Noëlle’s Comments (group member since Sep 29, 2012)

Noëlle’s comments from the Connecting Readers and Writers group.

I hope this isn't against the rules to post here. I'm hosting a promotional book giveaway with the theme of strong female characters with that left open to interpretation, and no limitation on genres.

As of right now I have 13 authors on board offering 16 books, some of them signed print and some digital, as well as $45 in Amazon gift cards so far. Basically it's whatever each author wants to offer.

I'd love it if more authors could join us. We have the opportunity now for this to be hosted on a much larger site as well! Below is a link with more information. The more the merrier, and the more who can help spread the word and get eyes on everyone's books!

http://alysbcohen.wordpress.com/2013/...

It'll be easier of you contact me directly. I'm working really hard on this have have so many places to check back on and don't want to overlook anything. It's almost 3:30am and I'm still busting butt on this. Info in the link. I really think this could be a big thing for us Indie authors, though commercial authors are certainly welcome too! As I said, the more the merrier. :)

My first is a stand-alone that also sets up two more books. You do not have to read them all to still feel closure for the first book. My reasons for writing like this are that the story focuses on a victim of abuse who gets out, discovers her strengths, creates a career and life for herself, and ultimately finds the life that makes her completely happy. The adventures and challenges of this whole story wouldn't work well for one book unless it was 1200 pages. There are also supernatural elements and background to multiple characters that is important.

The other reason is that, as an indie author, I don't have scads of money to promote several books from scratch. I can build off the promotion for my first book, but really couldn't with a new story. I've spent nearly a year subtly and not-so-subtly promoting Sacred Blood, and it has taken a lot of time.

As a reader, I like fluff to be in one story, but for characters with bigger worlds, I want more. This doesn't mean drag every story out into a dozen books. Find a good stopping point where there is enough that I can start over and still find new things, but not so much that the thought of rereading it all in a month of overwhelming.

You may not realize this, but a lot of male writers are women using pen names. A critically acclaimed novel published a few months ago was written by a man, or so the world thought. Turned out it was JK Rowling.

Ask any man who his favorite female writer is, and he'll likely either say JK Rowling, or pause and try to think of any name. Ask a woman who who favorite male is, and she'll rattle one off. Women are more likely to read books by either a nam or a woman, but men are more likely to read books by men only.

I think women are more likely to "stop and ask for directions," so to speak, and go to conventions, whereas men are more likely to charge straight ahead without testing the water. In publishing, more male names will be on covers than there are male writers.

Who here is from the Bay Area and has ever been into the adventurous scene? Raise your hand.

*crickets*

I love Alan Moore. I have had a hankering to read Watchmen again, but our copy's in California. That novel was basically a storyboard for the film, except for the end. I actually like the film ending better. I'll look into the Lost Girls set.

Is the girl the one I'm thinking, Kev? And did the guy's name start with R? If so, I've still got hope there that she'll open her eyes. You're a great catch, and she'll be lucky to have you.

Just a thing on different sides of the ocean, I guess. Since America is so prudish, smut still feels taboo in a lot of ways to a lot of people, so admitting reading it is like divulging a secret. Europe is more open about this sort of thing, correct? So it makes sense that gleefully calling it smut there might not happen. Cultural difference. I doubt the right to access birth control is an issue there. Over her it's a major debating point this election cycle with women who use it being called sluts by national commentators. If Americans were more matter-of-fact about all aspects of this issue, then the case might be different.

I've got no interest in reading 50 Shades. It started out as one lady's fantasies written out as fan fiction and posted online. Hypocritically she's gotten mad about people writing their own fan fiction using the characters.

Is the writing as bad as Twilight?

It's not MY definition. It's the Merriam-Webster definition. America is very puritanical when it comes to sex still to the point that breastfeeding mothers have been accused of sexually abusing babies by using breasts for their biological function. And yes, on this side of the big ol' pond, anything having to do with sex is seen as dirty, though more people call it dirty with glee. Ask the typical American what smut means, and you're going to be told it means something related to sex.

At the end of the day, porn is seen as porn, whether it's the sensual stuff in Playboy or the raunchy stuff in Hustler, or their printed equivalent. If sex is involved, it's porn. It's up to the individual reader where it falls. But don't worry, even the most hardcore of written porn is starting to be embraced. See the recent success of 50 Shades of Gray that is somehow being turned into a mainstream film.

The dictionary definition of erotica is "Literature or art intended to arouse sexual desire."

The dictionary definition of smut, as it applies here, is "filth." (It's common to say, "Oh, that's dirty!" without it being derogatory.)

Pornography is most inclusive. "Printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity." In this case, printed material with explicit description of sexual activity.

The denotation of these words all boil down to the same meaning. Connotative meanings beyond that are subjective.

I buy the jewelry my characters wear, which so far has included a working 132-year-old pocket watch and jewelry using sapphires, opals, amethysts, peridot, and pearls. I'm making a gown one of my characters wears that has silk charmeuse with gold chain and genuine sapphires on it.

I love really old photos and have some of people who would have died as old folks at least 100 years ago.

I think it's great to want to experience what the characters are. If it helps you learn how something feels, then what's the problem? Better to know and be accurate than to remain ignorance and have it clear you don't know what you're talking about.

Kevin, I read a few stories about people who bought the books without realizing what they were buying, and who got a shock when Beauty was awakened from her sleep by a man doing things she didn't consent to.

I think the Beauty trilogy is smut. The sex was not written was an accent to a larger story, but written to push the boundaries with sex as the focal point. She didn't even 'fess up to being the author for over a decade.

However it's all subjective. Some people consider anything with sex to be pornography (by definition, anything intended to sexually excite is porn), and some consider it to all be erotica and if someone gets aroused, then it's on that person. I know a lot of people who consider smut to be anything sexual, and it's not seen as a bad thing. I'm not really sure if there is anything considered to be bad these days, not with a culture that says all fantasies should be respected (frankly, some fetishes are frightening).

I bought a couple of the Twilight books second hand because my daughter keeps trying to take over the iPad when she sees me with it. I have then purely as a form of research for a novel I'm writing, and oh my god, if I believed burning books was ever good, I'd be having a bonfire when I'm finished. When I bought them, I felt compelled to inform the clerk I'm not a fan of the series. So when I can read on the iPad, I don't feel quiet so icky.

I read the Anne Rice Sleeping Beauty trilogy in public and didn't care who saw. (50 Shades has nothing on that trilogy.) I still enjoy the ol' marshmallow fluff that is The Babysitters Club. Those books are unintentionally hilarious. But I'm embarrassed to admit even owning two of the Twilight series and the Bree Tanner novella.