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For me, writing about the darker side of things - emotions, state of mind, violence, gore, etc. - is a way of sharing my personal experience with those in need. (Not to say I'm a war veteran or anything; I can't enlist because I can't take orders, I know that much about myself. It's just that my family hunts, so I know a decent bit about violence, bloodshed and gore anyway, and I've got a fair bit of experience with mental issues, my mom's after-rape trauma and behaviors, and whatnot, too.) Mostly when I write dark things, it's because either I'm trying to work through something or I know someone who is. Sharing experience helps. A lot. Sexual kinks.... I write those because I'm into bondage, I have a visceral need to be made to submit by someone I trust - my bf - because I flat can't fully relax and just go with the flow otherwise, and toys and unresolved sexual tension are wonderful ways to up the ante in an intimate situation. Exhibitionism I might write about, but frankly that's on my strictly-fantasies list because while the risk might be thrilling, getting caught...wouldn't be. And if/when I write a story with exhibitionism, I will throw that into the tale because it's something that should be thought of. I thoroughly agree and/or understand where Attackegg and JayDee are coming from. If only there were more out there so willing to be themselves, with no limits. If society won't accept you as you are, at the very least here online where we can be relatively anonymous and share the things that really matter to us, then there's something wrong with society. And if those of us who are writing about dark things can't do so here and be accepted, then what are we supposed to do? Suppressing the need to express these - urges, cravings, whatever you want to call them - that only makes them worse. Make sense? Not trying to call anyone unaccepting or a bigot or anything, I just am a brutally honest person and this site is somewhat of a haven for we oddballs and outcasts and deviants, and I both applaud and am grateful to you for trying to understand (a mind as open as yours is a wonderful thing). Just trying to point out where I'm coming from. And anyway, there's always the search, and you never have to click on any links except the ones required by the mods and admins, so really this place is for everybody. *frown* Perhaps a better way for me to put the above bit is: this is a place where we can go and not have to hide, where we can be one of the crowd even if not all of the crowd is okay with our particular tastes, and we treasure that.

I can understand that, but kind of like, "It takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch," what you're essentially doing by no longer reviewing, is punishing those of us who would like to know if there are problems, or merely if you just like the story in general, or a particalar item in said story, and so, that isn't really fair. I know I'd given up updating my story here for a while, because practically no one out of the 1,000+ hits in the past year could bother to put up ANYTHING to let me know what they thought of my story. I mean, for all I know, those 1,000+ people are/were reading the first chapter and thinking, "Boy, this writer SUCKS, and this story SUCKS, I'm not reading any further!" So, why should I then waste my time updating, or even continuing to write this story any further? Yes, writing for yourself is all well and good, and if you can do that on a permanent basis, great, I'm thrilled for you, but honestly, I do like to know what people think! I guess that's an insecurity of mine. At any rate, after a year of not updating, someone FINALLY left me a review, and they wanted more, and I thought, "Wow, OK, SOMEONE actually likes it, so OK, I'll put up another chapter." So I did, and have I heard anything after getting another hundred or so hits since the update? Nope. Yet, there are other authors who have the same amount of chapters or less, and have three times the hits I do, AND have ten or more times the amount of reviews I do. So, that, once again has me thinking, "Well, I guess I was right the first time, and not many people are liking my story. Good thing I haven't wasted any more time on it, and I've moved on to writing my original stories that I hope to have published one day." Of course, if no one seems to like my fanfiction, it does leave me wondering if I'll ever have anyone interested enough to want to publish my novels, in spite of the fact that I've been published already, twice in a literary journal. I'm just the type of person that depends on feedback, both positive and negative, and if I receive nothing, that leaves me assuming the negative, and that my writing sucks, so why bother? Not all of us are strong enough to stand by our writing, and write no matter what people think. I wish I could, but that's just not me.