What Defines Porn from Erotic Fiction?

I saw a post on Joe Konrath's Blogthat inspired this post.


Here's the gist of it: "Everyone knows that erotic is just another way of saying porn"

Anyone that has ever had the occasion to read porn should have noticed one thing:

PORN is basically sex for the sake of sex. If there is a plot--it's very weak.
EROTIC Fiction is a STORY with a PLOT with (sometimes) very graphic sexual scenes.

Personally, there are a few lines I won't cross. Not because I'm necessarily morally against them--but because I personally don't like them.

I dislike the word *C*nt* I won't use it. Period. Not in anything I write. I won't use the word "p**sy* in a story I write. I dislike the word *f**king* when it comes to sex. Personally, when I see those words--I'm pulled right out of a good story. Maybe I'm a little bit of a prude?

But I enjoy romantic fiction with very sensual scenes. What I write, by most publishers, is considered erotic fiction. My stories have a plot. They are, in essence, a love story.

Erotic fiction does not need a HEA (happily ever after) Traditional romance does. But, most publishers want their erotic fiction to have a HFN ending (happy for now)

For the sake of argument, read the following scene from my work in progress. Is it 'porn' or 'erotic' or 'steamy'

A little set-up--this is a dream sequence that begins the book--as the dream plays into the day of the police officer having the dream.

Her eyes were the color of the summer sky with a darker band of almost purple at the edges. He couldn’t quite make out her face, but her hair was a glorious auburn with several different shades running through it. He laid over her, his hips between her silken thighs. If he wasn’t inside her soon, he knew he’d go mad.

Nothing mattered but burying his cock inside her liquid heat. Nothing mattered but mating with her. She was his .

There was a tightness in his belly as he felt her moist heat enveloping his penis. He sunk inside her with a groan, then held himself still above her. The muscles in his arms were corded as he tried to see her face, but he couldn’t make it out—just those mysterious eyes and that beautiful hair that he longed to run his fingers through.

Later.

Right now, he needed to be where he was—deep inside her. Her inner muscles clenched around him just as her thighs did. He felt her heels against his ass as she wrapped herself around him. With a groan he began to move.

He should kiss her. He knew he should kiss her, but all he could do was thrust hard and look into those fathomless eyes.

No words were spoken, but he could sense she was pleading with him. She wanted something of him, but he didn’t know what.

He ignored it and continued to move inside her. When he heard her soft moan he thrust faster, driving so deeply that he’d have sworn each powerful stroke was reaching her womb.



So, is that erotic or is that porn? The story is about a woman who sees her own death. The dreamer--is the male protagonist in the story--and the police officer that will work tirelessly to keep her alive. And, yes, it's a romance.

If you're just total anti-romance, please just don't even respond. I read it, I enjoy it--but I also read and enjoy many other types of fiction. I'm really tired of the "romance bashing" I've seen on Amazon lately.

(Why won't Blogger INDENT?????)

Hope Welsh
My Amazon Page