 |
|
This week we have had not one but two romance blogs start talking about why there is so little f/f romance about. And in both cases, the usual thing has come up with some people claiming that the only conceivable reason why straight women won't read f/f is because they are terrified that they will like it and this will make them lesbians. Even after other women have posted to the thread that it's because guys turn them on and women don't, and thus f/f is *boring* if they're only reading it for the porn. Not repellent. Boring.
This... is annoying me. Because I'm one of the women who finds f/f boring if I'm only reading it for the porn. I'm Kinsey 0. I don't find women's bodies disgusting. I just don't find them a turn-on. So many books, so little time, and why would I want to waste time reading about women slapping their bits together when I could be spending it reading about men doing likewise?
And the theory that bi and lesbian women liking m/m is proof that we've all internalised hatred of women's bodies doesn't wash either. There are *other* reasons for women to find m/m more interesting to read than f/f, regardless of their personal sexual orientation, and for some it's all about the hurt/comfort and emo!porn. Women are allowed to express love and fear and other squidgy emotions, and men aren't. So it's fun to watch them being forced to open up and deal with those emotions. For many readers that's part of the point of the romance genre in the first place. M/m gives you double the man-angst for your money, while f/f gives you none. I'll point here at my Girls who like boys who do boys essay and its comment thread for a more detailed discussion of this and other reasons for the appeal of m/m.
Which isn't to say that I don't read f/f stories. I do. I've read some superb f/f fanfic, and published some of it in my zine series.[*] But what I'm reading there is generally not PlotWhatPlot. A lot of commercial f/f is PWP, or at least doesn't have any other story elements that are sufficiently interesting to me personally to make up for my lack of interest in the sex scenes. This isn't just because it's f/f -- I react the same way to m/f contemporary romance. I generally don't read either unless I have specific recommendations from people I trust, because prior experience suggests that it is far more likely to be a boring waste of my time or an active wallbanger than something I'll really enjoy.
Yes, some women do indeed read m/m but steer clear of f/f because they're homophobic, or because of internalised misogynism. But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and a liking for real phalluses is just a liking for cock.
[*] I'm not linking to examples because the very thing that makes them good reads for me means that they may not work for people not familiar with the fandom.
ETA: I'm using "porn" here in the fanfic/sf fannish sense, which doesn't have the derogatory connotations that it does in romance fandom. Given last week's explosions in the romance blogsphere about the word, I thought I'd better clarify.
28 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
Snagged from the Broad Universe mailing list -- Anne Wilkes is putting together a database of places to request reviews of your sf:
http://wilkes.zftp.com/ReviewPlaces.html
Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
|
| 2008-05-02 09:29 |
| Scalzi talks about self-publishing, so I do as well |
| Public |
| money, writing |
|
Scalzi has a good post up about going with a publisher versus self-publishing. One of the things he addresses is the idea that self-publishing is good because you get to keep 100% of the money. As he explains in very clear fashion, this is simply not true. There are costs involved in putting out a professional product and getting it sold to the public at large, and if you're the publisher, you'll be paying them.
This is a conversation I get to have every so often. I'm epublished, and a lot of people think that epublishing must have very low costs because you don't have to pay to print, store and ship physical copies. Thus, the suggestion goes, I should self-publish and get 100% of the cover price instead of 35%.
Well, no. Because the cost of creating and handling the physical item is a relatively small fraction of the cost of bringing that book to market. Good cover art costs money. Good editing costs money. These and other things are necessary if you want people to look at the first book, and then to buy more books. Running a commercial website costs money as well.
And then there's something that you can't measure in cold hard cash, but that is vitally important -- reputation. My publisher has a good reputation in its own little niche. Readers know that they can try a new author, and have a decent chance of getting a book they'll enjoy. A book that has had someone other than the author's friends look at it and say, "Yes, this is competently written," and then work on it with the author to make it even better. That's why I can put out my next book through them and reasonably expect it to sell a thousand or so copies over the course of the initial two year contract, without having to spend large amounts of my own time and money trying to get people to look at the book.
