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Or is it just me? A lot of you probably don’t know me or my writing very well, but I’ll be the first to admit that most of my writing contains what I’ll politely refer to as “risque content”. I’m sure that many people who’ve skimmed past my stories disinterestedly have thought to themselves “by God, this person’s a weirdo.” But what may surprise them is that some of the things I write really don't get my jollies off. For instance, I have a story with Minor1 (an 11-year-old), but I’m not excited by pedophilia (I actually despise children, but that’s a whole different thing). Instead, I wrote the story because it was challenging, interesting, and refreshing to write from the perspective of somebody innocent. To write as somebody ignorant of the situation and to work through the complexity of both wanting to please the adult they admired while also feeling guilty about a situation that felt inherently wrong. In two of my stories, rimming comes into play. I’ve never personally tried it from either perspective, but I’ve seen it performed and I can’t say I’m a fan. However, in one story it’s literally the only option for lubricant and the other story is about making (mostly gay) porn. I write the characters as enjoying it, and I write it in a way to hopefully excite those who are reading my stories, but it really doesn’t get me off. These are only some examples, and since I’m trying to create a discussion and not a rant, I’d like to hear from you.

Just going to leave this here:

I tried adult roleplay once. Instructions unclear. Had a hell of a time getting the 20 sided dice out of my ass.

Hectic, stressful and nonsensical… but that’s just my life atm. Now onto the election. Everyone lost, but Labour won. Labour is not forming a government… yet. I predict another election by October, which Labour will win by a landslide. And when I say Labour, I mean socialist Labour. Bring it on! Kensington is Labour! The richest people in the country voted for socialism! Also Canterbury, which Labour has never held, ever, is now red. New poll today shows the surge continuing, meaning Labour would win outright an election if it was held now. Not sure what you guys make of it across the pond. There’s a good Irish contingent amongst you. Tories making deals with the DUP breaks the Good Friday agreement. This is awful. Remains to be seen how much damage May can cause negotiating with the EU, given that she shown herself to be utterly inept in every way. We’d be better off sending the Chuckle Brothers. “No deal is better than a bad deal”… wtf?! No deal means standard WTO tariffs for EU market access, which is 40% on agricultural goods.

We’re not in denial about other archives existing. I started on the Pit myself but when I found AFF, I decided I’d found home. DG was awesome, the mods made me feel welcome, and before I knew it, I was volunteering. AO3’s Terms of Service is deliberately obscure, because they moderate via committee. That translates into nothing much ever getting done, and they are fond of making decisions which directly contradict their own ToS. Point that out, and you might get warned for something. Anything. They’ll invent it on the spot. And then there’s the “choose your preferred format” download button, resulting in a good many works there winding up on Kindle for sale, and not by the original author. (And yes, they do sell fanfiction. They just don’t mention it’s fanfiction, and if it’s AU enough, no one notices. 50 Shades, anyone?) Tumblr is not a fiction archive as much as it is a haven for malcontents and cyberbullies, and Wattpad gets hacked with dreary regularity. The Pit enforces their ToS with sporadic urgency and periodic purges, mostly when an advertiser gets a complaint about their ad appearing on a smutty site. Fiction Press is just the Pit for original work, and many of the fandom-based sites are gone because it’s not cheap to host an archive. Our small advertising revenue pays for our hosting costs, and every single member of staff is an unpaid volunteer. We do this for love of the words. But we never ask our members to post here exclusively. We love that people share the words. We just ask that they don’t use stories in our archive as free advertising for other sites.

