Opinions please... How far can a book go before it is erotica?

[Jams]

Hello all,

I'm currently writing a piece about a young woman who has a bit of a rough time, much of it is drink/drug related, but there is also sex involved. Some forced and some not, and sometimes she is taken advantage of.

The reason for this is the story is about her journey, kind of a dramatic, coming-of-age story for adult readers, and the hard times play a big part in who she becomes.

My question is, how much sex can I write about before I have to label my book erotica? If an erotic book is for pleasurable purposes, then this shouldn't be labelled that, but with sex playing such a key part to the narrative, would labelling it as a drama or even just fiction be misleading?

To be clear, I don't want to label this project as erotica, and I'd like some opinions on how far I could go without crossing that line.

Thanks, Jams N. Roses.

[Mo]

I would think it depends how graphic it is. Some would say that the Marquis de Sade wrote erotic books but it would depend what turns a person on.

[Alan]

I suppose it all depends whether the raison-d'etre of the book is the 'erotic' content or other themes/consideration which the eroticism is an integral (but not sole) part of. The way you describe your book, I would say it's not erotica.

[Mago]

8 inches?

[Mago]

Sorry Jams
I was getting mixed up with Fantasy there ;-)

[Emma]

I would say that erotica is when a book is designed to be titillating. Your's doesn't sound like it at all. I think that as long as sex isn't the main theme in the book and it is relevant to the story you can put in as much as you wish. Just make sure to put a warning on the cover or description that the book contains explicit sex so it doesn't surprise people who would rather not read it. Forced sex definitely does not sound like erotica.

[Patti (baconater)]

Yep, exactly what Emma said.

[Patti (baconater)]

Mago (Mark) wrote: "8 inches?"

Men never understand the difference between inches and centimetres, do they?

[Jams]

Alan wrote: "The way you describe your book, I would say it's not erotica."i>

I think you're right - I'll just have to use the blurb to let potential readers know what to expect, maybe a warning of explicit content for example.

[Jams]

Mago (Mark) wrote: "8 inches?"

If it takes 8 inches to write erotica, there's not a chance of me doing that!

[Jams]

Emma wrote: "I would say that erotica is when a book is designed to be titillating. Your's doesn't sound like it at all. I think that as long as sex isn't the main theme in the book and it is relevant to the st..."

Thanks Emma and Patti - I've never read erotica, so wasn't too sure about this.

This isn't a story about sex, but it does play a big part and you're right, I think a warning of sorts along with the blurb should suffice.

[Jams]

Thanks everyone - Appreciated.

[Rosen]

I say write the book you want to write. If you feel it needs sex and you're comfortable writing sex scenes, just do it. Unless you start adding sex just to spice it up and titillate readers, then I wouldn't call it erotica.

[Jams]

Rosen wrote: "I say write the book you want to write. If you feel it needs sex and you're comfortable writing sex scenes, just do it. Unless you start adding sex just to spice it up and titillate readers, then I..."

Thanks Rosen, that's what I've decided to do - Write it how it comes to me naturally, then I'll label it as best I can in the hope of not offending too many people afterwards!

[Jams]

Adam wrote: "I would suggest that less is more. I recently put down a Fantasy book because the author went into too much detail about exactly how a woman was being touched against her will by an enemy. If you s..."

Hi Adam, thanks for your thoughts.
The thing is, I'm not really one for changing my style in fear of upsetting people. For me, this is more about labelling the book correctly and finding the right readers, so as to not mislead people into reading it completely unaware of what awaits them!
Cheers.