Scarlet Darkwood Author

Throwback Writing

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Throwback writing. People have their throwbacks to everything, reminiscing over bygone days. Days when everything seemed simpler, more innocent. Some like to present throwbacks to fashion, hairstyles, music. What I haven’t seen much of is authors presenting the first story they ever wrote.

Do you as readers ever wonder about that? Most authors say their first novel should be buried or burned. Personally, I’d like nothing better than to see some of the first prose by Anne Rice or Stephen King. Or basically any author who’s willing to share.

I think Mary Rowen Horgan, a fellow author, feels the same way. One day she came across some of her old poetry and read it again with adult eyes. Some of the writing she laughed, some she still nodded at the sentiment. It was the time travel backward, a moment in her personal history when she was trying to find herself, trying to express herself in the most creative words she knew how. Her first writings displayed her passions or her gripes. No matter how strong or weak, the paper held her words for all posterity. As long as the paper lasted. And the papers lasted.

Mary Rowen Horgan

A catalyst to a new idea, she created “Throwback Writing,” a category she has now included in her blog, and a place where authors can submit some of their very first attempts at writing, whether it be poetry, an essay, or a short story. I scrounged a little deeper in my closets and lo and behold, I found all of my creative writing assignments I wrote back in 1980. These assignments were short stories, poems in all styles, and even a play. At that time, I was only trying to fulfill an English credit, and I loved the class and the people in it. Little did I ever suspect I’d be writing novels. That was not a task I thought I could complete, no matter how many classes I took. I think now how different a creative writing class in high school might be. Would a class perhaps create an anthology and put it up on Amazon? Would the teacher go through a syllabus and tackle exactly how to craft a story?

I’ll personally never know, but I did want to share one of my stories on Mary’s blog. Click on the link below and enjoy some throwback writing.

Mary Rowen Horgan

If any of you wish to share some of your writing with me, and would like for me to create a post featuring your work, don’t hesitate to contact me. Happy reading, and never forget where you came from.

No, Maybe You’re Not Being Catfished!

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So now there’s another brouhaha ablaze, and it bubbles and toils like nobody’s business. Still does. In the memory of book bloggers, especially. Apparently author Kathleen Hale stalked a reviewer, to the point of obsessively trying to find out about her on the Internet, followed her posts and Net hangouts, and finally got her actual address. Did it stop there? Oh, no! Of course not: She drove to this person’s house, rang the doorbell, and when no one answered, left a book on the doorstep and returned to her rental car (yes, she went the extra mile to get a rental car). And the way she described getting the reviewer’s address, under the guise of participating in a book club giveaway, smacked of sick sneakiness, in my humble opinion.

Alas, they say confession has it’s own soul’s relief. She took it to the last world’s end and wrote about it in her article, “Am I being Catfished?” If you’ll notice, I’m not posting links here on my blog. Don’t need to. You’re smart readers. Go Google it. You’ll find it with no problem whatsoever, along with any other information you want to know about this incident. (And if you want to know my first experience with an author behaving badly, so much so that she or Amazon eventually pulled her book, check out “The Greek Seaman by Jacqueline Howett–also read the series of comments on BigAl’s Book and Pals).

From an author’s standpoint, I’ve heard for a while about authors being bullied and trolled to the point that authors have sometimes had to remove themselves from social media for a while. I’ve heard LOTS about that. Even Anne Rice has spoken about this on her Facebook page. Stop The Goodreads Bullies is a site where trolls and reviewers behaving badly were placed in a position of what used to be known as the pillory. Having virtual tomatoes thrown at them via copies of their reviews, shaming comments, and having their personal information posted for the whole world to see: their social security numbers, their home address. (Oh, I forgot to mention, Kathleen Hale also CONTACTED the reviewer by phone and spoke to her, under the pretense of “fact-finding”).

As a result of this lovely shenanigan by Hale, bloggers banded together to host a book blog black out from 10/23-27, or some date like that. This incident frightened them so badly, they decided it was time to take a stand, and stand together they did. They hosted a blackout, and did not do book reviews or carry through with blog tours during this time as a means of making a statement: We’re not gonna take it!

What’s my opinion? I think authors need to stop worrying about book reviews and concentrate on making sales. That’s the name of the game: make sales! That will get Amazon and other sites noticing you and ranking you higher. I’ve seen books with only a single one-star review, and their rankings are fantastic! The author is selling books. Granted, there are sites where you need a certain number of reviews to participate, Pixel Of Ink being one of them. They do this to ensure a certain quality, but in light of shill reviews, I question this thinking. But what else is one to do?