Okay calm down. There are no rules against you posting your stories on every site you come across, the only thing we ask is that you don’t use your story here to drive people to your stories on other sites. Pretty simple. Just follow the rules and you’ll be fine. There’s even a handy forum here that answers many questions new users have: FAQs As for no direct answers here…you are mistaken. I too have been on other sites and can tell you here at AFF if you ask a question you are guaranteed to get an answer. But, and this is a big one, if you ask a question in the middle of a thread on a completely different topic in the forum you’re bound to get a bunch of answers from other users which may or may not be correct. If you have a truly burning question and really need an answer, I suggest you either PM one of the moderators, (I’m one of them and I would have gladly answered your question if I had seen it but I do have a life and can’t patrol every thread in the forum looking for unanswered user questions.) or start a thread in the designated part of the forum. If you browse through you’ll see that most people waited less than 24 hours for answers to their questions. As for plagiarism claims arising from cross posting, unless you’re guilty of it, you have no need to worry. Even when we get a report of such a thing happening, we don’t automatically put you in the hall of shame. We do our research and have to have evidence that a story has been poached to do that, which includes contacting the author of the story assumed stolen. As you said, you can prove you are you and that’s the only thing we ask. You may not love everything about AFF but I can tell you this, the people here are more than happy to help and the archive is actively moderated and every user is treated fairly. If you need anything further on this feel free to send me a PM. CL

And I’m home. I had never realized before how essential I am, since it is apparently impossible for the household to function unless I am there to be the chauffeur, cook, laundry person, and all-around dogsbody. I’m going to fire my family, although the corgi can stay.

I would like to point out that if AO3, tumblr, and the ever-present Pit would care to advertise with us, we’d be delighted to let you redirect to them to your little heart’s content. However, since they aren’t supporting us, we see absolutely no reason to offer them free advertising, especially when we have advertisers who do pay for banner ads here. In keeping with our censorship-free policy, however, we won’t poke at your use of our forum to insult AFF. I will, however, point you to our Terms of Service and the Content Guidelines incorporated therein.

...fuck, that hit me right in the aging.

Let’s put it this way. It can either be used as a tool in writing, or as a mind set that informs your use of other writing tools. It would be foolish to be against it in either case since there are many cases for its use. Chekov himself showed this in his works, as did Poe, Lovecraft and many others. Like any tool however, careless and reckless usage can yield unsatisfactory results. Here’s a common example of chekov’s gun in action. EVer notice that whenever a movie talkes about something being impossible, highly unlikely, or absurdly improbable it winds up happening. “That shot’s impossible to make without a targeting comnputer” “No one can pull the sword from the stone” “Atlantis is a favble and legend, reaching it is impossible” Abny of those famnous last words ring a bell? But as saiud, if you use it with hamfists you’ll basically make your readers go dizzy from the eye-rolling. Improperly used and you start telegraphing things like a an easy video game boss. and then the reader just wwinds up waiting for it which means they tend to start glossing over the rest of the details. So I;m not for or against the usage. I just advise that CHekov’s gun, like any gun, be wielded with care and responsibility. I think were Chekov still alive he would say. “ The audience should never be aware that something is a ‘Chekov’s Gun’ until the Gun is fired.(as it were).

I love historical, I just find it sooo difficult, mostly for the reason you mentioned. It’s hard to determine where it’s best to take a few artistic liberties and where to go with the research. But it’s soooo much fun.

Well, you know what mine are, as my Beta, but… My area of specialty, so to speak, is science fiction or speculative fiction. I also don't mind writing historical, but a lot of the time, I find myself having to smudge a detail slightly... And I don't like doing that… I really avoid the romance... Like extremely... Like vampire and sunlight (and not the Twilight vampires...)... I don't really think I do good writing it... I actually think I fail when I've tried (I'm sure anyone keeping up on CHHW would agree...) Another I avoid, though not as vehemently, is westerns. I was never interested in them, so now I don't really have the interest in writing them. Why do I write SciFi and historical? I guess it's the love of stuff like Star Trek and Star Wars with my grandfather. Good memories instilling that deep love of the genre. When I started writing, sci fi was the first I wrote... And historical, I just love history.

