I seriously spent hours trying to come up with a post for today. *shakes head* In the end, after scrapping several fully-written columns, I decided to repost something I’d posted on my personal blog over a year ago. My thoughts are the same and since I’d discussed this topic with a friend just a week or so ago, I think it’s something that might be on a lot of minds now. I’d love to hear pros and cons to the idea of an Erotic Romance RITA®.
(BTW, I’m no longer President of Passionate Ink. You can see the new slate of PI officers here, if you’re interested.)
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I’m asked my opinion on the proposed Erotic Romance RITA/GH category quite a bit, perhaps due to my office as President of Passionate Ink. My thoughts are often not agreed with, but here they are:
Do I think RWA will ever establish an erotic romance category for the RITAs or GH? I doubt it, and I would be very surprised if they did. Who’s to say what is erotic romance and what isn’t? I’ve had writers tell me Blaze and Bravas are not erotic. Others say they’re close to porn. No one can even agree on what the definitions of erotica and erotic romance are. How can we define a category when we don’t know what subject matter fits the criteria or not? How much romance is required to make it an erotic romance? I guarantee that one judge’s erotic romance is another judge’s “not a romanceâ€.
And that’s not the only problem with having an erotic romance category. While the other categories are based on genre, the ER books would be based on how much sex was going on and how it was worded. Is that what we want? Do you want the erotic romance RITA for your vamp story? Or the Paranormal RITA? What does the erotic romance RITA mean? You write better sex?
When I ask proponents why they want an erotic romance category, they say it’s because prejudice against the sexual content lessens their chances of winning in other categories. Does creating a category that holds the sexual content up as the criterion for winning combat the prejudice? Or does it feed it by saying the most important thing about the story is the sex?
What about authors of sweet romances? Should they have a category for books with less sexual content than norm? Perhaps they don’t have a fair chance because so many romances feature a certain number of sex scenes and theirs have none.
After all, if you have a category for ‘excessive’ sex, then surely there should be a category for ‘minimal’ sex?
To me, the Erotic Romance category is an impossible, and not necessarily desirable, goal.
(you can see the original comments to this post here.)
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Personally, if the problem is finding judges, I would rather they add a check box for “erotic contentâ€. Then judges could also have a check-box that says, “I am willing to judge erotic content”, just like they opt-in and out of categories. This would eliminate the problem caused by authors not being able to judge the category they entered. Otherwise, with an Erotic Romance RITA, who would judge the books? All the erotic authors/readers would be disqualified for entering that category.
Maybe then there wouldn’t be a “Great Sex” RITA. The winning book would be just a “Paranormal” winner or a “Single Title” winner and the focus of the award would remain on the non-sexual aspects of the book.
Unless I’m missing something?
No related posts.
While I agree with your reasoning, I believe the bias against more explicit sexual content (in any form) is greater than any bias that might exist for the sweeter, “fade to black” content. The genre police seem determined to keep their definitions such that the black sheep in the family never quite fit the “true romance” mold.
*shrug* And so it is for all “clubs” who establish membership criteria — and their awards.
I wouldn’t let the RT’s within 100 yards of an erotic writing award, personally. They’d want no sex without Twu Wuv and other horrid concepts.
I would dearly like to establish an Erotic Awards as a regular thing on The Erotic Authors Association, which seems to be the best place for it. But it’s a case of being a voluntary organisation with no “staff”…
But I can dream…
I agree Sylvia. I’d want my futuristic erotic/romance judged on the basis of the plot and the execution and my characters and not how HAWT my sex scenes are.
And your idea about an extra box on the judges form where they could check willing to judge erotic books is very smart.
Kimber An, that’s what she’s talking about erotic/romance is ‘romantica’, which is a term coined and copyrighted by Ellora’s Cave for erotic/romance.
I firmly agree that RITA judges should be asked whether they’re willing to evaluate erotic romances. And adding a check-box to the RITA entry form so individual authors could mark their books “erotic” is a fantastic idea. Allowing that determination to be made by the authors themselves would prevent RWA from ever having to dither over where to draw the line between “steamy” books and “erotic” ones.
