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So, I've been meaning to ask.

What is 'erotic'? To you, I mean. What makes a sight, or a scene, or a piece of writing, erotic? Is it the tiny details that give you a strong visual? Is it a quality in the sound of the prose?

I *think* it may be a matter of getting the details perfect, but I'm not sure. So, if you have ideas on the subject, do share. And if you want to comment with an extract of something, or link me to something, that exemplifies what you have to say, please go ahead.

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I think, for me, it depends on my mood.

Sometimes, it's the description. Every word said, every touch given, every sound. I like GRAPHIC.

Other times, though, it's the description of what the participants are FEELING. Like I don't need to read the "oh yeah harder" stuff, but I want to hear how the person is feeling like their heart is gonna explode due to pure joy or passion or love.

In my opinion.

Icon love.

Bonus!

It's probably something that varies for each of us, depending on a hundred factors—what is an author to do, indeed! I think for me, there's an element of contradiction or fantasy involved, very often—saying something while doing something else, maybe, or bringing in an element of make-believe to a sex scene.

But I'm sure I've read stories in which someone can describe, oh, the sensation of a scarf sliding over someone's neck, and it's amazingly erotic. I can't seem to figure that out.

I think there is a distinct difference between romance and erotica each involving varying degrees of forthrightness where the sexual is concerned. I think it's in the tone, in the language, in the path in which the story takes you. It's suggestive and hinting, luring without really coming right out with the sex. I think there is a fine line, however, between erotic and pornographic, and some authors may cross over it and back again in the same story.

I don't think a romantic story with a sex scene is erotic... it just reads differently to me. It purposes to stimulate the mind toward sexual thoughts.

I suspect the line between erotic and pornographic probably varies for each of us, not only from one another, but also within ourselves, depending on mood, time of day, whether we're hungry etc. Difficult for an author to figure out, anyway!

Sometimes it's just an image. I remember a brief moment from DWTS with Lance's hand on Lacey's thigh, thinking that was a really suggestive moment, though I can't define what exactly it was about her thigh and his hand that did it.

The book I just finished uses erotic as "presentations and representations that are in some sense 'about' sexual activity."

What is pleasing to me is not always going to be pleasing to everyone else, so I suppose that "erotic" can designate either something general or something person specific. What is erotic to me...

Well, I think that what makes something erotic is context. Like, nudity isn't in of itself erotic, it has to do with why the person is nude, how they're posed, etc. As far as prose goes, I don't know if I really have an answer. Context factors into that too in some ways. But I am really bad at writing erotica, so I'm probably not the best person to ask.

I agree about context. I once watched a (rubbish) porn film with my Beast (who fell asleep) and the only scene in it I thought was actually erotic involved an element of fantasy—woman on phone pretending to talk sex with another man, while her boyfriend fondled her. I think it was the fact that there was something more going on than the straightforwardly physical.

But you're right, it's going to be very person-specific.

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