Another Question

gambit924

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Hello all. I assume you're all getting tired of my questions, and I am sorry, but I have a lot of them. So please try and bear with me. I read a story today that I found somewhat interesting, and I was wondering if things like this actually get published very often, and if it's considered erotica or just crazy ass crap.
Anyway, it goes like this. An older guy (late 20s/early 30s) meets a young boy (15) that he is especially interested in. After the first meeting, the man stalks the boy relentlessly, watching him whenever he can. Then the fantasy isn't enough for him and he takes the boy, keeping him locked in a secret room in his house. After keeping the miserable boy for several months, the boys birthday comes around, and the man...Has his way with the boy. After that, the boy submits, in part, to the man, and they continue on together until the boy is rescued by a lover friend.

Anyway, the question is, is this erotica, is it just crazy crap? The person who wrote it got it published, so do they publish stuff like this? Is this just a crap rape story? I know things like this have happened in real life, but would a fictional version be considered erotica or just really dark fiction? Anyway just another thought in my crazy head...Because I am often confused...About everything. Anyway, thank you very much. Hopefully this doesn't end up in the other forum again.
 

Filigree

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This sort of the stuff I've read on Nifty.org, back a couple of decades ago. Most of the commercial erotic publishers might not touch it now because of the coerced sex-with-a-minor aspect. But there are always niche pubs that might.

Was this story self-published or commercially-published?
 

Maryn

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That was my first thought, too--who was the publisher, and was it a paying publisher?

It reads to me like it's very much niche/fetish material marketed to those whose fantasies revolve around force, coercion, M/m, and underage. It's certainly not mainstream erotica, since the commercial publishers don't feature sex with minors, even if they consent or initiate it.

Whether it's erotica or a thriller depends on where its focus lies.

Maryn, awaiting further information
 

gambit924

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I believe that it was perhaps self-published, however it is rather...Interesting subject matter, and it sounds to me like thriller or really dark fiction that few dare to actually publish, which was probably likely that it was self published. Anyway, I was just curious as to what this would be, if it is erotica, or something more sinister. And if it is thriller, there is a chance that a publisher might go for it. Which one though would be hard to say. Anyway, the sex with a minor thing kind of makes me queasy seeing as it's more pedophilia than actual romance. And while this does happen in real life, it is interesting to think who a publisher would be and what genre it would fall under. I think that there are some that might find it "sexy". I certainly found it interesting and curious enough to ask about, but still...
 

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To be erotica I'd have thought that one would need to feel that the characters were participating in something consensual, even if subtle.
 

Maryn

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Not really, RDArmstrong. (Man, I had to type that four times to get it right. Stupid fingers!) While commercial publishers and some self-publishing retailers may refuse it due to possible legal issues, there is a healthy market for fiction about sexual activity without consent of both parties.

This has been a contentious subject in the past here, with members firmly on one side or the other in regard to whether nonconsensual erotic fiction should be allowed (or be legal) to exist.

If you look around a while, I'm sure you can find some heated discussions. That's probably a fun way to learn who's who.

Maryn, Whoville resident
 

RDArmstrong

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That would be a great way to enter a new forum, firing off objective opinions on something as subjective as sexuality. I'll try get to a hundred posts first before I try to change someones world view. :)

Chalk this one up to ignorance. I didn't realise that that sort of work existed for sale in stores. If so, then yeah, it would be considered erotica.



Also Maryn I really like that you end your posts with some context of your frame of mind at the time of making a post. I've always thought that text-based interactions lack context and can cause misunderstandings. You've found a humorous way to do this without emoticons or over-exaggerated politeness.
 
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HannahWing

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If it contains details that seem like they're trying to arouse a reader then I'd say it's supposed to be erotica. There's a lot of stuff that I personally would find very disturbing that is considered erotica by others.

Although I would guess that because it's a minor, it was probably written more as a thriller since even self publishing distributors like Smashwords won't allow underage sex with the intent to arouse. Come to think of it, I don't think any publisher in this day and age would take the risk because that is super illegal in a lot of countries.

Now I'm not saying that the writer couldn't have written something they found erotic and then marketed it as a thriller to get around the legal issues, but at least where I live, I believe they could receive jail time if they wrote that and marketed it as erotica.
 

DancingMaenid

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To be erotica I'd have thought that one would need to feel that the characters were participating in something consensual, even if subtle.

I think as long as people have had rape fantasies, people have created works of erotica/porn to simulate those fantasies. Like Maryn said, many publishers won't accept material that has eroticized non-consensual sex, but non-consensual erotica definitely exists.

As for the OP's question, I think it depends on how the sex is written. The description of the plot sounds like some of the stories I've come across on Nifty, and I think "teenage boy is kidnapped and turned into a sex slave" isn't too uncommon of a trope, at least in non-commercially published erotica. I can buy that someone would self-publish an erotica story with that plot.

But it could also be a thriller or drama. The difference between erotica and other genres doesn't come down to the plot as much as how it's handled and the tone of the sex scenes.
 

gambit924

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Interesting, interesting. Then again, it would still be kind of hard to swallow even as a thriller. This one was definitely trying to be erotic, however, if one were to change the sex scenes and only say there was non-con going on between the two characters, it would be viable as a drama or thriller, as there are novels out there that aren't erotica that feature such a story. I suppose it is the intention and audience that the writer is trying to gear toward. It as an erotic story...Eh. It as a drama featuring something like a a young person in suspense and a desperate search is not something new. They even have stuff like that on TV these days with SVU and Criminal Minds. So as a drama or thriller with suggested non-con, it is possible to go the traditional route? Personally I don't think I would ever write that sexual situation. Do I write sexual situations? Sure. Do I want to write that one? Not the way that author did. And I thought Amazon was really cracking down on stuff like that. Anyway it is an interesting thriller situation, but I would never write this situation as an erotic one.
 

wordsmithy

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I remember reading a YA novel once about a 15 year old girl who had been kidnapped as a child and sexually abused for years by her captor. It was *very* dark and not at all meant to be erotic. I think it was meant to be an exploration of an abuse survivor's mindset. And it was available at the local public library, so yes a publisher did pick it up. But yeah, it could not at all be categorized as erotica.