So... While watching a truly terrible movie and writing my own, I had a thought. Watching the antagonist, a mere caricature and, admittedly, boring in that regards, I started thinking to myself, ‘How?’ Obviously someone had to be paid to... Dare I say write this villain? I’m not sure that’s capable of being said. I’m pretty sure whoever put him in there looked in a dictionary under villain and took all the cliches... Which is not always a bad thing... So, coupled with a bit of a discussion with my beta regarding the same ideas within the last few weeks (has it been longer? Maybe longer... Either way...) I kind of examined my own antagonists (mostly minor in terms of the overall story at this point) and began seeing that most of what CR and I had discussed had already been put into place. Some minor tweaks here and there, a few added things into the character, a couple odd search topics in Google... And a very questionable, yet still lacking detail report regarding said character that is currently saved on my computer... Hopefully, the minor antagonist in Chapter V has taken on a new life that is not a cartoony version of hyenas marching... At least, I’m happy with the way it’s turned out. I’d like to think that I added enough to humanize, dare I say relate to (a scary thought, I know), that character. Those little bits that develop a personality, at least in terms of this one, and create a living breathing antagonist and not a two-dimensional paper cut out as I had seen within the movie... So, then, thoughts abounded... And perhaps could help other people in writing their own antagonists... How does everyone else create their antagonists? Now that I’ve rambled on and on and on long enough to bore people to death... I’d like to hear your ideas, thoughts, writing processes, and maybe there’s someone else who will benefit outright as well...

You can. Stereotypical villains can be interesting \. Or you could simply make the story less about the villain. Look at Lord of the RIngs. Did you notice that Sauron (despite being the big bad) never really factors in the story? He’s there, in the same way the trees the grass and the mountains are but he’s not the focus. In such cases the Villain is more treated as a force of nature, something the protagonist must react to, In these cases the meat of the story is what sort of actions, changes and reactions the villain brings out in the characters. The raptors in Jurassic Park, Jason Voorhees, The Shark from Jaws. These are prime examples of that. Not every story needs to be focused on a grand, looming conflict. Sometimes just the task of getting from A-B is enough. Sort of like in a video game.You aren’t thinking about the last boss fight. Your attention is focused on surviving one area at a time., and I’d say that makes for some thrilliung engagement.

Woohoo. Australia now holds the new world record for having gone the longest without a recession, which is 26 years, and still counting.

Time in the story where I most frequently have existential crises, and question all the skills I’m normally (over)confident of…? The first. Frickin. Sentence. And yes. I deleted and redid this status because of a typo. FML.

Nope, nope, nope…

There are no bots, I assure you we are all human. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, unless you are rude or assume the rules shouldn’t apply to you because you are some sort of special little person (see above), you’ll always receive a polite and usually quick response from the staff. I’d rather have you ask than have to go through the hassle of warning you which eats into my writing time. Don’t feel like you need to tiptoe around, we’re really a friendly bunch here at AFF.

Hey @CL Mustafic You did in fact answer all my questions… I did think The Wall of Shame was going to be automatic. We’re all humans right I was just imagining Bots deleting everything and I was gonna be gone or something and then you guys will look at me like a criminal. I always assume the worst… I’m going to go ahead and follow you…. I have lots of questions but the thing is I get it answered once and if I’m still confused, I just assume that means I’m dumb and I have to be punished by learning the hard way, like feed me to the wolfs, I wasn’t listening hard enough the first time Thanks a lot… I do in fact appreciate it. Everything will be peachy keen! Dude, I just got scared. I was like. Cait! You’ve been warned! The clock starts NOW! Figure it out, dummy! I totally understand about the social cues in text… That’s exactly what I’m talking about! Are other people on FB, is there a group or something? I’m talking to @Tcr daily, and @CloverReef and @sweetmamajama quite a bit as well. I just been really neat talking to writers… I avoid my ‘real life’ FB friends cuz I’m super tired of talking about their vacations and their new babies and shit. Lol. I just want to ask about stuff like this… I was gonna talk to cloverreef today in private, but you guys were like FRIENDS and now I’m just gonna tell her about the awesome help I got, even though I freaked out like my usually crazy self

You pointed out no clear and obvious problems with AFF. You had a tantrum. If you’d like your account removed, please let me know, and I’ll see that it’s taken care of for you by the admins.

