Why I Write Everything I Write. 1/1. Apologies for use of the f-word without a cut-tag.

[amanuensis1]

"Why I Write (What I Write)" has been circulating again as a meta theme. And I want to share my thoughts, but I think my answers are not so rich as some of yours. So, my self-challenge was to write Why I Write Everything I Write in a short a space as possible, so it doesn't even need the cut-tag.

Here y'go.

Why I Write:

Harry Potter Fanfiction:
Been to ff.net recently? Star Wars, 8000 stories. Yu-Gi-Oh, 16,000. Lord of the Rings, 22,000. Harry Potter, 90,000. Because we freaking love to write Hogwarts like no other universe. Can't put it into any other words.

Smut:
Because sexual arousal is wonderful. Erotica that produces sexual arousal is wonderful. Because no storyline grips me like the ones that let me write smut. Becaue porn should be celebrated, not hidden in shame-- particularly porn for women.

Harry Potter Smut:
Because the Potterverse is a dark one with all the opportunity for non-con. Because Harry Potter began as a book series in my head, and I can write book characters into smutty situations with much greater ease than I can films or other visual media; I feel less "bound" to the actors' portrayals. Because I found the series as an adult, not a child, and have no "do not sully these innocent memories!" squicks about it. Because sticking to smut in this fandom means I gather the readers who like that sort of thing, and know what they're getting when they start to read my stuff, and we're all happy.

Slash:
Because same-sex relations have a sense of equality about them. Because I am badly screwed in the head to think that male-female relationships featuring consensual sex mean that the female is a slut. Because it's defiant and unconventional and therefore has the allure of the different. Because the idea that love conquers gender is too sweet for words. Because it takes me one step away from Mary Sue-dom.

Harry/Lucius:
Because Jason Isaacs's performance as Lucius Malfoy took my fricking breath away. Because I always identify with the hero in stories. Because the erotica I wrote before writing Pottersmut was exclusively non-con, and I still prefer that.

Non-con:
Because rape absolves the victim from all "slut!" accusations. Because villains are geared to make your knees buckle in that "dangerous is sexy" way.The rest is all a mire of "because I'm wired that way" that cannot be explained.

MPREG:
Because pregnancy is a natural outcome of het sex and romance, with striking emotional moments and decisions, and I miss those opportunities in slash stories. Because pregnancy as a result of rape is the ultimate bodyfuck.

No WIP's:
Because I write smut, and you should always get your smutty payoff in every posting/story/chapter. Because it makes me finish what I start. Because I like to read completed works at one go, and am a prim little Golden Rule-er.

*dusts hands off*

Comments

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

What she said.
Go Fab! Go Amy!

It is deliciously subversive (blah blah blah dominant paradigm blah blah blah) to find women unapologetically writing erotica that appeals to their own (our own) real turn-ons and kinks and prejudices, however strange they may appear to the received view of the world and what women "ought to" like or what men, or women who haven't thought about it much, think women like, or should like.

Not to mention it's hot as hell. Ahem.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

paradigm

My favorite buzzword for "look out, here comes the pretentiousness!" Hee!

And I don't get erotica writers who write what they think people want, and not what turns THEM on. Well, I mean, I DO, if they're trying to be published and sell stuff. But I still think you're better off writing what "passes the wet test" and letting the audience find you. Trying to write AT an audience is so much at risk for falling flat.

[jenab.livejournal.com]

I wandered in here from ausmac.

And I don't get erotica writers who write what they think people want, and not what turns THEM on.

For me it comes down to my inner censor telling me I really shouldn't be writing that threesome smut or some other thing even though it really turns me. In some smut fic, I'm in a constant battle with my inner censor while writing although lately I have been getting better at writing what turns me on.

Discovering the internet and fan fiction a few years ago really opened me up to the endless possibilities of erotic and slash fiction, such as threesomes, voyeurism, and so on. I got my smut fix from Harlequin romances and a couple of erotic novels written for women which are vanilla compared to some of the stories I have discovered.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

A good deal of the erotic novels for women are quite gently vanilla, aren't they? I won't say that makes me upset, because I'm happy that there's at least acknowledgement that women like erotica. But yes, you wonder if the people writing that stuff are really women, and would honestly answer, "*I* was aroused by this." Me, I'll take Nexus's line of erotica over Black Lace any day.