Do you have "proper" writing?

[TheEarl]

Just reading Kpet's thread on real writing and a thought came to me. How many of the writers here actaully have ambitions above and beyond Lit? Does everyone here have a novel in production? Or are there still some people who are just casual writers.

Are we all just frustrated professional authors? Or even some who aren't frustrated?

The Earl

 

[KillerMuffin]

I'm published and I'm an associate editor of a literary 'ezine.

Novel(s) in the works. Stories always in the works. Developing my poor poetry skills these days.

But I'm really trying to get through calculus first. It's my kind of math. We use lots of words and sentences to solve things.

My last test had an essay answer!

 

[Wicked-N-Erotic]

I'm just a mom who writes for the fun of it. It's my release, my way of relaxing, something that's just for me. I first started writing to vent my frustrations but now after friends have gotten hooked on my stories I write for fun as well as for the pleasure of my friends and others. If by chance somewhere down the road an opportunity presents it's self for something more then so be it.
Wicked

My Stories

 

[KillerMuffin]

I'm just a mom

Hey, I have your job, too.

There's no just about it! Of all the things I do, being a mom is--by far--the absolute most difficult. Most rewarding, but most difficult.

 

[BigTexan]

Me? I'm an aspiring author and I have the requisite ton of rejection letters to show for it. Three novels in the works and twenty some odd short stories that I think are "publishable" grade.

Obviously I haven't found the editor that agrees with me yet

BigTexan

 

[kristydoll]

I have short pieces published (print) and am currently working on my first novel for publication. I also like to write web-based material as well - for sites like this, a bi-monthly column on another well known Ezine and editor of my own BDSM Ezine.

Writing is a full-time job for me (on top of being a mom too).

And as for those rejection letters - have lots of those too.

kristy

 

[Omni]

Self published/ publishing. If you want to sell erotica/porn, might be the only way to actually get it done and possibly be paid more than a nickle for it. I hear they call this vanity publishing, but if you get paid a whole buck for it, I like vanity.
Besides, I believe the main stream publishers and any main stream erotica publishers are all too locked up in thier ideas of what will sell. A very narrow margin out there with so many avid readers of different tastes.



Omni

 

[Quasimodem]

I must confess to being a most "improper" writer. Bluntly put, I'm a literary whore!
Hmm Perhaps the word "literary" is misleading.

 

[M.A.Thompson]

While I take what I write here at Lit very seriously, I have no ambition on pursuing this wonderfully pleasing hobby of mine to any other level.

Besides, I am one of those rare individuals who actually enjoys his current occupation, one I am far more talented at than I will ever be at writing.

 

[Eldridge]

I've always loved to write, and have always written (mostly short stories and more than the majority of those never actually had a finish).

I think I would like to be a writer, but right now I just cannot seem to devote the effort to it. There are some days, weeks or sometimes even months when I just don't feel like writing, and then out of the blue, I could be doing anything else, I'll just fire up that old word processor again, and keep on typing.

I've got an almost complete novel, but I'm halfway torn between finishing it and trying to get it published (fat chance I fear), or starting over completely, and this time doing it a lot better.

So... I don't know. I guess I fall somewhere in between.

Eldridge.

 

[takingchances42]

I've had books published by a major New York publishing house, as well as overseas, and meet the technical requirements for a "professional writer", as the term is used in the industry. However, like 90% of "professional authors" (as opposed to journalists), book advances by themselves are not enough, and I have to do other work.

Lit is fun, but very different from my other writing, be it fiction or non-fiction. I do have a novel in the works that while it is intended to be mainstream, has a much higher erotic content than anything I have written before, might be a good way to blend things together...

 

[deliciously_naughty]

I'm still something of a novice. I wrote quite a bit as a younger person (in my late childhood and early adolescence) and then took a 7 or so year break from writing fiction. I don't know why. I've often wondered why, but I have no rational explanation. I never stopped writing in my journal, but I did little to get my ideas out of my head and onto paper.

I wrote my first major work of non fiction about 2 1/2 to 3 years ago (starting researching fall '00, handed it in spring of '01) which was my undergrad thesis. In writing it I found pleasure in writing again (as opposed to writing required papers on topics in which I had little to no interest) since I had full control over subject matter and approach with advice from an advisor/professor.

It was this past summer that I wrote my first erotic short story for literotica. It was completely on a whim, and I had little to no expectations for it. I received plenty of positive feedback and as I watched my number of reads rise I was inspired to write another story. I began to hang out on the story idea board and found the courage to suggest writing a sexual fantasy I had been thinking of for years, which developed into my 5 part story Wesley's Woman, which is the longest piece of fiction I've written to date. By the end of the summer I was hooked.

