So I asked <3 to give my a topic for my blog and after much deliberation he came up with this question. What is the different between writing romance and pure smut? Okay before I go any further know that I everyone loves reading something completely down and dirty once in while, so I'm not knocking it, I'm merely talking about the difference and why I, for the most part, write romance. Of course I'm sure there are times when things get carried away and go over the line, overall the intent is to write romance. Having said that, let's continue on.
The intent in writing a romance is creating characters that have some kind of obstacle or difficulty that they must overcome to find love. There are a thousand different reasons why people are lonely and haven't found the right person. In the supernatural world it goes beyond simply having bad luck with men/women or not being able to find the right person. Typically there is a larger problem at hand, sometimes it's a curse, or a power that keeps them from someone, but usually our character is so lost in darkness that they don't think they are worthy of love. They need to find someone who can look beyond their flaws and past deeds and find the good in them. There are also times when there is one person made for them that they have to find them, coupled with the darkness problem. My characters fall into either categories, depending on if I'm dealing with the humans or bad guy angels.
The characters that are mired in darkness need to find a reason to believe in themselves and either stop doing evil or realize that what their doing isn't technically evil, but perhaps a necessary evil. The emotional baggage for an awesome romance character is enough to push the best therapist to their limit. The men/women who are supposed to dig deeper into our bad characters needs compassion, understand, patience and above all, an open mind. Once our bad character sees themselves through the good person's eyes and starts to believe that maybe they aren't crazed psychos, then they can open their hearts and learn to love. That's a good paranormal romance.
Throughout the exploration of the characters and their redemption there is always teasing and tempting where they want to love the other person but can't for a ton of reasons. The "good parts" start when there is a physical connection that can't be denied by the characters, but they don't go all the way until they get past their baggage. The characters attempt intimacy but there is something that stops them from giving their heart away completely, all the while making the other character, and you wanting more. There is a build up between characters emotionally and physically until you finally get to the end and the problems have been addressed and the characters have had their true intimate moments.
Smut on the other hand will create scenarios whereby not much else is going except frivolous hook ups and physical pleasure devoid of any real emotion and intimacy. Again, not knocking it, but showing the difference. Of course there are plenty of times where the write, myself included, can get carried away with the characters and indulge themselves with pure smut to satisfy all the emotional heaviness that it took to finally get to the end. Everyone is guilty of loving their characters a little too much and pouring everything they have into their intimate encounters. After all, the readers want to escape from the real world and enter the places where steamy jungles and cool mountain top retreats exist. (Personally most of mine take place in fairly normal locations, normal being Hell and motel rooms, but when you are dealing with dark characters like the Fallen Angels in Hell you dont' exactly expect the Ritz.)
Hopefully, if the romance writer has done their job, the reader will want to read the parts in between the intimate moments to follow the characters journey to love. And yes, we have all jumped ahead to read the more interesting parts, but hopefully we go back to engage ourselves in the story line. Personally, I want my readers to connect to my characters emotionally while waiting to get to the good stuff. As long as I feel that there as been a journey whereby someone had been redeemed, then I will stand by my writing as romance rather than smut. (Of course I'm not done writing my series yet ;) )
The intent in writing a romance is creating characters that have some kind of obstacle or difficulty that they must overcome to find love. There are a thousand different reasons why people are lonely and haven't found the right person. In the supernatural world it goes beyond simply having bad luck with men/women or not being able to find the right person. Typically there is a larger problem at hand, sometimes it's a curse, or a power that keeps them from someone, but usually our character is so lost in darkness that they don't think they are worthy of love. They need to find someone who can look beyond their flaws and past deeds and find the good in them. There are also times when there is one person made for them that they have to find them, coupled with the darkness problem. My characters fall into either categories, depending on if I'm dealing with the humans or bad guy angels.
The characters that are mired in darkness need to find a reason to believe in themselves and either stop doing evil or realize that what their doing isn't technically evil, but perhaps a necessary evil. The emotional baggage for an awesome romance character is enough to push the best therapist to their limit. The men/women who are supposed to dig deeper into our bad characters needs compassion, understand, patience and above all, an open mind. Once our bad character sees themselves through the good person's eyes and starts to believe that maybe they aren't crazed psychos, then they can open their hearts and learn to love. That's a good paranormal romance.
Throughout the exploration of the characters and their redemption there is always teasing and tempting where they want to love the other person but can't for a ton of reasons. The "good parts" start when there is a physical connection that can't be denied by the characters, but they don't go all the way until they get past their baggage. The characters attempt intimacy but there is something that stops them from giving their heart away completely, all the while making the other character, and you wanting more. There is a build up between characters emotionally and physically until you finally get to the end and the problems have been addressed and the characters have had their true intimate moments.
Smut on the other hand will create scenarios whereby not much else is going except frivolous hook ups and physical pleasure devoid of any real emotion and intimacy. Again, not knocking it, but showing the difference. Of course there are plenty of times where the write, myself included, can get carried away with the characters and indulge themselves with pure smut to satisfy all the emotional heaviness that it took to finally get to the end. Everyone is guilty of loving their characters a little too much and pouring everything they have into their intimate encounters. After all, the readers want to escape from the real world and enter the places where steamy jungles and cool mountain top retreats exist. (Personally most of mine take place in fairly normal locations, normal being Hell and motel rooms, but when you are dealing with dark characters like the Fallen Angels in Hell you dont' exactly expect the Ritz.)
Hopefully, if the romance writer has done their job, the reader will want to read the parts in between the intimate moments to follow the characters journey to love. And yes, we have all jumped ahead to read the more interesting parts, but hopefully we go back to engage ourselves in the story line. Personally, I want my readers to connect to my characters emotionally while waiting to get to the good stuff. As long as I feel that there as been a journey whereby someone had been redeemed, then I will stand by my writing as romance rather than smut. (Of course I'm not done writing my series yet ;) )
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