Describe a Lit author’s style

[NoTalentHack]

So I'm trying to veer away from the too obvious. We all know about NTH's literary journal style with complex characters and emotional depth. (but this one is my favorite so far personally)

Just you wait until I get around to writing Max Steelglare and the Harems of Beta Fuckzor 7.

 

[NoTalentHack]

I'm gonna go with Spector Dugan, particularly his Group stuff. Poly at the Poly is a fucking masterclass in effortless tone shifting, going between sexy shenanigans, gutwrenching realizations, intense foreboding, and silly fun. What I love the most is that he gives notions of who his characters are with very little actual direct language used, but when he does, it's illuminating. In PatP, there are three female characters and three male characters, and each of them is very different down to the way they have sex and what it means to them. I'm not going to look up the line, because I'm lazy, but there's a part where an older man, half of one of the couples, is gently nudging the group towards swapping, and his cologne is described as “having a hint of woodsmoke, like the scent of a forest fire;” I was so pissed that I didn't write it.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Rules are simple:

1. Pick a currently active Lit author
2. You should have read at least two of their stories, else it’s a bit pointless
3. Write a brief summary of what they write about, their general writing style, and what you like about their work
4. Post a link to your favorite story they have written

I'll do a twofer: AwkwardMD and Omenainen, who also collaborate as AwkwardApple415. Both of them have a strong focus on characters, but somewhat different approaches to how they explore their characters.

@AwkwardMD has written over 100 stories. Any generalisation I'd make about them will have exceptions, but she tends to write about people whose lives have gone off the rails, working to put themselves back together. A musician recovering from addiction and traumatic brain injury, a bride who's just abandoned her own wedding after learning her best friend is in love with her. Trans-female and futa characters often make an appearance, and transgressive themes like incest come up now and then.

I like her stories because they have the same sensibility that SimonDoom mentioned in mine - although her characters tend to be more fucked-up than mine, she cares about them and she's (mostly) using their damage to explore who they are and to write about resilience and mending. I always find it hard to pick favourites, but for one example of her work I'll point to Human Resource.

One of the popular tropes in erotica is "descent into depravity": a protagonist, usually female, starts out prim and proper but is gradually overcome by her sexual urges, until by the end of the story she's completely ruled by her sex drives. HR subverts that trope: it's about a woman who has strong sexual drives pulling her in directions that are harmful not only to herself but to others, and who has to find a way to live with those drives without wrecking everything. It also does a nice job of highlighting the complexities that arise when consensual and nonconsensual kinks are in the same room.

@Omenainen's stories are generally a lot quieter, without a lot of Big Dramatic Moments. They tend to be more about slowly, gradually developing relationships, usually between people who are refreshingly light on hangups. But there's that same interest in studying what makes people tick, and that same compassion for her characters.

If reading AMD's stories is a little bit like seeing somebody pulling themselves out of a hole, reading Omenainen's is more like watching something grow.

From hers, I'll recommend Arctic Night.

 

[Omenainen]

If reading AMD's stories is a little bit like seeing somebody pulling themselves out of a hole, reading Omenainen's is more like watching something grow.

…like watching the grass grow or paint dry?

Thank you. I agree with Simon with what he said about yours. And I’ll link to your stories and The Flockings Will Continue…, because he didn’t. That’s an excellent, excellent story, and to mention another, I’ll say AI Era: Loss Function, which is pretty much perfect.

 

[AlinaX]

Just you wait until I get around to writing Max Steelglare and the Harems of Beta Fuckzor 7.

Don't tease.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

I'm gonna go with Spector Dugan, particularly his Group stuff. Poly at the Poly is a fucking masterclass in effortless tone shifting, going between sexy shenanigans, gutwrenching realizations, intense foreboding, and silly fun. What I love the most is that he gives notions of who his characters are with very little actual direct language used, but when he does, it's illuminating. In PatP, there are three female characters and three male characters, and each of them is very different down to the way they have sex and what it means to them. I'm not going to look up the line, because I'm lazy, but there's a part where an older man, half of one of the couples, is gently nudging the group towards swapping, and his cologne is described as “having a hint of woodsmoke, like the scent of a forest fire;” I was so pissed that I didn't write it.

SPECTOR is a true wordsmith and I also think LOVE IS LIKE A BLUE SHELL is also a high point, although POLY AT THE POLY I think has more going on as a story due to the characters past and the location as you really feel like you’re there (even if like me you’ve never been).

But without SPECTOR I wouldn’t be here as an author wrapping up HOT AND FUZZY and beginning to rummage through a mind control/sci-fi/group extravaganza that features a sports training facility as its setting.

So there’s that too.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Well I guess this was an OK idea after all.

Em

 

[NoTalentHack]

Don't tease.

