I wrote a post a while ago about my double standards, and (much to my absolute horror) I have more!
While stretching my limits to see what can be written in erotica/erotic romance, there were some fairly set rules I came across with most publishers - no bestiality, no scat, no golden showers, no necro, no incest.
The other day I went to Smashwords to download a friend's story, and I did a bit of a search on the erotica on Smashwords. The most downloaded stories were those that went against publishers' rules. All of those things were there, in all their glory. I didn't go reading blurbs or downloading samples, I could garner this from the covers and titles - not much was left to the imagination.
I logged off a little traumatised, shocked, horrified. All those things.
And here I am facing more of my double standards. Way back, I was a bit shocked by the publisher's rules, the limits of what would be published, and the boundaries we're set. Now, I find a place where there are no limits or boundaries, and I'm horrified.
Gosh, what am I doing?
I keep trying to buck society's norms, and yet I'm pulled into them without even thinking. I have to be slapped in the face with something before I notice that I've become complacent, accepting of what I'm told instead of pushing the boundaries.
I've enough stories in my head at the moment that fit inside the rules, so I'm not going to even think of any that don't. But maybe it's nice to know there is somewhere I can publish something if I go all out.
(I'm just a little scared of the people who read it - but in my defence, I watched Criminal Minds the other week where a man running a writing group was acting out the people's stories and murdering the characters exactly as had been described by the written word. That freaked me out a bit!)
While stretching my limits to see what can be written in erotica/erotic romance, there were some fairly set rules I came across with most publishers - no bestiality, no scat, no golden showers, no necro, no incest.
The other day I went to Smashwords to download a friend's story, and I did a bit of a search on the erotica on Smashwords. The most downloaded stories were those that went against publishers' rules. All of those things were there, in all their glory. I didn't go reading blurbs or downloading samples, I could garner this from the covers and titles - not much was left to the imagination.
I logged off a little traumatised, shocked, horrified. All those things.
And here I am facing more of my double standards. Way back, I was a bit shocked by the publisher's rules, the limits of what would be published, and the boundaries we're set. Now, I find a place where there are no limits or boundaries, and I'm horrified.
Gosh, what am I doing?
I keep trying to buck society's norms, and yet I'm pulled into them without even thinking. I have to be slapped in the face with something before I notice that I've become complacent, accepting of what I'm told instead of pushing the boundaries.
I've enough stories in my head at the moment that fit inside the rules, so I'm not going to even think of any that don't. But maybe it's nice to know there is somewhere I can publish something if I go all out.
(I'm just a little scared of the people who read it - but in my defence, I watched Criminal Minds the other week where a man running a writing group was acting out the people's stories and murdering the characters exactly as had been described by the written word. That freaked me out a bit!)
Isn't scat something you say to a cat you don't want?
ReplyDeleteOr a jibberish, jazzy way of singing?? ;)
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