Kurahieiritr

What about us women write sex scenes between two or more males? I have read a lot of m/m fiction written by women(from Dreamspinner press,Loose ID, Torquere and so on). The story I have in the archive is m/m. Do you think it changes the game since the largest target audience for these stories are women? I am sure there is a male audience, and some of my fave authors on these sites are men. But from what I have seen, guys usually hit publishers that have.. Hmmm, how to say it? More of a raw appeal to their works that the average m/m loving old lady perve like me(Well, not me personally. I like the raw stuff ) would find distasteful.
So is it a question of the authors perspective or the authors audience? Or, did that even make any sense?

I heard quite a zinger on this topic (broadly speaking): "The current dictum, to 'write what you know,' has produced an entire generation of novels about college professors having midlife crises and affairs."
I think writing only from a perspective one is familiar with, or drawing only from one's own experiences, breeds stagnation, not creativity. Imagination (and research - gasp!) are key to finding those perspectives exterior to oneself.

Pregnancy food cravings: To be honest even I do not understand the twisted foods I was eating, or why I could not do the reasonable swap outs over the course of the day. I was driven batty until I ate these really revolting combinations. My now ex hubby would be the one running most often to the bathroom with the fits of nausea over the bizarre foods I was chowing down on incessantly. I've been told by other moms that I craved really strange food combinations, and I am not talking the often mentioned pickles and ice cream status quot. I did have the morning sickness, usually after the sun went down which tapered off around 3 am most nights.
I was strangely obsessed with BBQ potato chips, licorice candy, and spaghetti sauce on ice cream. (yes at the same exact time as toppings for Butter pecan ice cream no less-Revolted yet?) I ate garlic pickles with berry flavored yogurt and peperchinis and funions brand chips (SP?) when not cramming the other down my throat as if my life depended upon it. The two biggest and weirdest food combo's never coincided for which I remain very grateful to this day. Another strange food combo I ate often was kippered snacks with mustard and orange marmalade on rye bread. Just typing that out is making me shudder.
To this day, after my second son was born, I can not stomach BBQ flavored Potato Chips, and rarely can handle more than a coupe bites of BBQ smothered meat before I gag. Same goes with Butter pecan ice cream. Even spaghetti sauce is a very rare edible because I ate so much of it when I was pregnant both times. I had to switch out ice cream favorites and a lot of other items after my second son. ROFL. Both of my living children were discovered before I had any clue I was pregnant. I went in for regular medical check ups because I was on birth control. I have had seven miscarriages because of not having a medical check up. My second was discovered at 5 weeks, so I had to have medications changed. Luckily I was on a drug that required blood tests to make sure levels were fine.
Like everyone else that has ever given birth is saying, each birth is a unique process. Some of us have nightmare labors, yet we do it all over again because we love our children so much that the temporary downsides can't possibly overcome the joys of watching our little ones grow, learn and change into remarkable human beings.
The pregnancy & birth ordeal: I was completely bed ridden for seven months with my second child. He was mercifully smaller than the first. My first was 10 pounds 11 and 1/2 oz and a C section because my right hip was pinned together a year before, after a riding accident where the 1900 pound horse fell on top of me. The horse went down so fast I could not escape the saddle so his weight falling on top of me crushed a big chunk of my body.

Both times I gave birth, I was over 4 weeks late for delivery, and had aged placenta break away before the actual births happened. One son was 10 and 1/2 months, the other a week shy of 11 months. My water never broke because the embryonic fluid bag was way too thick also. It was miserable being in active labor so long and the water not breaking to allow for the birthing process to progress. My second son was 6 pounds and 12 oz, so he was reasonable for natural birth once they managed to get my water bag busted and the birth progressed over many hours. Both labors wiped me out because I was in active for an insane number of hours. My first was 3 days of harder level labor pains without result, the second was 39 hours which ended with a baby in my arms. I had an epidural because they assumed I would need a second c section, but the hip had healed enough that it unlocked so I could have natural birth the second time around. I was one of those who showed nothing at all, not even a missed period until the 5th month with either pregnancy. I carried against my spine though. Having the babies against the spine can be difficult when they start kicking. If they are in the wrong position, you find yourself on the ground cause the spine gets hit and that can make a mess of your stride as I found out the hard way. Both my sons were football and soccer stars before birth. They kept me from sleeping for 4 months. I would sit in a rocking chair to get relief since the motion soothed them enough that they would sleep, even if I could not.
I hear folks say that I am lucky to have survived either birth, and they are probably correct. However, I would not change anything I went through when I look at both my grown sons. Despite their flaws, they remain my greatest pride, joy, and heart break because they are both my precious babies. They grew up to be strong men. It was all worth it even if I do still have moments where I wonder how nuts I was to go through it twice. Chukles@myself.