Punchline: Just because someone gives your book a low review doesn’t mean you’re being catfished. The reviewer is giving an opinion. I don’t defend in any way whatsoever showing up uninvited on someone’s doorstep. It’s dangerous, could get you arrested, or at the very worst, killed. DON’T DO IT. EVER! Instead of working on her next book or promoting the one she had, Hale wasted precious time traipsing after a reviewer for not liking her book. And though Indie Authors have been the worst offenders for getting royally pissed when things don’t go their way, it looks like traditionally published authors do the same at times.

I’ll say it again. To those who have purchased my books, I thank you wholeheartedly. I hope to goodness I haven’t wasted your time. If you want to know more about what’s going on with me, I have this blog where you can sign up for my newsletter to get special treats others don’t get. You can also like my author page. I will NEVER harass you for book buys or reviews (though I appreciate both). I want writing and book blogging to be productive, fun, and most of all, SAFE.

End of rant! And happy reading and blogging, whether you be a reader, blogger, or author, or all three! #Haleno

The Pick Of The Litter: Authors and Multiple Works

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I’ve been prowling around a little here lately. And what I mean by that is I’ve been checking out to see how authors with multiple works fare. Do all of their books sell well? Do one or two books sell better than others? Here’s what I’ve found out from my very informal research. Yes, it seems that when authors have many books under their belt, there are those stories that just simply seem to sell much better than others.

Take erotic author Selina Kitt, for example. She has over fifty books out for sell, and if you look at the rankings, there are some books that land low on the list, some in the middle, and some are selling like hotcakes. And I’m really not sure why that is, really. Her erotica is what I enjoy reading, yet I only have one of her books (and I got a free one not too long ago). I haven’t bought another one. Now this isn’t to slam her writing at all. Personally for me, I don’t have author loyalty, I hate to admit. I just buy books when I feel like buying them, having to be “in the mood,” more or less.

On the other hand, there are those readers who’ll purchase everything an author puts out, like Nora Roberts or John Grisham or Steven King or Anne Rice. When it comes to trilogies, some readers will purchase and read the whole series, whether they actually love the first book or not. Something compels them to buy the remainder of the story.

Then there’s E. L. James and the Fifty Shades Of Grey series. For as many who loved the trilogy, there were as many who hated it. People complained about her horrible writing, people hated the first book, yet read the rest of the work, and of course there were others who started to read the first book, and put it down with disgust, vowing to never read another one. But I’m really talking about those who bought her work anyway, whether they liked it or not. Why? Anne Rice’s Sleeping Beauty Trilogy is the same. As for me, I have that series, but I’ve never read another one of her books.

So maybe there is something to that author loyalty thing, or maybe readers are just persnickety, buying what attracts their attention at the moment. Perhaps it’s idle curiosity to see what the hype is all about. When I review a collection by an author, I tend to look at the title first, then the cover.  I tend to go more for a title indicating there’s new twist to a set of fairy tales or a catchy title indicating some romance, perhaps. I tend to steer away from smutty titles, like “Doing Daddy’s Best Friend,” or “Doing Daddy.” “Best Smutty Stories” probably won’t get a buy from me, either. Again, for erotica, I have to be in the mood to want it, and when I buy something in this genre, I don’t mind a light, fun, lusty read. I’m looking for the sexual adventure tied up in at least some form of a storyline, but I want lots of sex. I’m a high-heat kind of gal.

How about my readers out there? What compels you to buy an author’s work? Do you buy everything an author puts out? Do you select only titles that strike your fancy? What makes you buy one story in an author’s collection, but not another? I’d love to hear from you, so drop me a line!

The Erotica Genre: What’s In A Name?

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I’ve posted my thoughts on some of the different camps of thought when it comes to the Erotica category. Other genres, no doubt, face similar issues. But what I’m learning is the ingredients that make up genres to start with. When you look at mysteries, you see certain elements, such as solving puzzling questions, going through due diligence to see if facts line up or not, using deduction to determine the killer. In romance you see the relationship between two characters and how it grows into love. In Steampunk you’ll see elements of a Victorian timeframe, engines and gears, and how characters in a past timeframe might view their world with futuristic eyes.

