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In all honesty, I think writing, and the inherent escapism of living for a time in another world of one's own creation, is probably one of the healthiest and sanest responses to stress that there is. It's often easier to face hard issues in the settings we create and control, and I'm frequently surprised when I see a solution to a real life problem after I've been writing about something quite different. The skills I use as a writer to resolve conflict in my stories and among my characters seem to trigger a sort of thinking outside the box effect in my real life, if that makes any sense.

After a week and a half, I think, of disappearance I have finally finished what I set off to do. Danse Macabre is finally available to the masses! Hurrah *shoots off streamers* It's free on Smashwords and .99 cents on Amazon and Nook (I couldn't figure out how to make it free) until the 24th and it's 12.99 in paperback... because amazon -.-. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013VVSIDK http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/danse-macabre-christina-quinn/1122520020 https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/568827 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1514116650/ <-- print

A couple of months ago, my boss left, and I moved into her position as manager of my department. The adjustment has been pretty stressful, particularly given that I'm an introvert doing a job formerly held by an extrovert. Even though I have less spare time than ever, I find myself writing more, because escaping into my imaginary worlds helps me with the stress. At least, it FEELS like it helps. But I do wonder whether escapism is really a valid way of dealing with stress in the long term. Will this come back to bite me at some point (like that line from Seinfeld: "Serenity now, insanity later")? I'm not sure. But I suppose it's healthier than at least some of the alternatives, like self-medicating, or picking fights with burly strangers.

Uh... that. Thanks.

its terrible, you'll sink deeper and deeper into your make believe woeld, leaving reality farther and farther behind until you never surface from the world and characters you created and the police find your emaciated body slumped over the keyboard, where you starved to death half way through witing a sex scene between a human/cat man and a dog girl...or not.

We were in the Mall and Lizzie said something cute so I kissed her. Some old bitch got all like, "Do you have to do that in public?" So I replied, "Well I could fuck her, but she's shy." Then I turned and jumped into Magus's arms kissed him then turned back the the old woman, "He's not so shy though, wanna watch?" She got all huffy and dtomped away, LOL

I aways thought it was great for stress relief and a creative outlet. And then I met frittle.

Basically back as a corporeal quasi-demonic immortal instead of a normal human. Thanks for the clarification!

If they don't actually stay dead, the MCD is probably overkill. Just saying. Unless they come back as something incorporeal, in which case MCD is probably needed.

I tried reading it chapters 5,9 are not posted so makes for a difficult read

I read the entire thing a couple years ago and I'll admit to shedding a tear or two. Pretty long but well worth the time. Great read.

Yes. AFAICT, the general advice is that if you're uncertain, it's better to simply add the code. - DP

I will state, as one of the archive moderators, I rarely warn an author if the only tag missing is NoSex, just like I don't warn for a missing M/F tag if the story is in the Het subcategory. It honestly shouldn't matter, and I say that as an author as well as a moderator. Adult fiction means a great deal more than erotica. It can mean dealing with darker themes: loss, anxiety, depression, and the like. There's no requirement that stories here have sex, and there's not even a requirement that stories contain "adult" content. Many authors come here simply because we are an actively moderated archive, and we respond to our members promptly when there is a question or an issue, such as suspected plagiarism. It makes the authors feel safe, because we care about their stories as much as they do. There are sites that only permit erotic content. We are not one of them, and I for one am quite proud of that.

From what my writer friends tell me, attempting to kill the plot bunnies simply makes them multiply.

My most evil plot bunny (currently locked in the closet) was spawned while driving with my mother. I was passed by a tanker carrying jet fuel, and moments later, a truck loaded with industrial lubricant passed me. I blame my mother for pointing out the truck of lube.

The difference is largely in the visual depictions found on that site. I'm going to quote from the response we give to complaints about stories with under-18 fictional characters: We follow a policy of no censorship, as long as the content is legal. While we can't allow stories involving real persons under the age of 18, fictional characters are permissible as long as the story is properly tagged so those readers who prefer not to see such content can click on past it. And given the volume of Harry Potter fictions involving a large cast of generally underage characters involved with each other, with professors, with parents, with siblings, and with creatures, I'd say that it's not so much the content as it is the context.