Have you ever written a story that you’re particularly proud of but ended up receiving little attention from anyone? Perhaps it got very few, if any, reviews. Mine is probably a story called Ripples. I tried to make it feel as much like a Stephen King story as I could manage, and I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. It only got the 1 review. My stories never get too many more than that normally anyway, but I always wished it had got appreciated more. Maybe my pride in the story has caused me to be particularly biased towards it, and therefore can’t see it for the average story it really is. Do you know why your story didn’t get much attention, or is it a puzzle to you?

So, I’ve finally gotten a day off, after many 12 to 14 hour workdays, and guess what I did? Mostly I SLEPT. Slowly getting other stuff caught up here now.

I’m not a writer, but I will tell you as a reader, that I’ve noticed that often the underappreciated stories are the superior works. I don’t get that at all. Meaning I don’t get WHY the better works aren’t as appreciated as they SHOULD be.

No, not so much embarrassing, but more scary in my case. All my characters are, in some wild and weird extension, me… All the main characters of mine carry with them probably a lot more of myself in them then what I would have wanted… That’s the scary part ;).

“When you write, do you ever feel self conscious about it?” Not at all, my name is literal, I’m anonymous. The Anon library is only a host to stories that are almost detached from authorship aside from me feeling nice when someone leave a nice comment on them. I’m able to write freely because I’m not writing for myself or my name, I’m only writing for the sake fo the story existing out there in the world somehow. “Do you feel like maybe you are giving away too much?” If you write something on a piece of paper and leave it lying by, can you be giving away anything? If you confess your innermost secrets through a cut and paste notepinned to a bulletin board in a gas station have you really confessed yourself? What’s a confession of self that isn’t attached to yourself? Inversely, what’s fiction writing if not to inhabit a mind that’s not your own and speak for it? The personalities you create in your works are fictional alternative brains you put yourself into to tell their stories. Much like Johnny Cash never actually shot a man in Reno just to watch him die, I wouldn’t say any writer is giving away anything more of themselves in a crafted character than their ability to formulate separate parameters of thinking, goals, and emotions and convey that personality with conviction and truth as if it were their own. “Do you feel like there are lines that shouldn't be crossed?” I would never write anything that could be misconstrued as directly threatening or exploitative of a real person. ...mostly for legality. “Can you go too far?” No I’m just making up stories for a few people to read.

I like getting credit for encouraging people. Blame counts as credit! As for the questions, I definitely always feel self-conscious about my writing, though not necessarily for the same reasons as the topic on the original post. Personally, I think the last time I actually felt like I was exposing myself, was the first time I ever wrote smut. People made fun of my story on the forum I posted it on (it was god awful, but thanks to their mocking I avoided posting smut for another year after that.) But other than that one time, I can’t say I’ve ever actually felt like I was exposing myself… But I have felt like I’ve been at the reader’s mercy. They sound like one in the same, but for some reason they’re entirely different issues in my head. Like, I’m afraid people won’t like what I wrote or they’ll ridicule it, but I’m never worried about what they’ll think the content says about me as a person? I don’t feel like I’m giving too much. Sometimes I worry I’m not giving enough of myself. Those are usually the times I’ll delete the entirety of a chapter a dozen times and rewrite. That’s part of the reason I don’t post things often. Spend too much time agonizing over every little word, wondering how I can thrust more personality into it, and I never post until I’m sure. Sometimes I don’t even write until I’m sure. Definitely something I personally need to overcome. Not going to touch the changes topic. I think you already addressed it perfectly. Can lines be crossed? Fuck yes. Some lines need to be crossed. Some lines shouldn’t be crossed. My personal lines, content-wise, are with stories with minors. That’s something I won’t likely cross, but don’t fault others for crossing it. And there are lines I don’t think -anyone- should cross. Like using a story as a platform to advocate or support the oppression/abuse or the removal of basic human rights from individuals or whole groups of people. If your story makes a whole group of people in general feel attacked, or unsafe, or fearing for their lives, I’d definitely say that’s crossing a line that should not be crossed.

