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--- Writing Porn For Fun and Profit! ---
The Bi-Weekly E-Letter
Volume II, Issue 15
April 22, 2002

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This issue may be distributed to friends, discussion lists and writing groups as long as the entire issue is included.
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Visit The Writer's Site At
http://www.KatyTerrega.com/writers.html
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Check Out The New Resources Page At
http://www.KatyTerrega.com/resources.html
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In This Issue:
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From the Editor
Article: Writing Bondage Fiction
            By Adrian Hunter
New Address For Editor Diana Sheridan
Market Listings
Question From A U.K. Reader
Goings On
Q & A
Looking for Writers

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From The Editor
Katy Terrega
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It's a beautiful spring day in Colorado, tax time is over and I'm going to take a break from work and go out to lunch with my 11 year old daughter just as soon as I get this newsletter out; who could ask for more?!

Speaking of taxes, we've got a question from an Aussie reader concerning Social Security numbers; see her inquiry after the Market Listings. Hopefully some of you overseas writers can help her.

I had an order last week for a combo Dirty Job, Porn 101 and Porn 102 that came with an incorrect email address. Ack, I hate that! The email is dark_orchard@yahoo.com. Please contact me if it was you so I can mail your books!

For new subscribers, don't miss the new Resources Page or the new Articles Page - both pages are full of helpful info for writers.

Thanks! to those of you who contributed a voluntary subscription of $5 to help defray web costs and keep this a paying market! And special thanks to Cameron Roark who contributed a $35 gift certificate to Office Depot! (Actually he did it months ago and I am only now publicly congratulating him!)

Is it just me or do all writers salivate at the thought of walking into an office supply store? The papers and pens, envelopes and magazine holders, printers and gadgets...it boggles the mind. You can see who else has contributed on the Supporter's Page and you can make your own contribution on the Order Page.

We've got a big issue this week. A great article on bondage fiction from Adrian Hunter, several market listings and some good Goings On. Oh, and check out editor Diana Sheridan's new email address after Adrian's article.

As usual, enjoy the newsletter and please keep in touch!

Katy

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--- Writing Bondage Fiction ---
--- By Adrian Hunter ---
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Bondage fiction is a lot like heavy metal...the lyrics don't really matter as long as the sound is right. Lots of poseurs try to fake their way through the motions, but true believers can always suss the real deal after the first three notes. Cool costumes help, but aren't always essential. And girls can play lead, too.

In other words, it's a genre, and hallowed be its tenets, customs, mores and conventions. So don't get cute and push that freakin' envelope. Wanna write a slave farm epic? Cool! Sure worked for Anne Rice (“Exit To Eden”) and Laura Antoniou (four volumes in “The Marketplace” series, with five and six on the way). Or perhaps a journey-into-submission-at-the-hands-of-a-kind-and-loving-yet-borderline-berserk-master? Get in line behind me and Chelsea as we wrap up our next novel, "Association."

When it comes to plot, "original" is overrated. Look at "Harry Potter"...take two helpings of "Star Wars," stir well with "Lord of the Rings" (are Gandalf and Dumbledore the same character?), add a dollop of “The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe,” a pinch of “The Borrowers,” a dollop of “Encyclopedia Brown,” etc., etc. What makes it all work are the characters...we care desperately about what happens to Harry, Ron and Hermione, no matter how derivative the context. Heck, Anne Rice didn't even bother making up new characters for three books worth of "Sleeping Beauty," despite potential lawsuits from Disney (not to mention her stated dislike for fan fiction).

Okay, enough sermonizing. First, watch every Alfred Hitchcock movie with a critical eye to how he sets his stories in motion, and read lots of Stephen King (especially "On Writing") to learn how to push intricately weird tales along to a satisfactory conclusion. Both auteurs take ordinary people and thrust them into extraordinary circumstances, which sounds an awful lot like what happens to everyone in the bdsm playpen.

It's perfectly okay to string together a bunch of hot scenes, but if that's the case, don't try to embellish the action with a superfluous plot you don't really care about. I like G.C. Scott's approach in "The Passive Voice," where the narrator is having the time of her life and so is her boyfriend, who displays exactly none of the conventional "dom" behavior patterns. Ye gods, you mean people actually *enjoy* bondage?!? A similar let's-f**k! approach highlights Alma Marceau's "Lofting," although I wish she hadn't received a thesaurus for Christmas (too much reliance on "anguish languish" is no replacement for a story that only moves a few feet further than "I saw, I conquered, I came.").

