Guest Jill Sorenson: Sexy vs. Erotic. You Choose.

I’m back! We’re back! Or, trying to be. And I’m happy to say that kicking it off will be ALBTALBS friend author Jill Sorenson! I really hope you’ll chime in. 🙂

The Dirty Scale: Sexy vs. Erotic

Hello Limecello & friends! I’m a little nervous about my upcoming release. While I was writing Riding Dirty, I wasn’t sure if the story would be erotic or just really sexy. I left it open, letting the heat level develop naturally. I’d plotted the character details and suspense elements, but I hadn’t planned a specific number of sex scenes. I ended up with 6, about 50 pages out of 320, which is roughly 15% of my story. Sexier than my other books, but does it qualify as erotic romance? Let’s discuss.

One of my favorite romance novels is Liberating Lacey by Anne Calhoun. It’s very sexy. The hero and heroine get in on in the bar parking lot, against a stranger’s truck, shortly after meeting. They continue to have steamy encounters, but the sex is mostly vanilla and I don’t think it’s the primary focus. There’s a lot happening between these characters outside of the bedroom.

What She Needs

(This is not the cover for Liberating Lacey, but let’s pretend it is.)

Victoria Dahl’s Looking for Trouble is another great example. The hero and heroine have an intensely erotic hookup early in the story. There are several detailed sex scenes with words like pussy, cock and cunt. Is it dirty? Absolutely. Is it an erotic romance? I’m not sure. I think the characters’ emotional journeys and family issues take precedent. The non-sexual moments in the story are just as important, if not more.

Looking for Trouble

In both of these novels, the ways the characters relate to each other sexually is integral to the storyline, but the sex isn’t the main course. Just an extra-yummy dessert.

I’ve heard that an erotic romance won’t make sense if you can take out the sex scenes. I’ve also heard that the sex must be edgy to qualify. Anal, ménage, bdsm—this is the stuff of “real” erotic romance. Some authors insist it’s about language used, not about type of sex or quantity of sex scenes. Cock is ubiquitous in almost all heat levels, but pussy and cunt are seldom seen in the mainstream.

This is RWA’s definition of erotic romance:

Novels in which strong, often explicit, sexual interaction is an inherent part of the story, character growth, and relationship development and could not be removed without damaging the storyline. These novels may contain elements of other romance subgenres (such as paranormal, historical, etc.).

Riding Dirty doesn’t probably qualify as erotic based on quantity. I don’t think it qualifies under the “without the sex, the story falls apart” standard, either. But the language is definitely graphic, and the sex isn’t what I’d call vanilla. Maybe instead of “sexy” (which can mean almost anything) or “erotic” (which indicates a central sexual journey) we can coin a new term for the in-betweeners: Dirty Romance.

What do you think makes an erotic romance? The number of sex scenes, type of sex, language used, sexual journey? Something else?

And since I’m sure you’re dying for more … here’s Jill’s book info 😀

Riding Dirty He’s her weapon of choice

Psychologist Mia Richards wants revenge. Her new client, tattooed Cole “Shank” Shepherd, provides the perfect means. She just has to manipulate the felon-turned-informant into eliminating her husband’s killers—members of Cole’s rival motorcycle club. The first step, seducing Cole, is simple. As for walking away before she falls hard—it’s already too late…

Dirty Eleven practically raised Cole, and he plans to double-cross the cops rather than sell them out. But smart, sexy Mia is an irresistible distraction. While she’s evaluating his mind, all he can think about is her body…until he discovers her true intentions. Walking a fine line between desire and betrayal, they’ll have to outrun her past, his enemies and the law for a love that’s dangerously real.

10 thoughts on “Guest Jill Sorenson: Sexy vs. Erotic. You Choose.

  1. dholcomb1

    I think erotic goes beyond sexy and tests some peoples limits of what they’ll accept reading. Definitely has the harder core acts and language. Just my opinion–not a judgment.

    Reply
  2. Sarina Bowen

    I think I’ve read that RWA definition 25 times, because contest season is coming up. And I’m *still* not sure what it says! Also, I think of RWA as the conservative arm of the romance world. So maybe a RITA award “erotic romance” is mainstream elsewhere?

    Thank you for taking on this tricky topic! I enjoyed reading your thoughts on it!

    Reply
  3. Ekaterine Xia (@katjexia)

    Hrm, for me if it’s erotic romance (erotica?) — it’s definitely a question of whether or not the plot falls apart without the sex. If the plot runs off the sex or needs the sex scenes in order to move the plot along, then it’s erotic romance. Otherwise, language or amount doesn’t matter. You can have half your book be sex scenes (hyperbole), but if you could easily move the character interaction during the sex to some other heated/vulnerable moment and still have the plot work, then it’s not erotic romance.

    Reply
    1. jillsorensonj

      I think I’m clear on erotic vs. erotic romance. ER has a central love story and happy ending. I also think that quantity does matter (50% would definitely qualify) but your comment about character interaction is really interesting. An erotic romance IS about developing a relationship through sex.

      I recently flipped through SIX by Opal Carew and DARING TIME by Beth Kery, two ER novels on my shelf. Both have 50% sex or more, I think, and situations far beyond what I included in RIDING DIRTY. So that was sort of comforting.

      Reply
  4. ki pha

    Welcome back Lime!!! Hi Jill~
    I’m not sure how to categorize “erotic” romances either. I’ve always thought of them as having very steamy sexual interactions involving BDSM, ménage, some graphic descriptions and other kinky stuff. But then having lots of sex in them also held something too but not all books would be termed erotic for having lots of sex. And then there’s the storyline, erotic runs on sex right? So if it’s taken out then there wouldn’t be a story or at least a understandable storyline. So, Dirty romance sounds great to term books not exactly erotic but overtly more than sexy.

    Reply
    1. jillsorensonj

      Hi there! I like “vanilla” erotic romance as well as other types, so I don’t think they all need extra partners or kink. I’ve also read some ER *without* graphic language, just lots of detailed sex and softer terms. There are so many kinds.

      Reply
  5. tradermare

    This is certainly a thought provoking topic. I sit on the fence when it comes to categorizing because there so much variation, but I like aspects of the RWA definition of erotic romance, in particular that the sexual interaction is an important part of the story. Erotic doesn’t always mean anal, bdsm, or menage to me either. As for dirty — hmmmm… to be honest, that word has a negative connotation to me and can take away from the skillful writing of sexual interactions. maybe we just need a heat meter for all romance titles, but I’m not even sure how that would be measured — I’ve read scenes that go on for pages that are just okay, and others that are a half page but hot, hot, hot. As many of the comments have said, there are many different variations and flavors (not just vanilla 🙂 so how can you categorize them? Great topic for discussion!

    Reply
    1. jillsorensonj

      Hi tradermare,

      I totally agree that length doesn’t matter. Longer/more isn’t always hotter. Thanks for the perspective on “dirty.” I think it can have a naughty/fun connotation and a bad/shameful connotation. I’ve worried about that more than once with my title, Riding Dirty.

      Reply

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