Go. Share.
During the sex panel at writercon last year nikitangel (I think!) brought up the idea of the innate queerness of fandom - Fanfic is largely written by women for women - in many cases with the express purpose of of getting ourselves and other women off. And . . . that's true. And it's not generally talked about in those terms. That's not always what fanfic is about, of course, but at the very least it's about us openly sharing our kinks with EACH OTHER. It was a conversation that is very much worth having and I wish it hadn't gotten derailed as easily as it did.
ANYWAY. I was reminded of that because, as I'm sure you all have seen by now, over here femmenerd is hosting a Lizard Brain fic Confessional - In her words she's looking for: "(Smutty) stories that hit your kinks so hard they leave you incoherent and breathless. Yes. Fics that engage your girly bits but leave your brain blinking. Ones that make your brain AND your hormones stand at attention. Stories you read OVER AND OVER AGAIN for a thrill (or wank material - who the hell are we kidding?). There doesn't even have to be sex in the fic. Just...things that hit you where your libido lives."
Anonymous posting is turned on. Go share. For the good of fandom. All the lizard brain fics. All in one place. It's a brilliant idea.
I haven't left mine yet because I'm still deciding whether I care enough to go anonymous or not. The other day after I posted about my favorite fic cliches I was had another post percolating in my brain about my *actual* kinks, but I end up not sharing because I decided 1)too much *over*sharing and 2) my lj is not a secret and I forget that sometimes. That's why lj is treacherous. I feel like I'm talking to myself, but in reality I'm talking to everyone I know. And in some cases their parents. *shrugs* Ah, well. What're you gonna do?
I have a confession: Unless a) I am *looking* for porn or b) the sex is absolutely essential to the plot/character dynamic and tells me something important about the theme/action/characters that I wouldn't get from reading the scenes around it, I don't read sex scenes. I'm usually reading for the *emotional* "porn" (which I think is what we mean half the time when we say porn anyway. We're rarely talking about porn in a traditional sense, for all we mean writing that is incredibly explicit, and the emotion often - not always, but often - is just as important as the sex itself. There's a reason we write the characters we do, after all.) I don't at all think I'm alone in that and in NO WAY do I mean that is better or worse than reading for actual porn. I don't actually think it's all that different of a response really. The buttons are purely emotional, but it's still hitting on a visceral, rather than intellectual, level. However, if I'm reading to see the characters get to the point where they have that connection, then in a lot of cases the part I care about and am reading for is over by the time the sex happens and like, I'll read it if it's well written (and sure I'll be happy if it does hit my kinks)? But generally I'm sort of indifferent as to whether it's there or not and I'm just as happy with fade to black. So about 99% of the time when I'm reading fic just to read fic, I skim the sex scenes or skip them entirely.
But who am I kidding? Sometimes I *am* looking for porn. What that means is that listing my lizard brain fics feels really, really revealing. Which I KNOW is the case for everyone because that's kind of the point, but sometimes it's not about the pairing or if I even know the fandom - it's about how dirty the dirty talk is . If I find a well done one in my fandoms in a pairing I love that works? Then bonus! That's ideal. But if I don't? That's sort of okay too. *squirms* Anyway. Wow. I'm not completely comfortable posting this because it feels like too much oversharing and I'm not even totally sure what my point was. But eh. We're on the subject so I'M GOING TO ANYWAY. Then I'm going to come up with a few to contribute Femme's list, because I think collecting the lizard brain fics is a noble goal.
ANYWAY. I was reminded of that because, as I'm sure you all have seen by now, over here femmenerd is hosting a Lizard Brain fic Confessional - In her words she's looking for: "(Smutty) stories that hit your kinks so hard they leave you incoherent and breathless. Yes. Fics that engage your girly bits but leave your brain blinking. Ones that make your brain AND your hormones stand at attention. Stories you read OVER AND OVER AGAIN for a thrill (or wank material - who the hell are we kidding?). There doesn't even have to be sex in the fic. Just...things that hit you where your libido lives."
Anonymous posting is turned on. Go share. For the good of fandom. All the lizard brain fics. All in one place. It's a brilliant idea.
I haven't left mine yet because I'm still deciding whether I care enough to go anonymous or not. The other day after I posted about my favorite fic cliches I was had another post percolating in my brain about my *actual* kinks, but I end up not sharing because I decided 1)too much *over*sharing and 2) my lj is not a secret and I forget that sometimes. That's why lj is treacherous. I feel like I'm talking to myself, but in reality I'm talking to everyone I know. And in some cases their parents. *shrugs* Ah, well. What're you gonna do?
I have a confession: Unless a) I am *looking* for porn or b) the sex is absolutely essential to the plot/character dynamic and tells me something important about the theme/action/characters that I wouldn't get from reading the scenes around it, I don't read sex scenes. I'm usually reading for the *emotional* "porn" (which I think is what we mean half the time when we say porn anyway. We're rarely talking about porn in a traditional sense, for all we mean writing that is incredibly explicit, and the emotion often - not always, but often - is just as important as the sex itself. There's a reason we write the characters we do, after all.) I don't at all think I'm alone in that and in NO WAY do I mean that is better or worse than reading for actual porn. I don't actually think it's all that different of a response really. The buttons are purely emotional, but it's still hitting on a visceral, rather than intellectual, level. However, if I'm reading to see the characters get to the point where they have that connection, then in a lot of cases the part I care about and am reading for is over by the time the sex happens and like, I'll read it if it's well written (and sure I'll be happy if it does hit my kinks)? But generally I'm sort of indifferent as to whether it's there or not and I'm just as happy with fade to black. So about 99% of the time when I'm reading fic just to read fic, I skim the sex scenes or skip them entirely.
But who am I kidding? Sometimes I *am* looking for porn. What that means is that listing my lizard brain fics feels really, really revealing. Which I KNOW is the case for everyone because that's kind of the point, but sometimes it's not about the pairing or if I even know the fandom - it's about how dirty the dirty talk is . If I find a well done one in my fandoms in a pairing I love that works? Then bonus! That's ideal. But if I don't? That's sort of okay too. *squirms* Anyway. Wow. I'm not completely comfortable posting this because it feels like too much oversharing and I'm not even totally sure what my point was. But eh. We're on the subject so I'M GOING TO ANYWAY. Then I'm going to come up with a few to contribute Femme's list, because I think collecting the lizard brain fics is a noble goal.