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What is Dark Erotica?

7/3/2014

10 Comments

 
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Here is my take on dark erotica. This has been posted as part of the Make Me promotional tours but it's somewhere out there on 1 of 200 blogs lol. So I'm reposting it here. 


I plan to do this with many of my other, much earlier posts used on blog tours where I talk about capture fantasies and dubious consent and dark erotica.

Take me, Break me is the first book in my Pierced Hearts series. It was also my first book in the dark erotica genre. Because I normally write consensual BDSM romances, I get a few confused readers. But, but, but, they say, why is he doing things to her when she hasn’t exactly said yes?

Because, as I explain in my blurb, and my extremely long warnings, it’s dark erotica, it’s dubious consent, it’s meant to be a bit nasty and not what anyone would think of as normal.

Half the problem is that people don’t read the descriptions of the book, the other is that dark erotica is…what?

There doesn’t seem to be a good definition, even on Wikipedia, which basically says its horror plus an erotic story. Noooo. Disagree. None of the dark erotica I read will make you scream and check under the bed before you go to bed. I doubt most of these stories truly scare readers like say a Stephen King book might.

I think these books can contain horror, but most don’t.

Dark erotica is meant to disturb readers, perhaps to even creep you out, to make you wonder if your desire to read this stuff is okay. It may make you wonder if your moral compass is screwed on the right way around…and as well as this, it has that sensual, sexy, where’s-my-vibe, erotic element.

If you finish a book with your mouth open, and you sit back and go, what the hell did I just read and am I normal for liking that and getting turned on…yup, it very likely falls into the dark erotic genre. If not turned on then it’s probably a dark psychological read, a twisted thriller.

As with many emotion based definitions, what will disturb one person may not bother someone else. So your dark erotic book may not be mine. I’ve seen heavy sadism, or bdsm, or even taboo acts like incest, classed as dark erotica. I don’t think those are. You may disagree.

And of course, what does disturb mean? A story that causes anxiety, which could be even mild fear? Or is it a story that makes you question your ideas of right and wrong? Whatever it is, remember, this is fiction, not a how to live life for real story. It’s not giving the rape or abduction of women a big green tick any more than a book on serial murder says it’s okay to kill everyone who pisses you off.

Many people read those and we don’t bat an eyelid. Dark erotica is primarily the reading choice of women, which is perhaps why society sometimes frowns upon it and ordinary erotic stories more than purely violent stories. Because, you know, sex is worse than murder.

Sarcasm there, of course.

I should add that gruesome detailed violence in an erotic story won’t necessarily make it dark erotica. It has to mess with the reader’s mind in some way.

Here are a couple of fun definitions of dark erotica from readers and authors:

“I think the distinction would lie within the parameters of what makes me squirm vs. what makes me wanna puke.”

“Dark erotic is reading erotica in a cupboard with no torch. Erotic horror is reading erotica when Friday the 13th is playing in the background.” 

~ Fiona Archer - author of hot, smoking BDSM menages (King's Bluff series)  but not dark erotica :)

Have fun reading, and remember it’s fiction. The pages of a book stay shut until someone decides to open them.
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To read about why I think women read dubious consent stories (dark erotica) and why it's perfectly fine and not some outrageous society-destroying problem click on the thumbnail to the left.

                  This goes to an article in Women24

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March Only. Now $2.99 Dark erotica: CJ Roberts, Pepper Winters, Annabel Joseph, Cari Silverwood, Aleatha Romig, Eliza Gayle, Pam Godwin, Annika Martin, Claire Thompson, Skye Warren, Shoshanna Evers, Jasmine Haynes
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Erotic capture fantasies with a scifi/ PNR spin
10 Comments
Roni Booth
7/3/2014 08:13:30 am

Thank you for explaining why I like it. I just knew I did but not really the why.

Reply
J.
18/4/2016 04:19:08 pm

When men fantasize about dominant women the scenarios are always a lot more extreme. Women's ideas of being 'dominated' are very soft in comparison.

Reply
CK
9/7/2017 05:02:05 pm

In that context, what do women readers prefer? Can you give an example of each? Desperately curious about that.

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Cari Silverwood
10/7/2017 12:52:07 am

Women prefer all many of things. It varies enormously. Everyone is different.
Vive le difference.

