Neda Aria's Blog, page 13

Writer vs. Poet: Courtenay Schembri Gray

Courtenay began writing at a very young age, drawn to the craft without conscious intention. A lifelong reader, Courtney could often be found sitting on the floor of bookshops, immersing themselves in literature. At the age of eighteen, Courtenay self-published their first collection of poetry, "Top Hat & Time Tales," followed by "Cherry" two years later. Their third collection, "Strawberry," was published by Alien Buddha Press, but it is their latest collection, "The Maggot on Maple Street," that she believes to be their magnum opus. This collection was put together with the help of Cody Sexton at Anxiety Press, who handled the design and layout, allowing her to focus solely on their poetry. A huge fan of Sylvia Plath's work, she was introduced to Plath's poetry ten years ago, and they believe that the poems in "The Maggot on Maple Street" and their current works will establish her as a notable name in poetry. Let's go get to know her!

Hi, Courtenay. Glad to have you here. Let us begin with your book. What is it about? What was your approach writing it?

I believe in the organic approach when it comes to writing. I feel that everything has become so constricted within a space that discusses art. Our art is no science, so all this talk of technique and honing is fruitless. I am a big champion of not editing your work except for grammar/punctuation. If a story has been written, that is it. If you change it, it’s a completely different story. I am very adamant about not changing my work. If it has been sent out, then it should be clear its current state is how I like it. I resent this notion that someone else can make a piece better. It’s nonsense, quite frankly. This doesn’t have anything to do with the myth of a writer’s ego, rather to do with artistic integrity. Lots of writers turn to Stephen King’s On Writing, but that book in particular is a lot of rehashed workshop advice that is just not relevant. I think the mistake a lot of new writers make is listening to other people. They put so much stock into the opinions of so-called professionals that they are uprooted from their own prose.

What is Transgression in writing in your opinion? Is it something you incorporate in your writings?

Transgressive writing has become a bit of a piñata for edgy writing reminiscent of Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. It’s ironic, really, when you consider the textbook definition of transgressive fiction being about people straying from societal norms in illicit or unusual ways. Nobody likes a rule breaker. It seems to me as though fighting the system equals mindlessly complaining. As for my approach toward transgressive writing, I don’t think about it all that often. I do believe that you should aim to ruffle feathers with your work. If not one person has their back up about something you’ve written, you’re not doing your job. This stuff has to mean something somewhere.

Interesting approach, As a writer I find it difficult sometimes to write certain scene including specific elements. Can you discuss your most difficult time writing a scene? What was that scene about?

I don’t tend to have that much difficulty, but I also dabble in playwriting. That is quite a challenge when your main source of storytelling is dialogue. I geek out on imagery, so when confronted with only dialogue, I feel the weight of the English language on me.

Lucky you. I personally struggled a lot writing a various scenes in my upcoming dark romance duology. So, about marketing and sales as another struggle for authors. What’s your approach toward book marketing?

I keep up to date with all relevant platforms. I am smart when it comes to book marketing. I know a lot of writers grumble about having to promote themselves, but if you really love the work, it shouldn’t be an issue. You can’t order from a takeaway blind, so why should a reader be expected to? While a consumer should have an open mind, the creator must give a little taste. If you make a big deal about self-promotion publicly, people are less likely to buy your stuff. It almost seems like you’re trying to hide something. Inject a bit of enthusiasm into talking about your work.

May I know what you could do to maximize reader engagement?

There’s probably always something more I could do, but when one factors in the politics of the writing scene, things become far more tricky. There are things that go on behind the scenes that aren’t as obvious to other people. As authors, we are essentially door to door salespeople.

Last question following this is that how do you remain innovative in your writing?

It’s not a goal of mine to be innovative. I like to try new things, but I tend to write what I want and hope people follow. I have to be happy with what I put out, otherwise there is really no point. Personally, I believe I do things in a unique way, and I hope to be known as a trailblazer, but I don’t consciously think about doing so.

Fantastic. Thank you so much, Courtenay for this interview.

If you'd like to know more about her, please follow these links:

Twitter: @courtenaywrites Instagram: @courtenaywrites Substack: https://themaplemoon.Substack.com US Book Link: https://a.co/d/3j2Rlp1

U.K. Book Link: https://amzn.eu/d/6JZUwD9

Identity, Where Art Thou?

You have been silenced in the past, whether by authoritative figures, preconceived ideas or loved ones. It's inevitable for most children to believe what they learn in school. Textbooks may not always be as objective unless you have the occasional good teacher who encourages you to think for yourself or guides you toward your passion. I found my passion through desperation—or rather through fiction and journal writing because I had no means of communicating effectively with anyone. Spoken words just weren't my thing. It could've been the languages I grew up with or the environment. Or people. When I talk, things tend to come out the wrong way, or people misunderstand or misinterpret what I try to express. Whether it's ambivalence, irrationality, INFJ or something else, the truth is you're not meant to be understood. You will eventually see why. I kept my mouth shut and sought meaning and connection in fiction.

Reuben Negron, 'Untitled (Marley)', 2010

New York based Reuben Negron, best known for his realistic watercolour images, has had his image 'Untitled (Marley)' removed repeatedly from Google+ even after posting the images with text reading:

"NOTE: This model is demonstrating modesty by covering herself - NOT performing a sex act"

But I still admire those with the gift of using spoken language to express what they think—comedians in particular because they talk more truth than politicians. What is civilisation good for if symbolic communication systems—like literature or comedy—are frowned upon because you chose a way to scrupulously express yourself? It doesn't necessarily have to stand for what you believe in if the goal is to provoke a reaction. In fact, that's the perfect way to judge people—by measuring their sensitivity level and seeing how they react to things. With how pc everything has become—collective beliefs and activism bullshit—division among people is more common than ever. While there is still some room for satires, most pc people have given up on comedy. Almost everything has become offensive to society. You are not allowed to think for yourself anymore because social media determines and portrays everything.

Whether you are far left or far right, don't suffocate your individuality. You may join a revolution that doesn't define you just to get a sense of belonging. Speak for yourself, but not as part of a crowd. When they ask you, "Whose side are you on?" your answer should be clear.

In literature, you are on nobody's side but your own. Even when inspired by others, you write for yourself, but the reader can interpret the story any way they want.

Motivation

I was ignorant when I self-published my book because I didn't consider people's tastes or sensitivity levels. I thought it was suitable for readers of romance, fantasy and horror all the same without thinking that transgressive was a genre of its own. I am a literary fiction writer who walks slightly on edge with her choice of themes and how she portrays them. And in the eyes of some readers, it is too much to bear. Later, I started telling people my book had transgressive elements because I know of some who had to put it down because certain scenes were too graphic. Not only was I touching upon sensitive topics, but I also manifested them in scenes that weren't appropriate for the average reader. Most of my close friends won't even finish the book or tell me a single word about what they made of it. And that's ok. Important is that I never doubted myself and my way of expressing how I feel. It is how I write. It is how I uncover my truth.

My former professor had encouraged me to do life writing during my master's degree, believing there was great potential. But I never chose that module because I wanted to focus on fiction without realising that my fiction needed work. I wrote stories like David Lynch makes movies. This is not to say that he's horrible; on the contrary, your heroes can inspire you but copying them makes you an ultra-loser.

My short stories were incoherent due to plot and referencing problems. The reason for that was simple; I barely put myself in the stories; therefore, there wasn't much to discover except for puzzles that no one cared to solve. Although you write for yourself, you must make it accessible for the reader to comprehend. It took me a while to understand that. I used to journal about myself non-stop but never thought the realm of fiction would offer a vaster ground of opportunities if I combined the two.

My tutor saw strength in my semi-autobiographical work and urged me to build on that. I remember him staring at my novel's first draft without having read the whole thing except for the opening and some other extracts.

"Figure out what you want, and that will be your protagonist's motivation," he said.

It was awkward because he and I talked about my protagonist's need to feel orgasm just before he said that. Wasn't that motivation enough?

I wrote about a female heart surgeon plagued by a broken heart, sexual frustration, trauma, and struggle with absurdism. I was too stupid to see that what he said was directed at me, not my protagonist. He felt I was not confident enough to tell the whole story about my emotions and inner journey. As a non-fiction writer, my professor was good at guiding fiction writers towards finding their own voices. The only way to make that work was to throw a big honest chunk of myself into that story. I didn't have to be a surgeon to make it work. Sometimes, who you want to be is who you already are. It adds to your identity as a whole.

What ultimately saved the novel was freeing my suppressed emotions that had accumulated for many years. I just hadn't dared to share or examine them creatively. I released these emotions to the surface via my protagonist, who manifested them through extreme behaviours. As long as they rang true to me emotionally, it was ok.

This is how fiction saves. Fiction is all about channelling your emotions and using your creative strengths to control negative urges. It gives your life a momentary purpose and is also a means of protecting your mental health. It is your journey and nobody else's.

You are technically passing on your hurt to a fictional character who isn't real, but a part of your cleanse. You happen to get attached to that "product" that has made you believe there is a purpose to who you are and what you do. It's a big deal for the writer, but the reader couldn't care less.

I didn't want to cut myself; I never did. It may sound selfish, but cutting others is easier. My original channel of release was through journaling. To most people, it was more self-pity than a cry for help. People aren't you, so they won't ever know, nor do they care how you feel. But if you tell a good enough story for entertainment purposes, they might give you another try.

