What's My Genre

So, I haven't been reading that much. That's because I started writing again.

Yes, again.

I'm the person that writes seventy five percent of a story, and then stops. I've been doing this since high school. Yeah, I have commitment issues. Finishing a story means choosing an ending.

Luckily I've reached a place in my life where I'm ready to choose an ending. I recently decided to finish a story that has been haunting me. I've started a few others, but I'm determined to see this one finished. It's a romance, with spanking. My heroine's husband has left her, and my hero is a single father who has made some bad choices when it comes to women. My characters are actually pretty vanilla. They're into spanking     that fits their personalities perfectly     but when I asked them to do other stuff they weren't about it.

Honestly, adding the extra dirt would have felt forced, so I didn't. I went with my gut and stayed true to my characters.

Now I'm over 61k into this contemporary romance. The end is near, and I'm wondering what's my genre? What is this puppy going to be marketed as? If it's deemed worthy, that is. It would suck monkey balls, if, well, it sucked monkey balls.

*Side note; Other ppl have read what I've got so far and enjoyed it, but you never know till you know. You know?

Anyways, I have a few steamy love scenes, but the only thing that stand them apart from being plain romance is the fact that spankings happen. And not a ton of spankings. It's a spanking light book. But they're real spankings just the same.

Will it rank as a romance or an erotica? I asked Google, cause you know, Google knows shit. This is what I found;

There's romance, from smutty to tame. And then there's erotica. Distinguishing between the two can be tricky, but there's a sure fire way to tell.

First let's go over the definitions of both;

Romance 

The focal point of the book is on the romantic love aspect of a relationship between two people and must have a happy ending. 

Love emphasizing emotion over libido. -Wikipedia 

Okay. That sounds like my book. It's a romance. 

Erotic Literature or Erotica

This is the fictional or factual stories of human sexual relationships which have the power to or are intended to arouse the reader sexually. And that's almost verbatim from wiki. These stories don't have to have a happy ending, and can involve a love story or not, between any number of people in any number of sexual situations.

And if written well make you hot and bothered. 

A common feature of this genre is sexual fantasies, on such themes as prostitution, orgies, homosexuality, sadomasochism, and many other taboo subjects and fetishes, which may or may not be expressed in explicit language. -Wikipedia 

In other words, your erotica can have a romantic theme, but that doesn't make it a romance. I personally like the word romantica coined by the creator of Ellora Cave. This is erotic fiction designed around a love story and can involve more than two people. This is the erotica that most erotic writers of today write. Romance with explicit sex.

Although my sex isn't crazy they have me with taboo subjects and fetishes. Spanking is at least a fetish and while not taboo to me, would probably be deemed taboo to the general public. Those bastards.

Now the sure fire way to tell the two apart;

Romance; 

*You can remove the sex completely and still have a full bodied, solid vanilla love story.

Erotica or Erotic Romance;

*The sex and the couple's (or poly grouping's) sexuality is a pivotal part of the story.

Now this is a bit of a conundrum for me. If I removed the sex, would I remove the spanking? There is a spanking that's not followed by a sex scene, but I don't think that spanking would happen if I didn't have the previous love scene spankings. The spanking is ambiguously DD, but I don't want it to become overtly DD.

Am I over thinking it enough yet?

But Aubrey, you say, it's still a romance.

Yes, it is, and Twilight is also a love story, but that doesn't distract from the fact that it's a vampire book. A young adult vampire book. The vampirism is a pivotal part of that story. Without it the story would have to be completely rewritten.

I think I could take out the spanking, and the sex, and it would still be a solid romance. But I like the spanking. It adds a certain something.

Here's the thing; If I beta read this story for someone else, I'd say the general public is going to be annoyed there's spanking in it, and the spanking crowd may be annoyed there isn't enough spanking in it.

I of course will seek outside opinions the second I type The End.

Then the fun begins.

I'm thankful I'm at least somewhat familiar with the process. This is my first draft. There are scenes that will probably get cut. Scenes may get added. I hope I have the serenity to accept the scenes I cannot change, the courage to change the scenes I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Here's my question; Can a Hallmark Channel type contemporary romance     that wouldn't be classified as a DD     have spanking in it?

What's your opinion? Let me know. 

As always, 

Happy Reading!