Literary Shmiterary, Peddle that Smut!

I have to say, it's one of my favorite topics to revisit...

It's hard to establish yourself as a serious author.  Even if humor is your genre, you ultimately want to be seen as one.  It's clearly not a literal term.  Lump it in with words like 'real' or 'dedicated' if you must, but what most of us want is to be visible.  We did the time and we want to share!

Writers perhaps are a dime a dozen.  We live in a time where everyone is 'working on a book' or dumping every errant thought into social media, touting how 'real' they are, one-HUNDRED, cutting-edge, no holds barred!  Only being bluntly honest sometimes has the effect of coming off as so much shallow bluster and bravado.  I'm not talking about writers here...

Whether you choose to go traditional, self-published, or a hybrid, this post is more aimed at the official act of considering your work ripe for a paid market.  Sure, there are also the web-published, 'read it for free, donate if you want' set and even as a published author, I went through the paces of setting up a Patreon.  Maybe you bought my work and you want to do more to help me achieve my writing and/or personal goals.  I certainly won't weigh in on the wisdom of being in the free market and still profiting off of what people think you are worth.  Takes plenty of balls, of the male or female variety, as well.

There's a certain amount of courage involved in setting a price tag on your skills as an artist.  It's a market that people feel most confident about haggling the cost.  People crowd the free book section of the internet or look for a pirated source, all too happy to tell you who does it better and that they can get it cheaper. Despite all that, there is still the stigma that it is somehow easier to work in an area you are passionate about.  Rather than seeing all of the blood, sweat, and tears that goes into painstakingly learning and mastering a skill, they see the few seconds, hours, days at most, spent looking at the results.  Even with my wearable crafts, the enjoyment or trend is usually temporary and often not equal to the quality or durability of the item.

We either follow the trends or ignore them and regardless of that choice, another set of obstacles is ready.  Follow the trends and you're a passionless wave-riding soul sucker out to make a quick buck, but ignore them and you're not business-savvy or you're trying too hard.  There's really a laundry list of accusations that you may deal with there...

Laying out some of the groundwork here, you'll see the tip of the iceberg in the hurdles to writing.  This brings me to my favorite topic: smut in literature.  If there is anything that brings more controversy to the table, it's the interesting and absurd comments that come from this one.  I personally enjoy that bit of liberation in my writing. And yes, admittedly it is much more prevalent a demand in the female audience.  I've discussed this with one of my best friends, that women are geared to get a lot more physical enjoyment from reading smut than in actual pornography sometimes.

This may be a little TMI for some of you, but let's inject some personal experience.  Because sometimes the more erotic elements DO get me a little hot and bothered, I have to be particularly dedicated to going back to edit it many, many times, regardless of whether I am in the mood to be hot and bothered again.  I think looking at it in my most frigid moments really helps me find the literary value past the gimmick though.  Now, if you're a lover of women, either as a woman or a man or some gender-queer variation, then you understand that one of the most necessary elements in our ability to enjoy sex isn't the orgasm; it's the foreplay.  It is not a purely physical state.  We often do derive this state through some visual enjoyment of our partner or some imagined partner, but there is a sort of mental collective that is often built solely on our ability to imagine what we want out of the experience.  It doesn't mean our lovers aren't necessary, if one is present, since there are many things that can be done that enhances what we think we want.  This concept tends to bother the control freaks that want to believe it's solely whatever they are doing that should initiate the pleasure.  However you want to look at it, I personally derive a sort of euphoria from the assistance of words in my imagination, either through my own expression or someone else's words.  I can easily derive similar experiences from porn or another medium, but the point is, women naturally have this built into them.  All too often I see men say that they just don't get it, and I could no more explain the exact biology of it than I can explain the chemistry of attraction.  Men CAN enjoy stimulation through literature and it's not because they are particularly feminine; it's because they have the vivid ability to physically enjoy a sort of voyeurism or placing themselves into the scenario.  Not everyone is capable of lucid dreaming or plagued with night terrors.  It's not something that is missing, it is just an added bonus.