A thousand copies doesn't sound much by the standards of the mass market paperback market, but it is still well above the average sales for a self-published book (around 75-150 copies for print books from the major POD vanity presses, by their own publicly stated figures on titles and total copies). Maybe I could do better than average, especially as I have an established fanbase now. But really, I'd rather take my 35% on 1000 copies and let my publisher do the hard work of publishing it. I've *done* my stint at being a publisher, back in my zine days, and while I got a lot of enjoyment out of it I'd rather spend my time writing. If I feel the urge to scratch that itch again, it'll be on a project that doesn't fit the commercial needs of my publisher.
2 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
|
| 2008-04-30 12:15 |
| Scalzi's meme: Owning my one star reviews |
| Public |
| reviews, writing |
|
John Scalzi has started a new game for writers -- posting choice excerpts from their favourite one star reviews of their books on Amazon. Initial post here:
http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=663
with the follow-up here:
http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=685
Why? Because we can. And because grown-ups can handle getting bad reviews. Since I'm epublished, I've only got the one book available on Amazon (not counting a couple of anthologies that include a short story of mine), and that book has only the one bad review. It so happens that the review in question is a good example of what I was saying last week about even a bad review can sell a book to a reader with different tastes. Here's an excerpt:
If you're a misanthropic, gay, IT geek with a chip on your shoulder, you might enjoy this book. Otherwise, I'd get something else. Now, he was being snarky. But the review he wrote has almost certainly sold a few copies to people who thought that a book with a misanthropic gay geek as hero sounded mighty fine. So although I wince every time I read that review, I have no problem at all with the guy having posted it. It's a competent review that's all about the book and not about me. [I will copy-and-paste something Charlie Stross said when he posted his: "(NB: please don't contact Amazon about these reviews, or pester the reviewers. (I've deliberately left their names off in order to make it harder to do that.) They're perfectly entitled to their opinions; as every novelist learns very early on, whatever you write, you can guarantee that at least 20% of the population will hate it. If you disagree with them, that's your problem, not theirs. I'm posting this for my own amusement, and because I happen to agree with John: "Own your one-star reviews, man. And then, you know. Get past them. If you’re lucky, some of them might actually be fun to read.")"]
8 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
I'd been meaning to do an "unsolicited advice" post on the subject of how to cope with bad reviews, but hadn't got to it in the aftermath of Eastercon. And then a week or so ago an enormous blogstorm erupted over one author taking bad reviews far too seriously, giving an example of authors behaving very badly indeed. It's a *very* touchy subject at the moment, so I'm simply going to pull up a comment that I posted at Dear Author back in January, in a completely different discussion.
On the topic of less-than-rave reviews, I don’t like getting them any more than the next author does. But one of the useful bits of advice I’ve had out of hanging around more experienced writers is this:
There is no book written that is going to appeal to everyone who reads it, because people have different tastes. So if your book reaches a wide audience, sooner or later it’s going to get a bad review, no matter how good a book it is. If it reaches a really wide audience, it’s going to get the sort of review that strips paint from walls. The thing to worry about is when you *don’t* get any bad reviews — because it means that not many people have read the book.
The duelling reviews on Dear Author and other sites occasionally demonstrate the truth of that. What one reviewer adores, another loathes, and sometimes for exactly the same reason. Bad reviews are part of the job description. You don’t have to learn to like them, but you do have to learn to live with them. And an honest review of the book isn’t an attack on the author, even if the reviewer didn’t like the book. A thumbs-down review may help sell the book to someone with different tastes, if the reviewer sets out clearly why the book didn’t work for her. And I said something along the same lines a year ago in a comment on an EREC thread. I can't even remember now what outbreak of angst we were referring to, because authors regularly get in a public snit about less than glowing reviews. Bad reviews hurt. But they're part of the job. And yes, I put my money, or at least my review copies, where my mouth is. I don't send out many review copies, because my publisher handles the routine review copies, including all the ones sent to the fluff review sites. But the few that *I* send out go to reviewers who are willing to say that they didn't like a book and why they didn't like it. Reviewers like Mrs Giggles, or Jan (the manga reviewer) at Dear Author. I know what sort of reviews I take seriously when I'm looking at reviews with my reader hat on, and that's the sort of review I want for one of my books, even if it means taking the risk that they'll shred it.