I wish i would have talked to you about this in more depth… I solely blamed myself and ran off site crying, deleting everything in my wake! I’m just playing it off like it’s cool, but it wasn’t lol!!! it’s only cuz you and @Tcr and @sweetmamajama held my hand and rubbed my back and told me it was going to be ok that I’m back trying again!!! We can’t let people affect us this negatively (or at least I shouldn’t, jesus) Anyways, as always, it’s good to know I’m not alone.

In my case its mostly about fantasy vs reality. For example in real life I am very squeamish about things I put near my mouth and face and butthole but I read and write m/m and find it pretty hot. I also find rimming very hot in fantasy but in reality I wouldn't wanna have my tongue anywhere near an asshole. I have a lot of underage shit going on in my stories too (both written and still in my head) even though I don't find teenagers sexually attractive. I think that maybe that's because I find ‘sexual awakening’ interesting to write about. Also there are stories of mine that kinda demand it because of the marriage customs and the ideas of consent and sexual maturity are different in the story’s universe than in our own. And of course, since a lot of my characters have terrible childhoods, there are the backstories and flashbacks that are usually very... unpleasant to write. Hmm...when I look back I wrote a lot of things that were unpleasant to write… But I think I got a bit off topic, sorry my brain is just not working properly today...idk did I answer the question? I forgot what I was gonna say! Whaa am I so broken?!

Very true! Still, it’s nice to actually get feedback, and I even cherish mixed reviews, and negative reviews which I wholly disagree with as long as they’re not trollish.

I can read other peoples stories and get excited, some times even if the story is “bad” but the image they placed in my mind is all thats needed, sometimes i do get myself too in my own story, but thats never the “goal” until editing is done.

If you write original fiction then that tends to get less reviews than fan fiction, but if you’re like me and also write original but non m/m stuff then it gets even less reviews. And god forbid if you include no sex of any kind in it! lol

I'm on my phone so I'll keep this short so as not to anger the auto correct gods. Definitely the story I loved the most failed to get the reception I expected. It didn't get silence so much as by far the most criticism out of any of my stories, and I've posted some real stinkers that received heaps of nothing but praise. So yeah it was baffling to me that something I thought of as my best work was so negatively received. I've also had ones I was so excited about posting. Thought they were so well written and I was convinced they played perfectly to the audience. Then i posted and... crickets. So that was fun lol. You'd think it would be humbling, but I'm quite good at blaming everyone but me. (Okay, so I didn't really keep it short.)

We are on AFF I’ve tried absolute lines only to find my writing crossing them. Minor1 was the first to fall, when I had an otherwise good premise, and the MC’s sister (13 year old) found her way into the story in a more major role than I had originally anticipated. I considered changing her age, but then the MCs would have to change their age, and that’d affect other stories as I’m tying a bunch of them together (it’s more of world building than simply story telling). So, in the end, I just require good reason to go with younger sexual activity. (Though I do have younger nudists.) Like BW mentioned, I let the characters be themselves, they can explore what they want to explore … its not like they listen to me In extreme cases, I can always have their parents/others walk in on them ….

Sometimes trends and demographics make a difference. You can write the most wonderful Quantum Leap story, but if fans have moved on, one good review is excellent. I don’t write that fast, so by the time I finish my draft or my conclusion the attention wave has passed. What people react to can surprise you, too. I once cross posted over multiple sites to try to see where the fans who liked my style hung out, but that was a huge time sink without being very helpful. I may write sometimes for my own amusement, but I post for comments and selfpublish for money.

Yeah, non sexy stories definitely get less love than plain old smut, usually. And original stories also usually get less attention than fan fiction, sadly. I get more enjoyment out of writing non-smut actually. I agree. I like using my imagination, for porn and non-porn, and it’s hard to do that when you’re being hand-held right through the story. I guess that’s one reason why I enjoy leaving some of my stories open-ended and allow the reader to come to their own conclusion to various degrees.

Yeah, I might have to check out “Ripples,” too. I definitely have a couple of stories that I’m quite proud of but that haven’t garnered much attention (“There’s a New Seraph in Town,” “Backward Glance”). Maybe it’s because they are original stories that are heavier on plot than on porn, and because what sex there is involves unrelated, consenting human adults. But I have other stories that I’m proud of that have gotten quite a bit of attention (eg, “Quiet,” “Activation Day”), so I can’t complain too much.

