Under the wide, wide sky

I have had my beta hat on this week – reading some really wonderful stuff by eidheann_writes and oakstone730. As it happens, I made gently encouraged both of them to go a little more NC-17 than they had already written (as it fitted the stories they were telling). Anyway, I ended up compiling lots of notes about the writing of smut, and eidheann_writes suggested I make them into a proper LJ post. And here it is!

I should say that I don’t write much smut, and have written much less so far this year than last. evilgiraff helped me lots when I first started, with her constant reminders to meander. But I enjoy writing smut (although don’t profess to be any kind of expert – I’d say I’m actually quite tame), and I often have lots to say on the subject as a beta-reader, mostly in the form of endless questions, as will become apparent.

Also, I want to make clear that none of this is a criticism of any other writer, more just questions and issues that have come up through discussion with people through the beta process (both giving and receiving edits). These are all quite personal views; this is by no means a definitive guide to writing smut. And I should note that it’s mainly about writing a fairly vanilla version of smut (within the world of slash fanfiction), as that’s mostly what I write and beta-read.

( Omi's thoughts on writing smut )



(Many thanks to icmezzo for checking this through for sense and ignoring my liberal sprinkling of Brit commas. <3)

This isn't a fandom-related question, but one I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts on. My husband has, in the past year, begun to read. And read, and read. Which is wonderful, I have to say. Obviously he always could read, just now he's interested and wants to talk about books all the time. At the moment he is reading The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow (which I've never read). Tonight, he came home and asked me to 'translate' a paragraph. Now, I've got a postgraduate degree in Modern Literature, so of course I love to think I can handle a challenge like this.

( Saul Bellow quote )

I do also have various fandomy-posts to make, but just thought I'd post this quickly first. Get him feeling involved, then let him read my smut, lol. (Which has asked to do, recently. I am trying not to cringe at the thought.)

ETA: Read the comments before bothering to puzzle your way through this. Or, to quote writcraft once she'd read the comments: 'It means what?' *kicks men*'

This why I don't read books like this.