By the same token, don't forget the hot sex in pursuit of a coherent story. John Warren's "Murder at Roissy" is a great example of a good fetish writer who got way out of his league by setting a mystery thriller in a bondage resort and falling short on both accounts (didn't we learn anything from the movie version of "Exit to Eden"?). Then again, Laura Reese managed this stunt in "Topping From Below," and promptly fell off the wire by utilizing exactly the same plot in "Panic Snap." Not a crime, but not always worth $25.00 for the hardcover, either.

Start your bdsm story in the middle. In conventional plotting, Act 1 is supposed to introduce the characters, Act 2 puts them in jeopardy, and Act 3 is how they figure out a solution. By opening with Act 2, you give the reader something stronger to chew on than "she shivered as she heard the wheels of his car crunch on the gravel driveway." Backfill the who/what/where/when and go straight for the why. This works especially well if you're telling one of the bdsm Big 3 plots: voluntary journey into submission; slave farm follies; non-consensual victim learns to love her rapist.

Get out of the house. Sure, lots of important moments in our lives take place in the bedroom, but they're rarely interesting to anyone else. Unless you elevate the domestic interiors to something along the lines of "House of Leaves," set your story anywhere but the basement. Send your bdsm characters to school, work, a club, a hotel, the aforementioned slave farm, the harem, a pirate ship, your favorite city, anywhere but a dungeon (unless it's located in a castle circa 1300). Bend time backwards, or spring ahead to the sci-fi future.

Write about something ELSE you know. For example, Chelsea and I have been massively amused by the recent technical and social gyrations over Napster, so we made up something similar as an integral plot device for our new bdsm novel, "Once Bitten." If your other hobby is cooking, start your story in a S&M restaurant like La Nouvelle Justine in New York. If you vacation every year in Mexico, set the proceedings in a remote fishing village where nobody speaks English except this strange Yanqui who owns the big house on the hill and wears leather all the time. If you dig “The X-Files,” invent some aliens with a taste for abduction. Even better, get out there and learn about something new, then incorporate that research into your story. Trust me, your characters will be thrilled to have something else to talk about.

Personal advice for the typed cast: a lot of my short stories have focused on established bdsm couples instead of new-relationship dancing. I often write from the female submissive's point of view instead of my opposite real nature. I try to make sure the ending bears some resemblance to the beginning. And I avoid listing physical characteristics to make the fantasy insertion process easier for readers who aren't 6' 4" and/or built like Barbie.

But the most important tip I can give any writer is a simple one: read your story out loud. Seriously. No fair lip-syncing either...your ears are way smarter than your eyes. You will be astounded how easy it is to edit this way, especially when it comes to crafting believable dialogue, finessing sentence flow and trimming those "whichy thickets," as Tom Wolfe calls passages filled with superfluous descriptors which tend to add unnecessary density that bores the reader who didn't need such levels of detail, etc.

Power chord accompaniment optional.

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Adrian Hunter began posting his fiction on the Internet in 1993. Four years later, he compiled his stories on a web site, AdrianHunter.com, which has attracted more than a million visitors. In 2000, he was the recipient of the "Best Bondage Writer" award from SIGNY. He has published two anthologies of his short stories, Crash Your Party Dress and Something Just Clicked, as well as a full-length novel, Once Bitten, with co-author Chelsea Shepard. For more information, please visit http://www.adrianhunter.com, or write to him at admin@adrianhunter.com.

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Diana Sheridan, editor of Cherry Boys, Options and many more, has a new email adddress. You can now contact her at Dianaed@bellsouth.net.

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--- Market Listings ---
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LiterotiCaffeine: Stimulating Sex Stories and Erotica
needs literary erotica. Pays per story. Email litcaffeine@yahoo.com for details.

Caffeine Writers Guidelines:

Email stories to: literoticaffeine@yahoo.com only. Include both email and snail mail address on submission. Send submissions in standard ASCII format (no HTML) as part of the message body -- no attachments or alternate word processor formats will be accepted.

LC pays a small honorarium of $5 - $20 generally 2 weeks after publication. Print out and sign the release (see below) to: LC, c/o Digital Enterprises, Box 1074, Laguna Beach, CA 92652-1074. (No stories will be published without a release.)

Consult Chicago Manual of Style (do not use punctuation such as, “!!!” or “!?!”)

Spell check and Grammar check is a must.

Length of stories accepted are 750 words to 2500 words.

Writers who have their work accepted for publication grant LC First North American Serial Rights, a one time, non-exclusive use of Electronic Rights, and first anthology rights. All other rights revert to you, where they belong.

