Why do you write?
Why does the lungfish loll about in the mud?
I’ve reevaluated my motives for writing fiction a lot since I started. Because fiction writing is new to me (very).
As of today, anyway, I will say that I’m clearly NOT in this to claw my way to the top of some pile, or to beat out someone for a ranking or claim-to-fame or to make pots of money. That much I’m clear on. So I’ll say that I write fiction because I … sometimes enjoy it, sort of.
But writing is about a lot of other things for me, too, that I can’t say are strictly “enjoyable.” It’s a lifelong drive in me. I’ve always written, since I could hold a crayon. I have a drive to create, express, engage, and that exists in a lot of different areas in my life. Artistic endeavors of all kinds. So writing is a weird sort of therapy for me, too, sometimes.
My blogposts? Venn diagrams and pie charts and captions about guys’ dicks (Banana Guys)? But it’s all writing, right? I probably should write my own odd brand of essay-babble-memoir-humor book, but the market for that is especially vicious, I think. Wait, the market for smut is pretty competitive too, from what I’ve seen. Jesus.
Am I supposed to be talking about writing spanking fiction right now? [Insert something here about how I find writing erotic fiction empowering or an integral part of my personal growth.] Nah, It’s not a cure for cancer. For me this stuff is like a bag of popcorn at a movie. Light extemporanea. I’d love to say this is important work that I do, and I can’t wait to label my stuff literary erotica or literary erotic fiction, but I can sense the eyerolling from here so I’ll hold off.
What's your desert-island fantasy? (If you were marooned on a desert-island with only a single fantasy to get off to for the rest of your life, what would you choose?)
Desert island, I always think of Swept Away, the Lina Wertmuller film, not the Madonna abomination. Giancarlo, oh lordy, he was so damned hot and Dommy in that.
OK, desert-island fantasy, hmm. I gave this some thought overnight and came back here. And honestly I can’t pick one fantasy because mine change all the time. They really do. I get into something for a while and then I get bored with it and have to change things up. Add, subtract, hello we are detouring to Planet WTF briefly. What got me hot and bothered last year doesn’t work now.
When I first started reading erotica, the stuff I liked, well, I couldn’t even re-read a lot of it now. It wouldn’t hold my, uh, attention, I don’t think. But in the interest of not being an obtuse interviewee, I’ll say the baseline fantasy stuff for me is generally anything with D/s, anal, hard “use” of a submissive. My preference is for hetero-oriented D/s, darker and heavier BDSM, but of course YMMV (and let’s hope it does because if we all had the exact same fantasies GOOD GOD how boring would that be?).
Do you think of BDSM and/or spankophilia as a practice or as an orientation, or as something else, and what does your answer mean to you?
I think of it as a hobby more than a “lifestyle.” Lifestyle makes me think of healthy snacks and condoms and retirement communities. Not in that order.
I started back in the early to mid 90s. Yes I am real and that’s one big difference between me and some authors, too. I may be new to fiction but I’m not new to kink (real life). At all. I know we all have to start somewhere and there’s no end to exploration and learning, so I try not to judge. But part of me thinks it’s funny that theory-only or “fiction-only” authors of kinky-ass smut (as I call it) are far more successful at the business (and it IS a business) than people who are real in it. Irony there. And reviews saying something doesn’t sound realistic or safe make me laugh too. Not at of it is, of course, but I know which parts are and which aren’t and I laugh a lot, I’ll leave it at that. Heh.
Who's a favorite character from your own work, and why?
Tara Febreze from Bound for Disappointment. She’s just fun, isn’t she? Surely she is not based at all on anyone real. Not at all. And I love her.
I have a WIP, though -- a serious BDSM erotic romance -- and right now she’s definitely my favorite character. Smart, tough, no-BS, submissive but not a doormat, etc. If you’re keeping score at home, I’ve shelved “The Limits of Her Submission” for now. Lost interest. Look, something shiny!
Who's a favorite character from someone else's work (erotic or non-erotic) and why?
Why, any and all of Emily Tilton’s characters, of course! Snort.
I am a huge fangurl of BG Harlen’s Break Her (no, really Sheri?!). I loved both the main characters in that story. The female lead is just so totally kick-ass. The male lead, such a cold brute, but so fascinating. It worked for me. I know it wasn’t everyone’s cuppa but it worked for me, I could not turn the pages fast enough. I rarely say that about any book.
Other memorable characters for me, Marla Singer in Fight Club, who is actually a strong woman. I like strong and quirky, I guess. Scarlett O’Hara. Oh! And Tara Febreze! She may be a submissive but the woman knows how to wield a chainsaw. And did I just mention Scarlett O’Hara and Tara Febreze in the same sentence? I bloody well did. Hello, ego spill on aisle four. Ego spill on aisle four. We have containment.
Thanks, Em, for having me! You’ll never work in this town again. Hey am I supposed to plug a book or something at the end here? I could do that. Buy Emily’s books, damn you, people! OK I think I’ll just thank the Academy and start walking off stage going the wrong direction and then that helpful usher guy walks up fast and grabs me by the arm and jerks me in the other direction.
Shhh! Sheri is up to something (look at the banner, there, when you click on the link)!
I’ve reevaluated my motives for writing fiction a lot since I started. Because fiction writing is new to me (very).
As of today, anyway, I will say that I’m clearly NOT in this to claw my way to the top of some pile, or to beat out someone for a ranking or claim-to-fame or to make pots of money. That much I’m clear on. So I’ll say that I write fiction because I … sometimes enjoy it, sort of.
But writing is about a lot of other things for me, too, that I can’t say are strictly “enjoyable.” It’s a lifelong drive in me. I’ve always written, since I could hold a crayon. I have a drive to create, express, engage, and that exists in a lot of different areas in my life. Artistic endeavors of all kinds. So writing is a weird sort of therapy for me, too, sometimes.