This is the first post of this thread. Yeah, so the reason nobody posts an "explain your avatar" thread is because avatar's change and then the post makes no sense. Plus the majority of the older posts are now "guest" with no avatar at all which makes even less sense. But I say, "Who cares?" Just put up a new post when it changes, which many have done.
So mine was going to be the same as my FF.net account. It's my black cat, but the file was a smidge too large and I couldn't crop enough to get it smaller. I didn't want to fuss anymore and I happened to be writing a Renji/Byakuya story in the Bleach fandom which described both men with their hair down. This pic was just too sexy to resist, what with the tats. I was lucky enough to get permission from the artist on deviantart.com to use her "Renji". I have given her credit in my signature.

My avatar is based on my original character named Grandis. There are two design variants of Grandis, one that is referred to as Grandis MK II and has a more beast-like design, including a visible jaw on the helmet, while Grandis MK III, the one I'm using at my avatar, has no visible jaw present, and the design of it's eyes are entirely different by comparison. Grandis overall is a homage to the Pokemon Aggron, who Grandis used to look a bit more similar in design until I changed it when I realized Grandis looked a little too much like Aggron in it's older designs.

I was testing some watercolours on a rough concept image for a graphic design diploma illustration project in 2011. I like to keep this snippet around because it reminds me a little bit of one of my characters, Aure.

Pittwitch, I concur completely with your brilliant response. Naked and sweating truly is the best part for all concerned. :clap:

Naked and ... whatever else pops up?

Pittwitch, I concur completely with your brilliant response. Naked and sweating truly is the best part for all concerned. :clap:

This is like asking, "What do you prefer, sweet, salty, spicy, or maybe sour food?" To which I'd answer, "As long as it's tasty, bring it on!".
No, really. I like tough, muscular guys like Brad Evans from Wild Arms 2; short, tiny guys like Yami Yugi from Yu-Gi-Oh!; bishounen types like Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho. Each has their own charm and are beautiful in their own unique way. They all have a bright brain, so maybe that's more of a turn-on for me.
I do not like shouta, though. My "food" has to be ripe

I prefer my men to look and act like they do in canon. I reject this idea that someone has to be the big hairy brute and someone else has to be the frail weeping virgin. I also reject the idea that the more forceful guy always has to top, and I've written three stories where the "receiver" calls the shots, snarling at the "giver" to hurry up and fuck him harder.

Well done, preferably with a side of mashed potatoes and green beans.

N-A-K-E-D

Over bound manly men, frankly, scare me. I'm talking about the ones that look like they got a hold of bad steroids and didn't know when to stop taking the protein shakes. On the other extreme, I can understand people's love of shota but it's not for me.
So pretty much if the man in question falls in the middle of them, I'll go for it. It all depends on the characters personality and if they are written well.

Alright, this one had a couple of gems:

and

Depending on what I'm writing...I'll just break it down.
Essays: I actually write these for fun. Why? Because I like to research and learn about anything that catches my attention so I tend to write essays about them. First I research the new subject, write out my notes and then write the essay. I then let it sit for a month or so and go back to edit the hell out of it so I know nothing is plagiarized or something like that.
Fanfiction: These usually pop up in one conversation or another I have with my readers or with close friends who know the fandom. When I get a new bunny, I let it sit. I write down the idea and just let it peculate. Talk about it some. The work out an outline that will end up rewritten about 20 times during my writing process. When I start writing, I have my outline and I'm still talking with friends about it.
Originals: I rarely show anyone these while I'm writing on them. They take me more time but also come to me a bit easier since I tend to know what the heck I want to do with them. I do some research, I create my characters and outline (which usually ends up rewritten about 30 to 50 times during the writing process), create ideas, and write. Takes me time (about 6 months to a year depending on if I'm working on it every couple of days or not).