4 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
You might remember that back in January there was uproar in the romance blogosphere when major author Cassie Edwards was shown to have engaged in extensive plagiarism of other people's work, both non-fiction and fiction. The initial reaction of her publishers was to ignore this, but now one publisher has announced that they will no longer be publishing her books. Full details in the AP report, but the meat is this:
"Signet has conducted an extensive review of all its Cassie Edwards novels and due to irreconcilable editorial differences, Ms. Edwards and Signet have mutually agreed to part ways," the publisher said in a statement Friday.
"Cassie Edwards novels will no longer be published with Signet Books. All rights to Ms. Edwards' previously published Signet books have reverted to the author."
Jane of the blog Dear Author has written a letter to Signet thanking them for taking this situation seriously. It's worth taking a moment to tell Signet that their action has been appreciated.
5 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
Or, "Post in haste, repent at leisure." One of the most useful pieces of advice I was ever given about the online world was back when I was a wee newbie; I was told not to post in anger. Write it if I must, but then leave it. For at least ten minutes, preferably overnight. Come back and look at it when calmed down, and ask myself, "Do I really want to send that?"
( there is no such thing as 'delete all copies' on the internet )
10 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
Full details of the Loose Id short story competition are now up at their website: http://www.loose-id.com/marchmadness.aspx
5000-7,000 words erotic romance, all genres and orientations (including poly), closing date 1 March.
Prizes are publishing contracts for the top two entries, VIP club membership or gift certificates for the semi-finalists, and smaller gift certificates for the quarter-finalists. Now, I don't go for slushpiles dressed up as contests, but in this case the contest really does give you something you won't get simply by submitting over the transom, which is the chance to cold-submit a short story -- Loose Id does not normally accept short stories except from authors it already publishes in novella/novel length, and not many of those.
2 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
|
| 2008-02-13 09:24 |
| Navel-gazing on the Evil Ex in romance |
| Public |
| process, writing |
|
There's an interesting discussion at Smart Bitches Trashy Books about the way in which romance novels almost always show the hero's ex as an evil and/or crazy bitch. As Cat Marsters said, if she's that horrible, why did he get involved with her in the first place? Which set me to navel-gazing, because that's precisely why the Evil Ex in one of my books got a serious makeover.
Dolphin Dreams opens with Ye Hero badly traumatised by the recent bad break-up with his boyfriend. Bad as in discovering that Boyfriend is a married man and he's the bit on the side. Bad as in being told that as a submissive he shouldn't be worried about discovering he's lower in the pecking order. As I started writing the story, Evil Ex was a complete bastard. But three or four chapters in, I didn't find this convincing. My hero's a smart guy, solvent, good self-esteem. He doesn't have trouble finding boyfriends. He's a submissive in the bedroom, but that's because he likes to be submissive in the bedroom. He doesn't take any nonsense off people when he's running his business. Why would he have got involved with this dickhead in the first place?
There are a couple of potential answers to that. One is that the Evil Ex really is a self-centred bastard, but gives a good first impression. By the time his true qualities surface, Stockholm Syndrome has set in, and it takes the shock of discovering that he's married to break Hero loose.
The other is that Evil Ex really does have good qualities, but is behaving badly because of the circumstances he finds himself in. And that's the one I went with. The Hero has good reason to be angry and hurt, but that also means that at the start of the book he's seeing the ex in the worst possible light. As he starts to recover, partly because he's forming a new relationship, he's able to get some perspective. He stops blaming himself for getting involved with the ex in the first place. When the ex finally shows up in person, it isn't to provide the threat to the new relationship.
Obviously I'm biased. But I think that the book is better for it, that there is more depth to the storyline because I asked myself "Why the hell did he get involved with this guy in the first place?" Evil Ex is no longer a stock character, an excuse to get the ball rolling, but someone with a story of his own. Evil Exes can be very useful plot devices, but they need to be convincing as a potential partner, or the reader is going to start thinking the Hero(ine) is Too Stupid To Live for getting involved with them in the first place. And TSTL leads to the Eight Deadly Words -- "I don't _care_ *what* happens to these people!"