Aside from the usual gripes of smut being trashy or the things I've discussed in previous posts, I also think it's a bit of a shame that it's been cited as a distraction or that regardless of the actual genre it comes off as filler.  While it's often seen as perfectly fine to drone on about cities and landscapes, in a way that often prevents the reader from filling in the blanks on their own, it's a whole other thing with sexual situations.  I currently write epic fantasy first and anything else is what I consider a secondary bonus.  I like to defend that it's just my preferred kind of filter.  There are often just moments where, in lieu of tedious descriptions, I think that the raw interactions between people are far more an exercise in character building.  This isn't always in the form of sex.  I don't write for hours and days just to lead them to the perfect place to fuck.  I mean, it's not unheard of and I wouldn't negatively judge someone for it, but in my case, I also get my lady-boners from building lush worlds and places and creating danger and suspense.  It just so happens that some of the rawest character traits are going to come from how people treat others when no one else is around.  It may seem like some attempt at rationalizing smut, but there's more than a visceral reason for why it is done, even though the visceral can be just as fun.  Like I've said before, I've written or edited sexual scenes that I either wasn't in the mood for or found personally disturbing. The best friend I mentioned before had written a disturbing scene involved blackmail and incest and I found it completely mesmerizing.  It wasn't because I have any love for either, it's because it was done with such calculation and suspense that I couldn't help but see the genius of it.  Sometimes authors hide some neat little tidbits in those dirty little places and wonder if someone is willing or able to dig them out.  Don't be so quick to shut it all down because you've been burned by those gimmicks.

That being said, I am in a wonderful group on FaceBook called Fantasy Faction.  Other than smut, the most controversial topic to follow is often finding that perfect book.  I'll repeat what I said on there: "Why on earth would you want a guarantee on a book?  Discovery and going in blind is part of the magic. Even if a book is hilariously bad, I might still finish it.  But guarantees and warnings? Pbbbbbbt. Get out."  There's quite a bit of dissent on authors choosing a genre that they don't believe fits the mold and I find it odd that there are quite a bit of people that worry about wasting their time when there are 'so many good books out there.'  Look, you will never, ever finish your TBR (to-be-read) list.  You will keep adding to it regardless. It will grow longer than the natural years you have on this earth if it isn't already.  It will compete with your curiosity about social media, texts from your friends and relatives, magazines at the check-out line, and so on.  You will read utter trash and discover hidden treasure.  Take a risk and buy the bad mystery books.  Regift it and tell them to do the same if they don't like it.  Let books find new homes and be someone else's sentimental find.  Don't discount the experience of leaving your comfort zone.

Read the smut.  Even I have been surprised about what some people come up with.  It's come a long way from being utterly trashy.  Hell, even utterly trashy can be a hell of a good read.  You don't have to be aroused.  Sometimes it's good for a laugh or a therapeutic eye roll or a nice shiver of revulsion.  I still believe that a reaction is the best part of the experience.

And may I reiterate that I do have plenty planned with zero smut.  It is also a lot of fun.  I don't purposely inject it where it doesn't fit.  Oh, dear gawd, what have I done...

EDIT: I'd like to add that my bit on how men and women experience sexual interest is a very generalized discussion based on women I've actually talked to and my own experience and intended to shed some light on the marketed targets for that kind of literature.  I'm not claiming to have incorporated studies or assume all people are sexual automatons that function the same way.  There are factors including preference that can change considerably-- preference, meaning physical limitations, sexual positions and motivations including mutual pleasure and power dynamics (who's on top, and so forth).  Because of how massively unique preference can be, I omitted quite a bit of what made me consider my words for this post.  I don't presume to know why most women agreed with me in discussion, but we also disagreed on things like penetration or stimulation of erogenous zones enough that it's moot for general discussion.  The simple fact is that it has become a market that targets women because women are the prevalent consumer, not because we're savvy to some biological secret that excludes men.  Someone in my position, who has often been told my hobbies are for boys or old ladies when I'm neither, would never seek to practice anything with the intent to exclude.

There is room for everyone in every genre and, while we often seek to find our audience, our own findings often come to generalizations.  I'm still writing books for me.  Not for genders or diversity or agendas.  It's still entertainment and a shitload of hard work.  This is just me getting the hang of marketing.