The Internet is hot right now, in three meanings of the word: hot-sexy, hot-popular, and possibly hot-illegal now that the Communications Decency Act (the CDA) has been passed. As you read this, you know what's happened with the CDA, but as we go to press, the Act has just been signed and nobody's sure what the legal ramifications really are. Is erotica and pornography on the Internet now illegal? Will writers like these be brought to court (and possibly sent to jail)? Will sex on the net disappear under the onslaught of the censors? We can't answer those questions, but these writers plan to stick around and fight it out, and we're here to ask them some questions about why they choose to write such hot and sexy stories -- while we still can.
[Leigh Melton] A couple of reasons. Sometimes I write fantasies as a way to explore a particular subject with a current or potential lover. Other times I write them just for my own entertainment, or in response to a specific request. Sometimes the requests are pretty vague, so I can let my imagination run wild. Sometimes I write to simply titillate. That's fun, too.
[Yosha Bourgea] For personal stimulation--but I guess that applies to any kind of writing, doesn't it? Because it's still dangerous. Because it's often done very poorly, and I like the "challenge" of doing it well. Because I find sex interesting as a concept.
[Christine Faltz] I write erotica because people like to read it and I like to write it, and because I like the controversial nature of doing so.
[YB] Yeah, don't forget the pleasure of pleasure. It's exciting to write and exciting to read. Probably no other genre produces such an immediate, visceral response, with the exception of horror. Now, you can make a joke of that (as you can with horror) but the thought of using my skill with words to provoke emotional or physical arousal in others quite frankly turns me on--and I mean that as an artist as well as a sexual human being.
[Jordan Shelbourne] Why do I write anything? Because the story shows up in my head. I was rewriting stories off the net, just to learn, and I was really pleased about something I'd written when I suddenly realized what a shit I'd feel like if someone did that to one of my stories. So I threw out the other person's story, substituted elements from my own life, and made other stuff up.
Actually, we're answering two questions here, how we got started and why we continue. Since I write under a pseudonym -- a nom de net, as it were -- I'm not being as brave as the others in writing in the face of censure. I continue because I want to. My friends know I write erotica. Maybe someday, I'll have to choose between writing erotica and writing other fiction.
[Flying Pen] I write erotica because it's fun. I originally got into doing it because I didn't like the quality of most of the stories on a.s.s. Instead of complaining, I decided to prove that I could do better. And my first story got such an overwhelming, positive response that I kept doing it.
[YB] Same here. I guess some people are satisfied with endless combinations of four-letter words, but I found most of the erotica out there as stimulating as paste. Why can't people be subtle and explicit at the same time? I told myself I was going to write a _real_ erotic story, one that had a story, with real people, not just cardboard cutouts. So I did.
[MM] Yes, that's how I started too; reading stories on rec.arts.erotica and thinking, 'I can do better than this.' I also found that I got a huge, positive response when I first posted stories to the net, which certainly encouraged me to keep writing them. What sort of response have you gotten?
[CF] Very positive, very few "freaks", rarely propositioned by my fans. I receive a lot of fan mail with suggestions, praise, and requests.
[YB] So far, the responses have been almost completely positive. One person told me not to quit my day job, but other than that, most people have told me my erotica is head, shoulders and genitals above most of the crap out there. That's good to hear.
[FP] Positive. Some have actually asked me about characters, and debated with me on certain points of the story, not just the sex. My fiancee gets very aroused when reading some of the sex scenes, but she enjoys the stories and the characters.
[LM] I have had quite a number (a surprising number, actually) of male readers tell me they have shared my stories with their female companions; some of these women have actually written to me themselves expressing their enthusiasm for erotica which explores the emotional as well as the physical. I have had a couple of men tell me they have introduced the idea of a particular sexual act - anal sex, for instance - to their partners by giving them a copy of one of my stories. I think it's a non-threatening way to form a request as well as show that it's "okay" for women to be interested in such things.
[MM] I find it fascinating (and at times very touching) how so many readers are willing and eager to tell me how my stories have touched their lives -- and occasionally tell me all about their lives. Generally, I enjoy such personal details, but I have had a few readers send me irritating propositions and obnoxious mail. Do any of you have any horror stories to share?
