I am kinda ticked by some content that appeared in the April 2008 issue of Writer's Digest Magazine. In the article The Popular Fiction Report by Michael J. Vaughn erotica writers and erotica stories and novels were thoroughly insulted. Mr. Vaughn interviewed a romance agent for information about the romance genre, a Steven Axelrod who supposedly has been a romance agent for over 30 years. Axelrod is quoted as saying "You give a group of romance writers a couple of drinks and they'll admit it is pornography," he says. "It's hard to see it as true romance, and it has a very limited audience- they can't seem to grow it. Very few good storytellers seem to be staking their careers there."
I'll have more to say about this soon.
2 comments:
It's a pain in the butt really. Lately I've been frustrated how many places lumber pornography with erotica, and merge the two things as 'mature content' and I have difficulty with that. What really is romance, but a market that is pre-fashioned anyway? That is not to disrespect romance, but it does have certain guidelines, as does erotica, but I don't think that it is pornographic in the sense of it mimicking porn film (where storylines are sacrificed for action), and also, not dissing porn film, as it has its uses as well.
I think many establishments think it too much work to distinguish between pornography, erotica and romance.
Hi. Couldn't agree more. I have recently taken my literary novels into more openly erotic realms (the idea being to talk about sex as if it were actually a, hello! natural part of life), and you woulnd't believe the crap I get from puritanical editors, agents, and, yes, fellow writers.
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