Damned if I can remember who or where, but I did read somewhere that a good novel-length story should have 3 crises and an ending that resolves them. The crises don't need to be overwhelmingly dark or gritty, but that seemed to have been seen as the key. With that in mind, I thought about most of the books I've read and found memorable, and there seems to be something to that theory. In a short work, you can have one issue, and as long as you resolve it for the reader, it's all good. But novels need something more, and sometimes the viewpoint that life isn't always pretty, or orderly, or even very fair works for those crises. I think that's why I enjoy doing short pieces here, because it's actually much more of a challenge to create short fiction that holds a reader's attention while letting them enjoy the fapping bits, too.

I'm considered a fluff writer on other forums, and I used to be put down about it, because fluff isn't seen as a decent expression of storytelling. As a person who escapes into writing, I can't imagine opening a document to work on some gritty, dark angst. I saw this quote the other day, referring to trends in superhero genres: This false connection between gritty realism and literary quality is a common theme in the way we interpret popular fiction, but it’s particularly noticeable in the superhero genre, where “realism” is always going to be a matter of opinion. (source: http://www.dailydot.com/geek/marvel-dc-captain-america-superman-debate/) I thought the way that quote jumped out at me was telling, personally. I instantly felt better about what I worked on and I REALLY started to enjoy my own writing. I can never really decide what I want to read in fiction, as a cis-female. I know I write futanari under this moniker, and I like that. On the other hand, I write a lot of m/m slash and I'm into f/f slash as well. I know I like a good story, but sometimes I'm just too impatient to get to the fapping bits.

All I can really say is that people are weird, and I think you'd be best not to dwell on it. The sad fact is that reviewers are a minority of their own here on aff, so trying to dissect that small percentage to find out what the majority desires is an exercise in headaches. As to what wome want from fics, well, I can't really tell you. I can tell you what I want in a fic, but I'm just one woman, not the entirety of women kind. Personally, if there has to be sex in a story it must mean something. It doesn't have to be the crux of the plot, though it's nice when it is, and it doesn't have to be long and drawn out, but I want to see the characters build up to it, fall into it, and see the aftermath it leaves, see the characters change and grow because of it. Sex is a big deal, and nothing turns me off a story more than pointless smut being shoved into every chapter just for the sake of having smut. Don't get me wrong, I love a good pwp as much as the next person, but if there are going to be multiple chapters I expect the characters sex to actually amount to something in terms of character development or plot, depending on what sort of story it is. As for rape, well, if rape is sexualised, or trivialized and used as a device for some other plot point then I'll drop a story like it's hot. The former because it is not what I'm into that and the latter because it upsets me and makes me frustrated with society. But if a story actually explores to trauma and aftermath of rape and shows a person struggling to heal or to get on with life, that's the sort of rapefic I'm interested in reading, though I usually avoid the tag because the latter type of story is scarcely found. Just don't focus on making things women-friendly or man-friendly, in this day and age people can decide what they want for themselves and will take it as they find it. Just focus on crafting good stories the way you want them, and eventually your audience will make themselves known.

Readers make no sense, lol. Often the ones who take the time to review, aren't in the majority. It struck me today: frequently what repulses us in reality does indeed attract us in fantasy, i.e. incest. At its root, incest is just - so wrong. But when reading fanfiction, without the "realness" of the characters, even I will openly admit that Wincest or Twincest is quite adequate for heating up a frigid day amid this despicable polar vortex thing. Write for yourself; what you enjoy. Screw the rest.

Being female myself (though I'll admit that my username doesn't necessarily convey that), I will say that I agree with the points BW, DG and PW noted. I can and do read rape; that tag is not going to turn me away from a good story. This doesn't mean that I like it, but I'm not utterly revolted by stories that didn't happen to real people. For actual people, I tend to muster more empathy; my own mother has been raped and traumatized by it, so I learned a number of methods to help with what I could. Personally, what I find most off-setting is fluff. Yes, that's right: fluff. I have never once in my life had a moment that could qualify as fluff, and I have an aversion to reading it. I don't mind angst as long as it's not overdone, supernatural creatures are usually successful lure on me, and a good action/adventure/fantasy gets me every time. SciFi is great, steampunk is awesome if done right, and romance is okay. Comedy is perfect if the author can use it right; I don't care if the story is dark or light or tense with action/drama. But sheer drama? If I want drama, I will go see my family before I read it or watch it on television. And dark stories tend to get looked at two out of three times. I'm not into F/F; just not my thing. I like males too much. Sometimes I read het, but I don't generally go out of my way to look for it. Slash is much more to my tastes. I agree, too--tags are as much ads as they are warning labels. And part of the issue with readers/reviewers is probably that most of the people who come here appear to be looking either in specific fandoms or for PWPs. Frankly, I'm not much into original PWP stories; I want time to get to know the character. In fandoms, I don't have to, so PWP is fine there. Still not my favorite, but acceptable.