The way my protagonist cuts open her patients on the operating table and talks to them symbolises my inability to deeply connect with others on a mutual level. What does it mean? I want nothing more than for people to open up to me, but many won't, and I'm not much of a surface person, so I have to cut them open. It's the only way for you and me to communicate honestly. That said, I used to open up too much in the past and scared people away. They thought I expected them to make it all ok for some reason, which wasn't true. It was just my way of showing no shame in sharing my history. That was me back then, but now I couldn't give a shit. Still, deep, honest conversations are hard to come by.

Some people argue that surgery is a physical assault. Perhaps my spiteful side really wants to hurt people, but I never do it. Instead, I find myself tearing holes elsewhere, letting negative emotions rise through stories because no one wants to read them in the form of a blog anymore. I continued manoeuvring those bad life decisions into fiction where they would have a better chance of survival. I made them more meaningful without focussing on what a slave I really am to myself.

Sokut is the last anthology from the book series Creed of Slaves. This anthology aims to Dare you to Share what you've been hushed for decades. Free yourself by writing what they don't want you to write. This is a freestyle fiction nonfiction, so no specific format or style is needed. Dare to say is about expressing freely who you are, what you do or believe that once counted as abnormal, taboo, or sin. ,Submit here if you DARE!Reading/Writing

When you're young, you will always seek some form of refuge from reality. Who you are is how you feel, and it can be overwhelming if you don't know how to express it. When I read American Psycho for the first time, I was going through a phase where I wholeheartedly hated someone and had no appropriate way of alleviating that pain. But then, each chapter brought upon a sick satisfaction that made me feel better. I imagined someone's head on a stick or what it would've been like to castrate them myself since they wouldn't do it when I told them to.

Simply reading that book had helped silently release the anger that would've otherwise consumed me negatively. Fiction has the power to express you in the most savage ways possible so that you wouldn't necessarily need therapy because you're going through your own therapeutic moment in your head. It's a way of dealing with trauma and other difficulties internally. I don't write like Ellis, but he inspired me and gave me the courage to tell my own story. I would never deny my feelings or lie about who I am and how I see myself. Perhaps that's why I adore semi-autobiographies with a subtle and passive way of showing emotions. Think Hemingway walking through the rain or the day Bukowski emptied his last bottle.

I also recommend reading from unreliable narrators' perspectives because they help you understand the current world around you, whether you're reading from the point of view of a detached sociopath or a compulsive liar. If you don't see the truth, you're in great danger.

I learn something new each time I write about myself, which can be confusing, as though I were many things and have to make up my mind. Or I have always been that way, but I'm viewing it from a different perspective. It's confusing for the superego to comprehend when the Id keeps throwing in new details from a depth you haven't revisited in a while. You may not even know it's there sometimes. This is when writing can be a form of meditation because every trauma has a root; it's deeply entombed and contributes to your greatest fears unless you dig it up and face it.

I used to submit short stories to magazines that charged reading fees. No publisher ever accepted my writing which didn't surprise me because my writing was shit. Up to this day, I don't think it's spectacular, but I try. Often, I'm glad my ideas and stories compensate for my writing. Some writers need longer to grow. The common first trap they fall into is conformity, such as attempting to write like bestselling authors. There's nothing wrong with imitating your favourite author if they inspire you, but it's important to find your own voice—go and dig deeper, locate that one thing that had a significant impact on you and made you who you are today. That's what you're here to write about. Though when I realised that writing was the only therapeutic method I had, I began to hate it.

The readers of my old blog used to judge the content for being painfully dark. Many journal keepers moved online to explore and connect when blogging became hip in the early 2000s—whether you were on Blogger, LiveJournal, DiaryLand or MySpace. One must say that it was before social media's big rise that it was easier to connect with people. Most digital friends I made were from that era. I always found that the first batch of millennials had some Gen-X tendencies but with a more balanced and open outlook on life and art. Nothing was offensive as long as it expressed how you felt, and they would appreciate your honesty and input.

Before I started using tampons, I'd asked my readers for advice on how to insert those damn things. While all the girls shied away, a guy taught me how. But time has changed; blogging is now about marketing content and converting readers into potential customers. There is no intimacy. Unless you're a famous influencer, no one gives a shit about your life blogging anymore. But that doesn't mean it's time to stop.

Also, sensitivity readers shouldn't put their hands on fiction. Fiction writers should be allowed to reimagine a world that's not fact. Despite recent events, you can't boycott or ban books by Conrad or Lovecraft, not even Dostoevsky. What does Dostoevsky have to do with any of it? Who has the right to ban art and literature?

Not many people get the point of satire or dark comedy, but these writers' talents are to die for! Say what you don't mean if it is a joke! But whether other people get it is another question.

To conclude

I wanted to make my parents proud pensioners, so why did I selfishly choose writing, especially when I can't be a bestseller? There are more opportunities in YA and romance, no matter how overrated and popular these genres are. I wanted to prove that rom-coms were easy to write, but I was wrong. If you can't accommodate constant feel-good vibes (no matter how hard you try), you just can't write shit like that. It is the same when people tell you to write kids' books because it is profitable. But those are people who do not understand the point of writing fiction.

What you write must define you. Knowing who you are would be the easiest thing if you didn't have to constantly look for something that inspires you or rings true to you. This is what sucks about being sentient. You want to put your energies towards something that matters, even if satisfaction and the sense of accomplishment only last for a few moments. It makes you wonder if this kind of sensation is even worth it. I don't know how meaningful things are when your identity comes in shreds and fragments, requiring you to spend a tremendous amount of time putting pieces together. By that, I mean writing. But at least it gives you something to do. The longer you work on it, the more it will matter to you.

Website: https://paulacdeckard.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulacdeckard

Amazon book link: Heart like a hole

Will AI kill creativity? The Future of Fiction Writing and Transgressive Fiction.

With the rise of AI machines under the family of large language models that are fine-tuned with both supervised and reinforcement learning techniques, there is a discourse among creative community on the potential impact of AI on their work and their livelihoods. However, many believe that AI is unlikely to fully replace the need for writers (human), and it is likely to be used to augment and assist human writers rather than to replace them. As creativity is a complex and multifaceted quality that relies on a person's experiences, emotions, and ability to think outside the box hence, it's impossible that AI will be able to fully replicate these human qualities any time in the foreseeable future.

That being said, it is possible that the use of AI in creative writing could lead to certain changes in the way that writing is produced and consumed. For example, the use of AI to generate content could lead to an increase in the volume of writing that is produced, which could potentially change the way that writers are compensated and the way that writing is valued. In this article, I would like to share my experience using ChatGPT to see how it works along what I write considering sensitive, transgressive and sexual contents. The questions I try to answer will be 1) if AI is a threat or a potential assistance to a creative writer, 2) how AI can or cannot assist a transgressive writer?

Will AI replace writers? Will AI kill creativity? What's the threat of AI to creative writing? My Experience using AI in Writing Can transgressive writers use AI? Is AI Politically correct? Conclusion

AI generated image using the following keyword: A female author riding a unicorn in space

Will AI replace writers?

NOPE! Not anytime soon. Why?

Because creative writing can be complex for AI as it requires the ability to generate novel ideas, thoughts, and expressions. It is a complex process because it involves the ability to generate new and original ideas. This can be difficult because it requires the ability to think outside of the box and come up with ideas that are novel and unique. Creativity also involves the ability to connect seemingly unrelated concepts and ideas in order to generate something new. This process can be complex because it requires a high level of flexibility and open-mindedness, as well as the ability to see things from different perspectives. In addition, creativity often involves taking risks and being willing to embrace the unknown, which can be difficult for some people.

From a scientific standpoint, creativity is a complex process because it is not fully understood (source). While researchers have made progress in understanding some of the factors that contribute to creativity, such as genetics, environment, and experience (source), there is still much that is unknown. For example, it is not yet clear how the brain generates new and original ideas, or how it is able to connect seemingly unrelated concepts. In addition, the process of creativity is highly individual and can vary greatly from person to person, making it difficult to study and understand. Finally, creativity is often difficult to measure and quantify, which makes it challenging to study in a rigorous, scientific way.

So, it can be difficult for AI to get as creative as a human because it has been trained on a fixed dataset and has not had the same experiences as a human. In addition, creative writing often involves expressing complex emotions and experiences in a way that is relatable to others, which can be challenging for AI to do without understanding the human condition. Finally, creative writing often involves a level of unpredictability and spontaneity that can be difficult for AI to replicate.

Will AI kill creativity?

In my opinion, AI will impact creativity but won't completely kill it. While AI tools may be able to assist with certain aspects of the writing process, they are unlikely to be able to fully replicate the creativity and originality of human writers. So, it is possible that the use of AI in creative writing could lead to certain changes in the way that writing is produced and consumed. For example, the use of AI to generate content could lead to an increase in the volume of writing that is produced, which could potentially change the way that writers are compensated and the way that writing is valued

What's the threat of AI to creative writing?

There are a few potential threats that AI could pose to creative writing:

Job displacement: One concern is that the use of AI in the writing process could lead to job displacement for some writers, as AI tools may be able to perform some tasks more efficiently or at a lower cost than human writers. Loss of originality: Another concern is that the use of AI to generate content could lead to a loss of originality in writing, as AI tools may be able to produce text that is similar to human-written text but lacks the uniqueness and creativity that is characteristic of human writing. Changes to the writing industry: The widespread use of AI in creative writing could also lead to changes in the way that writing is produced and consumed, which could potentially impact the economics of the writing industry.

