Repeat or Not Repeat

[Maggie Erin]

The appellation by which I am designated is "Virgin." Does that mean I get to lose my "cherry" again?

Actually I lost my cherry to one of my beautiful female teachers in, of all places, a shaded landing in a bell tower. There she introduced me to the art of Sapphic love both receiving and giving. Yes, in case you are wondering, "The bells did ring out while we were making love!"

Anyway, this newly, renamed "Virgin" thinks it matters not who are the characters even if repeated in kind as far as appearance and temperament nor in place, not even in a bell tower.

What an author does with her/his characters within a story will carry it and keep the reader's interest. It is the story that carries the day.

Case in point, Stephen King has been writing about the same genre' without losing his appeal to so many--unfortunately, I am not one of them--for years and years: horror. The treatment and introduction of new charcters or the re-describtion of familiar ones are one key to his writing success. He never presents them in the same way.

As for those of us who write about making love (And I do make a distinction between having sex and making love. Having sex is in the receiving without regard for the other's emotional and physical needs, whereas making love is found in both the giving and receiving, both striving to help her, in my case, or his lover to achieve orgasmic pleasure. And less we forget, no one "gives" us an orgasm. Our orgasms are ours, a gift to ourselves. There will be times--And my lesbian sisters are well awre of this--when one is quite willing to give to her love partner without receiving, finding joy and even sexual satisfaction in the giving.

We all can talk around the pros and cons of the importance of change of characters, place, and time; however, it is the story itself that keeps readers interested in what one has written.

As a writer of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, I strive for this with the reality that there is only one person a writer needs to please with her or his writing, and that is herself or himself. Having done that, one has succeded in her/his writing, and if others should like what has been written that is the icing on the cake.

Also, it is not the writing but the having written that brings personal satisfaction to the writer. Writing is the hard part. The having written is time to sit back, say, "It is finished," and then relax.

Maggie Erin

"Be and Blessed Be."

Quote: "The art of loving is in the giving of pleasure to ones love partner."

Maggie Erin

 

[Guest]

Welcome, Maggie -

What a lovely post (and a lovely virginity-losing memory!) Thank you.

Stories on this site run the gamut from simple stroke tales to beautifully drawn characters in love.

I look forward to reading your works!

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Speaking just for myself, the "please yourself" argument doesn't work. Of course it's important that I be happy with what I write, but it's just as important that other people are happy with it as well. For me, writing is all about communication, and communication is a two way street. Someone has to read it, and someone has to understand it. I'm interested in telling other people how the world looks to me, and for that to happen, people have to be able to decipher what I'm saying and the writing has to convey exactly what it is I'm trying to say.

I think this is true for most writers as well, judging from the importance most people put on receiving votes and feedback. It's not eneough to just stand there and say something: people have to listen to you and understand. And when we seek to become better writers, are we really interested in learning how better to please ourselves? Or how to better communicate what it is we're trying to say?

It seems to me that writing for oneself is kind of a lonely and masturbatory act. Why publish it at all?

---dr.M.

 

[Liar]

Good point. If my fiction was only for my own benefit, I would never go through the trouble of putting words to it. That's simply too much work for too little benefit. I'd just replay the movie in my mind's eye and be happy with that. I write because I want others to see what I have to say.

And obviously, Maggie, so do you. Come on, admit it. Being read is über-cool. So welcome in. Write for yourself, if that's what you want. But keep in mind that there will be a busload of other people that you will please or displease wether you want to or not, once you submit your writing to the site.

#L

 

[English Lady]

My work isn#'t just for me but for my husband and my friends and then for the general public. If someone i don't know doesn't like my story, I can deal with it but if someone I know doesn't like it well then it gets put down then and there!

My hubby reads all my work before I submit it. Whatever he has the best *er hmm* physical reaction to seems to do the best for me here at lit