[ SECRET POST #2961 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2961 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


__________________________________________________



02.
[Alexander Siddig/Star Trek; Deep Space 9/Vertical Limit/Poirot/24]


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.
[Transformers: Fall of Cybertron]


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.
[Nightwish]


__________________________________________________



10.













Notes:

Better early than late!

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 024 secrets from Secret Submission Post #423.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I'm also convinced that 99.99% of people who write about murder have neither murdered someone, known someone who's been murdered, or known a murderer.

[(Anonymous)]

Hardly comparable. Anal sex is something that roughly 35-40% of sexually active women in the US has done (at least according to studies I've seen). Murder stats aren't anywhere near that, thankfully.

Also, murder is harmful.

[(Anonymous)]

The point is that it's possible to write something without doing it yourself. People seem to accept this for everything except sex.

[(Anonymous)]

Sure, it's possible!

Many people write about things they haven't and won't experience. However, if you HAVE experienced that thing and something in the story is really, really wrong, anatomywise, or more likely, just cribbed from some other story and is formulaic, it's kind of obvious.

[(Anonymous)]

But that's true of everything. Research is important, but "research" doesn't have to mean "actually doing the thing."

[(Anonymous)]

Sure, but some writers do try things out just for the sake of the experience. I've tried traveling to places, eating new foods, trying my hands with crafts and tools, watching sports or listening to different kinds of music and all sorts of things I wasn't interested in until I got the urge to write about them. I once went to Catholic Mass a couple of times just because I was writing a character who was Catholic.

A common, normal, harmless sex act is something a writer might plausibly choose to experiment with for authenticity. Murder isn't. That's why the comparison is bizarre.

[(Anonymous)]

But this isn't about whether people should or shouldn't, or can or can't, try something if they feel doing so will help them write about it. This is about people being able to write convincingly about things they haven't done.

[(Anonymous)]

Well, of course people can write convincingly about things they haven't done. People can also write very unconvincingly about things they actually have done too! It's really down to the skill of the writer either way. Part of that skill is the ability to convey evocative sensual details that make the actions seem really concrete, and research in all its forms can help that. But really good writers can also totally make it up from scratch. It's a matter of chops, really.

[(Anonymous)]

What does it being harmful have to do with the fact that most of the people who write about it haven't actually done it?

[(Anonymous)]

why is it hardly comparable

Obviously no one is saying that no one should murder anything, but the same principle would seem to apply? If it's true that not having had anal sex is a weakness or a disqualification in writing about anal sex, why should the same not hold true of murder, or any other experience for that matter?

[(Anonymous)]

I suppose the difference is that anal sex is an experience the average person can reasonably be expected to have, or research well enough that you can't tell they don't have it (OP has no idea which writers are actually virgins, something in overall slash writing is lacking to give them that suspicion, I suspect). Sort of like the difference between knowing how to drive a car and how to drive a jet.

But personally I don't think it's a weakness. Part of being a good writer is selling bullshit of every stripe, if you can't convince me you had a dong up your butt at the very moment you wrote that hot sex scene, that's a limitation of skill, not experience.

[(Anonymous)]

Because you can experience anal play without harming yourself or anyone else, so why wouldn't you give it a try if you're worried about your ability to write it authentically? You don't even need a partner to experiment with toys and stuff, and it's really easy. It's not necessary to do this, but there's no good reason not to if you want.

Can't recommend experimenting with murder, though.

[(Anonymous)]

There's plenty of good reasons not to. Simply not liking the idea of something up your ass is a good enough reason not to.

I really hate the way people treat sex.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, it's actually kind of creepy to me that in some circles you're considered to be a bit of a slacker if you're not willing to research sex/a specific sex act by performing it irl.

[(Anonymous)]

Also, another thing to think about is that your READERS almost certainly have never murdered anyone or been murdered themselves, but there's a decent chance they've had anal sex, and will know if you're off by a mile.

(I have this problem whenever writers get things to do with drinking and drugs hilariously wrong. I just can't go on with that story, it's too laughable.)

[(Anonymous)]

And of course, everyone's experiences of anal sex or drinking or drugs is exactly the same as yours. It's all a completely generic experience that involves no amount of variation whatsoever, so one person's description and experience of it will match 100% with everyone else's.

Honestly, anyone who generalizes as much as you've done right here is more interested in how experienced they themselves sound, rather than any kind of verisimilitude within a story.

[(Anonymous)]

You are this: http://youtu.be/oYMvAzyUlv4

[(Anonymous)]

They're not wrong, though.

[(Anonymous)]

Actually, over the course of my life, I've known three people who've been murdered. It's not as uncommon as you think, unfortunately.

[(Anonymous)]

That really sucks. I'm sorry.

[(Anonymous)]

99.9% of people who READ about murder have neither murdered someone, known someone who's been murdered, or known a murderer.

Lots of people reading buttsex have tried it.

If you try to tell me that murder feels amazing and euphoric for the character I am going to accept in that case for the character that's as realistic as anything else. If you tell me shoving a pinecone up the character's ass makes fantastic gentle foreplay I'm going to eyebrow raise really hard.