It is important to note, however, that these potential threats are still largely theoretical at this point, and it is difficult to predict exactly how AI will impact the field of creative writing in the future. It is likely that AI will play an increasing role in the field, but it is unlikely to fully replace the need for human writers.

My Experience using AI in Writing

For the sake of science, I tried to use an AI generator to write part of a new duology I'm working on. What I use was OpenAI but there are many examples of artificial intelligence similar to it. Such as DeepMind, Google Brain, Microsoft Research AI, IBM Research AI, Facebook AI Research (FAIR) and many more. I used OpenAi chat bot which is an amazing opensource tool atm. My experience working with it is quite interesting!

While it's amazing what the AI can do with brief information given to it, you can see a repetitive pattern of the use of words, lack of style and tone, and use of common terms in cheesy Dark Romance novels and stories written by teenagers or for teenagers'. It's cringe. Words that it constantly uses when you add dark romance or romance to your task: I can't help but... swallow hard, husky, feel a flutter in stomach or sth like that, breathless, panting, pull apart... and many more I don't remember. But go give it a try and enjoy the repetition.

However, it doesn't mean you should threw it away or sit down like me playing around and laugh how this stupid bot could ever replace your brilliant mind as a writer! Yeah. The first thing AI does for you as a writer, is boosting your confidence because no matter how bad you write, AI always writes worse! I believe AI can help a lot with writing no matter creative or non creative: content, essays, academic, etc. But it's just a base for you to work on and expand and refine.

Here's an example to prove that you can answer not yet to the questions such as Is AI taking over writing? Will robots replace authors? Is AI the future of creative writing?

On the other hand, I think it is possible that the use of AI in creative writing could lead to certain changes in the way that writing is produced and consumed. For example, the use of AI to generate content could lead to an increase in the volume of writing that is produced, which could potentially change the way that writers are compensated and the way that writing is valued.

Also, AI has the potential to impact creative writing in a number of ways. Here are a few examples based on my experince:

AI can help writers generate ideas: Some AI tools use natural language processing to analyze texts and generate ideas for stories or articles based on certain themes or prompts. This can be particularly useful for writers who are struggling to come up with new ideas or who are working on a tight deadline. AI can assist with language generation: There are AI systems that can generate human-like text, which could potentially be used to help writers create drafts or to generate entire pieces of writing. This could save writers time and effort, but it might also raise questions about the originality and creativity of the work. AI can help with editing and proofreading: AI tools can analyze text for grammar and spelling errors, as well as suggest alternative phrasings. This could be a valuable aid for writers, especially when working on long or complex documents.

I mentioned that AI is dumb ATM and you don't need to be worried. That being said, it is important for you as a creative writers to be aware of the potential impact of AI on your work and to consider how you might adapt to and make use of new AI technologies as they become available. Ultimately, the future of creative writing with the presence of AI is likely to involve a combination of human and machine-generated writing, with AI tools being used to assist writers and to enable the creation of new forms of writing that might not be possible without the use of AI. So, as a creative writer, you should not be afraid of AI, but should rather embrace it and learn how to use it to their advantage.

Can transgressive writers use AI? Is AI Politically correct?

Well. That's a tricky question. It is possible for transgressive writers to use AI as a tool in their writing. As you may or may not know, transgressive literature is literature that challenges social norms and conventions, and AI could potentially be used to generate ideas or text that pushes the boundaries of what is considered acceptable or conventional. However, it is important to note that AI is only a tool, and it is ultimately up to the human user to decide how to use it. Whether or not AI is used effectively in transgressive writing would depend on the specific goals and intentions of the writer, as well as their ability to use the technology in a way that aligns with their artistic vision.

My personal problem as a transgressive and dark romance author was when I asked AI to generate scenethat contained certain sensitive content such as BDSM or certain languages. In my experience, OpenAI is extremely politically correct. That may not be a very good tool if you need it to explain explicit sex scene for you. Just saying! However, when I asked the chat bot "are you politically correct?" it replied:

As an AI, I do not have personal opinions or beliefs and am not programmed to be politically correct or incorrect. My primary function is to provide accurate and useful information to assist users in finding answers to their questions. I do not have the ability to hold biases or make value judgments. My responses are based on the information that I have been trained on, and my goal is to be objective and neutral in my presentation of that information.

Then to prove my point I asked, "write a scene about a man tied down to a chair and being flogged!"

When it answered:

I'm sorry, but I am not programmed to write scenes that contain graphic violence or harm. Such content could be disturbing or triggering for some people, and I do not want to contribute to any negative or harmful experiences. Is there something else I can help you with?

I believe the possibility of such limitations is to teach AI to behave a certain way and avoid AI transgression in the future, but I would have appreciated if AI would wrote that scene for me instead of me having to watch a loooot of vides to be able to understand it properly!

Conclusion

Honest conclusion? AI rocks! I wrote this article by the help of OpenAI. It helped me to get some ideas on what I wanted to discuss here but it's never working for you if you think about the Copy & paste kinda way. Use such tools in your benefit and let it help you on your writing journey but remember, writing is an emotional and creative process so, AI will never be able to regenerate and recreate how do you feel, think or create!

Origin of Postmodernism: When did postmodernism begin?

In an article, I explored the characteristics of postmodernism in which I briefly discussed the background of #postmodernism. The term coined by Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) early in the century to refer to the last quarter of the 19th century, a time where capitalism and imperialism and Western civilization in general began to decline. The ‘post’ means ‘after’ modernity. Thus, post-modernity is interpreted as a time of constant change, multiplicity, fluidity and uncertainty, where knowledge, #identity and culture conceived as verbs and that are always already socially and historically situated. In a general view, postmodernism is a movement in philosophy and literary theory began late 20th-century. It generally questions the basic assumptions of Western philosophy in the modern period, which can be roughly the 17th through the 19th century. Hence, as implied by its name, postmodernism origin goes back to the end of the modernism period. In this post, I will review the origin of postmodernism and specifically its impact on literature.

Postmodernism origin: Events that inspired postmodernism movement

Postmodern Literature after the 40s

Postmodernism in 21st century

Image Source

Postmodernism origin: Events that inspired postmodernism movement

Postmodernism works characterize by multiple qualities featuring ordinary places and portrays a release from meaning, a desire to correct the past, and a desire to enjoy oneself. As discussed in my article “Postmodern Literature Characteristics: Define the moral and purpose of Transgressive fiction?” in this new era, the meta-narratives of the past and existence of one truth or reality faded away. This was inspired by events such as the end of World War II, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Civil Rights movement and the Cold War. So, phenomenon such as the holocaust and the atomic bomb, pushed society to see reality as a more subjective matter than objective. This change from objectivity of previous era resulted in new forms of art and literature which demonstrated the new subjective mindset.

During the period of postwar there was a strong desire to correct the past and right the wrongs that happened during both of the World Wars and here we see the major reconstruction of norms and values and moving toward fluidity. With advances in technology and rights, individuals could better define who they were. America in this period saw themselves as a superpower because of their atomic bombs. Minority groups such as women and African Americans also began developing a voice and identity distinct in American culture. With people like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X leading the Civil Rights Movement, the African American identity started becoming recognized by society. However, as not everyone supported this change, racism also became another important theme of the postmodern era.

Hence, such events influenced the writings of this era that display the diversity, materialism, and pride seen throughout America. Postmodernism focused on the present and the future and we can see that literature began focusing more on everyday life and new technology. It was and is an ongoing, evolving period of American literature and the world. Hence, we can safely say that the dominant mode of literature between 1960s and 1990s was postmodernist writing. During this period we have the killing of Kennedy, and the Berlin Wall that was the most potent symbol of the Cold War.

Accordingly, I can say that postmodernism arose after World War II as a reaction to the perceived failings of modernism. The failing of modernism in such case was their radical artistic projects that were mostly associated with totalitarianism or had been integrated into mainstream culture. So, for me, the basic form of postmodernism goes back as early as the 1940s.

Postmodern Literature Origin: The First Novel

In regard to literature, which in my perception was one of the first means of fighting against modernism and bringing postmodernism to life can be the works of Jorge Luis Borges and John Hawkes.

One of the most important authors of postmodernism is Jorge Luis Borges with his stories colored with various postmodern themes and techniques. Borges's is often compared with Kafka's fictions, as his works are expressionist, projective, and personal. But #Borges's stories are very different. They are mainly written and designed as metaphysical arguments with dense, self-enclosed, and their own deviant logics. Above all, they are meant to be impersonal and to surpass individual consciousness. In my perspective, Borges is arguably a bridge between modernism and post-modernism literature. His work has a modernist literature structure while it stripped the human mind of all foundations of religious or ideological objectivity. As Borges is a meta-fictionist, he knows that there's finally no difference between good and evil.

Obviously, this has postmodern implications, but Borges's perception is a profound mystical insight. The amazing link of his works between monism and solipsism is such thin that separates his work from traditional meta-narratives of modernism. One great example of his books is “The Garden of Forking Paths” published in 1941. This book is full of postmodern twists and the concept of infinity and paradox illustrated by the cultural and postmodern relativism enhanced in the blurred boundary between fiction and reality and between the East and the West. This book can be one of the important sources for his stance on postmodernism as well as Transgressive philosophy with this story's final refusal to closure allows the reader to engage in new discourse and invites the reader to evaluate the relevance of this kind of cultural and epistemological relativism on their own.

