Case (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
case) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomsecrets2009-03-18 04:40 pm
case) wrote in fandomsecrets2009-03-18 04:40 pm
[ SECRET POST #803 ]
⌈ Secret Post #803 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
101.
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102.
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103.
[Toby Beecher/Chris Keller - Oz]
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104.
[Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei]
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105.
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106.
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107.
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108.
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109.
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110.
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111.
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112.
[Life with Derek]
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113. [repeat]
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114.
[NieA Under Seven]
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115.
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116.
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117.
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118.
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119.
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120.
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121.
[xxxHOLiC]
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122. [repeat]
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123. [repeat]
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124.
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125.
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126.
[Mai Hime]
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127.
[The World Ends With You]
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128.
[Super Smash Brothers/Fire Emblem]
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129.
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130.
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131.
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132.
[X-Men]
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133.
[Merlin]
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134.
[Buffy, Degrassi, South of Nowhere, Skins]
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135.
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136.
[Patrick Bateman, American Psycho]
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137.
[Gossip Girl, Chuck/Dan]
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138.
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139.
[Sailor Moon]
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140.
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141.
[kings of leon]
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142.
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143.
[Garth Marenghi's Darkplace]
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144.
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146.
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147.
[Naruto, Avatar, Girl Genius, Harry Potter]
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148.
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149.
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150.
[iCarly]
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151. [not fandom]
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159.
[Luminous Arc 1]
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[Douglas Adams]
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165.
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166.
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167.
Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 06 pages, 137 secrets from Secret Submission Post #115.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 1 2 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 3 4 - too big ], [ 1 2 3 4 - repeat ], [ 1 - personal attack ], [ 1 - unreadable ], [ 1 2 3 - doing it wrong ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
167
When writing implicitly, one can often avoid direct references to genitalia by phrasing the gymnastics in terms of sensations, feelings, and actions that are obvious in context. For instance: "He eased into her inviting warmth" instead of "He slid his cock into her pussy".
Direct references are sometimes the most succinct way to go. In those cases, pick words that fit best with the tone of the story. As others have said, one person's turn-on is another's squick, so a given word selection is never going to appeal to everyone. A more implicit style can often use terms like "hardness" and "arousal" that are more about the feel of the part than a name for it. On the flip side, "dick", "jizz", etc. would feel in-character to me in a fic from the perspective of someone who thought about sex in blunt terms.
Re: 167
Thank you though.
Re: 167
(Anonymous) 2009-03-18 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)Re: 167
Why? You're free to dislike that quick and (perhaps not) dirty (enough) example or its general style. As we've all been saying, different strokes for different folks and all. However, the "badfic" comment implies that such a line constitutes poor writing regardless of the context, and I don't think that's fair. That sort of expression would come off as stilted, silly, and - yes, bad - within the head of a dick 'n balls guy having some rough sex. However, it could work in some other piece.
I won't dispute the purple prose remark because that all comes down to individual reaction to words. Everyone has their own concept of what flows and what calls unwanted attention to itself. Personally, I don't see a common euphemism like "warmth" in the same glittery realm as over the top clunkers like "love canal", but I can understand varying reactions. Just look at any involved discussion on other similar words like "length" and "member" - reasonable to some, dry or goofy-sounding to others. I've also been of both minds on the word "cock". It used to kick me out of the mood, but it grew on me (pun very much intended).
With this reasoning, I wouldn't call the cock and pussy example "badfic", either. As before, it's all about the appropriate overall effect. I was just writing two different ways to show the same sex act - one blunt, one not.
Re: 167
(Anonymous) 2009-03-19 12:13 am (UTC)(link)That was a bit bitchy, sorry, and I shouldn't have called it badfic. I'm not fond of "inviting", however; it's one of those words like "quivering" imo (nor am I fond of "warmth", though it bugs me less. In my own porn I go for either 'cock' or 'him', maybe an 'erection' every once in a while, but that's my own stylistic preference, to be either vulgar or not mention the organs at all). I'd probably just say "he eased into her". Of course, the thing we're both agreeing on is that many different types of registers can work in porn, so I suppose I'm being hypocritical.
Anyways, I'm sorry I was rude.
Re: 167
Here's why: "inviting," to me, evokes all sorts of nasty tropes about women's sexuality. The phrase "inviting warmth" is something which indicates the female character is just lying there passively accepting entry.
Also, the phrase is arguably personifying a vagina. Indicating the vagina itself has some opinion on the entry of the male character's penis? Er... Not something you'd want to do without thinking carefully about it. (And even then...)
This sort of phrase is very likely to be found in Harlequin Romance and other sorts of things like that - that is, not sources of written erotica which are known for bucking the status quo re: depictions of women's sexuality. There's a good reason the anon identified it with badfic, in my opinion.
The second example, though? Merely action.
Although I will differ from the anon in that I very much like, "quivering," so long as the quivering belongs to a male character. (Because I would generally read eagerness into it. If it were a female character, the word "quivering" is more likely to be used in such a way as to evoke the same tropes as "inviting" does - and a few more, like women being afraid of sex, the suggestion that sex is violence, etc.)
So yeah, personal preferences.
Re: 167
I appreciate your opinion on the problems with the word, especially because it provides an example of a troublesome implication that writers should watch out for. Still, I disagree with the idea that "inviting" is necessarily passive. It can be, especially within the context of a story with other red flags. To me, a mutual or woman-led scene is a different matter, especially considering the positions involved. If the woman sits astride the man, ensconces him, and ardently rides him, I don't see that as "passively accepting entry". In such a situation, "inviting" carries connotations of actively welcoming the man's penis, not of just lying back and letting him do his thing.
Re: 167
You're right, this is true.
And I can also see "inviting" being a description of how it felt to the man - if it were written more from the perspective of the man (rather than, say, a third-person omniscient POV), I might see it differently. (I thought of that example after I last posted, actually. I think then I would be more likely to see it as meaning something like, "pleasing.")
Third-person omniscient, in the hands of lesser writers, seems to become, "from no particular point of view at all, it's anyone's guess," and, well, that makes it harder to be authentic to what the characters are really thinking or feeling.
I'm sort of going on a "statistical probabilities," thing, I guess - devoid of context, I interpreted the phrase with an eye to the context I've most often seen it used in previously. (I read a lot of terrible romance as a teenager.)