A well-known author noted in one of her writing courses that if a genre element takes up at least 50% of the novel, then the novel fits that particular genre. As I noted above, mystery, romance, and steampunk will need to have their particular elements fit at least half the novel to be true to its genre. So what about Erotica? I know for sure that sex and the issues of sex take up at least 50% of my erotic pieces–some will argue it takes up more than that. I tend to think I’m at a 50/50 split, with 50% being sex and the other 50% addressing the relationship between characters or a character’s sexual experiences, which help them grow into more powerful, self-assured individuals. It’s true, the romance element may play a lesser part, and the plot will only weave itself in and out and around sexual issues. Some readers won’t mind that, but those searching for more character connection and plot won’t like higher heat erotica much.

As for me, I’ve discovered that when I read Erotica, I want lots of spicy sex scenes and a story where I can just kick back, relax, and give my inner voyeur some exercise.

Take Anne Rice’s Sleeping Beauty Trilogy, for example. What I remember specifically about her novels is Beauty’s sexual adventures as she served out her training period. The story focused on the sexual aspect of this, and plots and relationships between characters did take more of a back seat. This was my first (accidental) foray into Erotica. I had no idea what I was purchasing when I bought the packaged set in the book store many years ago. However, her work made an indelible impression on me. You didn’t see much of a connection between Beauty and Tristan, until the end. I personally think their relationship seemed a little vague and in the end, a little hurried, but cute nonetheless.

In Louisa Burton’s Hidden Grotto series (my favorite of all Erotica) she seems to manage her stories in short story format, but woven cohesively into the chapters she creates. All throughout the book, sex is either active or insinuated, without too much connection between the characters like we may see in romance. Here’s the deal, though. In the Hidden Grotto series, the Follets are not supposed to fall in love with the guests who come to the castle to enjoy lusty time away from home. The goal of the immortal Follets is to propagate their seed to create beings who are “gifted” or merely satisfy their own carnal appetite. The big goal for all of them is to endure, and the goal of the one who owns the castle is to protect the Follets and give them a safe have so they can endure. He provides the guests as their sexual food for survival.

Pleasure House and House Tales From The Archives are in the same boat as the Hidden Grotto series: The attendants are not supposed to fall in love with the admits (patients). The goal of the attendants is to teach their admits empowerment through sexual liberation. Sometimes the attendants may present lessons for their admits, such as in Dance of Desire. Though I hint at Serena falling in love with Daren, I stop this (i.e. don’t explore it much) because I don’t need Daren falling in love. He needs to help Serena find her heart’s desire, even while she’s “imprisoned” at The House. I don’t go much into detail about Serena and her lover because she only has one shot at wooing him. I wanted the stakes to be high and for there to be some sense of urgency, a “get it right the first time” kind of thing.

What about you as the reader who has read my work or the authors I mentioned above? What do you like about what we write? What do you not like? Do you think our writing fits the Erotica genre the way it’s supposed to? Do you get your personal reading goals met when you read our work?

Hot Rant From Authors: We Are Not Our Characters!

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Hello All! I couldn’t help but be inspired to address an issue stemming from a post on Anne Rice’s Facebook page. And this is it: A reader giving an author a one-star review because the reader determined from the author’s past written content, that the author is somehow unworthy of writing on a new, entirely different subject matter. (I’ve included the snippet and link at the very bottom of this posting).

Let’s face it ladies and gentlemen, AUTHORS ARE NOT THEIR CHARACTERS!

Now many of you will say or think that surely an author’s works or genre reflects them. There could be an element of truth to that, perhaps. But there are so many pieces of the puzzle making up one’s personality, belief system, and interests, that it should hardly come as a surprise when an author decides to make a change and write something totally different than what they’ve been known for writing previously.

Writing a different piece of work in a new genre helps keep things spicy for a writer. Some do well with the change, others not so much. But I have to personally admire an author for branching out. It lets me know there’s more to them than just what I read in their novels–that they’re unique human beings with all kinds of perspectives on all kinds of subjects.

This is my personal stance: Readers need to be thoughtful in their reviews, even if they’re negative, and discuss the work and other nuances of the book: not the author or their worthiness in tackling a new area of interest.

I’d be interested in learning how some of you feel about this. Do you think erotica writers are sexaholics or do you think practicing detectives can write nothing but murder mysteries? Could they write a good steampunk novel, maybe? 

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Good Morning, People of the Page. Here’s a recent “review” of Christ the Lord Out of Egypt. Comments welcome. (If anyone thinks an author has no “right” to feature a “review” like this on a FB page, let me observe that reviews like this are read by thousands on Amazon.com, and they remain part of the public review record indefinitely. They’re posted to be read, and to influence, year after year after year, and their effects can be considerable.)

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