R. Cooper's Blog, page 21

Okay, because I sort of promised, well not exactly, but y...

Okay, because I sort of promised, well not exactly, but you know, commentfic! Today only! Nothing too complicated though, and if I run out of time, I run out of time. Too bad for you.

:)

For anything original I've done, including Will and Charlie for those of you who have heard of them. I'd say something totally original too, but I just don't have the mental energy for that today. -->Editing is a tedious and boring master.

shtuff and questionsss

I don't have money to buy these things, but how long is the average published m/m romance novel, would you say? in either book or ebook form. I think the minimum word count is supposed to be at least 70k, right? And most places will accept up to 120k, I think.

Are some/most/any longer than that?


Also I've been editing so much I can't tell if Charlie and Will are boring or if I'm just tired. Ay de mi!


Maybe I should do commentfic...hmmmm

I don't have money to buy these things, but how long is t...

I don't have money to buy these things, but how long is the average published m/m romance novel, would you say? in either book or ebook form. I think the minimum word count is supposed to be at least 70k, right? And most places will accept up to 120k, I think.

Are some/most/any longer than that?


Also I've been editing so much I can't tell if Charlie and Will are boring or if I'm just tired. Ay de mi!

I suppose I should edit Will and Charlie now and give them a title.

I submitted something!!!

Short, and I have no idea if it's what they are looking for for Christmas stories, but whatever, I finally got something done that wasn't sexy commentfic for people!! Okay, I love short and sexy commentfic, how can you not?

I hate the, shall we say, slump period after I finish something. I get so little done and then I get even more depressed. Thank goodness for hot mens who require fictional sexing up.


I feel like I ought to post awesome stuff to the world in return. Anderson Cooper giggling! Pretty and slutty Chris Evans! Recipes! Music if I even knew how to do that! Maybe a picspam? IDEK but yay, world!



In other news, pir8fancier is going to attempt self-publishing and blog about it and I am see how it goes (and seriously wish her the best and will pimp her everywhere). It will be interesting I'm sure, especially for all of us who write things sometimes that...don't exactly have a category, or fall between categories, or are just too long and too weird. I'll link when she's more settled in.

I really am wondering if I've lost my porn mojo, at least...

I really am wondering if I've lost my porn mojo, at least with my professional fic. I mean, I used to be known ("known" insomuch as I was ever really known) for hot smexin' but lately while I still enjoy reading and/or watching some, I don't want to write it. Weird. Maybe staring at Chris Evans and Channing Tatum for hours on end will help break my streak.


Also: meme

If I made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach.

— Alfred Hitchcock

When I write a story, what do you immediately look for?


(hahaha name kink and popping buttons and language kink and oh all sorts of cliches of that nature?)

I mean, my god, those *hands*!

Look, ma, I'm alive! Just feeling...meh.


But working, as ever, with boring synopsis things for submission purposes (ooh that sounds hot) and trying not to get too distracted over hot ancient Roman and Briton mens (though you know it will likely lead to original fic later too) and things of this nature.


Also, hey, I'll be in the Castro on Saturday night, for drinking purposes!!!

If you don't want a pissed off rant, u-turn it.

I've never had much in common with a lot of mainstream original slash people, even back in the day when it was harder to find. A lot of it followed yaoi conventions and yaoi is fun and all but like anything else it has its cliches and annoying moments and unfortunately, yaoi cliches are the kinds of things that make me ranty.

It was fine though, original slash reccers tended not to like me and I was mostly fine with it. Mean reviews are never fun, but just generally getting ignored by people looking for something else in their fiction is fine. They have their reasons, all legit, I'm weird, I have a strange writing style, personal taste is just that, personal, etc... Also, as I said, I get ranty and that puts people off. Fandom tries hard to be a YMMV kind of place, and certain things that drive me up a wall are usually tolerated if not accepted, in the spirit of trying not to judge.

Meanwhile, I go on, doing what I do for the people out there who do want to read it. Then some people who do not want to read it are apparently tricked into reading it anyway somehow and they are not happy.

Again, fine. Taste is subjective, though I wish negative reviewers would at least proofread their critiques if they want to be taken seriously. I've also wished they would remember that writers are real people who exist and have feelings.

Today I realized why that's a stupid wish. While perusing an original slash comm I came upon a request that not only features a lot of those cliches that chap my ass, it also made it clear that these people don't think of others as real people at all.