[JS] Not in the sense you mean. I did have one fellow send me e-mail every six pages as he read the story, letting me know how he was enjoying it...right up to the ending, which he said was "cheesy" but he never bothered to explain why. For me, that was a horror story. :-)
[FP] Just one. I wrote a story about an interracial relationship. I got flamed by a few assholes, but the public (newsgroup) and private support I got overwhelmed it, and I actually wound up talking to a few foreign students who were ignorant of the black experience, and whose reactions to black people was uniformly fear. I think I did some good.
[YB] Several men have tried to pick up on me over e-mail, mostly because my name sounds feminine to those unfamiliar with Russian literature and I don't make a point of announcing my gender or sexual preference unless it's relevant to the topic of conversation. Once they find out that I'm a straight male, most of my beaux vanish without a trace, but one fella got very upset, accusing me of being a cock-teasing faggot. I posted his letters on a.s.s. and told him to piss off. He did.
[LM] Well, there was the time the avid reader of my work decided he simply MUST meet me, and found my business phone number through my ownership of the nbi.com domain name. That was a little close for comfort. Usually those who express admiration in such ways are not the sorts with whom I want to be personally acquainted!
[MM] Hmmm...that brings up an important point. We hear a lot about women on the internet -- how few of us there are; how harassed we can be in such a male environment. Surprisingly, I know I've only received a few obnoxious pieces of e-mail out of the thousands of letters from my readers, and the one fan who actually called me was both apologetic and surprised that he'd actually reached me. I'd like to ask Christine and Leigh whether they feel they get especially harassed because they write erotica?
[CF] No, not at all.
[LM] Not on the 'Net. I actually receive more ridiculous requests for various things (sex, mainly) in response to non-fiction postings. In person my acquaintances take it as perfectly normal I should write erotica; the ocassional stranger who happens to be told might raise an eyebrow but since I refuse to find it shameful or even remarkable that I write erotica it's pretty hard for them to make anything of it.
[YB] More power to you, Ms. Melton.
[MM] How about the men? Do you get hard-line feminists giving you a hard time for writing erotica? Have you ever been accused of exploiting women?
[YB] Not so far, but most of my erotica is miles from exploitative--it tends toward the sensual, subtle and sensitive. I keep most of my hard-core stuff to myself, both because it's not very good and because it's personal in nature.
[JS] No, but I was once told that, though my story was fine, all erotica needs a "woman's touch." She wouldn't explain that, either. I have terrible luck with getting explanations from people. (laugh)
[YB] Well, I think Virginia Woolf was right when she said that to write well, one cannot be exclusively a man or a woman; one must be man-womanly or woman-manly. Failure to do this usually shows up in flat, unbelievable people. And that (IMHO) makes for makes for flat, unremarkable erotica. But I don't think women have a monopoly or anything like it on eroticism or understanding what makes sex sexy.
[FP] I find that I get a lot of positive feedback from female readers (and male readers who appreciate what my story did for their SO.) But then most people who are going to be offended by the "exploitation and degradation inherent in a male-female sexual act" usually don't bother reading alt.sex.stories. For the most part, the women in my stories are living, breathing, thinking beings; it's very rare that I reduce a woman to being a bunch of sex parts that are readily available for _use_ by another person. If I do, there's always a plot-based reason for it.
[JS] I agree whole-heartedly with the Pen. I think all the characters should be believable. I try to make them all real.
[MM] So your women are living beings? Are they women from your own life? That's probably the second-most popular question I get, especially about the more kinky stories -- where do you get your ideas?
[YB] Any writer who gives a single, definable answer to that question is either a liar or a plagiarist. For me, it's bits of everything. Oddly enough, the bits that are based in reality are usually mistaken for pure fiction, and vice versa. But the bottom line is that I'm a thief. I'll use whatever I think I can get away with.
[FP] Tough one. I've written one true story among the six or seven I've written. People and places are liberally taken from my world; and all of the women are based on women I have met, or seen. Their characters may be extrapolated musings with no bearing on reality, but I just can't write a sex scene with a complete figment of my imagination.
[MM] So are the stories based on your own lives, or your friends lives' or chunks of imagination?
