Ryan Field's Blog, page 504

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Not Too Long Ago...

Whenever you think you're having a bad day, just take a look at the photo here and remember how much worse it could get.

This is what writers used to use. Editing was done with red pens and authors rewrote so many times their fingers turned black. Nowadays I rarely ever rewrite anything. I edit extensively. But I never rewrite like I used to do when I submitted hardcopy. And that's because if I wanted to change a sentence or a paragraph I couldn't cut and paste. I had to rewrite the entire page and then hope it would fit.

Of course I didn't use a typewriter like this one, but I did use an IBM Electric and a Word Processor right up until 1999. I still have boxes filled with hardcopy manuscripts I haven't bothered to turn into electronic files.

The only reason I switched to a computer in 1999 was because my editors were starting to tell me I didn't have a choice anymore. Basically, they told me if I didn't go electronic I wouldn't be able to keep up. And I was still in my twenties, which made me unique in the sense that I wasn't online at all. Although I'm glad everything is now electronic, from submissions to contracts, and I wouldn't want to go back to a typewriter for any amount of money, there was something very comforting about the sound, feel, and touch of a typewriter that can't be explained unless you've done it.[image error]

One Good Take on How Writers Can Deal with Rejection

When I saw the blog post I'm linking to below I had to share. We've all been through rejection and we all know how it can sting. If it's not rejection, it's criticism.

And I love when other writers share tips and ways to help soften the sting of rejection and criticism. Rejection is something you have to face if you're going to be a writer, but there are also ways you can learn to deal with it, too.

Author Jurgen Wolff wrote a wonderful post. You can check it out here.

I think I like this part the most.

The third is to hope for acceptance but not expect it, to remind ourselves that all of life is a mixed bag.

If you're dealing with rejection right now, please take the time to check out the rest of the post. It's worth it.

ABC Ditches TV Sitcom "Work It" for Offensive LGBT Content?

Once upon a time, a TV show that mocked transgendered people was pitched to high powered executives in Hollywood and they loved it. They loved it the same way people loved watching offensive racist "Mammy" characters in old 1940's films like Gone with the Wind.

The TV show I'm talking about was called "Work It," and it was about two straight men, living in Suburban, USA, who couldn't get jobs because of a down economy. So what did these straight men do? It was classic. They put on lipstick, earrings, and high heels and went out to get jobs in full drag.

They not only got the jobs, they thrived in the jobs.

Oh, it was funny. It was lol, hahaha, and huzzah. The canned laughter could not be contained. And the more these two straight guys camped it up the more offensive it became. And it wasn't just offensive to transgenders. They did a good job at offending women in the work force, too.

The amazing thing out of all of this is that the show actually got to the point where they gave it a time slot and let it air on TV. No one gave it a second thought. In Hollywood, where they are clearly not short of a gay population, I find this astounding at best and horrifying at the worst.

This is what finally happened:

The network said today that the sitcom about two men who dress as women to look for work is off the schedule after only two episodes aired. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation had protested the series, saying it mocked the transgender community.

The formal statement was poor ratings. But I can't help wondering why it reached that point. And now I wonder what's next and how much more defamation there is in store. It seems these days I'm offended as a gay man at least once or twice a day on social media by people who don't even know they are doing it. I just received a private facebook message from a straight woman author and her husband, whom I assume is straight, who are producing and hawking a new film with gay content, about gay weddings. You can't blame people for zooming in on a market they think is going to make them money. And you can't blame them for working hard and taking advantage of a good thing while it lasts. But you can't fault gay people for being offended when they don't do it right.[image error]

So She "Hates Writing Sex Scenes"

Last night while reading a few pieces about the debacle in the YA community where authors are attacking reviewers (it's dismal at best), I decided to check out social media and I saw something that made my jaw drop. An author who writes m/m erotic romance posted she didn't like writing sex scenes. I kid you not. I would never joke about something like this. And I'm trying hard to write this post without being snarky. I would never mention names, but here is the exact quote, verbatim.

I hate writing sex scenes. Why can't I just say, "They had sex," and move on to the rest of the book. :)

One reason I find this interesting is because as an author of erotica and erotic romance for over twenty years, I've never felt this way a day in my life. I look forward to writing the sex scenes, and work hard to make them move the story forward without being too obvious. The only thing I've ever blasted in erotic romances I didn't write was that there weren't enough sex scenes. I can't help find it fascinating that m/m erotic romances will be constantly chopped apart for too much sex, and yet the erotic romances with too little sex are praised to the heavens. Evidently, there's a reason that passed me by.