my whip cracking finds known as plot bunnies have turned a stable relationship into a threesome recently so I can relate to the too much free reign problem. As a rule I try to do the what if to get the bunnies jabbering, then do a 1 page overview as an outline process to plan for some of the plotting element to stay on track. Beyond that, it depends on how well I understand the character motives and can determine which characters will coerce actions and tick off the cannons in my fan fiction writing. Staying within a cannon universe can be very tough, and few fan fiction writers bother I have found. However, I stay very cannon in universe, and try to make the characters remain true to the spirit of the original creator whenever possible. Writing fan fiction therefore is a hard core discipline for me so I enjoy the coerced exercise of being behind the cannon scenes at any given point in my fan fiction hobby.
Originals get a full snowflake treatment to give me enough fact to keep characters in mind. I design the main aspects of the world building part so I can maintain consistency. Otherwise, I let the characters do the talking instead of myself as a rule.
I noted a comment about not reading because of feeling depressed about not being as great a writer. Here's a way to turn that around. IF you admire a published writer's style, study it and learn how to improve your writing. Like Bronx and others are saying in this thread, learn from them and add those elements that are so amazing to your own writing. IF you don't study the genre you write, then you ignore a lot of important techniques that can be learned through practice. Granted, many fan fictions are totally written garbage, but even in fan fiction you will find a few genuine gems to learn new ways of spicing up your own writing. The way the great writers turn phrases is a genuine worthwhile technique to learn. It removes cliche from one's own writing also. So instead of comparing your writing against theirs, ask yourself what you can learn by reading a great story. Turn your depression on its head by refusing to put your stories against the published works of others. Focus on the benefits you can nab from the great writers and run with it until it becomes your own natural strength. Then you can go back and judge by the ones who taught you how to write that way.

Storyline development is fine, but something as long as my senior thesis isn't something I'm going to read unless it's in print. Babisko asked for opinions, I gave mine as a reader. Yours may differ.
We're talking about reading online - that's my opinion.

That's primarily for where there is a round robin, where the author who starts it leaves the add chapter option open. It helps to prevent spam chapters.

I push myself away from writing down the ideas I get until it gets to the point where it's literally physically hurting me to not let these ideas out. That is when I consider an idea ripe to write.
Once the idea has been unleashed, I write incessantly, non-stop, without thinking. It is only when the idea begins to tamper out, that all the days and weeks of thoughts begin to run sparse and the highly-detailed points become thin, do I sit back and look through what I had written.
It is at this point that I begin to flesh the story out. The world it takes place in, its history, political inclinations, culture and creed. Then I flesh out the main characters in the same way - personal history, social status, base personality traits, defining characteristics (physically, emotionally, personally), opinions and beliefs, things like that. After the main characters comes the secondary characters (those who are not the protagonist but are prominent characters) with the same development, and then finally the support throw-away characters who are given little more than a name, general build, and general personality type.
I do not really outline things; I have a basic idea of main events, and discuss them with some confidants to solidify them. I do, however, outline all of the background information - it's not uncommon for me to create appendices with all of the history of people and places and mythos that are around 10 pages long.
I am a world-builder. The most enjoyment I get is from building complex, fleshed-out worlds. The next level of enjoyment comes from creating unique characters. Then comes fitting those characters into the world and defining the symbiotic relationship between world and characters, and characters to other characters. The least enjoyable part for me is describing present-tense motion, or the actual linear story. That's the hardest part for me.
So do I just sit down and write, without much of a plan? Sort of. I often write without an outline or a draft or anything like that to steer my path, but I sit down with general ideas in my mind that I want to strive toward.
Of course, I am also a proponent of the concept of "surrender yourself to your writing," where you effectively take a back seat once the seed has been planted, and allow the story to progress in whichever way it wants to go. I can sit back and sort of trim it when it starts to wander too far off the path I had planned for it, but I give the story plenty of wiggle-room. It is my belief that if you want a story to feel organic, then you have to let it be organic; you have to let it grow and find its own path through the rings and hurdles you, as the author, set up for it. That's my personal belief.