It also featured a supportive comment from someone who gave me a really negative review once and I actually laughed to see their comment there. If there was ever proof that I don't want to be a part of that community, there it was. I do not need the approval of these people. Fuck them and the horse they rode in on.

I have no problem with kink or smut or dark subject matter. I do have a problem with writers and fans treating dark subjects lightly without even the tiniest hint of awareness that their actions (and words) affect the real world. (Or any hint of self awareness for that matter.)

You should never censor your imagination, but from writers especially I'd expect some thought put into their words. This is why I rant about slavefic, and rapefic (or non con, as people call it when feeling less proud of themselves, and yes, I've written it, way back in the day) and underage fic. It isn't that these fics exist, it's how they are discussed and regarded and requested on public comms. It's the lack of awareness of what they are *really* asking for and the gleeful, it's only fantasy so it's okay, attitude.


To be more direct, this right here...this guy that works as a pizza delivery boy... One night he goes on a run replacing his friend who had food poisoning and gets mistaken for a prostitute by a rich guy who didn't really think he was ordering a pizza. Needless to say some non-con goes down, but the rich guy decides he really likes the boy and wants to make it up to him.

is some fucked up shit. The request but also this story if the description is accurate. It's so fucked up I can't handle it. "Needless to say"??? Is raping hookers cool now? Is it cool because the guy is rich? Because he really liked the guy he raped? (We don't get the victim's thoughts, but I assume they don't matter). Because rich rape daddy is (presumably) really super sorry? Because he has a history of exploiting vulnerable sex workers and that seems like good material for a relationship? Maybe pizza guy is not interested in a healthy relationship, maybe something twisted and wrong is what he is after, maybe all these issues get addressed in that story later...but that's kind of hard to tell from this description.

Mistaken for a hooker fic can be done. Forceful/rough sex can be done and done well, as can anything BDSM. I suspect that that is what this is really about, a desire for a scene depicting dominating, violent sex.Something that is actually healthy when expressed properly. It's a shame it wasn't. Rapey het romance novels from the 70's had more sensitivity than this request. --Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration.

And yes, I'm still pissed off about Luke and Laura, don't even get me started.


Whew. Just had to get that off my chest. Now back to editing and porning.

you know i'm drunk because ke-dollar sign-ha is on and i'm going to pick a fight about dolly parton's awesomeness

I'm out of tequila. *sadface* I hope there will be plenty for me up in Guerneville next weekend. (Kidding, I know there will be, but I will probably have to buy it for myself, and I could be back in a vodka mood by then and that's a whole separate issue I'm just not gonna go into).

The Lazy Bear Fest is next weekend in hot ass fucking Guerneville. Sweaty ass hot dudes with no interest in my ladyparts? I am so there.

Actually, I'm there to play wing...woman--I'm there to be emotionally supportive and hold hair back where necessary.

I am sure I'll get crowded out of the Rainbow Cattle Co. and end up squished up against a bunch of tall people in a straight bar. *sigh* The things I do for people...


Also, yes I've been writing. I got sidetracked as usual, and my betas okay, dlasta is being a ruthless, awesome bitch and forcing me to add things and now everything is longer than expected. Since when is that a bad thing amirite? Then when I whine, she mocks me for my pain.

And um...I forgot my point here. So...yeah. Ooh hot mens in suits on TV!

Apparently at one point in this cursed editing process I ...

Apparently at one point in this cursed editing process I saved Will and Charlie in rich text in addition to the normal Word file and then continued editing...the rich text version.

It's down to 181,000 words so far...but I have this feeling I started out editing the Word version and now I need to edit the beginning again.


...


SIGH.

...but I ask the wrong questions

Does it say something bad about me as a writer that I have troubling thinking up titles and the titles I do think up generally suck?

Also I don't get Goodreads. You can have and be Friends and have and be Fans and Follow or be Followed... but I don't get the difference. I am old school and slow! *wah* I guess it's good that there's a distinction, but with each one comes different connotations and histories and I do not have a guide in how to not offend people.

That was such an awkward sentence.

Hey, who's working off no sleep and lots of coffee this morning? C'est moi.

Sure, casually and often unknowingly offending people is a part of life, but the internet never forgets. (And elephants. And women. Luckily not cats.)


Hey, suicide, that's a topic people would want to read about in a Christmas story, right? Or is this going to turn into that dark-ass scene in "Gremlins" when Kate tells that story about her father? ...Maybe I should work on Charlie and Will some more...(who still do not have a title argh grrr).


Time to bottle it back up? lol.