Ah, the infamous
Saturday night “sex panel” at ConCarolinas. What a rollicking good time! I
don’t think there’s a huge privacy concern here, but I’m going to use first
name, last initial for the panelists.
Perhaps wisely,
the con staff decided to make this a 21+ panel, checking IDs at the door. I
don’t know who had to check James T’s ID, but I might have been quaking in my
boots. If I didn’t think he was a teddy bear in disguise ;)
Emily L, the
capable moderator, first asked about use of pen names: if so, why? She edited
erotica under a man’s name, because men don’t argue with men the way they do
with women. Tamsin S offered a funny story about choosing to use a pen name to
protect her family from any embarrassment, and her father promptly encouraging
his Bible study group to buy her first book. A couple of panelists were
concerned about their job security if they were known as erotica authors. And
Tyffani K said she was worried about what her more conservative friends would
think, until she reached a point where “I forgot why I cared” (to which the
whole room applauded).
Audience question
about copyright under two different names. Copyright registration is $35 per
piece, but copyright is self-defined as inherent in the “final product” of any
piece of art/writing.
One advantage of
working with a publisher is they will probably go to bat for you to help
protect copyright.
Discussion about
how to publish: Agent? Traditional publisher? E-pub?
Ellora’s Cave
doesn’t require an agent – direct submission
James’ refrain
for the panel was “The more dicks the merrier!”
Why are straight
women reading the preponderance of M/M (male/male) on the market?
Erotic manga,
“Yaoi” (“yow-ee”), very rich tradition, very popular in Japan, boy/boy
Women’s role in
erotica has traditionally been more empowering that in romance
There is a
certain fascination and appeal to the idea of having someone (a man) take care
of *everything* - Women are *tired*!
Sex can be realistic
or over-the-top porny sex – sex is supposed to be fun!
We don’t read
eroticism for realism!
Use poseable art
dolls to check body alignment, fit
Thomas Roche is a
great male, erotic writer
Ellora’s Cave has
a line, EC for Men
The most difficult
aspect of writing a sex scene is keeping it fresh and feeling original after
lots of scene
You don’t have to
one-up yourself in writing
Don’t have to
give all the detail; every time
Fade to black is
okay in erotica (sometimes)
Sweet/loving is
okay
You need an
emotional arc to engage your reader with the characters
At what point
does one or the other character freak out that sex is becoming love?
Humor is a great
aspect of sex
Great discussion
of identity exploration, transgender, asexual – these are voices often not
represented
Ze/Xe/They are
sometime preferred pronouns
“gender fluid”
Erotica is a safe
space to explore possibilities
Ursula LeGuin, Left Hand of Darkness
So the kicker of
the panel was a raffle for two large “goodie” baskets. Yes, I won one. Lots of
books, lots of goodies – most of them not even sexual, actually. And yes, there were a few
“toys” – one of which none of the panelists knew what to do with and asked me
to report in later. Let’s just say we called it the “pastry brush”. ;)
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Music
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Guitar
Adagios
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Time
writing
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~40 minutes
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June
word count
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2509
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