The risks and rewards of posting NSFW content

My story for #FridayFlash last week, "Babbling Brooke", was uncharacteristically erotic, not just adult-themed with sexual content, but with material that is outside conventional romance/erotica. Needless to say, this was pretty far outside the kind of thing I usually post. I gave warning that it was NSFW (i.e. Not Safe For Work), and provided links that gave jumpcuts, so no one would unexpectedly find themselves face to face with the content unless they knew what they were in for.

I've since been informed that it was too far over the line dividing erotica and pornography. That line is an indistinct one; I thought I was skirting it, but apparently went clear over it. In previous stories, I've done horrible things to people. They've been shot, stabbed, incinerated, decapitated and eaten. Sensitive bits of anatomy have been sheared off, and people brought willingly (and unwillingly) to the heights of passion. This time, though, was different. I understand that, and I respect that judgment.

The question remains, though, why write such a thing in the first place? Because in an upcoming post for Write Anything, I discuss genre writing. In it, I noted that I write in lots of different genres, but have never written erotica. So, me being me, I thought I'd try it. I wanted to see what it was like to write, to revise, to read and re-read my own work. Such writing is intended to evoke a more basal emotional and physical response than, for example, science fiction. Could I do it?

I had fewer comments on that piece than on many other #FridayFlash stories. I interpret this as meaning that, for those that did stick around to read beyond the first five lines, the majority either didn't like it or didn't feel comfortable commenting on it. Comments ranged from noting that it was different than my usual fare to liking it. Responses on twitter ranged from "meh" to "not bad". For the first time out in a genre, that's an OK response.

That's one of the reasons why I wrote it. But why post it? If it's so far beyond the pale that links to it were taken down, why run the risk of posting something of that nature?

I've been thinking about myself as a writer, and I've come to the conclusion that I like to have my ducks in a row. I like to have order and precision. I like to analyze what works and what doesn't. The thing is, though, I don't just think things through... I have a nasty tendency to overthink things. This, I believe, has the potential to be a problem for the quality of my writing. I've decided that a writer who is perfectly unobjectionable is far too close to one who is perfectly acceptable, perfectly unexceptionable, perfectly bland.

Perfectly forgettable.

As a writer, can you see yourself striving to be acceptable? That's setting the bar a little low, don't you think?

The trick here is, of course, as it always is: how to avoid writing things purely for shock value and instead capture the emotions and power of "objectionable" writing for use in my more important, mainstream writing.

And if that sounds like even more of an analytical approach to writing... well, I wouldn't want to change too much, too fast.

===== Feel free to comment on this or any other post.

14 comments:

  1. I encouraged you to post the story, and still support your decision to do it. Yes, it came close to some imaginary line, but I've seen more explicit stories flogged on Twitter. I've never "got" why it's OK to write stories about people killing, even torturing, each other while consensual sex gives people the Shivering Collywobbles.

    There are several sex scenes in White Pickups, the only thing that DQs it from being YA. I'm having trouble cutting them without marring the story, though. I not only respect, but approve @chuckallen's decision to not let his 14yo son read it for that reason (he gave it a beta).

    Hell, I've written a story called Hunter and Trapp that I consider "worse" than yours because it involves a rape scene; I know some women who have had close calls and I know it would be too much for them to read (even if the tables get turned in the end). Maria read it and thought it was done well. But even though it made me feel icky — as in "where the F did this COME from?" — the real reason I haven't posted it is because I can't get it down to flash trim. :-P

    You make an excellent point about "striving to be acceptable" — if that's what writing were all about, publishers wouldn't even have to read the slush pile, just draw an MSS out of a hat and run with it. And like you said, elements of this kind of writing can seep into your other work without sending it over the line. One of the characters in Hunter and Trapp, I realized after writing it, is also a major character in a half-baked UF project that's been shoved way down the stack.

    I may expand on this in my own blog tonight if I get a chance.

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  2. Well, it's odd that it's considered acceptable to show violence, murder, and betrayal, but sex is somehow taboo... Kill 'em, but don't kiss 'em! That said, as a parent I always watch for content that's too explicitly sexual or too explicitly violent. There's an age appropriate limit for both. I liked your post, thought it was done well, and also appreciated the heads up so I made sure my son wasn't reading over my shoulder for that one.:)

    I do think there's the danger of doing too much just for 'shock value.' Certainly, good writing should illicit an emotional response or attachment to the characters, but just throwing in profanity or explicit scenes for the sole reason of pissing people off cheapens genuinely well done prose. I think you skirted the line just fine. Good work!