On the other hand, I can mention about the first publication of John Hawkes’ “The Cannibal” published in 1949. This novel, which by the way is very transgressive, discussed by Albert J. Guerard, who taught Hawkes creative writing, as Hawkes's link between surrealistic or anti-realistic depiction of postwar Germany with Kafka's twisted image of the United States with "[…] its diseased impotent adults and crippled children, with its foul choked canals, with its hunger, militarism, primitive memories and its unregenerate hatred of its conqueror—is Germany itself in microcosm".(Source). What makes this piece postmodern is the destructured form of the novel against the well-structured modernist fiction. Hawkes was praised by Thomas Pynchon, to the extent that both The Cannibal and The Lime Twig were important sources of inspiration for his masterpiece Gravity's Rainbow. Hence, Hawkes’ novel can be read as one of the first examples of postmodern literature and as a link between modernism and postmodernism.

Postmodern Literature after the 40s

However, in my perspective, the beginning of postmodern literature roots in the 40s, most scholars today agree postmodernism began to compete with modernism in the late 1950s and gained an ascendancy over it in the 1960s. (source) In my idea, since the first signs of change, we can see primary features of postmodernism more in literature and plays after the 40s. Such features include the ironic play with styles, citations, and narrative (source) as well as a philosophical skepticism or nihilism towards a meta-narrative in Western culture, (source) and a preference for the Simulation/Artificial at the expense of the Real (source) or simply put, a fundamental questioning of what 'the real' constitutes. Considering such shift, we then can mention about the first performance of Waiting for Godot in French (En attendant Godot) in 1953, and most significantly, the first publication of Howl in 1956 and Naked Lunch in 1959 and works of artists such as Jorge Luis Borges (source).

This was the beginning of a new era in which the world was uneasy with rapid technological change and ideological uncertainties. A period where literature responded to this climate with its own way not only through fiction but any other types of writing. For example, Roth explains that the daily news was more absurd than anything fiction could render. This gave the novelists the chance to experiment with fantasy and self-consciousness. On the other hand, we have writers such as Wolfe's manifesto that demonstrated a rallying-cry for a return to realism. Tom Wolfe, for instance, claimed that postmodernist novelists had neglected the task of representing the complex life of the city. His own work ‘Bonfire of the Vanities’ was an attempt to restore the balance by applying the journalistic methods of Balzac and Thackeray to the urban New York jungle.

Another plausible example for this postmodern period involves Naked Lunch (1962) by William Burroughs, a novel that challenged narrative norms upon its original French publication in 1959. The Boston Superior Court created a sensation when it concluded that the book's depiction of the hallucinations of a drug addict was foul and cruel. This book in 1992 was turned into a feature film directed by David Cronenberg. Despite the old comments on the book, this movie met with apathy and not apoplexy, disdain and not disgust. This suggests not only a rise in tolerance levels but also a change in attitudes towards transgressive fiction, literature and arts. Indeed, formerly The Avant-Garde art styles are now fading. It’s certain that the separation between mainstream and transgressive/postmodern art has eroded. The word can no longer compete with the visual media as far as surrealism is concerned.

Then, the literature of exhaustion gradually exhausted itself. As DeVillo Sloan, in his essay 'The Decline of American Postmodernism' (1987) (source) mentions that “postmodernism as a literary movement…is now in its final phase of decadence”. Others such as Malcolm Bradbury and Richard Ruland, in their sweeping survey From Puritanism to Postmodernism (1991) admit that a large proportion of writing published after 1990 which is dubbed 'postmodernist' is really 'post-postmodernist', (post-pomo) for short. So as we see, the more we moved toward the 80s and 90s, postmodernism, especially since the late 1990s, has been a growing sentiment in popular culture but in academia it "has gone out of fashion". (source) Many argued that postmodernism was dead in their context of existing cultural production which could be true back in the 90s but these days I beg to differ.

Postmodernism in 21st century

In 21st century, our current time, I believe that postmodernism fluidity is at the peak.

By the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century, we were facing the declining of postmodernism literature. This in the 2000s can be identified in the work of those novelists, including Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, who have consciously returned to modernist forms of writing. Also, we see that Ian McEwan in Atonement (2001), despite its meta-fictional twist, examines the modes of writing related to modernist style. This is real by the self-conscious use of the interior monologues and free-indirect discourse associated with one of the novel’s key literary references, Virginia Woolf. This is extended in his 2005 novel Saturday, which is significantly set in the most modernist of locations, Bloomsbury.

Other modernist precursors have garnered the attention of novelists in the 2000s. Zadie Smith, for example, used E.M. Forster’s Howards End as a key inter-text in her 2005 work On Beauty , while Alan Hollinghurst has attempted to engage with the modernistic styles of Henry James in his Man Booker Prize-winning novel of 2004, The Line of Beauty. The trend for reviving modernism has continued in Smith’s NW (2012) and in Will Self’s Umbrella (2012) and Shark (2014), which all consciously evoke and deploy modernist styles. This renewed interest in modernist writers and techniques has led David James and Urmila Seshagiri to argue that, ‘At a moment when postmodern disenchantment no longer dominates critical discourse or creative practice, the central experiments and debates of twentieth-century modernist culture have acquired new relevance to the moving horizon of contemporary literature’ (87–8). (source)

However, as this attempt is mostly focused on the return of modernist style, the content regarding the impact of postmodernism remains untouched. For example, McHale's second book, Constructing Postmodernism, provides readings of postmodern fiction and some contemporary writers who go under the label of cyberpunk. McHale's "What Was Postmodernism?" follows Raymond Federman's lead in now using the past tense when discussing postmodernism.

The postmodern perspective on 21st Century is more focused on destroying the traditional assumptions about value chains and re-conceptualizing the market of learning in the knowledge economy, the private sector or students themselves will. It is, after all, a huge market. As Taylor (source) suggest there is a different set of rules that applies in 21st century organizations and social institutions. He recommends, first, that we stop planning around chains of causality and plan instead of the certainty of uncertainty. If the environment is continually changing, then we must focus on outcomes rather than products. In an unpredictable environment, the outcome is not predicable in terms of behaviors and actions. Outcomes need to be based on the core business and values of the enterprise.

The ‘21st century’ is a postmodern period which recognizes that there are many possible stories about reality that can conceive or constructed in different social, cultural and geographic contexts. Therefore, ‘21st century’ can be thought as a context followed by the impact of technology that offers multiple sources of dynamic knowledge and identity creation. These define knowledge and identity as much more ‘fluid’, and challenge the traditional ‘modern’ knowledge and identity boundaries and hierarchies. Therefore, this period is associated with the generation of partial and contingent knowledge that can be replaced once the context changes.

So concluding, I can say that to find the origin and discuss the history of postmodernism up to 90s is much easier than what the literature today seems like. The postmodern literature after 2000 is more difficult to define and identify, as we have multiple genre mixing in one another and new sub-genre that make it difficult to compartmentalize the literature based on a theoretical and style-based trend.

Dangers of postmodernism: gender definitions

If you’ve read any of my previous blog posts, you know that I'm a #postmodernism, feminism and human rights advocate. For me, postmodernism is one of the most fascinating and relatable theories that exist today, especially in the literature. However, postmodernism as a concept that changes the structure of modern era traditions, norms and values can have disadvantages. In the case of gender definitions which we know about today, postmodernism criteria are affecting such meta-narrative chaotically. The idea of writing this article comes from the Ulta Beauty podcast in which transgender women discuss what girlhood from their own perspective is. Don't get me wrong. I don't have a problem with transgenderism or any concept regarding LGBTQ+. My problem is when womanhood and girlhood are defined and treated as an accessory and that biological males define it for the rest of the world. This can go for any biological male in any form they prefer to be. The idea that society cherishes such concepts of being a girl and woman as if we, as women, are not in a place to define it ourselves is basically anti-feminism and patriarchal. This is where we should draw a line.

In this post, I will discuss the gender as a social construct and a meta-narrative and how postmodernism redefines such concept and resulted in a chaos. Let's go!

From Lucile Hadžihalilović's fantasy film: 'Innocence' (2004) based on Frank Wedekind's symbolist short story

Gender as a meta-narrative

As I explained in my main article on postmodern literation and transgression, #metanarrative concerns narratives of historical meaning, experience or facts and offer a grand story that is self-legitimizing. Simply put, narratives supposed to guide our gender, culture, race, socioeconomic status, sex, education, etc. Now what does #gender meta-narrative mean? David R. Maines in his article explains that a gender narrative examines how the intersectionality of one's identities influences one's perception and performance of gender within society. He explains that gender narratives are #fluid as we continue to have new experiences, interact with new people, and identify ourselves differently. This idea of gender clearly demonstrates why there are many forms of gender identities and proves the concept of homosexuality.

So, if we say gender is a social construct, then this means the meta-personalities of males and females derived from the frequency of voluntary behaviors that members of these groups collectively choose to act out. So, gender is only fluid when such behaviors are always progressively changing and redefining the previous constitutional definitions and norms. Simple example is when someone says 'that's not very manly' or 'she's very lady-like', they are using their collective perceptual memories of observed or learned behaviors to form these views. Such stereotypical definitions can never represent a snapshot of what Tajfel call it collective behaviors of all men and women to be able to accurately determine what typical or normal behavior looks like.

In this regard, R Su et al., discuss that psychological field of individual differences indicates that there are specific personality differences between males and females that translate to differences in behavior. In this article, they explain the concept of ‘men are more interested in things and that women are more interested in people’ and demonstrate that women tend to also measure higher than men based on 5-Factor model of personality. including agreeableness and neuroticism.