As the title implies, I am wondering what thought processes (if any) people use in the naming of their story’s characters. Thoughts?

The Deus Ex Machina is typically a trope born of poor planning , tight deadlines and frustration as much as it is lazy writing. A Deus Ex Machina like any writing tool, can be used to great effect. The greatest rule I’ve heard is that. COincicdeence and Chance should never solve problems. They may change the problems but if they solve the protagonist’s problems. It invariably trivializes the struggles of the protagonist. Worse,coincidence, chance, happenstance and deus Ex machina’s occur too frequently… it jettison’s the reader out of the experience. Too see deus Ex Machina done well. I’d recommend Reading A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony. But let’s take Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Bilbo finding the ring could be seen as Deus Ex Machina right there. But note. The ring does not actually unilaterally solve Bilbo’s problems. It merely gives him a tool to assist him in figuring out solutions to his problems. By itself the RIng is as much a risk as it is a boon.. One might also see the ruscue by the eagles as Deus Ex Machina, but again it doesn’t really solve their issuesso much as deliver them from one problem to another, and initially Bilbo isn’t certain if the Eagles are helping. See how that works? One trick is to make someonthing seem like Deus Ex when actually it’s something that you’ve been subtly dropping clues about: The protagonist is told about the age of the buildings in a particular part of town. ANother chapter someone off handedly remarks that a great fire in the cuty destroyed all but a few of the oldest wooden buildings. IN another chapter, mention the unusually rainy and humid season, they;ve had the last few months. SO when the wooden roof of the old chapel collapses during the climactic chase scene, allowing our heroes to escape. An astute reader will probably remember those tidbits, or pick them up during the second read through. Of course, the Chapel must have been one of the buildings that was spared in the fire, so the wood was very old, worse still, the ususually rainy and humid conditions would promote or accelerate rot in the old wood. STill random that it chose then to collapse but it';s not like a tree branch announces that it’s going to fall on your car during the night. If you need too use a Deus Ex Machina. Use it early in the story. Let it be part of the inciting incident. If you write your characters into a situation that you need to use a deus ex machina to get them out… then you’re not playing fair with the reader. The reader’s mind will shift from, “How will they get out of this situation” to “How will the writer get them out of this situation.”

Well, firstly, thank you to Sweetmamajama, for the new signature picture. I think it looks great :). Secondly, new signature pic! :).

You know, I don’t understand. Do these people think because something is hosted elsewhere, it then becomes fair game? Do they not get copy/pasting most of the story, and then starting to make changes later on, is still theft? I guess not.

Personally, I like the deus ex as a tool. But as with any tool, it has to be used consciously and carefully to avoid that eye roll, 1 second left moment DP mentioned. Sometimes it’s fun to straddle the line between miraculous and realistic. Sometimes miraculous can be made believable, and sometimes shit that’s unbelievable can be gripping and suspenseful. It’s just when it’s used in excess or, you know, cliche-y, or very clearly just stuck in because the writer didn’t have any better ideas, then it feels too silly/lazy to enjoy. Sometimes it feels like a wasted opportunity for growth because the authors afraid to hurt their characters. Moral of the story: Tools are fun if you use them right. (I feel like that’s a wink wink moment… Do Deus Ex Machinas vibrate?)

