are all erotic romance novels under the Romantica brand.

Steamy romance
Yes! I’ve actually written steamy romance! It surprised me too, because I never thought I would. My story in Naughty Flings, "Hot As Hades", is a story with hot sex and a Happily Ever After. I think the story would not be as good without the sex or with toned down sex, but I hesitate calling it erotic romance. Maybe you can convince me otherwise in the comments?

About the Author

Regina Kammer is a librarian, an art historian, and an award-nominated, best-selling, multi-published writer of erotica and historical erotic romance. Her short stories and novels make history sexier, whether the era is Roman, Byzantine, Viking, American Revolution, or Victorian. She’s even sexed up contemporary settings, Steampunk, and Greco-Roman mythology. She has been published by Cleis Press, Go Deeper Press, Ellora’s Cave, House of Erotica, Story Ink, The Naughty Literati, and her own imprint, Viridium Press. She began writing historical fiction with romantic elements during National Novel Writing Month 2006, switching to erotica when all her characters suddenly demanded to have sex.

Keep up with Regina on her website

Follow her on Twitter @Kammerotica

Or Google+

Like her on Facebook

Connect with her on Goodreads

See what’s new on her Amazon Author Page

Writing Inspiration: On the Eighteenth of January… by Regina Kammer

Hi everyone! This is Regina sharing a post from my own blog. It's still winter-cold where I live, so a post about a story set in winter seems appropriate! Enjoy!

Recently, I’ve been writing blog posts on what has inspired me to write what I write, you know, those little things that spark ideas that turn into stories. Today is January 18th, and I’ve actually written a story called “On the Eighteenth of January, ’78; or, A Night at Valley Forge”, published in Naughty List, the winter anthology from the Naughty Literati. So, what inspired a story that takes place on such a specific date?

Well, I had just finished and released the new edition of The General’s Wife and was starting to think about a sequel involving the secondary hero First Lieutenant Patrick Hamilton. But before the sequel would be released (it’s not even written yet!) I thought I should release a short story to set the scene. An interlude at Fort Revolution featuring Captain Samuel Taylor and Patrick during the winter of 1778 which happens off-page in The General’s Wife (there’s a story break between November 1777 and May 1778). It sets up an emotional backstory to the (outlined) sequel.

Then I saw a call for submissions for an American Revolution erotica anthology. Who better than I could write such a thing? The General’s Wife is an awesome book! And I had just done all that research… So I decided to write a story. Actually, my friend and colleague, Amber Belldene and I egged each other on to write American Revolution erotica shorts.

And that’s when everything goes blank.

I do not know for the life of me where the story I eventually wrote came from! It just happened. I think it was one of the most creative writing moments in my life. Amber and I exchanged stories and beta read each other’s efforts. Hers was sweet and romantic and gay. Mine was, according to her email, “Super kinky and bizarre and queer.” I think I squealed in delight at that response! When I try to describe it to people I’m sort of at a loss. The best I can do is to say it’s a male/male George Washington cross-dressing role play historical short.

Indeed.

The story was never published in the anthology I wrote it for (I turned down the contract). I’ve always intended for it to be published alongside the above-mentioned Pat and Sam short since the stories take place during the same intense winter of 1777-1778, albeit in different locations. But it’s a damn good story and I kept searching for a place for it. When the Naughty Literati formed, I found its home. You can read an excerpt on the Naughty Literati blog.

Now about the title. It comes from a line in the poem “Paul Revere’s Ride” (also known as "The Landlord's Tale") by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882):

“Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year.”

I think hardly an American is now alive who remembers this poem! I remember it from my childhood. I’m sure it’s just an inside joke to me, but that’s why I titled my short story “On the Eighteenth of January, ’78; or, A Night at Valley Forge”.

Naughty List has been out since December 1st, and we’ve made some bestseller lists and gotten some good reviews. I hope that means there are readers out there who’ve enjoyed my story. It’s Misterotica’s favorite of my stories, and might just be my favorite as well.

Regina Kammer is an award-nominated, Amazon best-selling, multi-published writer of erotica and historical erotic romance. Her short stories and novels have been published by Cleis Press, Go Deeper Press, Ellora’s Cave, House of Erotica, with the Naughty Literati, and her own imprint, Viridium Press. She began writing historical fiction with romantic elements during National Novel Writing Month 2006, switching to erotica when all her characters suddenly demanded to have sex.

Keep up with Regina on her website http://kammerotica.com/
Follow her on Twitter @Kammerotica
Or Google+
Like her on Facebook
Connect with her on Goodreads
See what’s new on her Amazon Author Page

Craving a Dream Hunk by Marianne Stephens

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