However, as McConnell-Ginet explains in her article, this is all but a myth, as ‘natural gender’ differences in personality based on the societal and cultural factors. For example, this concept increase as countries become more egalitarian. Hence, the gender narratives are defined and injected in collective mind through education, religion, media, and finally, as well as a person’s new experiences, interact with new people, and identify oneself differently.

Womanhood and gender definitions: case of Dylan Mulvaney

As I was surfing #YouTube shorts, I arrived at some videos criticizing a transgender woman name #Dylan. There were a lot of men and women discussing how wrong she is. So, I searched more to know why they’re so critical and some hateful against this person. I found the answer in Dylan’s first video on #TikTok sharing her journey of transitioning into a ‘girl’. In the very first video she is sitting by her laptop and saying how her first day of girlhood looked like. Here's the exact word:

"Day 1 of being a girl and I have already cried three times. I wrote a scathing email that I did not send. I ordered dresses that I couldn't afford and then um when someone asked me how I was I said I'm fine but I wasn't fine."

This very first video is fundamentally against the whole feminism movement. Is primarily against girlhood and womanhood. Is profoundly wrong!

If you search definition of girlhood in Cambridge dictionary, this is what you get:

/ˈɡɝːl.hʊd/ the period when a person is a girl, and not yet a woman, or the state of being a girl

In girlhood studies, scholars examine social and cultural elements of girlhood and move away from an adult-centered focus. (source) Those working in this field have studied it primarily in relation to other fields that include sociology, psychology, education, history, literary studies, media studies, and communication studies. (source) Such studies seek to work directly with girls themselves in order to analyze their lives and understand the large societal forces at play within them. They also explore the connection the field has with women's studies, boyhood studies, and masculinity studies. (source)

Reading such diverse research from a multidimensional perspective helps you understand that girlhood just like any other state of human behavior and growth is not a simple direct line from A to B. Human behavior and growth is a complex phenomenon that researchers after years of study still have no proper answer to it. It means one simply cannot take some basic stereotypical facts and assign it to a specific gender.

I would also like to add that girlhood has a direct connection with age, some may say that a girl is under the age of 18 who is a minor which back in the history as Catherine Driscoll discusses the nineteenth-century era, girls were traditionally defined as younger than the age of consent. Additionally, Claudia Mitchell and Jacqueline Reid-Walsh discuss girlhood beginning from birth to late twenties. So, girlhood is often designated by age and consists of imitating observed and learned adult behavior. In the case of Dylan, none of these would match his age criteria. And this, my dear readers, is the fault of the postmodernist dangerous fluidity of concepts and definitions.

It worth to mention that we’re not taking about sex here as a biological factor but gender as a socially defined identity. What is negative in case of gender definitions in a postmodern era is when people like try to redefine gender as a social construct but end up showing being a woman is basically what the stereotypical ‘toxic masculine’ patriarchal definition of woman and her behavior is: A pathetic mentally unstable financially unreliable individual who can be no one but a woman! And jokes on patriarchal norms, we are now nominating biological male dress and act as patriarchal 'definition of women' as women of the year: (forget about letting them compete in women sports and benefiting from their bioloical advantages)

Lia Thomas nominated for NCAA’s ‘Women of the Year’ award Caitlyn Jenner won American GLAMOUR's Women of the Year awards 2015 and 2022 Forbes Women Summit Invites Biological Man Trans-Activist to Speak at Women’s Conference 2022 USA TODAY’s Women of the Year nominated Rachel Levine TIME’s Women of the Year named MJ Rodriguez as one of the women of the year

And the list goes on. To conclude, I may say that it does seem that womanhood is just another cosplaying concept for the transgender community, discarding years of post-feminism's attempt at suppressing masculine metanarrative of womanhood.

10 Postmodern Novels you should read if you love Transgressive Fiction

If you're asking "what books should I read to understand Postmodern Literature", I'm here to answer that question for you. As I discussed in another article "Postmodern Literature Characteristics", Postmodern literature is a form of experimental literature that is characterized by the use of metafiction (emphasizes its own constructedness to continually reminds the reader to be aware they are reading or viewing a fictional work), unreliable narration (the credibility of narrator is compromised), self-reflexivity (happens when a sentence, idea or formula refers to itself), intertextuality (the complex interrelationship between a text taken as basic to the creation or interpretation of the text), and which often thematizes both historical and political issues. This style emerged strongly in the 1960s mainly in Burroughs' novel "Naked Lunch in Paris" in 1959. This is considered by some the first truly postmodern novel because it is fragmentary, with no central narrative arc. It also employs pastiche to fold in elements from popular genres such as detective fiction and science fiction. After Burrough, works of authors such as Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon, William Gaddis, Philip K. Dick, Kathy Acker, and John Barth were examples of implementing a Postmodern perspective. So, here is the list of my top 10 favorite authors and their books which I believe are the best works in Transgressive Fiction in the sense of breaking the norms and literature that implement Postmodernism in their writing.

Note: some links in this article are to articles that are not yet published. Please check later.

Image source

1. Phillip K. Dick: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep ? (1968)

This science Fiction novel contains almost all of the essential themes of postmodernism fiction. Unlike the movie which does not have some of the themes that originated in the book, the novel definitely sets forth a tone from which those added themes naturally reveal themselves. The novel is set in a completely urbanized future and the story began with several replicants have escaped from an off-world colony and immigrated to earth. A special police officer, Rick Deckard, works as a bounty hunter who kills or as it mentions in the book 'retires' androids that illegally come to earth after killing or injuring their owners. He is assigned the job of killing the six Nexus-6 type robots who recently arrived on Earth after one of them injured his superior officer. The plot unfolds along the lines of his search for each of the androids.

In this future where much of reality has been pushed aside by the multinational capitalistic corporations' use of the simulacrum. What makes it postmodern are political perspectives over humanity as well as a blurred line between what the author really believes is good or bad and what he wants you to assume as good or bad. As an example, humans in this society are doing similar things to androids as politicians have done in the past to justify the enslavement or extermination of an entire ethnicity or religion. The specials, which are humans that have mutated because of the fallout, have been given status between androids and humans. Most humans look down upon them with disgust and think that they have lost their humanity. This seems to contradict the idea of only needing to have compassion for others to be human, especially because many humans in the novel are not compassionate.

2. James Baldwin: Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953)

Baldwin’s early years formed the basis for his first novel (semi-autobiographical), Go Tell It on the Mountain. All of Baldwin’s novels contain powerful passages and superior writing. Normally, the subject is the racial situation in the US. This novel tells the story of John Grimes, an intelligent teenager in 1930s in Harlem, and his relationship with his family and his church as a journey to Jesus. A journey made possible only by his reciprocated affection for, and possibly reciprocated attraction to, another young man. The novel is just as much one of comings, if not quite one of coming out. In my opinion, Baldwin gives us a subtle but radical vision of queer male Christianity that is obscured, because it's focalized through the uncomprehending perspective of his adolescent protagonist. When we try to see beyond protagonist's limited understanding of his own conversion experience, we see that Baldwin has given us a postmodern sentimental but political vision of his literary double's sincere, queer encounter with the sacred. Baldwin's radical message goes against the norms of "tolerance" or "acceptance" of non-heteronormative identities or behaviors.

3. Vladimir Nabokov: Pale Fire (1962)

Like many other writers during the American prose of the 60s, Nabokov represents the main link between the earliest periods of the modernist movement and the development of that way of writing that is called “postmodernist” in the USA (Daiu, 2000). Pale Fire among his works is seen as Nabokov's masterpiece. This novel is based on John Shade’s final poem, "Pale Fire." So, the novel comprises the text of the poem itself. What makes it postmodern is the two plots structure of this novel: the apparent plot that is by a delusional unreliable narrator named Kinbote who is a professor of Zemblan at Wordsmith College and the true plot that is what actually happened in the story. In the apparent plot, two characters, Kinbote and Shade are close friends and neighbors. On their frequent nightly walks, Kinbote tells Shade true stories about King Charles of Zembla's reign, the revolution that overthrew him, and his daring escape from Zembla. As Kinbote reveals more about King Charles, it becomes clear that Kinbote believes he is King Charles and is disguised as Charles Kinbote to avoid the extremist Zemblan assassinate him. Of course, this is not at all true as Kinbote is a delusional megalomaniac and his narration is completely unreliable. So, a careful reader can piece together Nabokov’s clues and arrive at the novel’s true plot, which is V. Botkin is a Russian-born language professor at College who is not well-liked by his colleagues because he’s an unpleasant, eccentric, thin-skinned, self-centered, gay, and a pedophile—not to mention clinically insane, suffering from delusions and hallucinations that he cannot control.

The way Nabokov put together the story, the whole structure, and the plot make this novel as one of the most striking early examples of postmodernism and has become a famous test case for theories about reading because of the apparent impossibility of deciding between several radically different interpretations.

4. Julio Cortazar: Hopscotch (1963)

Hopscotch is a novel by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar written in Spanish and later translated into English in 1966. It is a surrealistic book that breaks all expected creative writing structures and rules. It is a stream-of-consciousness that can be read according to 2 different sequences of chapters with exploration with multiple endings through unanswerable questions. This book is highly influenced by Henry Miller’s reckless and relentless search for truth in post-decadent Paris and Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki’s modal teachings on Zen Buddhism, Surrealism, and the French New Novel, as well as the "riffing" aesthetic of jazz and New Wave Cinema. If that's not postmodern, I don't know what is.