[JS] All of the above. The bathroom incident in Unwrap Party happened to me. For some years, I was a magnet for the sexually dysfunctional -- most of the women I dated had been raped or abused or somehow made to feel sexually inadequate. Their lives have given me more than enough material, if I want to use it. At least in fiction, I can give them happy endings. Some stuff is just imaginary. A lot of elements that go into my stories come out of casual fantasies of mine. I think, "Gosh, she's cute (or sometimes, he's attractive), but we're just such opposites. What would it take to get her (or him) into bed?"
Actually, no one asks me where I get my ideas (I guess my stuff is just too vanilla). I get asked mostly, "Are you going to write any more about those characters?" and second, "Have you _done_ all of the stuff you write about?"
[LM] I am asked that a lot, too. Actually, that question is something of a compliment, as it shows that whether you are writing from personal experience or not, it was _believable_.
As for the characters appearing in my stories, I blend personalities of people I've known most of the time. Situations usually have the flavor of some memory of mine. I find erotic those stories which have the greatest feel of reality and I try to achieve the same effect.
[JS] I think Leigh's got an important point about reality. Without a feel of reality in a story, I keep thinking, "This writer doesn't know what he's talking about." Realism doesn't mean the story has to be realistic -- I read vampire stories, for instance -- but the details have to convince me. They have to either remind you of how something similar was for you, or convince you that, yeah, if you were a nineteen-year-old virgin, that's how it would feel. This feeling of reality does two things for the the story -- first, it separates it from all of those fourth-generation copies of stories that are as expendable as tissue, and second, it sets the reader up to believe the _really_ impossible stuff.
[YB] Sure. Real-life reality mostly abides by social mores, so a lot of the stuff that erotica writers explore doesn't happen. On the other hand, pure fantasy that has no relation to real life isn't dangerous, and therefore not very stimulating. It's when you can make the story seem as real as possible, and then introduce something desirable but unlikely into the midst of that reality, that the erotic becomes really erotic. For me, anyways.
[MM] Which rather begs the question of what you as authors find erotic, and what are your favorite subjects to write about?
[YB] The unspoken, the forbidden, the taboo. I work from pictures I see in my mind, rather than events or plots.
[CF] I like erotica with a plot, real people and real scenarios. If I can I like to preach about something in my stories; I try to be subtle but it doesn't always work.
[FP] Current fantasies; they provide an instant gratification the first couple of times. Taking a past situation in my life and playing "what if I had..." Alternately, taking an idea and twisting it some. _Night Music_ (by response, my most popular work,) was a vampire story with sex in it. My favorite story (it almost wrote itself) was an idea from the universe of another net.author, and I took his settings and turned it into a pretty neat (and pretty hot, judging by my fiancee's reaction) story.
[JS] I like to write about people who don't think they fit in anymore, because I was a loner for a lot of years. I also like the idea of teaching and exploring options together. _Pushing the Envelope_ was conceived as a storyline that would let me do just about anything in terms of sexual variation.
[LM] My favorite subjects - and characters - are women. Being a
woman gives me an advantage.
[JS] I don't know about anyone else, but I look for erotica by women
searching in part for that kind of insight.
[LM] I also enjoy writing about 'Net relationships. I've been in a
few (one which was initiated on the 'Net and has lasted over
seven years now) and they present unique problems for which
people, inventive as ever, find unique solutions.
[MM] I've enjoyed writing about the internet as well, and I have to
wonder, how has the existence of the internet impacted your writing?
We certainly hear a lot nowadays about the power of the net, and I've
found newsgroups like a.s.s. and r.a.e. very useful -- they've
provided a great forum for my stories. What influence has the net had
on your stories?
[CF] All I can say about the net is that it has allowed me to have a
great deal of fun, has given me a fantastic forum (worldwide) to get reactions
to my writing, and has allowed me the relative anonymity of the medium.
[FP] I enjoy the feedback, and the ego-gratification. To know that
I *can* do it, and do it well helps keep me going. Some people have
offered useful critiques (I tend to write long stories, and I am not
beyond taking suggestions) that have been incorporated into current
and future efforts.
Also, I don't think I would be writing if it hadn't been for the net;
a.s.s. is a fairly easy forum; it's difficult to get booed off of that
particular stage, and there's a lot of confidence in knowing that at
the least, you'll get pretty much silence.
[JS] They say that every writer needs a "throwing book" -- something he or
she can throw against the wall, crying, "I can write better than this
crap!" That's what the net has been for me. Despite the fact that some
very talented writers put their work on the net, there's a lot of crap.
