I have been writing seriously since fourth grade. My first "book" was completed my fifth grade year and was 100 pages. The story was about a girl that traveled back in time and sailed on the Santa Maria with Columbus. I even did my research to try to make it as accurate as possible. Even then I was drawn to the romantic notions and she secretly fell in love with a sailor on that ship, and was afraid to let him know she was a girl and confess her love. The point is that I have loved writing my whole life, and I've been told by many that I can spin a pretty decent tale.
With the ease of self publishing now it seems that everyone is jumping on the band wagon, and we're continually digging through filth to find our smut. I have read collections with some of the best smut out there and some of the worst filth. Regurgitated crap with no true story and no connection to characters or anything sexual. In fact that specific piece I am thinking of made so little sense I couldn't tell who the story teller was, what the premise was or where or when anything was taking place. One moment we were a girl talking about becoming a woman and the next we were a man helping a woman through labor. I didn't get it.
But then you read the pieces that are more art then writing.
Those pieces that connect you deeply to the characters you are reading about - that you laugh with and cry with and yearn to actually know. Smut doesn't often get there. I've read some of the best sellers out there, and go "why is this a best seller?" Some titles we'll never understand - they just have that magic, that desire to take the world by storm. I'm not even sure if their authors know what sort of magic they struck, but I think it has to do with art. In most cases when I read the author's interviews they talk about their personal draws to their characters. That they were pulled to the story and it was like it had to be told. Whether inspired by a dream or another story these pieces consume the author - dare I saw artist?
When you wake up every morning thinking about your characters, feeling their story, feeling their passions it helps you want to put it out in the best possible light.
As I celebrate my first year in the erotica section at Amazon and Barnes and Noble I'm drawn back to my very first piece with Brit and Isaac. The Binding, was one of my first erotic pieces, and the story of Brit and Isaac consumed me. Would it be considered art? As its author I am not capable of deciding that - but I do know that a year later I'm still proud of it, loving it and enjoying it.
Some pieces strike a cord in you - and that to me is what makes good art. I've read many that weren't "technically well written" that were fantastic stories, driving my emotions and pulling on my heart strings and to me that makes it good art.
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