Admittedly, a few of the judges who decline to evaluate erotic books might refuse to judge books they believe should have been marked erotic. But allowing authors to manage that risk on their own would level the playing field for everyone.
What about authors of sweet romances? Should they have a category for books with less sexual content than norm?
Isn’t that what the “traditional” category is for?
Best Traditional Romance: “Sweet romantic novels . . . the emphasis is on the development of an emotional relationship that ultimately results in the promise of a long-term commitment. The stories may include sexual tension and, within marriage, sexual fulfillment.â€
This is a very interesting thread.
I’m a mystery writer so the romance in my work is very traditional but as a romance reader and someone who is really trying to learn the ins and outs of the genre I can definitely see where Sylvia is coming from.
You should definitely judge these books on the plot and execution and not the sex unless that is the true meaning of what erotica is all about, just sex and if that is the case I can see where judging it would be hard.
Okay, basically a cut-and-paste of what others have said:
No new erotica-only prize.
Let judges opt in/out of reading erotica.
Let the authors self-identify their work as erotic.
I agree with everything you said, Sylvia, especially having judges indicate their willingness to read more explicit sex scenes. However, I think it might be a good idea to have a non-traditional/alternative category for romances that include elements of polyamory, BDSM, LGBT, etc. That way they can can be judged by authors who read and write this kind of material regularly. (Yeah, I know — keep dreaming.)
I have an inspy-writing friend who was dying to read my book, and when I warned her it contained menage and BDSM, she said, “Oh, no problem — I’ve read some erotica in my day.” She had no clue. I let her read it and all she had to say was, “Wow, am I naive. This was very well-written for the genre.” I curbed the urge to say the same about her inspy because I’m sure she didn’t intend it as an insult. But she makes a point — alternative romance IS its own sub-genre and I think it should be acknowledged as such.
You know that’s exactly what I hate Robin…
“Oh it’s very good for an erotic/romance.” Oh so it wouldn’t be good as just a romance?
Because erotic/romance can be in any genre…paranormal, historical etc. I’d rather be judged in that category. I’d rather have written a very good paranormal then a very good erotic/romance.
Is that wrong to say?? I don’t know.
I’d rather have written a very good paranormal then a very good erotic/romance . . . Is that wrong to say??
I’m in total agreement with you Vivi, I’d rather READ a really good romance that just happened to also be erotic, but much of what I’m seeing out there doesn’t meet this standard. I have a lot of friends who write fabulous erotic romances, so I read tons of them, but quite a few of the “stray” ones I’ve stumbled across have simply not been up to snuff as novels, IMO. They were a collection of steaming hot sex scenes held together by very little actual story.
I bow the majority opinion on this one. Either option works for me.
However, I have to echo Kalen in saying that there IS a “sweet romance” category: Traditional Romance. Hence some folks’ lobbying for an Erotic Romance category to create balance.
My understanding of erotic romance is that the love between the participants and the movement of the relationship is defined WITHIN the erotic scenes, at least to a certain extent. To put it another way, if you can take out the sex scenes and still have a story that holds up perfectly well, maybe it’s not so much erotic romance you’re writing as romance with lots of sex. I’ve read a few of those and enjoyed them. Not entirely certain I’d call them “erotic romance,” however.
If the defining element of Erotic Romance is a story that’s told, at least in part, through the erotic content, and if there is already a separate category for Sweet/Traditional Romance, then I don’t see a problem with having a category for Erotic Romance as well.
But again, either option works, so long as there’s a playing field and it’s at least somewhat level.
I believe that RWA members can “opt-out” of judging a certain number of RITA categories, so if someone really is uncomfortable with erotic romance, they won’t be sent any to judge.
As far as whether there should be an erotic category created, right now I’m pondering how many specialized categories should be created or if there should be any at all. Should Romantic Suspense retain its own category? Should Romantic Comedy have one, too? What about Romantic Military? Should Paranormal cover everything or should there be Paranormal and Fantasy categories? There are Historical and Regency Categories. What about categories for Elizabethans, Victorians or American Westerns?
Is it better to have more categories or less? How far should we go, or should we pull back?