I'm kind of strange in this regard. Some just come to me like that (...I guess snapping fingers is a little pointless to show...) while others have taken a while. When I can't just come up with one right off the bat, I often form up a list of random names. Everything I can think of potentially working with regards to the world I am creating. A three column sheet that has given, middle, and surnames. Then I take a look through. It depends a lot on the character as well as the story and consequent plans. Usually I have a bit of an idea of what personality and whereabouts their character arch is going, so this helps a bit. But... A fantasy world is not likely to have Bob for an Elf (okay, someone's throwing tomatoes...), although I would love to hear a tale about Bob the Elf... Depending on the character, too, does the name suit them? At least with me, it becomes a challenge to find a name that I feel fits a character. There a many times, too, that I'll take an existing name that may fit, but doesn't 'look' right for the character and twist it. (For example: Erica - Arika, Zachary -Zakari, Xavier - Zavier.) People are quite creative with names, so I wouldn't be afraid to experiment. And finally, at the end of development, the epic question (well... To me at least): Does it sound like something someone would have? In my case, as mine is not fantasy, I cannot speak much there,but I'm guessing there might be similar veins as naming conventions help make a race... But, I will leave that to other, more experienced, people. Anyway... What I mean is, I have found that most people I know, myself included, have names that roll off the tongue... Most do not have a name like Rhodel Adriana Benedict. Many have something like Thomas Christopher Anderman. It may not roll off the tongue well, but it's not as much a tongue twister as the first... (Okay, the audience is throwing the beer bottles; I'm off.)

Random name generators help out a lot. (With some selection for balance and having it sound right.)

Melrick will appreciate your volunteerism on this topic (once his computer woes are fixed).

It’s tough to get feedback. My stories (ignoring the round robin), have 3 posted reviews, and those stories aren’t short either. I did delete the old first story (that’s being replaced by three) earlier this year, and that IIRC, had 3-4 reviews. And I’ve been on AFF for 2 ½ years. So, to have a one review in a month, that’s better than my average. The one thing I do, and it helps, is I record the hits about every day, and I plot them (libreoffice’s calc), and seeing the consistent jump after posting a chapter/episode does let me know that people are reading, and enjoying it enough to come back for another instalment. Now, the round robins we’ve been starting to have, in 2015, and I’m pushing on the 2016, are good because they help give you a bit of exposure, perhaps pick up a new reader or two.

What genre/categories do you write in and why? Which ones do you avoid because you don’t like them, or avoid because they’re daunting? Seems like a random question, but I’ve been mulling over taking another dip into fantasy. And when I mull, I ask a lot of questions. “Why do people read fantasy?” “Do I want to write campy fantasy, epic fantasy, or dark fantasy?” “What fantasy tropes should I stick with?” “How much fantasy is too much fantasy?” I think most genres come with questions of their own. For me, fantasy is daunting because I have trouble deciding whether something is eyeroll-worthy or suspend-belief worthy when so much of it relies on that belief suspension. I tend to write dramas and thrillers with supernatural elements (or just plain violent), probably because I spent my life reading them. It’s easy to keep them character driven and sometimes fantastical and still pull enough of the real world in that I’m comfortable with the believability factor. So: What genres/categories do you play in? What genres/categories do you avoid? Why?

What I think is really interesting about this topic, is the ‘real world’ application. I’m posting to 3 sites including this one, but the audience is SO DRAMATICALLY different on every one of them… Yeah, I know. Genius observation. Are you guys really against cross posting? I’m being really secretive about it and not mentioning it to readers, but I just thought I’d share with ya’ll, since I do feel slightly underappreciated as well over here. I was looking for my audience though and I think I have a better idea now that I was able to connect with some other readers offsite. Also, I didn’t know this site hosted mostly PORN… I go to asstr and BDSMlibrary for that junk!!! And I search for the specific kink, scroll through anything that looks like plot, get my rocks off and then I close EVERYTHING! So nobody will ever KNOW!!! Lol. Strangely enough, absolutely NONE of my true kinks have made it into my writing. IDK, honestly, I can’t write the stuff I kink on and I’m not not gonna try, because do porn authors have a following? Yes, I guess they do. Have I ever envied that? No. Have I ever wanted to write a story, only to find out people are doing Ctrl + F to find the parts they wanna jerk too? Naw. I’m a queen of long story and plot, lots of fluff and cute, emotionally damaged boys finding comfort together… Did anyone say Yaoi? I don’t get off as intently to my plot and romance, as I do the crazy kinky PWP, but mine does include sex and the characters having sex feels like real people going through real issues. To me, that’s a lot more important to me than my 20 minutes on BDSMlibrary.