Read, read, read, to see. But female authors are going to give you a better idea of this than some male authors who are mainly channeling their own desires.

If you want some of the edgier female kink authors, (though still consensual kink) try Annabel Joseph - her Mephisto series. Remember fantasies (fiction) are going to go places that are not actually desired in real life.

Much of the dark erotica genre features consent issues, as in rape scenes.

Though some people play these out in real life kink relationships, in those cases it's called consensual nonconsent. In other words, the scenes are negotiated as to limits etc first. It's roleplaying.

Reading a book is another way readers can play out rape fantasies in a safe manner. Reading is always consensual -- no one makes you open a book or keep turning the pages.

if you simply want tamer consensual kink plus romance in books there are a ton of authors - Cherise Sinclair. Sierra Cartwright.
Google BDSM+romance+ Goodreads to find some lists of books.

Goodreads has Listopia - a whole lot of lists compiled by readers.

jOHN pAUL mORROW
20/11/2016 02:16:00 pm

Read your comment on what you believe the definition of dark erotica is. And, I agree. With that in mind, I am sure you have seen this coming before, I have written a novel of dark erotica, a new type of vampire that involves the manipulation of the christian church. I am an unpublished author and I am seeking help in finding an agent who might seek to represent me in attempting to get published. I would love your opinion on what I wrote, I am sure you will not be disappointed, but shocked and somewhat dismayed that you want to read more.

Reply
CK
9/7/2017 05:05:34 pm

In what was does Dark Erotica differ from Erotic Romance (Ellora's Cave calls[called] it "Romantica")? Many of the titles and blurbs in both sub-genres seem to blur the line.

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CK
9/7/2017 05:06:37 pm

Ugh forgot to hit the notification checkbox

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Cari Silverwood
10/7/2017 12:40:20 am

Well, that was the whole point of my post - to say what I thought dark erotica is. If you think standard old erotic romance (romantica I've not heard used much) seems the same as what I described in my article then I'd say you're way off course. Erotic romance is simply romance with a heavy emphasis on sex. In the best examples the sexual scenes should also help to develop the plot and characters. They aren't just there as window dressing. However it is just romance plus sex.

Dark erotica is still poorly defined and that's where so much confusion comes in. Some seem to think any tragedy or suspense within the story should let them put a label of dark on their erotic novels. To me there should be a story that disturbs the reader's sense of morality. It might make them wonder if they need therapy even. :D

The mindfuck is what many like to call a distinctive aspect of dark erotica -- and that is just a way of saying it will really disturb you.
Reading plain old sex in a romance novel should not do that. I would hope!

Horror plus erotic does equal a fair few of the more recent books in dark erotica. Like Pretty Stolen Dolls by K Webster.

All books in my Dark Hearts series and Pierced Hearts series are dark erotica and involve serious consent issues.
http://www.carisilverwood.net/
My home page has my dark books and is a tab at the top of this web page.

You need to read and decide for yourself. What disturbs one person may not bother another reader.

Some other authors I think write dark erotica : Try Pepper Winters. K Webster. Addison Cain. Kitty Thomas. Some of Jennifer Bene's books.

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CMS
27/1/2018 01:57:36 am

I am turning over this debate in my own mind at the moment, having read a ton of erotica. I am noticing I love the ones that challenge my (very strong) sense of what is right or wrong. In real life, I would never steal, commit fraud, murder or aid a murder. I consider myself a feminist, and have long understood the terrors 'rape culture' and everyday sexism wreeks on women's lives. Having a 'clean' conscience has always been a central part of my personality. And yet, some of the books I love, by Kitty Thomas, Pam Godwin, Annabel Joseph, Pepper Winter, make me look at myself and wonder.
I have tried going back to to tamer stories, but they do not hold my attention as much, and feel dissatisfying.
I enjoy the mindfuck, it seems, and can't go back. What's wrong with me??


Reply
Cari Silverwood
28/1/2018 02:29:34 pm

Absolutely nothing. These are fictional stories. You just have erotic fantasies, same as the rest of the human race.

Reply



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    Cari Silverwood is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling writer of kinky darkness or sometimes of dark kinkiness, depending on her moods and the amount of time she's spent staring into the night.
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    When others are writing bad men doing bad things you may find her writing good men who accidentally on purpose fall into the abyss and come out with their morals twisted in knots.


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