Well, I started to write erotica because of that crap. Plus, it's easy
to put your stuff on-line, so you don't have to worry about the crushing
rejection when an editor returns your story. There are no editors!
So the net has offered me a no-risk place to publish. Since I work at a
company with access, it doesn't cost me anything.
[LM] The net has done quite a lot for me.
I have always written for my own enjoyment, but I
never offered my work to anyone other than close friends for
commentary. The first time I made any of my erotica public was
by posting to alt.sex.stories. Aside from that, the 'Net is an
interesting component to some of my stories. I explored quite a
lot of that in one story in particular which deals with the
'long distance romance' situation to which the 'Net lends itself
very well (in some cases, too well).
The 'Net has become a virtual community with its own customs,
legends and personalities, though perhaps not in the way
envisioned in the beginning; sexuality and romance are as
important in the 'Net community as in any other.
[YB] It has given me a much larger audience than I would have had
otherwise, as well as a much more accepting community than I would
have been able to find in Real Life. My first notable erotica,
"Aphatos," was written on my computer in a few heated hours
(highly unusual for me) and posted on a.s.s. shortly thereafter.
[MM] The net has certainly offers some interesting publishing
opportunities -- I met the editor of Puritan when he came across my
web page and read some of my stories. Writers have also been hearing a lot
about the exciting possibilities of 'hypertext fiction', an umbrella
term that covers many different types of writing, including
multi-person stories written by people on other sides of the world,
web stories in which the reader can click on different words to take
them to different parts of the story, and much more. What do you see
as the future of on-line writing?
[YB] This is an area of study that interests me a great deal. I've done
some research, and I think on-line writing is going to explode.
At the moment, copyright status of on-line writing is shaky, but it
will probably be stable within a year. The big problem for many
aspiring authors is reaching an audience. It's difficult to get
published these days, regardless of talent. The great advantages
of the net are speed and availability; for not much money, I can
send what I've written to thousands and thousands of people across
the world. That excites me as a writer, as a journalist, and as a
political activist. I know the net suffers from hyperbole, but my
personal experience leads me to believe there really _is_ something
revolutionary about the possibilities of on-line communication.
[FP] Hypertext fiction, and interactive stories have great potential, but
someone is going to have to go nearly broke trying to get it to the
public consciousness.
[JS] I've yet to see any hypertext fiction that really works. Linear fiction
is difficult to do well, and I can only imagine that hypertext fiction
is exponentially more difficult.
The net is self-publishing on a vast scale. The distribution area of
your work is incredible, and totally unreliable. It will probably go
worldwide -- unless it doesn't. Every article or web page is a home-
made newsletter, and the net is this giant mimeograph machine that's
spewing copies of everyone's home newsletter to everyone else.
When you look at the web and Usenet, it just proves that 90% of
everything is crud. There will always be great writers and good writers
and mediocre writers who are getting better, and there will always be a
lot of crud. I'd rather read the former than the latter. In
traditional publishing, editors weed out a lot of the crud. I think
you'll see a lot more moderated newsgroups, mailing lists, special
access web pages that provide the good 10% for their audience.
[CF] Because I am visually impaired it would be fantastic if everything
printed were available to me online. As for erotica on the net, it
is seriously endangered at the moment.
Net erotica is in crisis; the US government appears to think it has
the right to suspend the 1st Amendment with respect to cyberporn. As
a new mother I don't know how much time I'll have for combatting this
travesty but you can be sure I'll be fighting.
[MM] The presence of sexual materials on the net is certainly causing
an uproar among certain political groups -- what do all of you think
about the proliferation and popularity of sex-oriented areas on-line,
such as x-rated chat rooms, porn magazines, nude photo sites and phone
sex ads?
[LM] I think it simply reflects two basic things which hold the
interest of almost everybody: sex and money.
One of the things which I hope will be rectified as the 'Net
becomes more popular with those other than computer enthusiasts
is that more women will become active in participating. The
'Net is still dominated numbers-wise by men, but that seems to
be slowly changing and I welcome it. With such things as
personal Web pages, Usenet newsgroups and private mailing lists,
I hope women will feel more comfortable in speaking out on
everything, sexuality included.
[JS] Hey -- sex sells. You're not going to get an argument from *me* that
people aren't interested in sex. They certainly are. And sex services
move quickly into new frontiers, whether it's the old West or Internet.
