Wednesday, January 10, 2007

That dream where...

Ok, I know what writing is like...well, writing for an audience at least... (I know this on a very small scale and I assume it's even more true of a larger audience.)

It's like that dream where you're in Wal-mart and everybody is staring at you and you look down and you forgot to put clothes on. You just somehow left the house without clothing.

Stick with me on this one...

Anytime you write anything you're exposing something. Hell, you might not be running stark naked down the street, but you're at the very least showing a little leg or some cleavage. Has this metaphor gone on too long? Yeah, I thought so...

Onward...

Whatever you write has to come from some place of honesty if it's going to really affect anyone. At least that's what I believe. And when you do that, you're exposing yourself in some way. Your thoughts, your feelings, your basic psychology, all out there for just anyone to see. You might as well just get rid of the blinds at your house and have naked day. (Sorry, I said I was gonna stop with the naked talk.)

And it doesn't matter what you write, how innocent it is...it will offend someone. It doesn't matter how great it is...someone will hate it. You could be a bestselling author with tons of awards and still some people will hate what you write. (wow, I can feel the positive energy flowing around the room, can't you guys?)

I was reading Laurell K. Hamilton's blog not too long ago and she was talking about her "negative fans." These are people who buy all her books, and go to book signings and stand in line for hours just to tell her how much they hate what she's written. Eeek.

I'm not a negative fan of hers, although I did stop at the book about Edward, cause I couldn't get into it as much as the others cause he wasn't a vampire or a werewolf. Not that I don't like normal men, I mean that's what we really have here, but I'm just saying if I have a world with vampires and were-whatevers as an option...I'm going that route. I didn't just skip to the next book because I hate to read a series out of order, but I might just have to because I'm told it gets very very dirty. And therefore I have to read it.

I do find myself doing the "negative fan" thing with fanfic though. I don't go out of my way to find it, but if I find something really horrible or tiresome in one way or another I'll read every update of it just out of morbid curiosity.

So yeah...now that you're feeling all cheery.... You're going to have this. If you share your work with the world there will be people who love it, and there will be people who hate it. The people who hate it might just stop reading, or they might keep on just out of morbid fascination and speculate about your mental health.

Still you have to write. You chose this...actually scratch that. It chose you. I believe pretty strongly that writing is a calling. You can't really quit. It's inside you, you have to let it out. Now you can choose not to share it, but the writing part itself...I pretty much think that's your calling. It's your superhero gift and you should use it.

But...if you decide to share it in some form, well, no one said you got to keep your clothes on. Oh look, it's Wal-mart! :)

Ok, so why did I drag you through this mud? Why did I rain on your parade and make you feel all yucky? Because...if you write and if you intend to share it in some form, you are one of the brave ones. And courage is a kickass quality. You should be proud of that. Most people can't put themselves out there like that. If you can...then you rock!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Writing has to come from some place of honesty ..."

I love that, Zoe. That is SO true. I think that's why I'm wrangling with the erotica issue.

Even besides that ... I strive for honesty and realness in my characters more than anything.

Zoe Winters said...

thanks spy! Yeah erotica is tough. Writing anything dirty is tough because you're pretty much airing, if not your sex life then your sexual fantasies for the world, and that's pretty intimidating.

Of course, you can use a different pen name and not in any way socialize under that name to remove it farther from yourself. That's always an option. ;)

Zoe Winters said...

Hi Karin. I'm not trying to suggest that you are airing your personal sexual history when you write. I write some erotic stuff too, and I can say that it has to at least be something that I could masturbate to or I'm not going to write it. If the situation won't get me off, why would I expect it to get someone else off? So I think that if not in some small part your sexual history, then your sexual fantasies have to play a role in it.

This doesn't mean that you would necessarily "act out" all of them, but I really think you should be personally turned on by the erotic situations that you write. Else how can it be erotica? Erotica is meant to turn someone on, and the author is the originator and therefore the first test subject. The goal of actual sexual arousal is the primary difference in classifications with Erotica vs. Romance (no matter how graphic).

And saying it's "dirty" isn't meant to be derogative. I call everything sexual that actually turns me on "dirty." I call the adult store the "dirty store" etc.

Edie Ramer said...

I agree with you so much on this. We have to dig deep inside ourselves every time we write in order for it to be real, even when we're in the villain's pov. If we don't, our writing comes across as shallow.

Zoe Winters said...

Thanks Edie! I like my villains though. I can't help it. I like the bad ones I'm not supposed to. ;)

Dave Van Allen said...

I don't know. I keep imaginging Zoe naked in the grocery store.




Just kidding. Great blog, Zoe.

Zoe Winters said...

hahaha Dave, is that you?

Zoe Winters said...

nevermind, yep I see your pic, that's you. hehe