I have gained confidence over time, both in my fiction and non-fiction writing, and I am now contemplating several ideas for a novel. I plan to start writing it once my classes are over...unfortunately until then I have to finish writing academic stuff upon which grades and my continued presence in grad school depend. I dream about being published in the fiction genre...we'll see. Non-fiction wise, I have been published in some regional newspapers and college publications. My undergrad thesis has the potential to be a book, and next semester I will be writing an article for publication in an academic journal.

 

[Sabledrake]

I'm published, medium press and anthology, still hoping to break into the mass market paperback bigtime (and then once I've done that, I'll begin coveting hardcovers, and then movie deals ... there's always going to be one more step, one more goal for which to strive ...)

But much of the time, I'm still frustrated Not so much when actually writing, but when the time comes to send out the queries and wait on the rejection letters, then, oh, then it's plenty frustrating.

Sabledrake

 

[jfinn]

I occasionally freelance in a variety of fields including grant writing, historical research and advertising, but most often I work in tv, writing writing host segments for some of the movie channels.

As for working on a novel or screenplay, isn't everyone? LOL. No, I have some ideas, but at this point I haven't really followed through and I'm not sure if I ever will. I like to write erotica, mainly because the writing I do professionally is so formatted there's very little room for true creativity.

Jayne

 

[wildsweetone]

Just reading Kpet's thread on real writing and a thought came to me. How many of the writers here actaully have ambitions above and beyond Lit? Does everyone here have a novel in production? Or are there still some people who are just casual writers.

Are we all just frustrated professional authors? Or even some who aren't frustrated?

The Earl

i may have lost my virginity Lit tag, and i may have been fiddling with words for what seems like hundreds of years, but i feel that i am still young at writing.

i want to write stories that will touch the very soul of a reader. if that soul touching takes steps towards being published elsewhere then cool, if not, then it's no loss on my goal list. yes, i'd like to be published, but it's not the reason for my existence. i enjoy writing and wish to continue enjoying it.

 

[its Leslie]

I generally tend to write for a lot of reasons that have no connection with sex.

I am currently writing two books (that might see the light of day some day). One is about my life with fybromyalgia, the other is just a rant I suppose.

I have had my words printed in official publications, so I guess that technically counts for something, but I have not as yet ever seen financial gain from anything.

 

[Un-registered]

I write technical non-fiction for the "day job" and have text books published.

I also have a few fictional novels published as E-books.

Self published/ publishing. If you want to sell erotica/porn, might be the only way to actually get it done and possibly be paid more than a nickle for it. I hear they call this vanity publishing, but if you get paid a whole buck for it, I like vanity.
Besides, I believe the main stream publishers and any main stream erotica publishers are all too locked up in thier ideas of what will sell. A very narrow margin out there with so many avid readers of different tastes.



Omni

There are a number of E-book publishers who will pay between 25% and 45% royalties for all works thay publish. Most of them will take anything which fits the niche they are in and is reasonably readable.

If I may quote an example without getting in to trouble bdsmbooks.com will take bdsm books.

The E-book market is actually growing very fast.

 

[Angeline]

I have lots of articles and research reports in print and on the web in my er field of endeavor: educational psychobabble. It pays the the bills (and I do care about the research I've done), but my heart is and always has been with poetry and drama. Working on publishing my poems and currently writing a screenplay....

 

[PoliteSuccubus]

All I ever wanted....

All I ever wanted was to write, paint, and be a mom.

So, now I'm 40, I don't paint anymore, I have one child who is just about out of the house, and I'm scared to try to get published.

But I can't stop writing.

A writer is not a writer because they are published. A writer is someone who can't NOT write. I have these stories and ideas and thoughts and worlds and people danceing around in my head, and if I don't write, they won't leave. They must put chained in words, set down on paper to live their lives there and not in my thoughts and dreams.

I once wrote a poem called Temptation equals Desperation. Or should I say it rode me til I wrote it. I was in traffic and it demanded to be written right then. I wrote it on a peice of scrap paper and here it is for you, complete, just as I wrote it while driving.


Temptation equals Desperation
To want and not have,
Torture
To have and be reviled,
Pain
If only bliss were an impenetrable cocoon,
And all other connections severed by the totality of one
Pure
but unholy thing
That I should not need nor want anything, but this bliss
But it is not so
I live in a world not of my making
To reject Bliss is to also reject Pain
The dull ache of want better than the sharp cut of
Rejection
By all those I have loved and respected and been respected by
Before

 

[Killswitch]

This is an interesting thread to me.

I have only been here two weeks, just a little less perhaps.

I have sat here reading some of the more well known authors at Lit and cruising the bulletin boards for advice, ideas, education, and fun.

I have said to myself....I wonder who some of these learned writers really are. Could there be posts and stories here from the likes of Anne Rice? Steven King?