The largest selling segment in the erotic romance market right now is slash, which is roughly half the market. The primary purchasers are women, and most of the publishers that handle this market ask for Happy Ever After, or at least Happily For Now endings. Rape is pretty much off the table, along with a few other quirks. You can actually look at the submission requirements for most of our advertisers to see what they want. Here at AFF, we prefer to remain free of censorship as far as content, but we do ask that it be tagged to avoid having readers encounter trigger issues like rape unprepared. The tags can be offputting, however, and many authors would prefer not to have them right up front like that. But it boils down to the site admins' decision to protect readers first and foremost, while acknowledging that tags can cause readers to avoid certain stories.

If you look at the trends, rape fic, bdsm, and incest are pretty big right now. For examples I'll use 50 Shades of Grey, which is terriablly written but a best seller, Monster/Dinosaur erotica is pretty big for Amazon downloads, and the Mortal Instruments series of books which has the main love intrests as brother and sister through most of the first 3 books. Make of it what you will but those are the trends I've noticed lately in female fiction.

While I might argue the "socially conditioned" portion of the above, I do agree. And it is very true that we insist on trigger tags specifically so that people CAN avoid rape fics and other things they find objectionable. (Like scat, thankyouverymuch.)

I put it to you that if a female does dislike rape content in your stories, she has been socially conditioned not to state it in a review and to instead just abandon reading it without confrontation. This may be why it has not occurred yet - although I'm sure if you exposed it to a large enough number of females it would be inevitable that would would comment against it, but don't forget that all stories on this site are very clearly tagged and if a woman doesn't want to read rape, she won't.

I like a good plot. Pairing honestly doesn't make as much of a difference as a good plotline. Non-con stuff is definitely not my cup of tea.

Not surprisingly, Bronxwench and I share a lot of the same tastes. Oddly, it seems, for a woman, I like a strong female lead. She doesn't necessarily have to be the dominant partner but I certainly avoid the wishy washy women. I do not do rape stories. If it is essential to the plot of the story, well, I can tolerate it but I find nothing even remotely erotic in rape. There are those who do though. I like strong male characters as well. But the most important part of what I like is the actual story, whether it's multi-chaptered or a PWP - it should be well-written, planned out and at least plausible.

The first thing I look for (unsurprisingly) is the summary. I don't read a huge number of fandoms, and those I do read tend to lend themselves to serious amounts of plot mixed in with the erotica. I like plot as opposed to PWP. I both read and write slash and het. I'm not overly fond of femmeslash, but I will read it if it's well done, and not just an excuse to parade girls in strap-ons or futanari. And at the first sign of one female calling another her "ass-bitch" or "anal slut," i'm gone. Sorry, but I don't care for women who emulate the worse of male behavior. I don't like rape when it's presented as enjoyable, or an excuse for a character to decide to fall for their rapist. Really? I'd be much more likely to want to see the son of a bitch dead in a dozen really creative and hideously painful ways. I can accept rape as a plot device, I prefer it to be presented as the bad thing it is, and I certainly don't squeal with happiness when I encounter gang rape. Same thing with incest, for the most part, although I will happily make an exception for Elladan and Elrohir because that is just too delicious a bit of twincest to ignore. So what DO I like? I like characters that have flaws, characters that are complex and interesting, and plot. Lots of plot. I like women who aren't always beautiful, who don't have every man lapping at their feet, and who can take care of themselves for the most part. I like men who can look a woman in the eye, or who can have a relationship with another man without turning into a queen who cries during sex. (There is NO crying during sex.) That's a bit, anyway, of what I like.