Actually, a Picture Isn't Always Worth a Thousand Words (Part II)
I recommend you read the first part of this post if you haven't, as it sets out the basic ideas of what I'm going to be addressing here.
I've got my hands on a few stories my publisher recently released that deal with a subject that you would think would be very easy for porn to do. The stories are focused on a woman's first time trying anal sex (which I admit is a subject I don't exactly shy away from), but they are written from the man's point of view. I've had a number of discussion with friends and a few fellow writers about whether these will sell.
These discussions center around two things, whether or not men read erotica, and whether or not these stories might appeal to women. I'll deal with the second one later, but today I want to talk about the first, the question of whether or not men read erotica (keep an eye out for a later post dealing with the second question, hopefully coming soon).
The central reason many people believe men don't read erotica is because men are visual, and men have porn, so they don't need erotica. I think this idea is fundamentally flawed for many of the same reasons I think some fetishes lend themselves to words over pictures. To some extent, allowing the mind to do both the casting and the acting makes for a higher quality production. This is in part because porn isn't known for its acting, but partially because unlike most movies, porn isn't about a well written script, a well structured plot, and well realized characters. It's about sex. The problem is that even for many men, sex isn't just sex. Sex is fantasy.
We're going to go back to the stories I mentioned earlier, and talk about the differences between what the stories can do and what the films can. First and most important, a story can put you in the scenario and in the character, which makes it more real. Ultimately when you're watching porn, you are watching two other people have sex. You can imagine yourself as one of them (or both if you want to, that's fine by me), but their actions are likely to pull you out of it. If you are imaging you are the man, he isn't going to fuck her like you would, he's going to fuck her like he does. If you're a woman, she's not going to react like you would, and the transitions between positions and penetrations aren't going to come when you want them to.
In a story, on the other hand, you read and fantasize at your own pace. Your mind can wander as it will, filling in the missing pieces of the sex scene, putting yourself more fully into it. The girl can be any girl you want her to be; she doesn't have to be the platinum blond porn star from the movies. She can be the girl next door, your long-time crush, or even a coworker. Just as importantly, she can react how you want her to react. In the stories I read, the initial anal penetration is almost ritualistic. It is, in and of itself, an achievement. In porn, you can only stretch out that initial penetration so long, but in a story it can take as long as it needs to, it can last as long as it arouses you to contemplate it. And she can react how you want her to. In a porn movie, the woman might not react at all to a good old-fashioned buttfucking, and perhaps that arouses you. But for some men, and I don't know how many, I think the arousal is in the reactions, is in seeing the girl's face as she finally lets you live out your fantasy. That face can be whatever you want it to be, stoic or said, weeping or smiling. It could take you thousands of hours of watching porn to find an actress making the right face, or you might never find it, but in your mind it can always be perfect.
Now I could be completely wrong on this, but I believe that men, for all their reputation as visual people who just want to watch people fuck, are still creatures of fantasy. They still imagine themselves seducing the babysitter, or their teacher, or sweet-talking some girl at a party into letting them have their way with them.
I've got my hands on a few stories my publisher recently released that deal with a subject that you would think would be very easy for porn to do. The stories are focused on a woman's first time trying anal sex (which I admit is a subject I don't exactly shy away from), but they are written from the man's point of view. I've had a number of discussion with friends and a few fellow writers about whether these will sell.
These discussions center around two things, whether or not men read erotica, and whether or not these stories might appeal to women. I'll deal with the second one later, but today I want to talk about the first, the question of whether or not men read erotica (keep an eye out for a later post dealing with the second question, hopefully coming soon).
The central reason many people believe men don't read erotica is because men are visual, and men have porn, so they don't need erotica. I think this idea is fundamentally flawed for many of the same reasons I think some fetishes lend themselves to words over pictures. To some extent, allowing the mind to do both the casting and the acting makes for a higher quality production. This is in part because porn isn't known for its acting, but partially because unlike most movies, porn isn't about a well written script, a well structured plot, and well realized characters. It's about sex. The problem is that even for many men, sex isn't just sex. Sex is fantasy.
We're going to go back to the stories I mentioned earlier, and talk about the differences between what the stories can do and what the films can. First and most important, a story can put you in the scenario and in the character, which makes it more real. Ultimately when you're watching porn, you are watching two other people have sex. You can imagine yourself as one of them (or both if you want to, that's fine by me), but their actions are likely to pull you out of it. If you are imaging you are the man, he isn't going to fuck her like you would, he's going to fuck her like he does. If you're a woman, she's not going to react like you would, and the transitions between positions and penetrations aren't going to come when you want them to.
In a story, on the other hand, you read and fantasize at your own pace. Your mind can wander as it will, filling in the missing pieces of the sex scene, putting yourself more fully into it. The girl can be any girl you want her to be; she doesn't have to be the platinum blond porn star from the movies. She can be the girl next door, your long-time crush, or even a coworker. Just as importantly, she can react how you want her to react. In the stories I read, the initial anal penetration is almost ritualistic. It is, in and of itself, an achievement. In porn, you can only stretch out that initial penetration so long, but in a story it can take as long as it needs to, it can last as long as it arouses you to contemplate it. And she can react how you want her to. In a porn movie, the woman might not react at all to a good old-fashioned buttfucking, and perhaps that arouses you. But for some men, and I don't know how many, I think the arousal is in the reactions, is in seeing the girl's face as she finally lets you live out your fantasy. That face can be whatever you want it to be, stoic or said, weeping or smiling. It could take you thousands of hours of watching porn to find an actress making the right face, or you might never find it, but in your mind it can always be perfect.
Now I could be completely wrong on this, but I believe that men, for all their reputation as visual people who just want to watch people fuck, are still creatures of fantasy. They still imagine themselves seducing the babysitter, or their teacher, or sweet-talking some girl at a party into letting them have their way with them.
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