I sometimes wonder why the pictures are so popular.
On the other hand, (1) they're "free" and (2) the pictures are always
changing (that's the so-called Coolidge effect) and (3) on-line sex can
sidestep local morality. I saw pictures on Usenet showing penetration,
bondage, anal sex, and bestiality long before they were legal in my home
town -- some of those pictures I still can't buy.
[FP] Sex on the Internet is a problem with a fundamental American (my bias)
dichotomy: we sell it, we want it, but we don't want to admit it exists.
It is this which makes sex on the Internet so popular; it's the feeling of
"getting away with something" you couldn't do (for whatever reasons) in
person. If there was no demand for it, it wouldn't sell (phone sex, cyber
sex services). Sex-focused web pages are a matter of those people who
acknowledge that fundamental drive, and don't really have much to fear
from those who would try to hide it.
[YB] Human nature. Happens in every medium. People are fascinated by the
forbidden, which is the only reason most smut ever gets produced or
consumed. The great majority of sexually oriented material on-line
isn't worth the bandwidth it takes up, but it's harmless. The best
defense (and the only effective defense) against bad taste is good
taste; censorship is a waste of everyone's time. Finally, to the
good stuff out there--the Sen. Jim Exon Memorial Webpage, Reclaiming
the Erotic, etc.--I just say YES. Sex is good. Let's have more.
[MM] You certainly won't get any argument from us about that! It
seems to me that there are great possibilites for sex on-line, in all
its new and exciting forms, and I certainly think that all of you are
doing a great deal in both elevating the quality of what's available
and hopefully in legitimizing on-line erotica. Do you have any final
comments before we wind this up?
[LM] Let's make a big ol' dartboard out of that horrid TIME Magazine
cover and have "release your aggressions" night at a local pub.
I was *so* offended at the idea that any and all sexual conduct
taking place on the 'Net was of a furtive, grubby variety. haven't had
a furtive day in my life (even if I _have_ been a
bit grubby at times) and I really resent the idea that because I
write erotica and discuss sex, pornography, romance or
relationships on the 'Net - sometimes in very personal terms -
that I have no life or social skills. I'd really like to see
that stereotype of "geek" (or worse yet "geekette") stomped
to smithereens!
[FP] Yeah. Censorship. The idea that "We think 'x' is bad, therefore
it shouldn't exist" really stinks. It exists in real life, and the net
is a slightly distorted mirror of real life. Slightly distorted because the
anonymous nature of the net allows people to virtually do and say
things they wouldn't in real life. I agree that something has to be done;
there are locking mechanisms available for web pages and access controls
to newsgroups. Lastly, there is the issue of parental control; it's
not a playground to leave your kids unsupervised in. If you don't want
your children exposed to the myriad of people and thoughts and ways of
life out in the world, then don't let them on the net without
supervision. You would not drop a kid off in downtown New York with
an unlimited supply of cash and say "I'll be back to pick you up in
a few hours." .... But making the net a computerized Disney channel is
not the answer. There are too many things we can learn from the other
people on the net.
[YB] Sex is woefully misunderstood in this and many other cultures.
At root, it's as prosaic as eating and shitting, not this great
pink mystical bauble of a Santa Claus we've all been fed. That
said, it also offers fantastic opportunities for art and beauty
(childbirth being a prime example). It can be both--a simple
fact of life AND a powerful experience--but only if we cut out
this taboo bullshit. Children are never too young to learn about
sex and eroticism. Every instance in which sex and tragedy have
combined results from people not being honest and open about sex.
Honest sex never hurt anyone. I guess the point of this rant is
that whatever can be done to help people understand sex, eroticism
and their own relationship to it is good and worthwhile in my book.
[MM] Mine too, certainly, and I hope this article has contributed
to that understanding. Well, I hope you've all enjoyed this
interview, and I'd like to take a moment to thank these authors who so
kindly agreed to be interviewed: Jordan Shelbourne, Christine Faltz,
Yosha Bourgea, Leigh Melton and the Flying Pen. I encourage all
Puritan readers with net access to take a little time to look up their
work on-line -- it's writers like these who are keeping erotica
alive and healthy, and readers like you who keep them going!
Would you like to read samples of these writers' work? Just click
here.
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