...not on Amazon or Goodreads though, and that's not to say that Reed's review of "The Shagging Tree" isn't legit (it was, I didn't ask for 5 stars, though I think he's probably generous to erotica writers... however going through his reviews he doesn't give out five often... also go read his other reviews. They are generally cool and fairly accurate from what I've seen!), but as I was tooling around the internet at work, I wanted to reread one of Alana's blog posts here, but strangely I couldn't remember the address. Feeling a bit dumb (and lazy, cause I could have just logged INTO the blogger site, but nooooo lazy), I Googled Alana Melos and something else. Like "blog" or something, I think.
So, tooling through the results I was getting (OH, I Googled "Pulp Erotica" and then added "Alana Melos" to it, that's what it was), I was getting irritated going, "Jeez, how many pulp erotica stuff is out there?" Then I started hitting up like the book sites, like Amazon and so on, and I hit upon a blog and clicked on it, thinking it was MY blog and I'd just go through the posts to the one I wanted to read that way.
It wasn't.
Holy mother fucking shitballs it wasn't.
It was an honest, actual, OMG review of Rump Raiding Raptors! Not only that, but they did Perils and Trillionaire too! For reference, here are the links:
Rump Raiding Raptors
The Perils of Penetrating Pixies
Trillionaire Living Spaceship Docked with my Ass
And I've read them all, squeeing the whole time. And yes, the exposition is a bit much in the first one. Yes, Debbie's a cunt bitch at times. And yeah, I should have had more spaceship action. I agree with them all, spot on.
Doesn't matter if it was bad or good. I don't care. I'm just thrilled that someone actually read them. Yes, yes, I know that yeah, I'm making SOME money at this, but to have actual confirmation that someone read them from beginning to finish and had enough of an opinion to post is fantastic. They could have said they were all the biggest pieces of crap ever and I would still be squeeing. However, much to my thrill, they were concrit... as in constructive criticism. Not only that, but for the most part, they seemed to enjoy them. Or at least enough to put positive in there with negative, which is fucking fantastic!
This all goes back to... write what you love. Like the first couple I wrote was Raptors and Pixies, Trillionaire close behind, and I really loved the idea of the JKC. It was pulpy and adventurous and weird and sexy and all sorts of things and I really got into some of them. (I really want the to review Knob Gobblin' Hobgoblins now!) Trillionaire... was sort of a dare to write something that silly, so of course I went a serious route and filled it mostly with bdsm suspension bondage. I wish I would have gone more silly with that. It was an alright write, but I couldn't wait to get back to the other stuff I was working on.
When you write what you love, it shows. It really does. People can tell. I know I was calling it in with the Cheri books, but I was so excited at first... then it just... went away. For other books, like Hunger of the Heart, I was into it the entire way. Of course, it wasn't a great seller and never will be, but I LOVED writing it. I even went through and edited it! (most of the smut I really don't, quick edits, but nothing major) That story had been brewing for years in my head, and I'm really proud of it. The JKC are so much fun to write. Dirk & Debbie have such different personalities... Dirk's actually more soft-spoken and studious, and Debbie's more of a go-getter, with a helping of bitch on the side. Both are really fun to get into their heads and write, but they are way different perspectives. Waaaaay different.
Rock possesses a weird place in my writing. I like his head. He's a good guy. But I suck at writing spy thrillers, so the action and spy stuff while very interesting, is really hard to write. Writing about myths is fascinating. I can't wait to finish my kitsune book (SOON, I know), and I'm going headfirst into my werewolf horrorotica here. I love some of these books. I won't say they're high art, cause they're really not, but they're fun, and I think some people who have read it have realized how fun they are for me.
Even the Dominating books... I'll fully admit I started them just to make money, but I enjoy the different variations of femdom I'm finding. Some are soft and light, some are harder, some are just "get down on the floor, bitch, and be prepared for my faux cock!". Hell, one's even from the sub's POV. (Though I think I'll keep those few and far between. Either that or start a new series with the malesub perspective) I'm throwing in some crazier stuff now, and I've a list of books I could write. I may... end it with 9, 3 bundles, and a megabundle. But I don't know. It's fun writing.
The thing about these reviews I read too... it makes me want to go back to fun. Fuck serious. My husband reminds me that this is about fun, and it is. It so is. Yeah, the couple hundred or whatever a month is nice (stupid basement!!) but it's about keeping myself awake and alert during a long night shift at work, and giggling stupidly over some phrase that I wrote which is just over the top, or a situation which is so unbelievable it crosses over into that... weird B movie awesome fun action. The next few JKC are planned out (I've been wanting to finish some series up first before moving on), and I will have to keep in mind how much fun I had writing the first ones. It's not serious. It can't be serious.
But just because they aren't serious doesn't mean they aren't sexy.
Exactly this. If I wanted a J-O-B I didn't like, I would do something else. I'm writing the stories that I want to write. I'm just grateful that futanari isn't the absolute worst niche in the world. I have a thing for serious cheese, as I like to call it. Like, the Underworld movies are totally serious, but at the same time, they're also totally cheesy. Same thing with, say, the Hellboy films, which I also love. Or the Fifth Element. This "serious cheesiness" is what I try to bring to my writing.
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