If you reprint the piece elsewhere, we do ask that you cite LC as the first place of publication--also, as a courtesy, please wait at least 3 months before reprinting it.

We are also interested in work that has been previously published, but please notify us in advance of the story’s publishing history.

All published works are archived online. The archives will not be updated if you edit your piece after publication.

A brief bio is optional but appreciated

We respond promptly, but do not offer comments or suggestions.

We do not read simultaneous submissions, that is, material submitted at the same time to other editors so please do not send such submissions.

You must be the original author and own the copyright to your submission

No bestiality, underage, violence, or gross stories will be accepted

LC Publishing - RELEASE FORM:

Please Note: This form must be printed, completed, signed and returned to LC Publishing before any materials or ideas can be considered. (From Katy: Simply copy and paste this into into your Word program to print)

Disclosure Agreement

I, the undersigned, believe that I have copyrighted material that may be of interest to LC Publishing (LC), and I would like to submit said to LC for review. In making this submission I understand the following conditions apply:

All submissions are voluntary on my part.

All rights that I may possess are limited to such rights as I may now have or are in the process of obtaining under United States Copyright Registration. I understand that LC has no obligation to compensate me in any way for the use of material that is not so protected.

The above conditions shall also apply to any additional disclosures made incidental to the original material submitted.

Title of material being submitted:

Signed:

Date:

Print Name:

Address:

City, State, and Zip

Phone Number:

Email address:

Mail to:

LC / Digital Enterprises
P.O. Box 1074
Laguna Beach, CA 92652-1074

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MEAT: TALES OF LUST, APPETITE AND 100% GRADE A BEEF: The Best of the Best Meat Erotica - Edited by Greg Wharton To be published as a trade softcover in the fall of 2002.

This anthology serves up sex and carnivorous desires with humor, over-the-top gore, and explicit pornographic detail. It will contain imaginative tales that combine America's favorite past-time--eating--with our second favorite--violence. And to make mouths really water, each and every slab of story will ooze with raw and juicy sex. Now that's a meal!

What is it about meat? Doesn't sitting down to a big, fat slab of bleeding rare 100% prime beef steak cause desire? Sure as hell does! Ya-hoo! Let's eat! But let's not limit the joy to just beef. Pig, fish, squirrel, beetle, horse, lamb, human, dog, cat, monkey, kangaroo, bird, and antelope meat is also welcome. Wait, human... how'd that get in there?

Imagine stories full of saucy dames, shady butchers, pain and suffering, desire and lust, wonder and intrigue, and truckloads of steaming rare meat. Makes your mouth water doesn't it? Now write that story down and send it in!

Whether you’re a flesh connoisseur or a vegan, this anthology will delight, excite, enrage, elicit a few moans, groans, and perhaps, just maybe, sexual satisfaction. Meat: Tales of Lust, Appetite, and 100% Grade A Beef--The Best of the Best Meat Erotica will surely fulfill a few fantasies, and more than a few nightmares.

Stories may be told from any voice, perspective, or sexuality, and in any genre, but must contain strong elements of sex and meat.

Fiction: under 6,000 words
Deadline for Submissions: May 1, 2002
Payment: upon publication
Rights: First North American Anthology Rights

Submissions should be emailed to gregw@suspectthoughts.com attached as Word or RTF documents, or in the body of the email, with “Meat Submission” as the subject line. Include your name, pseudonym, mailing address, email address, a naked picture (optional), and a short BIO in the body of the email.

Questions? Contact gregw@suspectthoughts.com - Greg Wharton

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Divine Pleasures Contest

May is Divine Pleasures’ 2nd Anniversary!

To celebrate we want to have a contest and give away a few prizes!

Deadline: May 20th.

Prizes for Stories (three): First prize is $25.00 gift certificate to Adult Toy Chest or Blue Door. Second prize is a book, “The Sensuous Woman.” Third prize is five Playboy magazines, from several different years. In addition, with your permission, all winning works will be displayed on Divine Pleasures in June.

Prizes for Poetry (two): First prize is $15.00 gift certificate to Adult Toy Chest or Blue Door. Second prize is $5.00 USD. In addition, all winning works will be displayed on Divine Pleasures in June.

Guidelines for Stories: Stories can be any length, but preferably not longer than 3000 words, filled with erotic content and unique. Summer themed stories are encouraged.

All genders accepted.

Absolutely, NO violence, bestiality, incest, water games, non-consensual, or under age 18 sex.

Poetry: Follow fiction guidelines in regards to content restrictions.