My blogposts? Venn diagrams and pie charts and captions about guys’ dicks (Banana Guys)? But it’s all writing, right? I probably should write my own odd brand of essay-babble-memoir-humor book, but the market for that is especially vicious, I think. Wait, the market for smut is pretty competitive too, from what I’ve seen. Jesus.
Am I supposed to be talking about writing spanking fiction right now? [Insert something here about how I find writing erotic fiction empowering or an integral part of my personal growth.] Nah, It’s not a cure for cancer. For me this stuff is like a bag of popcorn at a movie. Light extemporanea. I’d love to say this is important work that I do, and I can’t wait to label my stuff literary erotica or literary erotic fiction, but I can sense the eyerolling from here so I’ll hold off.
What's your desert-island fantasy? (If you were marooned on a desert-island with only a single fantasy to get off to for the rest of your life, what would you choose?)
Desert island, I always think of Swept Away, the Lina Wertmuller film, not the Madonna abomination. Giancarlo, oh lordy, he was so damned hot and Dommy in that.
OK, desert-island fantasy, hmm. I gave this some thought overnight and came back here. And honestly I can’t pick one fantasy because mine change all the time. They really do. I get into something for a while and then I get bored with it and have to change things up. Add, subtract, hello we are detouring to Planet WTF briefly. What got me hot and bothered last year doesn’t work now.
When I first started reading erotica, the stuff I liked, well, I couldn’t even re-read a lot of it now. It wouldn’t hold my, uh, attention, I don’t think. But in the interest of not being an obtuse interviewee, I’ll say the baseline fantasy stuff for me is generally anything with D/s, anal, hard “use” of a submissive. My preference is for hetero-oriented D/s, darker and heavier BDSM, but of course YMMV (and let’s hope it does because if we all had the exact same fantasies GOOD GOD how boring would that be?).
Do you think of BDSM and/or spankophilia as a practice or as an orientation, or as something else, and what does your answer mean to you?
I think of it as a hobby more than a “lifestyle.” Lifestyle makes me think of healthy snacks and condoms and retirement communities. Not in that order.
I started back in the early to mid 90s. Yes I am real and that’s one big difference between me and some authors, too. I may be new to fiction but I’m not new to kink (real life). At all. I know we all have to start somewhere and there’s no end to exploration and learning, so I try not to judge. But part of me thinks it’s funny that theory-only or “fiction-only” authors of kinky-ass smut (as I call it) are far more successful at the business (and it IS a business) than people who are real in it. Irony there. And reviews saying something doesn’t sound realistic or safe make me laugh too. Not at of it is, of course, but I know which parts are and which aren’t and I laugh a lot, I’ll leave it at that. Heh.
Who's a favorite character from your own work, and why?
Tara Febreze from Bound for Disappointment. She’s just fun, isn’t she? Surely she is not based at all on anyone real. Not at all. And I love her.
I have a WIP, though -- a serious BDSM erotic romance -- and right now she’s definitely my favorite character. Smart, tough, no-BS, submissive but not a doormat, etc. If you’re keeping score at home, I’ve shelved “The Limits of Her Submission” for now. Lost interest. Look, something shiny!
Who's a favorite character from someone else's work (erotic or non-erotic) and why?
Why, any and all of Emily Tilton’s characters, of course! Snort.
I am a huge fangurl of BG Harlen’s Break Her (no, really Sheri?!). I loved both the main characters in that story. The female lead is just so totally kick-ass. The male lead, such a cold brute, but so fascinating. It worked for me. I know it wasn’t everyone’s cuppa but it worked for me, I could not turn the pages fast enough. I rarely say that about any book.
Other memorable characters for me, Marla Singer in Fight Club, who is actually a strong woman. I like strong and quirky, I guess. Scarlett O’Hara. Oh! And Tara Febreze! She may be a submissive but the woman knows how to wield a chainsaw. And did I just mention Scarlett O’Hara and Tara Febreze in the same sentence? I bloody well did. Hello, ego spill on aisle four. Ego spill on aisle four. We have containment.
Thanks, Em, for having me! You’ll never work in this town again. Hey am I supposed to plug a book or something at the end here? I could do that. Buy Emily’s books, damn you, people! OK I think I’ll just thank the Academy and start walking off stage going the wrong direction and then that helpful usher guy walks up fast and grabs me by the arm and jerks me in the other direction.
Shhh! Sheri is up to something (look at the banner, there, when you click on the link)!
I am DYING here -- that you called me THE BANANA GUY LADY. I'm sort of like the Log Lady from "Twin Peaks," so it's close enough. The Starbucks employees are looking at me, right now, all, "WTF? Anne?" (They call me Anne because I told them that's my name.) "You usually handle the eight-shot latte with the venti iced-coffee-no-sugar chaser just fine. What's different about today?"
ReplyDeleteThanks again, Em, for letting me besmirch your fine establishment here with my whatever-the-fuck it is that I do. Gotta get back a blog post I'm writing. The phrase "cow with mud boogers in its nose" is in it somewhere. Needs work.
You're welcome, Sheri!
DeleteI think you should embrace the title 'Banana Guy Lady' whole-heartedly. Suits you. Although it sounds a bit like a job title, like maybe you deliver banana guys door-to-door. Which would be a great line of work. I'd like to place an order for Banana Guy number 1, please.
ReplyDeleteEtta, you know I have to break into song now. "Yes we have some bananas. We have some bananas today!" Everyone wants that original Banana Guy, the one with the cane in the leather and riding breeches or whatever the hell he's in. Really, WHO IS THAT GUY? How can we find him? I would like to say "hello" to him. With my tongue. Whoops, said that out loud didn't I?
Delete