What’s the difference between the mature and adult tags.

[AliceHiess]

Not sure what to say other than the title so I guess I’ll just leave it at that.

 

[Jemini]

The difference is that one is a genre and the other is a tag.

EDIT: That's the main difference anyway. There are others though. "Adult" has some cultural implications that it has something to do with sexual content. "Mature" meanwhile can mean that it deals with more mature themes, such as cruelty of the world type themes and sometimes having to let the scum go free because it will cause more damage to everyone around you to go after them. Or, maybe it's not so grim-dark. Maybe it's just dealing with complex relationship issues in more depth than a teen-oriented novel would, emphasizing what relationships tend to REALLY look like rather than the simplistic magical fairy-tale look most give you. It can all work out happy in the end, but you go into depth showing the hard work that goes into making the relationship happy.

 

[Napelynn]

The difference is that one is a genre and the other is a tag.

Wrong. Both are genres on ScribbleHub.

 

[ArcanePunkster]

From my experience people associate Adult genre with things like gore and explicit sex scenes. Whereas Mature is more about dealing with problems such as relationships, hardships of adult life, mental health and so on

 

[LordJoyde]

From my personal experience;

Adult - Fiction containing a lot of smut, with that smut or the 'acquisition of smut' being a main selling point.
Mature - Fiction written in a more 'realistic', often darker and inevitably offensive manner for specific audiences.

There should be an 'MA' flag for Mature Adult, in which you can find both.

 

[PhillisCreziles]

From what I've seen, stories with the Adult tag are more based around the life of adult characters and their interactions, and then stories with the Mature tag are stories that have darker/deeper themes and materials.

 

[Deleted member 53101]

This thread made me think I need to edit the tag in my story.

 

[DubstheDuke]

Yeah adult refers specifically to sexual content, whereas mature just means that the story is meant for more mature audiences (As people said, darker themes, potentially with gore or other traumatizing content such as abuse, psychological trauma, etc.) There could be sexual content in a mature series, but not necessarily.

 

[BenJepheneT]

Not sure what to say other than the title so I guess I’ll just leave it at that.

Adult is plain sex. Mature is the post-nut clarity that comes after.

 

[Sylvie]

Honestly they should just do away with one of them and make the one that's left into a congregation of both. Mature describes novels well enough, not to mention there's "Smut" as a genre too making Adult kinda meaningless imo.

 

[RaidenInfinity]

Maybe compare the differences between ESRB Mature (17+) and Adults only (18+) ratings (though that's for games instead of for novel).

 

[CheertheDead]

In all seriousness, "Adult" and "Mature" have a lot to talk about. I will give you the long answer but there will be a table in the end in case you want it short.

Adult
By definition, it requires you to be adult (as defined by your country's laws) to read. Most often, it refers to the age of your physical body.

Mature
It is the maturity of the mind in contrast to the body.

To sum up, Adult is more or less about your biological body (hormone, reproductive organs...) + some bollock requirement from the laws (Sex ED...). Mature is about your mind, your thinking. In short, an Adult body vs a Mature mind.

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Adult
Saying that, this genre focuses on pleasing your physical need with sub-tags and theme mostly involve sexual intercourse.

Mature
Focus on themes and storylines that are pleasing to a Mature mind. Thing that are serious and usually not very enjoyable to immature mind.

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For readers.
They help setting expectation. Thing audiences can expect from an Adult work will be the introduction of sex and may be gore (i want to note that gore is not really an adult or a mature tag but it is considered adult/mature because of the law). Meanwhile, Mature work are usually about complex things like grey morality, controversies about war and politics, philosophic discussion about aspects of life and nature, the grandeur of intelligence (strategy...) and wisdom etc.

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For authors.
They help filtering the demographic of your readers.

You can expect that mostly legally adults will read your Adult fiction (I want to stress that i use read as in "like to read"). However, that does not mean underages will not want to read your work. No one knows whether there are underages within your Adult work's readers or not. Considering i know sex party goers the age of 5-8 years old, the chance your reader list has underage may be even higher.

For Mature, most of the time it can be argued that only adults will read your fic, but that isn't set on stone. Some people develop a taste for Mature stories very young while some develop much later. The demographic in this genre is also varied.

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	Adult	Mature
Demographic filter	(18-45)+, may attract some younger age	(18-45)+ but may attract much more younger age
Tags	Primarily sexual-related tags	May or may not have sex or anything sexually obscure
Definition	Maturity of Body	Maturity of Mind (and, may be, Body)
Fulfillment	Full fill the sexual need of the readers	Full fill the mental need of the readers
Usage	Tell your audiences that you expect them to love some sex in the fic	Tell your audiences that you want them to think and comment like mature people

 

[Nymus]

Fulfillment	Full fill the sexual need of the readers	Full fill the mental need of the readers
Usage	Tell your audiences that you expect them to love some sex in the fic	Tell your audiences that you want them to think and comment like mature people

Perfection. In. Every. Single. Word.