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  3. FAR: As you know, I hesitated about posting this. In the end, though I thought it was OK, this was deemed to be outside the guidelines established for #FridayFlash. Maybe it was because of the, ahem, "off label" usage of hot wax. I'd love to read your expanded thoughts on this.

    ganymeder: Having scenes like this without tying them into the plot, or having them serve the character development arc would be gratuitous. "Hey, more people will buy my books if they know they can count on six really good sex scenes in each one!"

    This leads to thoughts I've had about sex scenes in general. I'm writing an action/adventure novel about superheroes. It's pretty much PG-rated in terms of violence, not much more than, say, Harry Potter. On the other hand, the serial that I've had on the back burner has lots of violence and some sex. There was one scene of a rape in progress, interrupted before consummation. It was all completely in character, and advanced the plot. Readers seemed to like the resulting depth and complexity of the story.

    Having sex scenes doesn't necessarily mean one's book is good, but it does close the door on marketing to younger readers. Maybe it's because no one will ever seriously have the real life opportunity to laser someone in half, or drive a car off a cliff, but could, theoretically, undertake some of the sexual activity described.

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  4. Ganymeder, I think "shock value" is the real line. There was an email going around a while back titled, "When it's Appropriate to Use the F-word." These were photo(shop)s of various disasters, impending or in progress — such as looking out a window at an airliner coming straight at you, parachuting into a pond full of gators, or finding a pair of 3yo kids got into the room you're remodeling & threw paint all over the place. Or in the case of White Pickups, when Max interrupted Cody's & Sondra's initial make-out session…

    Tony, I'm going to put off the expended post to Wed. to give me more time to think about it. But I remember reading a newspaper article about a Goth nightclub where hot wax was featured… I think the real difference was that Brooke was really really enjoying it.

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  5. "Having scenes like this without tying them into the plot, or having them serve the character development arc would be gratuitous."

    Mmmmmm not exactly. If you got complaints about Friday Flash porn, for the most part, yes, that's the medium doing you in.

    However, if we take a look at the story from an objective standpoint (other than its general hotness), where it came up short is the lack of emotional connection. All of the connection is tell and not show. Not having a emotional connection removes many readers from a sex scene.

    Take a look at the example here.

    You'll notice two things. 1) It's very explicit but 2) it's emotionally engaging. As flash fiction it has a few issues, but those have easy fixes.

    I encourage you to fearlessly explore this area. Your practice of Friday Flash is honing your craft. If you can make a sexually charged flash scene that leaves one simuaniously breathless yet connected to the characters, I would assert your Vociing has taken a life of its own and you are permamently in the Tony Zone of Writing Awesomeness.

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  6. Anthony: This is a challenge for any flash piece. Establishing an emotional connection amid the usual character illustration and plot arc is tricky. It doesn't surprise me that, despite my attempts to layer in some emotional backstory, the focus ended up being on the hot wax. Other scenes that I've written as part of novels have lots of connection in front of and in back of the scene itself. I'm not sure if those were any better.

    Ah, the Tony Zone of Writing Awesomeness... I get to visit there sometimes, but I'm still waiting on getting my permanent resident papers for that one.

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  7. It makes the topic swerve, but we all tailor our writing to be acceptable. Only the most self-deluded writers work entirely for their own ideas. Everyone else wants to entertain and express things to others, which means playing to the acceptance of audiences. If your propaganda didn't convince them then it wasn't accepted; likewise, if the action story didn't entertain, acceptance failed. Sex is one of the trickier things because in most fiction it feels both risky and unimportant. If two characters boink, there's little intrinsic drama; not the same when two characters fight or argue. I'm curious how the argument will end. At best, I'm titillated as to how the sex will end (and prose pretty much never achieves that anyway). Who squirts and how will pretty much never match the repercussions of who wins an argument and how. So you play a difficult game of writing about both something potentially offensive and something frivolous. It can be a heck of a challenge.

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  8. Sorry I'm late weighing in on this.

    I recently started reading Mills&Boon/Harlequin romances. (Don't ask me why. My guess is it has something to do with turning 50. ;))

    The reason I bring this up is that many of them have moderately explicit sexuality in them and frankly, I find that part a little boring. Maybe it's a woman thing, but I've just never been that into _reading_ about sexuality. (Or watching it -- don't do porn, either.)

