When I think about the difference between ‘pop’ fiction and literature there are many distinguishing qualities. Pop is immediate and often hurried narratives that drive the protagonist through life altering change. Literature is much slower paced and nuanced, often drawn out to the point of being reflective of culture and time and place vs. an action-soaked narration. While the difference between these two are, at times, stark, they both focus allow the reader to fall into our most basic physical responses.
Titillation is defined by dictionary.com as, “the arousal of interest or excitement, especially through sexually suggestive images or words.” I believe this to be truthful and at the core of most story. In other words, story is about people making a connection to other people and more often than not that connection is sexual. Why? Because it is what we most want. In 2015 Romance made up 34% of the book industry, topping over a billion dollars in sales. That is just romance novels. This doesn’t include mainstream and literary writing that have a love story at the core. Sex sells, but love sells even better. So we end up reading and thus writing stories that contain this element.
Why does that matter? Because of the duality of love and sex in our culture. If we drift too far into the sexual aspect of story it is porn. If we eschew it entirely we miss out on a critical element of story.