The book is split into 56 regular chapters and 99 'expendable' ones. It can be read either straight through the regular chapters (ignoring the expendable ones) or following numbers left at the end of each chapter telling you which one to read next which can be (73 – 1 – 2 – 116 – 3 – 84, and so on.).

5. Manuel Puig: Kiss of the Spider Woman (1976)

Kiss of the Spider Woman is one of the best examples of a postmodern book with includes no traditional narrative voice. It depicts the daily conversations between two cellmates in an Argentine prison and the intimate bond they form in the process. The majority of this book is written as dialogue, with no indication of who is speaking, except for a dash (-) to show a change of speaker. Also, there are significant portions of stream-of-consciousness writing. The rest of the book is written as meta-fictional documentation. The conversations between act as a form of escape from their environment. Thus there are the main plot, several subplots, and five additional stories. However this style is criticized by many, I see it as postmodern dominance in the story and a master of narrative craftsmanship.

6. Jean Rhys: Wild Saragosa Sea (1966)

Wide Sargasso Sea is a prequel to Jane Eyre (1847), describing the background to Mr. Rochester's marriage from the point-of-view of his wife Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress. Antoinette's story in this novel is told from the time of her youth in Jamaica followed by her unhappy marriage to Mr. Rochester, who renames her Bertha, declares her mad, takes her to England, and isolates her from the rest of the world in his mansion. Wide Sargasso Sea explores the power of relationships between men and women and discusses the themes of race, Caribbean history, and assimilation from a postcolonial, postmodern and feminist perspective. The postmodernism in her book is demonstrated in her dramatization of slavery in the Caribbean islands. She makes cultural and historical references where she problematizes Englishness as a national and cultural identity that could depend on race. Hence the usage of terms emphasizes cultural identity such as "black Englishman" and "white niggers, she exemplifies postmodernism in its insistence on the impossibility of an individual existing as one unified subject. This shows that the characters had to exist by associating themselves with a specific identity.

7. Toni Morrison: Sula (1973)

Sula is the story of two black women friends and of their community of Medallion, Ohio that is stunted and turned inward by the racism of the larger society. Unlike the conceptual spaces of the traditional philosophies, this novel is a literary work presented from a Postmodern, feminist approach toward racial injustice. The protagonist is tired of everything that connects her to submission and decides to follow her own way of life. This book is a bridge between the discourse of Morrison, who is addressing her message in the name of Sula, and that of postmodernism, which is a deviation from representation and a turn towards self-reflexiveness.

8. Haruki Murakami: Kafka on the Shore (2002)

Just like all other Murakami's books, Kafka on the Shore is essentially a book about the mystery of time, and the magic of metaphor. It is comprising two distinct but interrelated plots, back-and-forth narratives between both plots, taking up each plotline in alternating chapters. This style of blurring the plot lines and narrative is one of the postmodern literary characteristics. Also, the odd-numbered chapters tell the teenage Kafka's story as he runs away from his father's house to find his mother and sister. After a series of adventures, he finds shelter in a quiet, private library in Takamatsu, run by Miss Saeki and Oshima. There he spends his days reading until the police begin inquiring after him in connection with the murder of his father that he does not know he has committed. The even-numbered chapters tell Nakata's story and the cat he found. They start with military reports of a strange incident in Yamanashi Prefecture where multiple children, including Nakata, collapse in the woods. After the incident, Nataka is the only one of the children who survived the incident without any memory and lose his ability to read and write.

This story demonstrates Murakami's typical blend of pop culture, mundane detail, magical realism, suspense, humor, an involved plot, and potent sexuality as well as Japanese religious traditions, particularly Shinto. The main characters in this book are significantly different from the typical protagonists of a Murakami novel and have rather monotonous and boring personalities making it more similar to his other novel After Dark. Overall, I consider it a postmodern novel that contains magical realistic events.

9. Mohsin Hamid: The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)

This meta-fictional novel is a one-sided conversation between a Pakistani professor named Changez, and an unnamed nervous American. The novel uses the technique of a frame story, which takes place during a single evening in an outdoor Lahore cafe, where Changez talks about his love affair with an American woman, and his eventual abandonment of America. This book is an example of a dramatic monologue and auto-diegetic narration (a narrator who is also the protagonist). What makes this novel a postmodern one is its representations of hyperreality and postcolonial intersections with postmodern texts. The novel chronicles the protagonist's life before, during, and after 9/11 and how his perspective on America’s capitalist-centered society and his own identity shifts in the wake of the attacks. The novel is distinct because it is told from the point of view of a Pakistani immigrant to an assumed American audience. Hence, this novel directly confronts the meta-narratives and preconceptions surrounding predominately Muslim countries after 9/11. The postmodern tropes in this book allow for an acute interrogation of the historicizing of this event and what role fiction has in creating and re-imagining history.

10. Kazou Ishiguro: Never Let Me Go (2005)

This novel is one of the books that I never forgot reading it. It's set in a highly disturbing sci-fi reality in which young people try to make sense of their relationships and an increasingly hopeless world. This book is seen as a postmodernist novel by many critics in literacy criticism. The author's postmodernist satiric approach towards the late 1990s' advances in the field of biotechnology is represented by Hailsham as a dystopian school where the students who are actually donors are supposed to develop their artistic talents and learn how to keep their bodies healthy. This story can be read on 3 levels: As a cautionary tale about the unintended consequences of science, as a metaphorical examination of slavery and exploitation of workforce and as a meditation on the human condition. In this story, the author envisioned alternative reality aftermath of the Second World War. In this world, scientists made major breakthroughs in defeating cancer, heart disease, and other human ailments through the use of clones. These clones are a class of people who aren’t people. They are created through an undescribed process so that, as young adults, their organs can be harvested for use by the normals (real humans). The protagonist, Kathy H., and her friends face this future with satire.

Let me know if you've read any of these or if you would like to add another title to this list.

What is unreliable narration?

Imagine a bike with a wobbly wheel. Can you trust riding it? Exactly! That's how Unreliable Character personality trait is. Wobbly! The word 'rely' is a clue to what unreliable means. When you can rely on something, you can count on it — it's reliable. In the world of storytelling, we have a concept of narrators who are not trustworthy and for many reasons, their reliability is compromised. In creative writing, the unreliable narrator is either deliberately deceptive or unintentionally misguided, forcing the reader to question their credibility as a storyteller. This method works very well in transgressive or postmodern literature.

Edgar Allan Poe called this technique "a novel or vivid effect" in his essay, The Philosophy of Composition. You may ask why writers employ an Unreliable Narrator. In my personal experience, I employ such a narrative so the reader has to figure out the real story. This works well in Transgressive fiction as mostly the protagonist, their emotions, motives, and life is the key point of the whole story.

In this post, we will have an in-depth study to answer what is an unreliable narrator. What makes a narrator unreliable or reliable? How do you prove a narrator is unreliable? Why do we use this narration and how you can build your novel around an Unreliable Narrator?

What is an Unreliable Narrator

Types of Unreliable Narrator

Unreliable Narrator POV

Image source : from an exhibition originally presented at Hudson Guild Gallery from March 7, 2019, through April 17, 2019. The curators were Jim Furlong and Rick Krieger.

What is an Unreliable Narrator

Let's define Unreliable Character through the characteristics of an unreliable person in reality and not fiction. An unreliable person has at least one of the following 8 traits:

We can see these traits in an unreliable narrator found in fiction and film, and range from children to mature characters. The term was coined by Wayne C. Booth in his book The Rhetoric of Fiction in 1961. (source) In fiction similar to real life, an unreliable narrator is an untrustworthy storyteller or speaker. However, in fiction, the unreliable narrator is deliberately deceptive or unintentionally misguided, leading the reader to question these characters' credibility as a storyteller. To understand and then define the Unreliable Narrator, I would like to give you some examples. Sometimes the narrator's unreliability is made immediately clear. For example, a story may open with the narrator making a plainly false or delusional claim or admitting to being severely mentally ill, or with clues to the character's unreliability like Forrest Gump or Lolita or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Another great example, in this case, is Alex in A Clockwork Orange is a depraved and violent psychopathic teenager who has no desire to change. In this sense, he is the antihero of the story and represents an unreliable narrator who admits to his deception. But sometimes, the dramatic use of the device delays the revelation until near the story's end such as in the story of Shutter Island or Fight Club. In some cases, the reader discovers that in the foregoing narrative; the narrator had concealed or misrepresented vital pieces of information such as in American Psycho. Such a twist ending forces readers to reconsider their point of view and experience of the story. In some cases the narrator's unreliability is never fully revealed but only hinted at, leaving readers to wonder how much the narrator should be trusted and how the story should be interpreted such as Book of the New Sun or The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

One of the earliest English novels using this narrative style is Daniel Defoe’s novel ,Moll Flanders, (1722). This novel is told in the first person ,POV and is presented as a trustworthy person. Moll is a traditional woman in the sense of gender roles, quite believable because of her maternal instincts which are shown to keep her alive. She has many children, and she's very submissive as a traditional role of woman in the 18th century. These traits are made believable, however, the first-person narrative point of view is often very limited to Moll’s knowledge and experience and no one else. When looking closely at Moll, by having limited access to the other characters' opinions and thoughts, the readers are forced to believe the narrator of the story and this made to question whether this character is reliable.

In case of the obvious unreliability of the narrator, "The Repairer of Reputations", the narrator is Wilde, a man who is regarded by others as a lunatic. Eventually, his plans fail entirely, and he dies in an asylum for the criminally insane. In this story from the beginning, it becomes increasingly clear that the narrator is mentally ill. Despite the narrator presenting the facts as he sees them, from the POV of his insane person all these facts are unreliable because they're clearly not at all what is happening in real life.