Oh, it's going to happen eventually. Selected phrases that are likely to appear: "Max Steelglare glared steelily," and "I'm here to spread American democracy, baby. But why don't we start with you spreading your legs?" It's going to be the dumbest, most porn-trope-laden ("Max had never met a lesbian, just women that hadn't had the pleasure of his company"), pulpy, jingoistic, imperialistic, America fuck yeah, scientifically incorrect shit you've ever seen. Imagine Peacemaker as a space opera, except played completely straight to the point where it can't help but curve back around into obvious parody.

And, of course, I'm only going to provide one chapter, and not the first one.

 

[AlinaX]

Steelglare was a man's man. The kind of man who could bench press with his cock while his hands delved expertly into adoring pussy. Indeed, this was his Tuesday routine, and to say he had hands full this particular Tuesday afternoon is no exaggeration. Candy and Suki were no ordinary women. They were the bustiest gold-star lesbians in the valley, and blondes to boot.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Steelglare was a man's man. The kind of man who could bench press with his cock while his hands delved expertly into adoring pussy. Indeed, this was his Tuesday routine, and to say he had hands full this particular Tuesday afternoon is no exaggeration. Candy and Suki were no ordinary women. They were the bustiest gold-star lesbians in the valley, and blondes to boot.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Only someone with biceps like Max's could control the recoil of a laser pistol. The women of the sultan's harem oohed and aahed as he cut down the eunuchs that guarded them; their ball-less scrotums didn't produce nearly enough testosterone to stand up to a man like Max. Max got it; chicks dug carnage.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Fuck, I'm going to end up writing the whole thing in the comments here. Stop tempting me, foul temptress! I have six unfinished stories and I still need to start my heart//beats entry! And the AI one!

 

[AlinaX]

For Max, a man who took pride in being able to remove an enemy's balls with surgical precision from a different time zone, the Sultan's eunuchs posed a particular challenge. It was, all considered, the most inventive use of mirror balls he had seen since NASA retired Hubble and created the Earth's first zero-g disco nightclub.

 

[HordHolm]

For Max, a man who took pride in being able to remove an enemy's balls with surgical precision from a different time zone, the Sultan's eunuchs posed a particular challenge. It was, all considered, the most inventive use of mirror balls he had seen since NASA retired Hubble and created the Earth's first zero-g disco nightclub.

I can't get the image of Zapp Brannigan out of my head now...

 

[AwkwardMD]

For my money, On The Edge is @Omenainen's prototyical story. Isolation, depression, fish guts, and the triumph of love.

 

[Omenainen]

Nothing is more romantic than fish guts!

 

[MelissaBaby]

Well I guess this was an OK idea after all.

Em

Yes, I've learned about some authors I knew nothing about.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Nothing is more romantic than fish guts!

Lobsters.

I wrote a lobster story, just for your event.

Harumpf.

 

[Omenainen]

Lobsters.

I wrote a lobster story, just for your event.

Harumpf.

Lobsters probably aren’t far behind. But gutting fish is just so deeply satisfying.

 

[Euphony]

Lobsters probably aren’t far behind. But gutting fish is just so deeply satisfying.

I thought I was the only one. (and I don't eat catch and barely fish)

The scale scraper (?) and those pearlessent cast offs catching the rainbow light as they are removed.

ASMR levels of soothing.

 

[Omenainen]

I thought I was the only one. (and I don't eat catch and barely fish)

Whatever the kink, it’s not likely you’re the only one.

The scale scraper (?) and those pearlessent cast offs catching the rainbow light as they are removed.

Yes! And I really like the part where you take them by the gills, belly up, slit them open, and yank the guts out.

I don’t get to do that nearly enough. Maybe I should take up fishing just because.

ASMR levels of soothing.

Yes.

Oo, this thread has been unexpectedly entertaining.

 

[Euphony]

Yes! And I really like the part where you take them by the gills, belly up, slit them open, and yank the guts out.

I don't hate it but I get plenty of similar physicality in other areas of life so maybe it just hits different.

I love the internal coloring though. Food these days looks so far removed (faked) from the natural world, it touches some innate feeling in my being. A return to being more integrated into the natural world.

I DON'T love the occasional parasitic worm infestation though. Apparently I like soft core real nature.

I don’t get to do that nearly enough. Maybe I should take up fishing just because.

I feel too guilty of waste. The guidelines around here for what is or isn't safe to eat is also confusing at best.

I don't love most of the fish abundant to catch without significant expense (offshore)

The tasty freshwater was, of course, overfished or habitat destroyed.

Yes.

Oo, this thread has been unexpectedly entertaining.

Hey, that's my brand™.

 

[EmilyMiller]

 

[Red_Herring4]

Yes! And I really like the part where you take them by the gills, belly up, slit them open, and yank the guts out.

You're a monster.

 

[Omenainen]

You're a monster.

Now, now. No kink shaming.