Tricking Your Internal Censor

[Corylea]

I wrote a handful of stories on alt.sex.bondage in the early 90's, and for almost every story, there was a point in the story where I had to look away from my computer screen, so that my eyes wouldn't see what my fingers were typing. Once I was finished and looked at it, whatever it was didn't seem that extreme, but while I was putting it down, I couldn't look.

I felt like a real twit for having to do this, then I read an anthology by Pat Califia where she* said that she'd had to pretend to herself that she wasn't going to publish these stories in order to be able to write them. That made me feel better, because if PAT CALIFIA has to trick her internal censor, then I'm not a complete dork for having to do so, either.

I was wondering about you all. Are there ever times when something you're writing seems like it's somehow too much, and if so, what tricks do you play on yourself to be able to get the words down?


*Yes, I know Pat's a "he" now. He identified as a lesbian when he wrote this, and I don't know the protocol on trans stuff -- do we retroactively change Pat's gender to male for stuff he wrote while he identified a woman, or do we use the old pronoun for the old work and the new pronoun for new work? I chose to use whichever pronoun the person himself was using at the time the work was done. Anyway, not trying to be offensive, just not sure how to handle this issue.

 

[rgraham666]

When it comes to sex my internal censor hasn't a thing to say.

Violence is where he kicks in. When characters get hurt, even if they deserve it, it's very hard for me to write.

 

[Corylea]

Violence is where he kicks in. When characters get hurt, even if they deserve it, it's very hard for me to write.

Well, since I write BDSM, I'm sometimes writing about violent sex, and it is the more violent aspects of the scene that make my internal censor squirm, not the sex.

When your characters get hurt, is there anything you do to make it easier for you to be able to write that?

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Well, since I write BDSM, I'm sometimes writing about violent sex, and it is the more violent aspects of the scene that make my internal censor squirm, not the sex.

When your characters get hurt, is there anything you do to make it easier for you to be able to write that?

I spent 29 years in the Army where my job wasn't to kill anyone, but rather to outsmart them. After all if you kill someone they're just dead but if you outsmart them, they know they've lost. It's much more satisfying.

Soooo . . . basically I don't write anything where anyone gets hurt, even in fun, except for the occasional smack onna butt. Hence, no need for censoring!

 

[rgraham666]

Well, since I write BDSM, I'm sometimes writing about violent sex, and it is the more violent aspects of the scene that make my internal censor squirm, not the sex.

When your characters get hurt, is there anything you do to make it easier for you to be able to write that?

I just bull on through. Do what has to be done to tell the story.

There's not a lot of pain in my BDSM stories. As a line from one of them put it, "It's useful for discipline, arousing as a facet of my power, but not of much interest in itself."

 

[togitc]

I need to know how to trick my inner editor. I write about a page and then delete is because I think it's crap, hence the multitude of stories I've submitted in recent months.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I value my inner editor. It lets me know when the writing is crap and when its good. I dont waste my time on the crap.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

When it comes to sex my internal censor hasn't a thing to say.

Violence is where he kicks in. When characters get hurt, even if they deserve it, it's very hard for me to write.

I have the same problem. I can kind of trance out when I write though, and be pretty horrible. And I'm getting worse and worse. It's a slippery slope, and once you start, you can get into the violence pretty fast.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I have the same problem. I can kind of trance out when I write though, and be pretty horrible. And I'm getting worse and worse. It's a slippery slope, and once you start, you can get into the violence pretty fast.

Sadly, that isn't only true of literature. It's easy to have happen in real life, too. Hence the societal controls needed to keep violence surpressed. Perhaps that's one of the differences between soldiers and warriors, societal control . . .

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

DOC

Violence is easy to slip into. The army and marines know it. And they know how to condition you to kill and slaughter with almost no remorse or concern. But if you do it right, you dont like the experience of killing or maiming. It becomes like unplugging a toilet filled with shit.

Thats how it was for me...like plunging your hand into a toilet full of crap.

 

[NoJo]

One of the reasons I started submitting stories to this site is because I wanted to "un-repress" some of my most obscene thoughts.

But of course once they were out there they turned out to be pretty tame. So I guess I'm not as twisted as I thought

 

[Guest]

One of the reasons I started submitting stories to this site is because I wanted to "un-repress" some of my most obscene thoughts.

But of course once they were out there they turned out to be pretty tame. So I guess I'm not as twisted as I thought

There's still time, Joe.

Stay the course.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I need to know how to trick my inner editor. I write about a page and then delete is because I think it's crap, hence the multitude of stories I've submitted in recent months.

If you delete everything, how can you have produced "a multitude of stories" in recent months?

ETA: Okay, I just checked your index. You haven't posted a story since December 2007. You mean a dearth or a scarcity of stories.

 

[NoJo]

There's still time, Joe.

Stay the course.

Still time?? I don't want to be a sixty-year-old pervert, I want to be a fifty-year-old one.

 

[Guest]

Still time?? I don't want to be a sixty-year-old pervert, I want to be a fifty-year-old one.

Well haul ass, then.

We all can't carry the water for you forever, yannow.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

One of the reasons I started submitting stories to this site is because I wanted to "un-repress" some of my most obscene thoughts.

But of course once they were out there they turned out to be pretty tame. So I guess I'm not as twisted as I thought

That's so depressing, isn't it? To have a woman all tied up to your laboratory table and then realize you only want to do her nails?

 

[Corylea]

If you delete everything, how can you have produced "a multitude of stories" in recent months?

ETA: Okay, I just checked your index. You haven't posted a story since December 2007. You mean a dearth or a scarcity of stories.

I believe the "multitude of stories" was sarcasm, intending to convey both a lack of output and a bit of scorn for that lack.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I believe the "multitude of stories" was sarcasm, intending to convey both a lack of output and a bit of scorn for that lack.

Satire is hard to display on a screen or a page. That's one of ther things the smileys are for.

 

[SlickTony]

I need to know how to trick my inner editor. I write about a page and then delete is because I think it's crap, hence the multitude of stories I've submitted in recent months.

On the shoulder of every writer sits a demon that whispers in his ear, telling him everything he's written or wants to write is dreck that no one would ever want to read.

 

[TE999]

On the shoulder of every writer sits a demon that whispers in his ear, telling him everything he's written or wants to write is dreck that no one would ever want to read.

In my case, Diedre my muse drop kicks the little bugger into the waste basket and we return to crafting smut.

 

[Guest]

That's so depressing, isn't it? To have a woman all tied up to your laboratory table and then realize you only want to do her nails?

This may be the saddest thing I've ever read.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

This may be the saddest thing I've ever read.

Really. Even ol' vanilla-bear can come up with something more depraved than that.

 

[starrkers]

This may be the saddest thing I've ever read.

Oh, I don't know - the possiblities for extended sexual tension on her behalf are almost limitless. He's doing her nails now but what's he going to do next? And when?

 

[Corylea]

Oh, I don't know - the possiblities for extended sexual tension on her behalf are almost limitless. He's doing her nails now but what's he going to do next? And when?

Not to mention that there are a number of well-known tortures involving the victim's fingernails. I don't think that doing them would be considered SSC, but THREATENING to do them, on the other hand....

 

[orgasmic_writings]

Ooh, I've just had a really dirty thought... Should I say it? I'm just gonna let it out.

A bad haircut!