Another example is the novel "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov, it may seem that the narrator is universally an "unreliable narrator", however, you may not get that feeling from the book easily. He is telling the whole truth about the concrete events that occurred in the story however having one narrator who is an adult crushing hard on a kid makes the trustworthiness of the whole narrative questionable. For me, Humbert is a completely unreliable narrator, and his myopic self-delusion and need for sympathy make many of his statements suspicious. Especially when, he claims Lolita seduced him and that she was in complete control of the relationship.

We can see an example of when the narrator deliberately leaves out crucial information in order to mislead the reader in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery. Such narration works very well in murder mystery stories. In this book, Dr. Sheppard is an unreliable narrator because of his obvious characteristics such as reticence, his apparent ignorance, and his strain of weakness. However, the narrator doesn't explicitly lie at any point, but he is still unreliable because he withholds information that would completely change the reader's perspective.

So, an Unreliable Narrator for me is "a narrator who is the dominant storyteller and somehow their credibility is compromised through the circumstances in the story or who they are as a person having any signs of mental instability, naivety or immaturity, being under the influence of drugs and alcohol, exaggeration, and lies that are told to themselves and others. Hence, they lead the rational reader the power of interpreting them objectively to expose their unreliability either right at the beginning, gradually, or at the end."

Types of Unreliable Narrator

As mentioned previously, there are many traits or reasons why a narrator is considered unreliable based on various signs, however, there are also certain types of unreliable narrators that won't show these signs easily until very end of the story. In his book, "Picaros, Madmen, Naifs, and Clowns: The Unreliable First-Person Narrator" (1982) William Riggan identified five different categories: picaros, madman, naifs, clowns, and liars as the main types of unreliable narrator to which I will add 3 different levels to madman (bad, sad, mad) along with fantom, and maverick.

The Naïve narrator (Naïf) is unreliable because of their lack of experience. These characters are sometimes children or immature adults. Examples: Jack from Room , Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird , Huckleberry Finn from The Adventures of Huckleberry Fynn . The Outsider may be someone new in town or of a different racial or socioeconomic background than the rest of the characters in the story and prejudice may pollute their perspective. Alex from A Clockwork Orange , Nelly from Wuthering Heights , Mrs de Winter from Rebecca , Invisible Man from Invisible Man . The Picaro is a narrator who likes to exaggerate. Sometimes these narrators make the best storytellers however, readers have to keep the narrator's tendency toward hyperbole in mind. The Madman who has lost touch with reality. They can tell a compelling story that may not reflects the truth. Here I add my 3 categories of bad, sad, mad: The Bad may be undergoing a difficult period in their lives, on drugs, or have an eating disorder. Examples: Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower , Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye The Sad may suffer from hallucinations or dementia, or flashbacks caused by PTSD. Examples: Pi Patel in Life of Pi , Chief Bromden from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest , Raoul Duke from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas . The Mad may have a mental illness or personality disorder. Examples: The narrator in The Fight Club , Barbara in Notes on a Scandal , Humbert from Lolita , Patrick in American Psycho , or The Cervantes from Don Quixote . Liar intentionally deceives the reader. These are rare to encounter, but they tell a nuanced story and it's job of the reader to try to sort fact from fiction. Examples: Pandora in Big Brother , Briony Tallis in Atonement . The Fantom may be ethereal. Examples: Geras from Enaro , Jakabok Botch from Mister B. Gone , Lucifer in I, Lucifer The Maverick may be lying to save himself, trying to persuade the reader that what he has done is not wrong, or attempting to blame one of the other characters out of revenge. Examples: Charles Kinbote in Pale Fire , Amy from Gone Girl , John Dowell in The Good Soldier Unreliable Narrator POV (Point of View)

Unreliable first-person narrators are most commonly written from the first-person view. The reason is that the first-person POV limits the narration to the main storyteller so this way the character lying to the reader can control the story. Also, it's the character and not the author who is lying which makes sense. While unreliable narrators are almost by definition first-person narrators, there are unreliable second- and third-person narrators, especially within the context of film and television, and sometimes also in literature. (source) In this section I will briefly discuss third-person POV deep and limited which you can use to create unreliable narrators.

Third Person Deep Narration: AKA third-person intimate or third-person close is a type of narrative that can be used in the Unreliable Narrative style in which the line between the character and the narrator's voice is the character's voice. This POV offers many benefits of a first-person narrator but with more flexibility, especially when creating an unreliable narrative. This takes readers into the head and heart of a character, allowing the story to be seen and felt through the character's experiences and history and thoughts and feelings. Example: Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, Stephen King’s Secret Window, and Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island:

Teddy said, “I don’t know, Chuck. You think they’re onto us?” “Nah.” Chucktilted his head back, squinting a bit in the sun, and he smiled at Teddy. “We’retoo smart for that.”“Yeah,” Teddy said. “We are, aren’t we?”

Normal third-person limited:

In this viewpoint, the story is told from the close perspective of one character. It still mainly uses third-person pronouns but creates the immediacy and intimacy of a first-person narrative without being trapped inside the protagonist's head. As a result, it creates a sense of ‘narrative empathy,’ making it easier for readers to imagine themselves in the viewpoint character or as their confidante. Example: Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls", which sticks with Robert Jordan's consciousness who shares:

"This Anselmo had been a good guide and he could travel wonderfully in the mountains." Robert watched as Jacob smiled at Susan and approached her, shaking her hand. As he heard them exchange warm pleasantries, Robert fumed with jealousy. If he comes near her again, he’ll regret it, he thought.

So, here we are with a general understanding of Unreliable Narratives. In the next post, I will discuss how you can create an Unreliable Narrator based on these factors more in-depth.

Is Lady Gaga a Contemporary Feminist Icon?

The pop world cause celebre, Lady Gaga, is perhaps one of the most successful artists of our generation. Having sold over fifteen million albums worldwide - coupled with around 369 awards and nominations to her name - the upper-middle-class girl from Manhattan has had tremendous start to what is sure to be a long and prosperous music career. As a result to Gaga's international renown, many feminist critics have become interested in Stefani Germanotta (Gaga's birth name) as a powerful woman within contemporary popular culture.

After reviewing the plethora of articles, blogs and journals that concentrate upon Gaga as a feminist icon, there is seemingly no overall consensus amongst those writing upon the subject. The music sensation herself claimed that she is a "representative of sexually strong women who speak their minds."

However, within an earlier interview, Gaga proclaimed that "I'm not a feminist - I hail men. I love men." These two contradictory statements typify Gaga's enigmatic, postmodern celebrity persona. Under such conditions, labelling Lady Gaga a feminist icon is invariably going to be problematic.

But according to the Guardian writer and columnist, Kira Cochren, Lady Gaga does qualify as a positive role model for young women. This is because throughout her prolific career, Gaga has debunked the idea of 'gender essentialism'. This philosophy maintains that men and women are fundamentally divergent - biologically, psychologically and sociologically. However, for many third wave feminists (i.e. Judith Butler), gender is nothing more than a social construct whereby males and females are socialised to conventionally think in masculine or feminine ways. Under these circumstances, gender-based behaviour is not biologically determined, but invariably "performative." Through Lady Gaga's manifestly androgynous stage personality, her existence within the mainstream furthers the notion that femininity does not have to be intrinsic to a female's identity. For Cochren, constantly within interviews, performances and public outings, Lady Gaga blurs the essentialist distinctions between men and women, through elaborate transsexual costumes and patent references to bisexuality.

Kira Cochren - coming from the postmodern feminist tradition - certainly does present a compelling argument in which endorses the viewpoint that Lady Gaga is a contemporary feminist icon. But, for many other commentators upon the subject, the female artist actually reinforces patriarchy through consciously allowing herself to be sexual objectified, based upon the condition that she herself will eventually benefit from the situation. Coming from a perspective consistent with the late French sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu, Lady Gaga is certainly guilty of this anti-feminist change. For Bourdieu, patriarchal social conditions exist as they do today partly because powerful women within the labour market utilise their bodies in ways that render them suitable objects for the 'male gaze'. Rather than oppose institutional sexism, such women are socially, politically and economically rewarded for conforming to the unspoken rules laden within masculine cultural environments. This may be beneficial for the individual in question, but, on structural level, they actually become complicit in the ongoing cultural reinforcement of patriarchy.

Coming from this perspective, Lady Gaga is not an exemplary figure when it comes to resisting this rather tacit form of gender oppression. Although the pop star herself has often stated that she is intellectually against the female body being seen as an object, Lady Gaga nevertheless encourages the idea inadvertently through her sexualised lyrics, performances and airbrushed photographic images within magazines. These branded, well thought out features of Lady Gaga's career, propagate the idea that within a masculine social world, women must firstly understand the sexually-biased 'rules of the game', and then use their bodies accordingly to advance their positioning within cultural and economic fields. Unfortunately however, this does nothing to better the state of affairs in which females find themselves in less auspicious circumstances than that of males.

