Getting back to writing a long romance novel.

How hard is it to go back to writing romance when you've been writing erotic romance?

Not only do I have to retrain my brain to allow more in-depth detail to lengthen the manuscript, but I'm in chapter one and already I find myself struggling with not using grittier words and descriptions.

The need to get my couple together for a little one-on-one is almost impossible to ignore.

This experiment is proving to be more difficult than I imagined.

So, I often get asked what the difference between erotic romance and romance is. There is a fine line, but it's still there. Romance is a story with a couple falling in love. It is driven by a plot, and the main focus is not the sex. Sex is not as descriptive; sometimes it's what we authors call closed door. You are more likely to find euphemisms than blunt words to describe certain body parts.

In erotic romance, the story is also driven by the plot, the main focus continues to be the plot but the sex plays an important role. Sex is not necessarily in every chapter, but it's more descriptive and plentiful. Unlike romance, where the sex takes place usually around page 300, erotic romance might have sex in the first chapter. It usually has a happily ever after, but it can also be a happy for now.

Erotica is driven by the sex and the focus is on the sex, which is frequent and in every chapter. Happily ever afters not necessary, nor are happy for nows, but many authors do write them. And whoa, the words are blunt and to the point. Cock, pussy, cum, fuck. The author holds nothing back. The difference between porn and erotica. One has a plot--the other is just sex to stimulate.

Perhaps the best way is to show you.

Here are three scenes from my books. One is erotica, another erotic romance and the last is from my experimental novel. Tell me which you think is which. Okay, here we go.


Example #1.

"I want to do more than pick you up." He tossed his drink into the trash and slid his hands into her hair, swinging her around and pressing her against a wall. His mouth captured her lips, claiming them with a fierce passion.

Cass’s knees turned to mush. She opened her mouth to him and was lost. All her control slipped away, and she ground against his hard cock, riding him through his jeans like a cat in heat, rubbing her breasts against his muscular chest, sinking into the taste of him, the pure maleness that flipped her every switch. God, she could lick him from head to toe.

He let go of her hair and slipped his hands inside her top, cupping her breasts. Jolts of energy zipped through her, intensifying the need. Twenty-six fucking years. Twenty-six. Why? Her mind whirled and everything around her faded, until it was just Mike and what his strong hands and mouth were doing to her.

"So beautiful." He sank to his knees before her, slid one of her legs over his shoulder and grabbed her hips, burying his face in her soaked panties. The heat of his breath steamed her through the fabric.

"Mike." Cass fell back against the wall and gasped. Need coiled in her pelvis like a spring, winding her tighter and tighter.

"Let me taste you."

"Yes." The words hissed from her mouth as she attempted to fist his hair. Her clit began to throb again, begging for it, desperate for what he offered.

He pulled the fabric of her panties aside and slipped a finger inside her while he sucked her clit between his teeth.

"Oh, God." Cass whimpered and moved her hips in rhythm with his finger and mouth.

Example #2.

Iia reached down and grabbed an iron candle stick inside a niche in entry wall. Nicodemus watched her fingers curl around the blackened metal from out of the corner of his eye. With only seconds to react, he threw his hand up as she whirled around and swung. His forearm blocked hers and he slid his palm down her arm, hooking her wrist. He slammed her against the wall, pressing his body against hers to hold her in place.

Up and down her chest rose and fell. Anger radiated from her eyes. Each breath she exhaled washed over his lips.

“There’s no reason not be social. I haven’t harmed you.”

“You’ve forced me against my will.”

“To do what? Go home? You were doing that anyway.” Her heart beat in time with his, sending a tightness to his groin. Cherry lips beckoned him to taste, but that was not part of the mission, and not why he’d come. He pried the candle stick from her fingers, keeping his gaze locked on hers. “You don’t need that.”

Example #3. 

"When are you going to cut the small talk and finish what you started? I can’t very well give you your bonus if you aren’t naked." She leaned in. "Get this dress off me," she whispered.

Every muscle in his body tensed and Cori felt like doing a victory dance. She’d found the one man who could understand her scars, the ugly dip in her hip and thigh where skin had been grafted over a bone that had been pulverized and screwed back together like an Erector Set. But even her scars no longer seemed to matter. Never had she needed, wanted, the way she did now.

Since her legs were locked around his waist and freed his arms, he grabbed the hem of her dress and tugged it up her body and over her head, dropping it to the floor. She’d purchased a red lace bra and thong, knowing her normal skivvies wouldn’t do the dress justice, but she’d never anticipated her date might actually see them.

He released her wrists and reached under her bottom, yanking his belt off and tearing his fly open. He didn’t bother to drop his pants or let her down to remove her underwear. His fingers pushed the crotch of her panties to the side and glided into her slick folds. Stroking her inside. Her pussy clamped around him as orgasm threatened.


Did you guess which is which? The romance is pretty easy to pick out, but how about the erotica and erotic romance? Remember, both erotic romance and erotica are explicit, but the difference is one is driven by the sex, the other by the plot. Does one seem more focused on the sex and the other on why the heroine is there? Does one seem to be more than just a romp between the sheets, or against a wall?

Example #1 is erotica, from my short story Carnal Denial.

Example #2 is romance, from my unnamed WIP.

Example #3 is erotic romance, from my novella Cinderella Wore Combat Boots.

Though at times the lines may seem blurred, there is definately a difference between the three and all three can be a challenge to write. So the experiment continues. 10,000 words and climbing.

Thanks for stopping by,

D L