I’ve mentioned it enough times…writing, under another name, the romance genre…but recently I’ve noticed how often my general social media comments have been mirroring between these two genres. Once, at least once that I can remember, I noted the duality of them, the different sides of the same coin.
Why do we separate these two? It’s possible to have romance in erotica, Connie and Boris have it. I’ve read enough romance to say some are very erotic. Why the solid name difference? The expectations of each staying on its own side of the sheet, per se.
Obvious answer…you can have erotic with strangers; romance with strangers never stay strangers. Almost, and excuse me for this, it’s like having sex before marriage versus only once the paperwork is signed and ring is firmly on the finger. Hmm, does that sound too harsh?
Erotic writing is supposed to be all about the sex. Romance has been thought of as the deep emotional connection that lives happily ever after. So, does that mean those romance stories with the heated scenes are just a marketing ploy? An acceptable “new” labelling for those uncomfortable with the words…erotic, erotica?
I don’t know. Feels like a comfort zone wording…don’t mind reading romance with heat, but don’t, can’t read anything with the word erotic. Crazy truth, I’ve read some romance with heat (a big name publisher of the genre) and it was more erotic than my writing!
The main difference is the stranger, no strings attached aspect associated with my genre. Beyond that we’ll always mirror each other somehow.