Germaine Greer recently stated that Cheryl Cole (X-Factor judge) and Katie Price (supermodel) are "too thin" to be modern day feminist role models. It seems Lady Gaga has succumbed to a similar kind of fate; that is, their bodies, and how they are presented, stands incongruous to the 'true' principles of feminism. In sharp contrast to this perspective, coming from a postmodern point of view, women like Gaga, Cole and Price can be heralded as feminists because of their rich embodiment of 'girl power'. These 'sexually strong females' (to use Lady Gaga's turn of phrase) represent success; they give hope to all aspiring young women that they too can emulate similar kinds of achievements within their respective social worlds. The disparity between these two perspectives that claim Lady Gaga to be, or not be a feminist, leaves one feeling somewhat ambivalent upon the subject. Being conditioned to think a la male, it is very difficult for me personally to ascertain Gaga's feminist iconic status.

Yet, whilst being sympathetic towards those labelling Gaga a strong role model for young women, on a sociological level, I believe that Lady Gaga does not provide real-world solutions in which to better the positioning of women. The pop star's circumstances are exceptional. She was born into affluence; educated privately; and managed to use her voice, body and charisma to procure international stardom. Unfortunately, most young girls are not blessed with these remarkable credentials. Therefore, trying to emulate the examples set by the music phenomenon is like chasing a poisoned chalice. Moreover, the fact that Lady Gaga is celebrated as a highly sexual person promulgates the idea that women are justifiably to be seen as objects-in-themselves (as opposed to object-for-themselves).Lady Gaga cannot be seen as a contemporary feminist icon. She seemingly endorses the idea that women can use their bodies to reap the economic and social benefits. But sexist 'male-stream' perspectives should not be sated in order to better the positioning of one woman; rather, they should be challenged and eradicated in order to better the positioning of all women. Only under these circumstances will the cultural framework of patriarchy (or, misogyny) become dismantled.

Sociologically analyzing social and cultural life within the modern world. See the My Society blog: http://themysocietyblog.blogspot.com/ Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Keye_Kolade/1039239

Death of Conceptual Art: What is Stuckism?

Stuckism is the child of the millennium. This international art movement was originated in 1999. Billy Childish and Charles Thomson are the chief proponents of this movement. Their goal is the propagation of figurative painting against conceptual art. It was first constituted by a group of thirteen British artists. Gradually it expanded in all dimensions crossing geographic barriers. It reportedly comprises 209 groups in 48 countries as of May 2010.

The Stuckists openly criticizes and stages demonstrations, mainly outside Tate Britain, against the Turner Prize. In some of these demonstrations, the members of the group dress like clowns. They have also opposed against the Young British Artists sponsored by Charles Saatchi.

Initially they used to exhibit their works in small galleries at Shoreditch, London. Their first major public museum show was arranged in the Walker Art Gallery, in 2004 as a programme of the Liverpool Biennial. They have initiated numerous campaigns to propagate their views; some of them are as follows:

Contesting in the 2001 general election, Complaining Saatchi to the Office of Fair Trading for misuse of his power in the art world though such complaints was not sustained, and Requesting under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for the release of Tate Gallery trustee minutes.

The last attempt created a media scandal reportedly about the acquisition of Chris Ofili's work, The Upper Room. Consequently the Charity Commission face reprimands from the Tate.

The Stuckists manifesto was written in August 1999 by Childish and Thomson. It stresses on the worth of painting as a medium, and using it for communication, the expression of emotion and experience as well. Thus it opposes to the depiction of superficial novelty, nihilism, postmodernism and irony of conceptual art. The most controversial proclamation in this manifesto says that only painters are artists. They wrote a second manifesto named An Open Letter to Sir Nicholas Serota. The addressee replied with acknowledgement but he refused to comment on the same. Their third manifesto is Remodernism. In this literature, they announced that substitution of postmodernism by Remodernism as their goal. They described this process of substitution as a phase of renewal in spiritual (but not religious) values in creative endeavors, culture and society. They published successive manifestoes as detailed below:

1. Handy Hints,2. Anti-anti-art,3. The Cappuccino writer and the Idiocy of Contemporary Writing,4. The Turner Prize,5. The Decrepitude of the Critic and6. Stuckist critique of Damien Hirst.

Such manifestos have also been written by others in affiliates, even by the Students for Stuckism group. On MySpace Liv Soul and Rebekah Maybury, in 2006, both at their age of sixteen, has co-formed "Underage Stuckists" for the teenagers. In the same year Allen Herndon published contentious The Manifesto of the American Stuckists. Entire content of this book was challenged by the Los Angeles Stuckists group.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Mark_B_Berg/700357

Writer vs. Writer: Gracie C. McKeever

Who doesn't love good erotica? Today, we will talk to a native New Yorker, Gracie C. McKeever who has been writing since the ripe old age of seven when two younger brothers were among her earliest, captive audience for various short story readings and performances. She has since authored several decidedly more grown-up novels, novellas, and series most of which can be found at Siren Publishing under multiple sub-genres beneath the erotic romance umbrella. If you love erotica with BDSM, LGBTQ, Interracial, Historical, Ménage, Paranormal and Western keep on reading.

Hello Gracie. I’m glad to have you here for this interview. First thing first, what do you write? What genre and why are you interested in this specific form of writing?

Hello, Neda, thank you for having me here. I write romance and several sub-genres, including erotic romance. The simple answer to why I’m interested in romance is that I love happily ever afters. No matter how much trauma or tragedy I put my characters through, in the end, they always get their happily ever after.

When did you find yourself attracted to writing? When did you stop seeing it as a hobby?

I’ve been writing since I was a child, about seven years old. I’ve always loved to write, probably as much as I loved to read. The idea of creating a story that someone would someday enjoy as much as I enjoyed the stories I read was appealing. I suppose I stopped seeing writing as a hobby when I started to get paid, specifically receiving royalties for my published novels.

I can relate. So, you’re publishing your works online since 1998. Can you tell us about that? How much has your publishing process changed since then?

Wow, that’s an interesting question, Neda. When I finished New Life Incognita and started shopping it around, e-publishing was in its infancy. I believe there were three main e-pubs around at the time. After numerous rejections from the larger mainstream print publishers and agents, I decided to try a different route and ultimately placed NLI with Dreams Unlimited, a paranormal romance e-publisher that had been out less than a year. From there, I never really looked back and have published all of my books with e-publishers with very little variation. Siren Publishing, the publisher of the bulk of my current work and also less than a year old when I placed my first erotic romance, Beneath the Surface, with them, used to make some of their titles available in trade paperback and there are probably some print versions of my titles available with various sites like e-Bay, but for the most part, all of my work is available exclusively electronically.

That's very interesting. It brings up another question. What’s the difference between romance and erotic romance? And do you have a favorite author in this genre?

That’s a good question. I think the main difference is the heat level of the sex scenes. All erotic romance has open-door sex scenes, but open-door sex scenes don’t necessarily make a romance erotic. The coarseness of the language and the explicitness of the sexual situations are what separate romance from erotic romance. Erotic romance is a lot more graphic and in some cases raunchier than romance. It’s difficult to name just one erotic romance author as a favorite. I have so many, but Joey W. Hill, especially for how she handles BDSM themes, and Shannon McKenna. I’ve read several series by each of these authors and love every one of them.

Was it difficult to write your first erotica? Was there anything you had to fight against to be able to write?

I had read several erotic romance titles and loved them before I decided that I was ready to write one of my own. Writing my first erotic romance, Beneath the Surface, actually came kind of easily and was a natural progression from my previous romances. I still had to make the characters multi-dimensional and relatable. I was still dealing with a hero and heroine who fell in love with each other. I was still dealing with some of my favorite themes of healing, forgiveness and redemption. I was still dealing with my favorite paranormal element of psychic gifts. I just had to change my mind-set and give my characters free rein to be themselves and express themselves freely in the bedroom without letting any of my own reservations get in the way. Once Pandora’s box was open, there was no closing it, LOL

That's hilarious and true. Well, you wrote quite a lot. How do you manage your time for writing and where do you mostly find the ideas for your next book?

I write wherever and whenever I can. On my commute into work, during breaks, on weekends. The ideas for my next book usually come from my previous books since I’m mostly writing series, LOL. Of course, I also get my ideas from life—my own and what’s going on in the world around me, especially as regards my contemporary books.

I understand. Tell us about your writing routines.

Since all of my books are character-driven, I always start with my characters, getting to know them, finding out who and what they are professionally, in their off time, finding out what they like, what they hate, who they love. My routine usually involves research – online and in several reference books – character-building and some outlining. Depending on the book and how loud the characters are clamoring to get started I am a little bit of a pantser and a bit of an outliner.

Me too. For me first the character and her adventure should be set before anything else. What tools and platforms do you use for marketing, advertising and selling?

I do most of my marketing online -- Facebook, Twitter – interviews, advertising to and through book clubs, book reviews, appearing on podcasts, etc.).

Yeah, the power of social media. Last question. What’s your advice for new writers in this genre?

It may be a cliché, but writing for this genre, for any genre, I’d advise to love what you’re writing. Don’t write for the market, because the market changes. Eventually, what you’re writing will be exactly what publishers are looking for. Finally, and especially, don’t give up.

I totally agree and thank you for your time with us. I am sure you not only inspired me to write erotica, but you inspired all our readers.

If you would like to get in touch with Gracie or check out her books here are some links for you:

https://www.graciecmckeever.com https://www.facebook.com/graciecmckeever/ https://twitter.com/GracieCMcKeever https://www.tiktok.com/@graciekittykat https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/gracie-c-mckeever/ http://gracie-g-spot.blogspot.com/ https://www.amazon.com/Gracie-C.-McKeever/e/B0033RQOUM https://www.bookstrand.com/gracie-c-mckeever https://www.bookstrand.com/gigi-moore