    So, no offense intended, Tony, but the story didn't work for me on that level, but it also didn't work for me because I don't understand the "pain=pleasure" thing either. And I wasn't sure (yeah, I'm dumb that way) how the ending was meant. Was the fact that he knew about the bit on the side mean she was in for real pain? Or was it about to become an ongoing menage-a-trois? The problem for me was that I didn't care enough about the characters to take time to figure it out.

    Anyway, you know I think you're a fine writer, and it's good to stretch your boundaries. Hopefully it'll all be less shocking to your regular readers next time. :)

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  9. John: we all tailor our writing to be acceptable. There's no doubt about that. As you note, we're all trying to connect with an audience. Where this becomes problematic is, in the attempt to make that audience as big as possible, you strive to avoid offending any potential member of that audience. Since different people will be pleased or offended by different things, a quest to be minimally offensive will also make you bland and forgettable.

    Janet: You make a good point about an important issue. Aside from the failure on my part to establish a reason for you to care about Brooke and her complex marital situation, I knew the story wasn't going to work for most folks. Another reader summed it up as, "not my kink". Just writing about sex is risky to begin with. When you go farther than that and talk about sexual practices that are, ahem, an acquired taste, the number of people who will like it goes way down. However, if they DO like it, odds are they will really, REALLY like it. So who is the writing for? A broad base of "I like this" readers, or a thinner slice of "I love this" readers?

    I don't read romance novels myself, but I know that different imprints specialize somewhat. One series will have lots of graphic sex scenes, others keep it discreet and off the page. The rest of the plots and characters may be genre-adherent, but they tailor the sex to certain market segments. This is easier for an imprint to do than for an individual author who wants as big an audience as possible.

    Or do we? Do we want BIG audiences or do we want DEVOTED audiences? Ideally, we'd have both, but if you have to choose? Tastes in sex are individualistic and potentially polarizing. Is it any wonder that the writing of it is as well?

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  10. First, I must say, I didn't read the story. But, this isn't really a discussion just about your story, so I thought I'd jump in.

    I guess my big question is, if you don't read Romance, why try and write it? I like to experiment with writing from different POV's-male, female, protag, antag, victim, stalker. But I stay mostly in the dark side of fiction, sometimes leaning toward horror or paranormal, sometimes just slice-of-life. The reason is because that's what I enjoy reading. Those are the areas I'm comfortable with. I don't read sci-fi or steampunk so I wouldn't try to write that unless I had read a little of it and knew what I was getting into because you not only have to think about what "your" readers would like and expect, but what readers of that genre would like and expect.

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  11. Danni: if you don't read Romance, why try and write it? Ah, sorry for the misunderstanding. I don't intend to write Romance, per se, but in the novels I've written (or tried to write), sex scenes are an option. I don't know if I write such scenes well or not. I don't do them very often, so I have a lot less practice at them than, say, fight scenes or people-sitting-around-talking scenes. Since I would need to decide how much sex to have in any book, and specifically what *kind*, I wanted the practice and some feedback. Intense, raw and explicit? Demure, discreet and off the page?

    I haven't read Romance, but in lots of horror, lit fic, action/adventure, science fiction, etc., there's plenty of sex. I was using Romance as an archetype of how it's handled differently, based on audience expectation.

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  12. Ah, okay. I read a lot of urban fantasy which crosses the paranormal romance line quite often. If you'd like feedback or help, let me know.

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  13. As a friend of my is fond of pointing out: the only difference between art and pornography is the lighting. I think there is definitely a line there, but I think placement is wholly dependant on the reader. I didn't think it was over the line, but I know I'm not the standard audience member either.

    I think the question as to whether or not to include the scene is one of need. If you can cut it and there's no noticeable difference or depreciation in your novel, than why include it?

    I know your goal with Friday Flash is to better yourself as a writer in all aspects and I think you succeeded here. Because even if you don't need the entire scene int he novel, you can have the start, or the end, and show what's going on without penetrating the subject too deeply. (Sorry, literally could *not* resist.)

    Thanks again for the story and your thoughtful words after.

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  14. How weird. Too far over the line between erotica and pornography? I didn't see it as either. It was a thriller, surely. Some kind of uneasy soft horror. It had punch. It wasn't too far anyway. I'm *glad* you posted it, and if my work computer hadn't had a heart attack when I tried to post a comment, I would have said so at the time.

    I'm disgusted that you were told it was "too" anything.

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