I know both of them have written erotica. I am the proud owner of Anne Rice's "Sleeping Beauty" trilogy.

Let me rephrase and say I know Anne Rice has, and I believe Stephen King has.

That being said I am a 42 year old man ( I look 41), married for two years and am a stepfather. I am a blue collar worker with no college education.

I have never written more than a grocery list, and a few poems until last week.

I am also hooked. I am enjoying myself, and I have the blessings of my wife to persue this as a hobby for now.

I do have a desire and new found motivation to write more, and perhaps write something mainstream for an attempt at publication. I have always been intruiged by screen plays, and am researching what those entail.

I am working on my grammar, and proper use of the language where print is concerned.

I have no education in writing, but let me say this.

All of you are my teachers,whether you are a published author, a literary icon under an assumed name, or a stay at home mom with a cool hobby. And one day when you get to know me better I hope to be able to have the honor of calling you "Friends"

Let me close by saying that what you are all doing here is a very great thing. You are educating, and motivating people including myself to have the courage to write.

You are quite simply....Making people think....

It is...Much appreciated.

Killswitch

 

[TheEarl]

Thanks Killswitch

How very eloquent. Are you sure you're not James Joyce in disguise? No actually I take that back, that's rude.

I have to say that I first came in here out of curiosity, but I stayed here for exactly the reasons that Switch has just mentioned. Thank you all.

Maybe Switch can take over from Weird Harold in interpreting what I catually meant to say .

The Earl

 

[TheEarl]

Catually? Does that mean "in the style of Laurel"? (Dr M, there's another one) Actually I mean.

The Earl

 

[SlickTony]

A writer is not a writer because they are published. A writer is someone who can't NOT write. I have these stories and ideas and thoughts and worlds and people danceing around in my head, and if I don't write, they won't leave. They must put chained in words, set down on paper to live their lives there and not in my thoughts and dreams.

This expresses what writing is like for me so well, I could've said it myself.

Currently, in real life I do quite a bit of writing. Well, actually, it's more editing, except that there are some things that I have to do so much editing on, that it's tantamount to writing.

All the stories that I currently have here in Literotica, except for the two-part riff on Genesis 19 (Survival I & II) are parts of a world I have been developing for many years, and which, I feel, if I could just get all of it down, including the non-erotic parts, I'd have me a novel.

I have always written, even though outside of a couple of college lit magazines, letters to the editor, etc., I haven't actually been published...and here, of course. After all, a writer is a thing that one is as well as a thing that one does.

I had something emotionally traumatic happen to me when I was young that sort of stunted my growth as a writer; I had a terrible time getting anything finished. Every writer has a demon that sits on his or her shoulder and whispers that the stuff he is writing is a bunch of dreck that nobody would ever want to read. It has only been recently that I have been able to tell my own demon to fuck off. And since the demon's voice belongs to someone who most emphatically disapproves of sex and erotic writing, and the stuff I've been able to get finished has all been here, I consider I've told the demon off with a vengeance.

While I'm here, I might as well toot my horn: my latest effort, "Encore," has turned up as of this morning! I hope y'all enjoy it.

 

[PoliteSuccubus]

Raise your hand if this ever happened to you:

Standing in the book store and looking on books on writing a old friend you haven't seen in forever comes up and chats with you. After a bit she asks you what you are upto these days and you tell her your a writer and she gushes "Oh really! What have you written!". You smile that tight little smile and explain that you haven't actually published anything....yet. You've been to shy, or busy, or......She looks at you and then asks: "Then why write?"

I think the art of writing is misunderstood because anyone can put pen to paper and make a list, write a postcard, or some really terriable poems. So they tend to think it's an optional thing.

Painting now, is totally different! You have to be dedicated to be a painter! It takes speical tools that you go out to the store and buy and have to practice to be good with. If no one buys yourself, well, you know, that's the way art is sometimes.

Painting is an understood passion. If a painter doesn't sell a painting, no one asks: "Then why paint?"

It's hard for some to grasp that the driving passion underlaying is the same for both arts.

"Passion is a tool we use, and passion uses us as it's tool."

I know this seems like off topic, but there is a movie called "Blast from the Past" and the father is trying to explain baseball to his son. "Why does he run, Dad?" the boy asks, not understanding. "Because he must !" the father answers, fustrated that he can't convey the reasons which are so elementary to his son. Later in the movie the son goes to his frist game and his face lights up with the joy of understanding. "Because he must!" he shouts.

 

[PaulX35]

I write for my work, but that's academic stuff.
Erotica-wise I don't seek anymore than letting this be a fun hangout, where I will post a few of my fantasies now and then.

So, it seems you don't have to be a mom to do this for pleasure only

Paul