Usually I have some sorta plan when I write. I've thought the most important parts of the dialogue, the locale, the characters, the general feeling. It's like I've watched a movie and all I have to do is describe it. At points, I wish I had the budget to shoot movies, because I could play with camera angles, something that's incredibly hard to write.
There are things I don't intend to happen, it happens, and I work it out. I refine dialogue. I think of better things, of extra scenes, and I just write the crap out of it. Sometimes it's totally out of the blue... and at times, I honestly don't like it. It messes with the images that I already have in my head and it may totally fuck my own ideas up - that kills it for me. So I end up rethinking everything, reimagining scenes, actions and so on. At other times, it flows perfectly, and I'm proud of how things turn out.
So even if I do think when I write... I reach automatic mode eventually. It works. Lately, however, I've been overthinking things and as a result, I can't seem to write anything. I'm trying to fix that though... once again *sigh*.

I'm mostly Irish. The rest is Swedish, which leads to an occasional desire to pillage myself. And drink mead.

I think stream of consciousness as a style refers to the style of writing where you literally record your thoughts without attempting to instill order or conform to normal rules of grammar. Sort of like when you;re thinking to yourself and something totally unrelated pops in before you return to your original train of thought. Kerouac might be an example of that sort of narrative flow, or even James Joyce. It's actually not a bad technique to add some drama with a good internal monologue in that form, and it can make a character really come to life.

I have a blast when writing, simply because the characters take on a life of their own and I get to see their interactions in my head - almost like a movie, but usually against a black screen. (Usually. Depends on if there's a place I have in mind or if they opt for certain surroundings.) The downside to having characters take on a life of their own, of course, is that, when they're arguing with each other about something they want written, I can't get them to shut up. And they dont. Go. Away. I have to wait until they're done or come up with a compromise. Kind of a hassle. And a major headache.
I, on the other hand, can't stand to not read good books, because I'm too much of a grammar Nazi and a plot-hound. (I looove convoluted plots and long stories, and a touch - or more - of the dark is just wonderful as seasoning. )
And of course you're welcome. It's always fun to discuss writing with other writers; we bounce around the most interesting tips and commentary, and often make strange remarks that no one but another author would understand.
Seconded! I love my readers, too, but sometimes a bittersweet ending is best - or even just a depressing or resolved one. It really depends on the story. It's fine and good to make the readers happy, but if the author isn't proud of or at least satisfied with his/her work, something needs to be scrapped and redone. Readers who demand happy endings all the time aren't the kind that will buy another copy when the first one is worn out. Nor are they the kind who will think, "Hey, this story was so good, maybe there are other awesome stories by this person!" and check out an author's page or profile. A reader worth keeping will keep coming back. (And usually forgive the author for taking time to update, and really care if life suddenly has puppies all over your lap.)

I very rarely plan out anything; plans go awry so easily. About the most I ever have of a plan is, "I want to include this as a scene," or "I want it to end like this" - it makes for a very chaotic story, but personally I think that just makes the entire thing more entertaining. Especially when the characters in my head start having conversations of their own and insisting things be included. *facepalm* They've done that to me a lot recently; made for a bet and flirting in one story and had everyone looking askance and thinking, "Did they really just...?" And of course the answer was yes, they did really just. I'm still not sure why, precisely, but it's going to make for a wonderfully hilarious ending. And one of a whole three things in that story that are planned, period.
On the other hand, too much free reign to a story can make things evolve out of proportion. I started a Final Fantasy VII fic as a gift for a friend on another site, and all she asked of me was to start out with "It was a rainy night in Midgar" and to use a specific pairing. Well, in relatively short order it turned into a series (or should I say three?) and the pairing turned into a threesome. Granted, she gave her permission or I wouldn't have let it get that far, but this is the kind of thing that happens to me. *shakes head* The third in the series was inspired by a Christmas parody that came into my head and was mentioned in the first, right at the beginning.