WoT FAQ; Sleepy Hollow thoughts; sleepy POI-watching
1) I put together a FAQ for my books, mostly spurred by having to make that "check the box or not?" decision again for "adult content." I did not check the box. Here's the relevant portion of the FAQ:
Do your books have “adult content”? Well, yeah, but possibly not in the way you mean. I don’t check the box that distributors ask you to if your books are inappropriate for readers under 18, because a) 90% of those who do check the box write erotica, which is not what I write; b) I don’t think my books are inappropriate for minors, though they are unlikely to be read by anyone much under 16 just because of the level they’re written at (meaning vocabulary, degree of plot complications, number of literary quotations, etc.; many adults are going to choose not to read them either). The latter is obviously a personal decision that readers (and their parents) need to make for themselves, so here - of the sort of thing that usually gets warned for - is what you’ll find in my books:
- Violence and bodily trauma, not graphic or dwelt upon, but descriptive enough to provoke the occasional wince or shudder. Characters hurt each other, physically or psychologically, but they also help and care for each other. Characters die.
- Sex scenes, not explicit at the pornographic level, but not shying away from letting you know what’s happening. Occasional anatomically-correct words (preferred over euphemism of the “manhood” variety). Sexual activity is plot-relevant but not the focus of the plot. Characters think about sex and pursue it, but not to the exclusion of everything else; most of them have a good sense of situationally-appropriate behavior.
- Bad words, not constant or gratuitous (except when character-relevant); scatological, sexual, violent, blasphemous. Swearing does not go unremarked-upon; some of my characters hate it and say so. I try to stay away from words that offend in sexist or racist ways.
On the whole, I’d say that the “adult content” of my books has more to do with difficult choices and painful circumstances than the specifics of language or action, but I’m not offended if someone backs away because of specific content issues.
I think this is all reasonable, but there's bound to be someone out there who gets huffy. Difficult sometimes to remember that not all the world reads E-rated fanfic on a regular basis and thinks my writing is tame. :)
2) I am having trouble being quite as enthused about season two of Sleepy Hollow as I was about season one, and I'm afraid it has to do with Katrina. It's very hard to express dislike for her without being one of those "gets in the way of my ship!" people, and while I do kind of ship Ichabod/Abbie, I would love Katrina to be a great character instead of the inconsistently written and acted mess that she is. She could be both the love of Ichabod's life and a person causing him great consternation; she could be both badass and ladylike; she could be smart as hell and still confused by her confusing circumstances; she could be motherly and passionate and jealous, and conflicted about those feelings. There's plenty of room for fascinating development along all those axes of character, but instead she's tossed arbitrarily from one side to another, never gets to be fully competent at anything, never gets to be as funny as the other characters, is often a victim and more frequently stupid, has marvelously unclear motivations, and keeps wearing an outfit you'd think she would toss in the trash immediately. And she's been the focus of a lot of episodes this season, so all this is unfortunately front and center.
Also, not nearly enough Frank Irving is happening, but we knew that.
3) Bad POI fan here: dozed off here and there during last night's episode and missed both Bear's swimming and the bit about the circle (which I know about from browsing Tumblr), so I will have to watch it again. It's not the show; it's me and my previous night's insomnia. But I did wake up for the ending and look forward to mayhem ensuing next week. And I didn't snore as much as Fusco.
This entry was originally posted at http://hedda62.dreamwidth.org/93168.html. There are currently
comments there. Comment here or there.
Do your books have “adult content”? Well, yeah, but possibly not in the way you mean. I don’t check the box that distributors ask you to if your books are inappropriate for readers under 18, because a) 90% of those who do check the box write erotica, which is not what I write; b) I don’t think my books are inappropriate for minors, though they are unlikely to be read by anyone much under 16 just because of the level they’re written at (meaning vocabulary, degree of plot complications, number of literary quotations, etc.; many adults are going to choose not to read them either). The latter is obviously a personal decision that readers (and their parents) need to make for themselves, so here - of the sort of thing that usually gets warned for - is what you’ll find in my books:
- Violence and bodily trauma, not graphic or dwelt upon, but descriptive enough to provoke the occasional wince or shudder. Characters hurt each other, physically or psychologically, but they also help and care for each other. Characters die.
- Sex scenes, not explicit at the pornographic level, but not shying away from letting you know what’s happening. Occasional anatomically-correct words (preferred over euphemism of the “manhood” variety). Sexual activity is plot-relevant but not the focus of the plot. Characters think about sex and pursue it, but not to the exclusion of everything else; most of them have a good sense of situationally-appropriate behavior.
- Bad words, not constant or gratuitous (except when character-relevant); scatological, sexual, violent, blasphemous. Swearing does not go unremarked-upon; some of my characters hate it and say so. I try to stay away from words that offend in sexist or racist ways.
On the whole, I’d say that the “adult content” of my books has more to do with difficult choices and painful circumstances than the specifics of language or action, but I’m not offended if someone backs away because of specific content issues.
I think this is all reasonable, but there's bound to be someone out there who gets huffy. Difficult sometimes to remember that not all the world reads E-rated fanfic on a regular basis and thinks my writing is tame. :)
2) I am having trouble being quite as enthused about season two of Sleepy Hollow as I was about season one, and I'm afraid it has to do with Katrina. It's very hard to express dislike for her without being one of those "gets in the way of my ship!" people, and while I do kind of ship Ichabod/Abbie, I would love Katrina to be a great character instead of the inconsistently written and acted mess that she is. She could be both the love of Ichabod's life and a person causing him great consternation; she could be both badass and ladylike; she could be smart as hell and still confused by her confusing circumstances; she could be motherly and passionate and jealous, and conflicted about those feelings. There's plenty of room for fascinating development along all those axes of character, but instead she's tossed arbitrarily from one side to another, never gets to be fully competent at anything, never gets to be as funny as the other characters, is often a victim and more frequently stupid, has marvelously unclear motivations, and keeps wearing an outfit you'd think she would toss in the trash immediately. And she's been the focus of a lot of episodes this season, so all this is unfortunately front and center.
Also, not nearly enough Frank Irving is happening, but we knew that.
3) Bad POI fan here: dozed off here and there during last night's episode and missed both Bear's swimming and the bit about the circle (which I know about from browsing Tumblr), so I will have to watch it again. It's not the show; it's me and my previous night's insomnia. But I did wake up for the ending and look forward to mayhem ensuing next week. And I didn't snore as much as Fusco.
This entry was originally posted at http://hedda62.dreamwidth.org/93168.html. There are currently
comments there. Comment here or there.