Another Day, Another Lame Description
Every single day a new description pops up in an attempt to distinguish one group of hot and sexy books from another. You need a scorecard, a dictionary and a brown paper book cover just to keep up. I also need numerous explanations from Wendy, Candy and this poor woman, Stef, who answered some of my more insipid questions in the middle of a chat on the Smart Bitches’ website. See, someone - maybe Meljean - mentioned the term amourotica. My brilliant response: "Amourotica? Are you making that one up? If erotica has hot sex does amourotica actually require that a body part catch fire….oh, forget it. " Really, that Candy doesn’t ban my IP address from her site and that Meljean refrains from calling me an idiot on a daily basis…well, let’s just say miracles do happen.
I was morbidly fascinated by the entire conversation and couldn’t let go since Arianna Huffington was mentioned - yeah, well, you try fitting Huffington and erotica into the same conversation. Candy and Sarah are amazing women. But, to be honest, I thought this new term was a joke, some bizarre perversion of the already annoying descriptions floating around out there on author blogs and publishing websites. Somewhere along the line, someone or a bunch of someones took pity on my perplexed soul and explained that eXtasy Books (there’s nothing wrong with my spelling, I double checked on the publisher’s site) uses the term "amourotica" and Ellora’s Cave uses the term "romantica" while others say erotica or erotic romance. Those who hate the stuff call it porn or spawn of the devil. From what I can tell, it’s all the same. Except porn, please don’t write and tell me erotic romance and porn are not the same ’cause I get that. Really, I don’t get much but I can tell the difference between Hustler and, say, something written by Jaid Black. And, if you can’t - why are you visiting this site? Go read Jaid Black. Then read Hustler. Then come back, but only if you see a distinction between the two.
My question - does any of this really matter? If we dress it up and stick a hat on it some folks will still like it and others will call it repugnant. Who cares? What’s with all the labels that don’t seem to mean anything. The general idea in this chat was that erotica has a bad connotation thanks to some of the poorly written crap out there under that definition. Is that true? If there’s a real distinction, I’d like to know because I’m thinking this is a case of having too many names for the same thing. One of those times when we’re so busy slapping labels on our writing to actually sit back and just write without, you know, all the labels.
May 18th, 2005 at 12:46 pm
The labels slapped on book jackets don’t matter to me. I want to read books that are compelling, with character growth, conflict driven plots, and well crafted love stories. Outside of those things, what really matters?
May 18th, 2005 at 1:10 pm
You can’t see me, but I’m nodding in agreement at this post and Wendy’s current post. Yep and yep and yep.
Sigh. Someday I will come up with a brilliant way to say “me too”.
May 18th, 2005 at 4:27 pm
I think the names are a way to gain acceptance. Does it work? No…
May 18th, 2005 at 11:16 pm
I think Jordan is right about the acceptance but I also do believe there’s a difference between erotica and erotic romance. From my understanding, erotic romance requires a HEA of some sort. Erotica just requires there be sex.
And I was right there with you on the amourotica. Quite possibly the worst word I have ever heard. It is beyond ridiculous, isn’t it?
May 19th, 2005 at 7:20 am
It’s been a long time, but I believe that Stef is Stefani Kelsey, the editor at eXtasy Books.
I feel that the different labels people are giving erotica–whether there is a romantic element or not–are from people who have double standards. Romantica is still erotica, and so is whatever you want to call it.
Possibly erotica is better than the free sex stories you can find online, since people are being paid to write it. But the idea of it? The content? It’s the same thing.
May 19th, 2005 at 5:24 pm
I don’t know what the labels mean or are supposed to mean. Amourotica was so strange to me I had to mention it. But, in my mind, there is a difference between books that don’t require a HEA (by this I mean a satisfying ending where the parties are committed to each other)and those that do. The more erotic stuff that falls under the romance umbrella does require a HEA but the boundaries are pushed. There’s no question about that.
The bigger question probably is: what does that romance umbrella include? Seems to me this is changing and growing. There should be room for everything from the tame to the inspirational to the mainstream to the hotter stuff. People can choose whatever they want in that spectrum.