10 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
|
| 2008-01-29 14:50 |
| 300 words a day... |
| Public |
| writing |
|
I don't like writing a story out of order, but needs must. I've been *stuck* on the last segment of the Lord and Master sequel set for the last month. I know what the plot is, but I can't quite get a handle on writing it, partly because the villain is still cardboard. He's a jerk, but right now he's an unbelievable jerk, to me at least. So I've given in, and started writing the scene where Steven has removed himself from the temptation to take a swing at Brother-in-law-from-hell, but is still Not Dealing Well with being trapped at a family New Year's Eve party. 350 words last night, 300 before lunch today, so I think I'm just going to have keep writing this chunk and see if that gets me into the flow enough that I can go back and fill in the rest.
I could submit just the two finished stories if I really had to, because together they're over the minimum word count for Loose Id novellas. But I'm going to keep wrestling with this one for a while, because I planned the trio as a story arc, and there are hooks for the third in the first two; plus an overall resolution for the arc in the third, even though the first two work as standalones.
Meh. I'll get over it in a few days, but there are times when I wonder why I bother, and this is one of them. I should go and read one of those books I bought yesterday.
2 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
|
|
Conversation with the genre -- plagiarism, allusion, and intertextuality
An extensive discussion about plagiarism has been going on in some of the romance blogs over the last few weeks. One thread in the discussion has been about the difference between allusion and plagiarism. Why is one acceptable and the other not, and what is the difference between them? After all, both involve the use of someone else's work, even to the extent of word-for-word copying.
For me, the difference between the two is very simple in theory, even if in practice it's not always possible for a reader to be certain what an author had in mind. If your intent as an author is that your audience should recognise the work you're quoting, or at the very least realise that it's intended as a reference to someone else's work, you're making an allusion. If you are hoping that they won't notice that it's not your own words, that's plagiarism. For this is the key part of what plagiarism is -- that you are taking the credit for work that was in fact done by someone else.
( detailed discussion, with examples )
Perhaps the simplest test of all, if you're a writer wondering whether what you want to do is on the wrong side of the line: ask yourself how you would feel about someone doing to your work what you're proposing to do to someone else's. And be honest with your answer.
My thanks to the people who looked over the draft of this post and made helpful comments.
4 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
|
|
Interesting item picked up from the Broad Universe list, that will be of interest to readers, writers and artists: Anthology Builder. This is a specialist POD publisher which uses POD technology to allow readers to put together their own choice of short stories and novellas from those on offer, and get a printed anthology. They only offer reprints from paying markets, so like Fictionwise they're using reprint status as a way of ensuring quality control on short stories.
They're offering a reader up to 350 pages per volume, at $14.95 plus shipping per book, so this is pitched at the higher end of the real price range for small press trade paperback, rather than being the inflated cover prices you see on stealth vanity presses. From the author's perspective, they're offering a pro-rata share in a royalty of $1.50 minimum per book in return for non-exclusive print rights. Cover artists get $0.15 per copy used. Main drawback is that they hold payment until you've accumulated at least $20.
Whether this will come to anything, I don't know. But on a quick skim I saw nothing obviously bad save for that minimum payout, and they're offering a niche service that could actually be useful to readers, at a price that reflects the market. There are reprints from respectable markets in the catalogue (mostly speculative fiction). Oh, and ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) frankwu is offering shiny cover art. :-) If you've got a suitable story that's sitting around doing nothing at the moment, it might be a fun thing to play with. Actually, when it's built up a bigger catalogue, I might well play with it as a reader...
It's very new, so not a huge selection yet, and heavily slanted to speculative fiction at the moment. They have a system for uploading public domain as well,which might be handy for those who'd like a nicely bound dead tree version of their favourite Project Gutenberg material.
One point for some of you -- the guidelines say "We regret that we do not accept erotica, nor stories with excessive violence or sexuality." Not sure where they draw the line there, given some of the stories you can get in specfic magazines, and that they've got one story which was first published in 1000delights. However, there's an LJ post addressing that, where about half way down it's explained that there will be another imprint opening up later which will be completely unrestricted. In other words, no quality control, no content restrictions. Pretty much like Lulu, only with the Anthology Builder tools to allow readers to assemble their choice of content, including non-fiction. I can see potential problems with that, but so long as it *is* like Lulu and not the pay-to-play places, I can see that being a useful service.