Okay… lol. I’ll take BaH as my example here. In the tags, as in the story, I do not personally get excited over the concept, written or otherwise, of rape. However, I definitely love my history, I love trying to write the characters, I love transforming them. Writing BaH and CHHW are all part of what I love and know, but some elements may not be personally stimulating for me. The time frame for BaH was rife with things that are disturbing and not something I want to see in reality, but writing them is something that has to be done. Not sure if I’m making any sense or just confusing more… We’re all weirdos here, that’s why we write. But yes, I understand, certainly. And obviously, there’s a calling for it, so I’m not saying it can’t be, but it’s not something I, personally, would write. Certainly, writing fiction is fine, but carrying it out in reality is not. That’s a good way to think and to carry out the writing. I try to do the same, for all the characters, not just the ones that don’t get me going. Taking BaH for example (...again), I’ve never lived under the eminent threat of death that encompassed Germany at the time, never had to make the decisions any of the characters did, so I try to put myself back to that point. It’s a little easier since that’s something I love (I love history and the World Wars are the areas most interesting to me). But I do the research still, in characters, in everything I can do. Come Hell or High Water is the same way… Unfortunately, living in current times, I’ll probably never experience the wonders of the universe… lol. That said, I have tried to research characters to create real characters. Stuff that doesn’t interest me, take the rape example from earlier, I’ve spent weeks trying to formulate a comprehensive, dark, yet strangely interesting scene regarding this (especially since this is a big moment in that character’s life... Actually, this is one of those several huge moments in that character’s life and will have several overarching ramifications to the rest of the story.)

Okay <cracks fingers>, let’s get started. <Cowers in corner> Do I have to let people know about my writing process? Is it done? When you write, do you ever feel self conscious about it? To be honest, I doubt that anyone ever experiences a clean lack of self-conscious. Always something creeps into the words. Worries that something’s not right, not perfect, that it needs this, or that one forget something. In my case, there’s a lot of questions about ‘Is this good enough’ (...CR can definitely attest to the levels of self-doubt that flows in), which then leads to, ‘is there too much of me in there’. Am I rambling and not answering the question? Maybe I am... Do you feel like maybe you are giving away too much? Always. There’s that nagging sensation that eats away, causes doubts… CR’s been good at slapping me upside the head and reminding me when I’ve given too much away (like a good Beta), although I do see it even when I’m not having her Beta. People go through all sorts of changes in their life. If you are the same person at 20,30 and 40, you are doing it wrong. Well, I’m not the same writer I was at twenty, nor twenty five, nor two years ago. Experiences change perspective, perspective changes writing and characterizations. At twenty, I wouldn’t have thought about coming onto AFF. At twenty-two, I almost died. At twenty five, I challenged myself to start writing outside the comfort zone. Two years ago, I first wrote in a character that I had never thought to include, due largely to my challenge. Last year, I started posting on AFF. Do you feel like there are lines that shouldn't be crossed? On a personal level, yes. Always. Robbing a bank, murder, turning the country into a totalitarian dictatorship… Writing wise, yes, but only on my own personal side. Writing characters who rob banks, commit murder, turn a country into a totalitarian dictatorship is fine within the confines of the written word. Indeed, they are present in reality, so why should they not be present in the world created by an author? I won’t write a minor1/minor2, that’s my personal line that won’t be crossed, but in the world of writing, if it fits into the narrative, then go for it. Can you go too far? Strangely enough, I’ve seen this question paraphrased on several writing sites and even arguments while trying to find details with regards to writing BaH and CHHW. Can you go too far… This bears with it a question more of person preference than of overarching finality. I guess the answer for me is yes, you can. Can that rape scene be cut without any loss to the over all narrative? Can that disembowelment scene be cut down a little because it goes on too long? (There might have been some of that on my part, too, so… lol). But that is preference more than a strict guideline, in my opinion. As I continue to work on BaH and CHHW, the boundaries I once thought as ‘too far’ have shifted backwards, further and further back, (mostly due to Blood and Honour) and I find myself looking back and wondering how far ‘too far’ is now. Maybe you should I feel one should definitely push their boundaries of comfort. But that may just be me.