Poetry should be written to evoke sexual response. I want the reader to be turned on by your words. Your poetry may be as graphic as you dare or just teasingly sensual. There isn't any limit on length, although anything over 50 lines better be HOT! Limit: Two entries per person is the limit.

Judging: All entries will be assigned a number and then sent to the judges. That way submissions will be judged on erotic content, grammar, plot development, character development, punctuation, etc, instead of on WHO wrote it.

Please send your submissions to synful1_4U@yahoo.com and put contest submission in the subject line. Any questions can be directed to the same address or to me at arinadivine@dvnpleasures.com.

Thanks! Can’t wait to see your stories and poetry! Arina Divine and Synful

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Has this newsletter helped you get your work published or
motivated you to finally put pen to paper?

If so, please consider making a
voluntary subscription payment of $5 per year
to help defray the many costs inherent in running a webzine, such as
advertising, payments to contributors and prizes for the contests.

Order your voluntary subscription Here
And thanks for your support! ***************************************************

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--- Question From An Overseas Reader ---
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Karen wrote in reference to the Hustler Fantasies guidelines last issue that talk about needing a Social Security # with each submission. She's from Australia and wondered "what happens in the case of overseas authors? Would an Aussie social security number do? I'm guessing a fair few of your subscribers would not be from the US and therefore would be in a similar boat to me."

Good question and I don't have a clue. Can any of you help?

She also asked whether "there are other factors to consider where being an overseas writer is concerned?"

All I know is that there is sometimes trouble with payment and exchange rates. What are some of the other concerns?

Please email Karen at karenm@rvib.org.au - and, if you don't mind, copy your message to me so I know how to help the next writer!

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--- Goings On ---
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Sean MacReady writes:

Ruthie's Club(a membership site at http://www.ruthiesclub.com) is publishing a series of stories about housewives in various locations in 1946, the tumultuous year after WW II. So far two of mine have been included, "Chicago, Illinois" and "Barstow, California." Two more are scheduled, "Paris, France" and "Russian Farm." They join more than a dozen other stories in this very interesting series.

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Magdalene Meretrix writes:

I had a story accepted by the Best Transgender Erotica anthology and the announcement is that the book is now out and my story, "Mars Conjunct Venus" appears in the anthology. I've been reading the book the last couple of days and it's excellent -- both a book of erotica and a statement on gender expectations at the same time. I think this is one that erotica fans and academics will both be interested in.

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Sascha Illyvich writes:

"Making Amends" was purchased by Three Pillows (www.threepillows.com) recently.

I sold a story "First Night Play" to Abby's Realm (www.ms-abby.com) and there is an author interview I did awhile back that's posted to:
http://www.simegen.com/writers/spotlights/erotica/0302/sascha.html where I answered general questions about writing, my past and future plans as a writer for Carol Castellanos.

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SL Nelson writes:

My Southern farce spanking novel, "DeWitt's Delight," is now available in hard copy and is published by CF Publications (www.cfpub.com)

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Stacy Strunk, writing under pen name Jeanette le Corbeau, has sold a series of short stories to Abby's Realm. The BDSM stories center around the character Poppet and will first appear in the May issue.

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Congrats! If you sent me your Goings On but don't see it here, just let me know and I'll get it out.

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Tell me what's going on! Have you made a sale? Do you have a piece being published? Let me know and I'll print it here for all to see! (It helps if you write it in the format above; makes it easier for me to just cut and paste.)

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Check out my column at http://www.absolutewrite.com/ on - what else?! - writing porn. This week I tackled "Dealing With Distractions," mostly of the internet variety...Check it out here -
http://www.absolutewrite.com/specialty_writing/porn_101.htm

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--- Q & A ---
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Send me your questions! I'll answer the most common ones here, and if I don't know the answer, I'll do my best to find a pro who does. (Of course, failing that, I'll ask y'all for help...)

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--- Looking For Writers ---
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Send Me Your Stories And Ideas!

I'm looking for essays/articles that will inspire and/or instruct other porn writers. Success stories, how to break into certain markets, unique views on the genre, etc. Around 800 words is good, although I'm flexible.

I'd love articles on specific markets. There are so many sub-genres of porn and it's hard to know the subtleties of each. If you've got a specialty, from BDSM to Watersports to Leg Sex to Amputeeism, feel free to share your knowledge.

You can either suggest a topic (query) or send something whole. I'll get back to you within a week as to whether or not I'll be able to use it.

Payment varies; From $0-$10 per article (depending on site income for the month) OR a copy of one of the books on the Order Form. I'll also include a lengthy bio and url if you'd like.