Readers who buy and read erotica of any kind, from romance to hardcore BDSM, are buying this partly for the sex and partly for the storyline. It's a combination that goes hand in hand and if an author cheats or skimps on one or the other it's going to show. When I see this all I can think about is how screwed over the reader is.

Another reason why this statement was interesting to me, to the point of disturbing, is that if an author doesn't like writing sex scenes, and she would rather just write, "they had sex," and move on, why on earth would this author be writing erotic romance or erotica in the first place? Jonathan Franzen obviously doesn't like writing sex scenes (I've read "Freedom") and no one can fault him for this. So he writes what he loves and deals more in strong characterization and emotional conflict than sex. And I've never felt cheated by anything Jonathan Franzen wrote in spite of the questionable sex scenes.

Sometimes I wonder how many erotic romance authors are writing erotica because they think there are more publishing opportunities in the genre than in other genres. And then I start to feel sorry for the reader again. Because if this is the case, these authors are shortchanging themselves and the reader.

Maybe the comment I saw was posted in jest. There is a smiley face at the end. But would a dentist post "I hate pulling teeth, I wish they would just fall out on their own," on social media? If he did, I might take him seriously and I wouldn't be paying his office a visit anytime soon.

At the very least, if you're an erotic romance author and you don't like writing sex scenes, be smart enough to keep this information to yourself. It's not something I would joke about, especially when intentions can be misinterpreted so easily these days on social media.

My Next Destination Point...

Dealing With a Bad Review: Thoughts From Erika Dreifus

I've been wanting to post about this for a while and time kept slipping away. If you're a published author, you've most likely already felt the sting of a bad review. If you're a published author and you haven't experienced this yet, you will.

The post to which I'm linking is guest post on the David Abrams blog, The Quivering Pen. Erika Dreifus wrote the guest post in a positive voice, in order to help other authors learn how to deal with their first bad review...or bad reviews in general.

This line made me smile:

In this age of Google alerts, that might seem impressive indeed.

I smiled because I stopped all google alerts after my own first bad review...a scathing review where the reviewer roasted the book, in public, spelled my name wrong, and misled readers to believe scenes I'd written that were intended to be satirical were serious. In fact, the review was written to laugh at the book, laugh at me, and laugh at my publisher. But more than that, the reviewer, an angry woman, didn't "get" gay humor and never will. I figured I didn't need google alerts to point me in the direction of reviews like this, so I stopped them short and never used them again. And the book I'm talking about turned out to be a bestseller and is still getting good reviews from readers.

Then Erika said this in the guest post about the bad review she suffered. I smiled again after I read it twice:

Some of the review seemed eccentric as well as harsh.

There's never been a better word in the history of humanity than "eccentric" when it comes to some of the bad reviews authors deal with. Don't get me wrong, not all negative reviews are necessarily bad things. Some even help sell books. But in some negative reviews it's important to look for that "eccentric" quality, both as a reader and an author. Because if the review is, indeed, "eccentric"...over the top, too snarky...meant as a roast...it's not going to be a viable, trustworthy review.

Erika's guest post goes on to explain and list ways to deal with your first bad review that I can't recommend enough to all authors. Please take the time to read this. If for no other reason than this line alone:

Google the offending reviewer.

I find it both helpful and important to research book reviewers nowadays. Being that the process of reviewing a book is subjective, it's important to know how the reviewer has reviewed other books, what her reputation is like, and how readers receive her reviews. If you find that you're not the only one who has received a snarky review, you'll feel a lot better. And if you find an inordinate amount of bitchy, snarky reviews on her site, and these reviews are laced with truncated excerpts that seem to take things out of context, you may even wonder whether or not her reviews are written more to garner her online presence than help readers choose which books to read. Trust me on this, no one does anything for free online. There's always a hidden agenda and it's usually about self-promotion/platform (they want a good deal). Or, even worse, narcissism.

Once again, please take the time to read Erika's guest post the on David Abrams blog. It's one of the smartest posts about dealing with bad reviews I've read in a very long time. And it's done in very good taste, which is something I don't see often.

Going Dark Today

I'm going dark today to protest Internet censorship and the people who don't understand the Internet. I've read about SOPA and what it could mean. If this becomes law, web sites could be taken down instantly, without question, for posting something as simple as a photo. In other words, we won't be considered innocent until proven guilty.

Let me also put it this way:

I've experienced this on facebook already. My account was taken down because someone didn't like what I posted and "reported" me. And it was nothing lewd or adult oriented. I keep my facebook updates G rated like I keep this blog. The reason was lgbt general content. Of course I appealed and facebook restored my account. I don't think facebook is anti-gay. I just think they like control. But it's not a great feeling to know that they have this much control. And it will feel even worse if the entire Internet is controlled in this manner.