Their LiveJournal is here: http://community.livejournal.com/anthobuilder/
Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
|
| 2008-01-08 21:04 |
| Safe sex |
| Public |
| writing |
|
On having a bit of a catch-up on LJ after the enforced break, I find that someone on my flist has a good post about dangerous sex misinformation in fanfic. It applies to profic as well. (ETA: I didn't notice that the post was locked. My apologies to the poster for linking to a locked post [embarrassed], and the rest of you for mentioning something you can't see.)
Yes, it's fantasy, but it's still something a responsible author should think about. Of late I've been seeing a bit of the "but condoms just aren't sexy" excuse. To which I say, "try a bit harder". Yes, it's not always appropriate to the story. It may be set in a time period when no condom is realistic, or the characters may be the type not to use condoms even when it's a good idea. But if you think that it's just not sexy to mention condoms, remember that some of us are of an age and cultural background to find unprotected sex very unsexy indeed. Which can be part of the characterisation in itself, something I used in Lord and Master:
( explicit excerpt )
9 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
|
| 2007-12-18 14:39 |
| draft background information page for Lord and Master |
| Public |
| l&m, writing |
|
I've put up a draft of a background information page for Lord and Master. At the moment there are aren't any internal links to it on the site, as it's a draft, and I need to check with someone about something on the supplementary page. There *is* a supplementary page, with material that is a big fat spoiler for the book. Don't follow the link to the supplementary page if you haven't read the book and might do so in the future. Yes, esmeraldus_neo, this means you.
Any comments or questions about the page?
http://www.julesjones.com/fiction/background/lordandmaster1.html
I'll add a second LJ entry in case anyone wants to comment on the second page; please keep this thread spoiler-free.
Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
 |
| 2007-12-17 23:30 |
| And wordage done |
| Public |
| l&m, writing |
|
First draft of the middle story of the L&M sequel trio done, weighing in at 14 643 words.
I'm going to bed now...
6 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
|
| 2007-12-16 18:55 |
| Has it really been five years? |
| Public |
| fanfic, writing |
|
I thought earlier today that it was time I did something about uploading a few more stories to my fanfic site. The last zines I was published in came out over two years ago, so I don't need to worry about whether any of my stories are still under curfew, but I've been too busy to update the website for the last few months. So I pulled out the last couple of stories I wrote (both with predatrix).
The final versions of those files were saved on 16 December 2002. Five years ago today. That's how long it's been since I crossed over completely to original fic. Dear god, where did the time go?
Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
|
| 2007-11-26 17:37 |
| anthology cancellation |
| Public |
| writing |
|
At the beginning of this year, I sold a short story to an anthology of slash fanfic with the serial numbers filed off, to be published by a small press that intended to market the anthology to a fanfic audience. It was originally supposed to be printed in time for the press to take it to a major zine con in May. The book launch was delayed, with the promise that it would be ready for the next suitable con. That didn't happen either. Late last month the anthology was cancelled, in a manner that I consider less than professional.
I'm not going to name and shame the publisher in a public post (and I'd ask that those of you who know who the publisher is refrain from naming them in the comments thread). I understand very well the pressures that can lead to a zine editor taking their ball and going home; as some people on my flist can confirm, I have been that editor in the past. But I think there's a difference between cancelling a zine, and cancelling a commercial anthology. In the latter case, you're dealing with fiction that has a monetary value to the author. The manner in which the anthology was repeatedly delayed and then finally cancelled has led me to cross that publisher off my list for future submissions.
I've also removed references to the publisher from my website, because I know that my having submitted to that publisher may lead other authors to think that they must be okay. Let this be a warning -- don't assume that because a multi-published author has something with a publisher that the publisher must be a good one. It could be simply that there were no warning signs and some good ones when the author first submitted. Worse, it could be that the author was put in an awkward position when a friend asked for something to help get her new epub going (not happened to me yet, but I know of it happening to others). As the EREC gang will all tell you, what authors say in public is not necessarily what they'll tell you (even if only by lack of enthusiasm) if you email them privately to ask about a publisher.
7 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
Line-edits (all half dozen of them) done on Yule. lindsey_mullen has some further commentary on the cover art here:
http://lindsey_mullen.livejournal.com/1623.html
Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link
|
|
|
|
|