Cheers! And might I say, what a relief!!!
I was becoming concerned that my future children and grandchildren would not be able to contribute part of their earnings to enable ridiculously lavish lifestyles for those of sufficiently high-borne blood who don't really do anything.
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DXM
Over 90 days ago
Straight Male, 154
United States
Forum
Active Ink Slinger
Wow, what a great thread this is. Other than underscoring everything MorganHawke said, my two cents here from here and there:
CumGirl: The Bartelby point is an excellent one, and it's one that used to bug me a lot. I reread it last summer for the first time since high school, and it worked better for me this time round. The difference for for me was that before I thought of it as a story about Bartelby and his odd "I would prefer not to" quirk. Now when I read it I view it as a story about the actual narrator, whose fascination with Bartelby subtly paints a picture of a man on the verge of becoming aware of the pointlessness of his life's drudgery, but who tragically never quite gets there. I don't mean to suggest that this is what Melville had meant, but I found it worked as a more complete tale when I viewed it as such. And I loved that I had to take the time and bandwidth to puzzle out the right interpretation for me. For whatever that's worth.
bustyreadhead: I think a lot of writers do in fact start from the ending. But a lot of times on your path back to your original point, you find you've ended up somewhere entirely different.
Once again, this is just a great thread.
CumGirl: The Bartelby point is an excellent one, and it's one that used to bug me a lot. I reread it last summer for the first time since high school, and it worked better for me this time round. The difference for for me was that before I thought of it as a story about Bartelby and his odd "I would prefer not to" quirk. Now when I read it I view it as a story about the actual narrator, whose fascination with Bartelby subtly paints a picture of a man on the verge of becoming aware of the pointlessness of his life's drudgery, but who tragically never quite gets there. I don't mean to suggest that this is what Melville had meant, but I found it worked as a more complete tale when I viewed it as such. And I loved that I had to take the time and bandwidth to puzzle out the right interpretation for me. For whatever that's worth.
bustyreadhead: I think a lot of writers do in fact start from the ending. But a lot of times on your path back to your original point, you find you've ended up somewhere entirely different.
Once again, this is just a great thread.
Active Ink Slinger
I've convinced a woman who wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to try, but I haven't (and don't think I'd try) to convince a woman that didn't find the idea appealing.The thought of doing something sexual with a lover that just wasn't into the thing we were doing doesn't seem particularly fun.
Active Ink Slinger
Quote by Dancing_Doll
I agree, it's very difficult to pull off well.
I've written in third person from the perspective of a male character a couple of times and found that I enjoyed it. Then I decided to try something as 'male, first person' thinking it wouldn't be that much more challenging and I just got totally stumped. Creating and sustaining a credible inner dialogue/voice as the opposite gender for an entire story isn't nearly as easy as one might think.
There are some very talented authors that have done it and been successful with it though. The Gangster's Girl by LadyX is a shining example.
It's funny, with your skill level I wouldn't have pegged you as one to be stumped. Which just shows, I guess, that you can be a phenomenal writer and it can still be difficult to pull off well.
Active Ink Slinger
I'm not sure that the author's gender matters at all in theory. Certainly it doesn't when the author writes from the his or her own gender POV.
However, I do think that writing compelling fiction from the opposite sex's POV in any genre is deceptively difficult, and it takes a fair amount of both skill and empathy to pull off. A lot of writers (even best selling ones) just push ahead with their own thoughts, wishes and desires and simply attach an opposite-sex name to it; this can make the work feel stilted.
We erotica dabblers are the worst at this. I find it jarring if I'm reading an exciting and promising plot setup that, for example, has a nineteen year old college freshman who talks about her "boobies" and how all the pledges in the sorority she wants to join take their shirts off the night they meet to feel one another's "boobies." It's hard to be the reader and not immediately go from a place of "oh, we're looking at things from a young college-age woman's POV" to "we're looking at things from the POV of a man who's not spent much time in actual sororities."
It can be done, of course; many writers (including some that I am discovering here at Lush) write from the other gender's POV and create inspiring things of beauty; but it is really, really hard to pull off.
However, I do think that writing compelling fiction from the opposite sex's POV in any genre is deceptively difficult, and it takes a fair amount of both skill and empathy to pull off. A lot of writers (even best selling ones) just push ahead with their own thoughts, wishes and desires and simply attach an opposite-sex name to it; this can make the work feel stilted.
We erotica dabblers are the worst at this. I find it jarring if I'm reading an exciting and promising plot setup that, for example, has a nineteen year old college freshman who talks about her "boobies" and how all the pledges in the sorority she wants to join take their shirts off the night they meet to feel one another's "boobies." It's hard to be the reader and not immediately go from a place of "oh, we're looking at things from a young college-age woman's POV" to "we're looking at things from the POV of a man who's not spent much time in actual sororities."
It can be done, of course; many writers (including some that I am discovering here at Lush) write from the other gender's POV and create inspiring things of beauty; but it is really, really hard to pull off.
Active Ink Slinger
Not sure I could narrow down to one. But among the contenders competing for the title:
* Seeing your lovers face when she reaches orgasm
* That sound that escapes from a woman's lips when you first enter her
* Great, great eye contact
* Being awakened by your lover for the single purpose of pleasuring her
Those are all pretty damn high on my list (which, I have to say, is itself a pretty long fucking list.) I'd be hard pressed to say why these more than others. Whatever it is, they touch something very deep and primal that is hardwired into me.
* Seeing your lovers face when she reaches orgasm
* That sound that escapes from a woman's lips when you first enter her
* Great, great eye contact
* Being awakened by your lover for the single purpose of pleasuring her
Those are all pretty damn high on my list (which, I have to say, is itself a pretty long fucking list.) I'd be hard pressed to say why these more than others. Whatever it is, they touch something very deep and primal that is hardwired into me.