So I'm going dark until 8 tonight.[image error]

Apple's Big Announcement...

Of course this is all still conjecture, but from the truncated versions I've read about the announcement Apple will soon make, it looks as though Apple is heading into the textbook market.

While I'm not surprised by this announcement, what I find most interesting is that it was mentioned in the Steve Jobs biography. In fact, making textbooks digital was one of Steve's biggest goals with Apple.

I have no idea how publishers are going to react. Many still haven't accepted digital books; some still think they are a passing trend.

In this NYT article, Apple Aims to Take On the Textbook Market, you can read more about the big announcement and what it involves. As always, Apple is grandstanding. But I don't look for any new devices coming out soon. This time it appears to be all about going after the textbook market.

The event will showcase a new push by Apple into the digital textbook business, but will not feature any new devices, according to a person close to the company who did not want to be identified talking about it before it occurred.

What does surprise me is that Steve Jobs is still actually working posthumously. This concept, according to his bio, was something he cared about passionately. And thinking back to when I was a college student, schlepping huge heavy textbooks from one end of a huge campus to the other, I think it's about time textbooks went digital. I just hope they can keep the costs down, unlike what they've done with digital books priced at 9.99 or higher.[image error]

Safe Sex, Condoms, and M/M Romance

While I was reading a blog post late last night where the blogger was discussing condoms in m/m romance, I realized I'd never posted anything here on my own blog. I once wrote a guest post with AJ Llewellyn and DJ Manly, here, at Jessewaves review site. In that post, we covered a lot of ground, and between the three of us offered varying opinions. The comment thread is interesting.

If writers are motivated by their own personal experiences, which most are, I've remained true to form with my stand on condoms and safe sex in the m/m fiction I write. Right now, I'm finishing up a m/m historical romance set in the Edwardian era, and obviously condoms are not going to be mentioned at all. I'd be an idiot to mention condoms and safe sex in a novella set during this period. And I may be many things, but idiot is not one of them.

I've written many raw scenes (sex without condoms), with characters in monogamous relationships, characters with an "agreement" not to use condoms, and characters who lived pre-HIV/AIDS era many times. But I always did it for a specific reason and that reason was always explained quickly in the book. I don't always believe my characters need to use condoms, based on the situations with which they are faced. My publishers never told me I couldn't do this. My publishers are all women. I find it more than interesting that there's this myth going around that women...publishers and authors...are pushing writers to use condoms in m/m romance. Trust me, it's a myth. And I'm speaking from first hand knowledge, not hearsay.

I've also written many scenes in books and short stories with condoms because I felt this is what the scenes called for. In my own personal life, I wouldn't have sex without a condom, not in the heat of passion, not for the best looking man, and not for the sake of love...I never have and I don't expect less from my characters. In other words, if I'm writing about reasonably educated, intelligent, fairly well-balanced gay male characters in a novel, and they are single and actively having sex, I'm also going to make them responsible enough to use condoms because this is what I would do. This is what most of the gay men I know would do. There's no hidden agenda. Once again, not hearsay.


I know first hand what HIV-AIDS can do through watching friends both live and die with it. Most of my friends who are HIV negative know, too. I'm legal POA for one good friend and I work with his ID doc in Philadelphia...Dr. Jay Kostman...who is a leading HIV specialist. I know ARV drugs cost thousands of dollars a month, which most people living with HIV cannot afford. I know these drugs keep people alive and also cause side effects that diminish bone mass and create many other complications down the road. I've seen people with full blown AIDS trached, intubated,and put in induced comas on Diprivan while they wasted away to nothing. I've witnessed the effects of IRIS...and Bactrim failure for those with PCP. I've seen cases with CMV where people were blinded. And when you see these things first hand it changes you forever. I am no saint, trust me. But when I'm with a guy I call the shots with condoms. I wouldn't expect less from certain characters I've created in a book or story.

I am the first to shrug off PC nonsense. And I "get" the fantasy concept of m/m fiction without condoms. In certain cases, with regard to hardcore erotica, I don't see anything wrong with it because it is fantasy. But, as a writer, I personally choose to use condoms in a book or story when I think the storyline calls for it. I honestly don't care what other authors do at this point in my life. I'm just pointing out that authors are motivated by different experiences in their own lives. In my case I know far too much, first hand, about what HIV/AIDS can do...and I just gave you the abbreviated version of what I know.[image error]