RE: What do you like to see in an erotica novel?

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RE: What do you like to see in an erotica novel? - 10/6/2011 10:01:13 PM

xssve

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quote:

ORIGINAL: ProlificNeeds

Now I've read a few, and I know what I enjoy seeing in a 'steamy' book, but for those of you who pick them up, do you look for books that contain BDSM related story or do the vanilla romances do it for you just as well?

I always figured BDSM related erotica books were a niche market and just didn't sell as well as your average romance book, given the assumption that the majority of people are not heavily involved in BDSM/ or familiar with it's varied practices.

Would love to hear peoples thoughts on what does (or doesn't) sell a novel about (or containing) erotica.

Yes, it's all about demographics, men like physical action women tend to prefer emotional conflict - most porn is targeted towards 18 to 34 year old males, and more towards 18 to 24.

Women, overall, I think read more literature in general, including erotica - bodice rippers are I think in decline, the market leans more towards supernatural romance these days, vampires and werewolves are hot. Mens taste in literature is similar to their taste in porn, any dialogue deeper than "I've never seen a dick so big"! is going glaze them.

BDSM is actually kind of in the middle, and oddly enough the best bet for reaching a wide audience I believe, there's usually a lot of sex, in fact the sex can be non stop, but the story is generally more about the emotional context of submission, internal and interpersonal conflict, so there's a lot of room there for empathy from women readers: mixed feeling about a threesome or something, and that can be applied to non-BDSM porn, i.e., honest emotional responses during a sex scene - I like that myself, after a while, nothing but sex gets repetitive, and you have to keep raising the bar in terms of shock value - incest for example, is a hugely popular category of erotic literature, and ironically, I suspect much of it's appeal is the implications of emotional intimacy, which are sort of automatic in incest, i.e., an intimate relationship is already assumed, there is the forbidden fruit appeal, etc. (Flowers in the Attic was kind of an eyeopener for me, in terms of just exactly what the hell chick lit was all about...), a lot of things built into that that would otherwise require more nuanced and extensive background and character development.

It's a shortcut, in other words, and you can use that to advantage without necessarily going there, by using that ambiance of familial intimacy as a model when developing relationships between your characters - possibly why BDSM works better on and emotional level as well, since there are some similarities, transgressions of the norm, transference, daddy doms, etc.

Sex is good, but stories are about conflict, and conflict can end any number of ways, it generates complexities, and engenders growth - it's why porn is called porn, not erotica: there's no conflict, no complexities beyond the actors gymnastic abilities or unique physical gifts, no growth, and it only ever ends one way - it's fun, but it isn't really storytelling.

(in reply to ProlificNeeds)