"When does writing go from being adult writing to straight up porn? I want to write something for the story, but including sexual scenes without making it porn. Any tips?" -- Wants to Upgrade from Young Adult into Mature Adult
Okay, first we need to do some defining, plus a few technical details.
The Different Types of Adult Fiction
According to the publishing industry in the US and Canada:
PORNOGRAPHY
Pornography consists of images, video content, and illustrations of people having sex. In short; if it's Not a Picture, it's Not Porn.
The main audience of Pornography tends to be Men strictly interested in 'getting off.' There are a few targeted for women, such as Adam and Eve productions, and Playgirl magazine, they are few and far between.
Erotica is WRITTEN Stroke Fiction; fiction specifically to get the reader hot and bothered to the point that they can actually 'get off.'
PLOTTING Erotica
Plot may or may not be included.
If there is a plot, its purpose is to get the main character involved in as many sex scenes as it can before the story comes to a mutually satisfying end.
SELLING Erotica
This also means that other than Fan-fiction sites, these sites host the highest number of amateurs to writing found anywhere. Reader Beware, seriously. The spelling errors and hideous grammar will make your eyes bleed long before the impossible sex scenes and over-the-top cliche characters get to you.
WHO READS Erotica?
To satisfy these readers the detailing needs to focus on the sexual action scenes, so the author needs to be at least half-way decent at writing sex scenes without confusing the reader as to who is doing what.
Also, these readers enjoy the sexual partners being lovingly described with an emphasis on proportions and the messy details; the sweat, the tears, the saliva, plus the slapping and jiggling of flesh in action.
Love can feature in the story, but it's not anywhere as important as the sex.
EROTIC ROMANCE
Erotic Romance is Adult Pulp Fiction. Adventure stories for Adults.
PLOTTING Erotic Romance
This genre needs explicitly described sex scenes AND a detailed adventure plot, so take out all your favorite adventure fantasies and indulge in your most desperate Adult fantasies during said adventures.
WHO READS Erotic Romance
These stories tend to be written for Adult Women in their 30's and
40's with adult appetites, who also read for pleasure. However, a growing number of Adult Men are also reading these books, especially those heavier on the Adventure Plot and lighter on the sex with a Male main character.
SELLING Erotic Romance
Erotic Romance is what made the eBook industry take off, and why the eBook industry still exists. It's a lot easier to hide that one is reading a work of smut on a phone or tablet than when reading a paperback.
As it stands, eBook Publishers are still out there looking for hot adventures to publish and oddly enough, so are many of the paying WebNovel sites. However while both types of publishers want a 60% to 40% ratio in the Sex vs Story content, the WebNovel sites prefer 60% Story and 40% Sex, to the eBook publishers who prefer 60% Sex to 40% Story.
This is one of the largest paying reading audiences out there -- which is why I write it for a living.
WRITING Erotic Romance
To satisfy these readers the detailing needs to focus on the Action scenes; sexual and non-sexual. The author not only needs to be able to write damned good sex scenes, they need to know how to write good action scenes too: fights, chases, and daring rescues.
These readers also want detailed
descriptions of not only ALL the characters in action, but the scenery
around them. These readers want to BE these characters and Live the
adventures they're reading.
Romance should feature in the story, between the MC and their main love or lovers, but it doesn't rule the story, Adventure does.
Romances are the Emotional journey between a Lover and their Beloved, or Beloveds.
PLOTTING Romance
Plot doesn't need to be heavy, only strong enough to get between the lovers and keep them from confessing until 3/4s of the way through the story.
Technically speaking, once the confession scene happens where the lovers declare their love for each other, the story is OVER. The rest of the book is Plot Clean-Up where all loose ends are tied, all faces that need slapping are slapped, and a wedding may, or may not happen.
WHO READS Romance
This reading audience tends to be almost strictly Women between 15 and 50.
Romance has the #1 largest paying reading audience in the US and Canada, trouncing every other genre reading audience by a Large margin. However, this reading audience tends to get the bulk of their reading material from bookstores, Amazon, and Kindle -- not online story sites.
WRITING Romance
To satisfy these readers, the Emotions the main characters feel need to be detailed, with emphasis on Angst and Pining.
Character descriptions plus Scenery and
Clothing descriptions are always appreciated. (It's all about the Pretty, seriously.)
Sex scenes can be halted at passionate kissing scenes if the writer is feeling particularly pure, but full blown Romantic sex scenes are much appreciated, though it can be limited to three at the minimum. Adventurous chase and rescue scenes can be lightly described, but should be there too to give the story spice.
Reminder: These definitions are strictly for the Publishing Industry in the US and Canada. Other countries have their own definitions.
As for story post sites like Scribble Hub and WattPad--
I've personally noticed that the main reading
audience of these type of sites seems to be fairly young; in the late teens and early 20's.
There is a fairly strong showing of those in their late 20's and early
30's, but only a smattering of those in their 40's and 50's.
There is also a strong division in reading preferences between the older audience and the younger audience.
The younger audience seems to prefer strongly plotted Adventure stories with no sex
to only hints of sex; minimal kissing scenes and fade to black sex
scenes that are easily skipped over. Think: Young Adult novels.
This audience is not willing to pay for
their reading material. Mainly because the youngest of these readers are often still in school and generally unemployed. They're not willing to spend what little pocket
money they do have on stories when there's too much available free
online that while not great, is good enough.
The older audience prefers Adult Adventure stories with the sex as detailed as the adventure scenes. These people also read some
of the Erotica selections, but it's far too easy for them to find
actual erotica written by far more skilled authors from other sources such as Literotica.com, and Lush.
These readers do tend to have a regular income, so they Are willing to pay for a good story -- but that story had better be worth paying for.
My advice?
Practice your Plotting skills, writing sex scenes, and writing action scenes on a different story-posting site Under a Different Author Name before presenting it on a site like Scribble Hub. This will garner you the largest reading audience, and the highest praise.
Why should you practice on another site first?
Readers Remember and Avoid authors known for writing poorly.
They remember rampant typos, poor grammar, poor punctuation, hateful main characters, and plotting foul-ups. Even if the author improves, those readers have already made their judgements and will not ever return.
THIS is why you want to get all
your practice done elsewhere, this way you can come in clean and strong
and make a good reputation for yourself from the very start.
But that's just my Advice. Take it or leave it, as you please.
Morgan Hawke
www.morganhawke.com
