Naoko's news, views and shoes thread

[beachbum1958]

As ever, a masterly description, for which many thanks.
BTW, don't all women do that ? My late one sometimes did. . . .

Do please give her our best regards.

I have indeed, Dave, and thank you

 

[MichaelinChina]

I have indeed, Dave, and thank you

Dave? I didn't know your name was Dave, HP.
Can we call you Dave too? Or would you prefer David?

 

[Handley_Page]

Dave? I didn't know your name was Dave, HP.
Can we call you Dave too? Or would you prefer David?

On this board, I'd rather remain HP, please.

 

[beachbum1958]

On this board, I'd rather remain HP, please.

Sorry HP, didn't mean to out you

Will

 

[JackLuis]

With Hypoxia out on the road I thought I might provide some entertainment.
https://scontent.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/s526x395/13173685_10153673447202945_2039474931013631632_n.jpg?oh=6f08540adf913041aee7a8be51e2f66f&oe=57D32A36

 

[redzinger]

Hello all,
Just briefly dropping by. Still recovering and in Wales with the dogs. Not sure what the future holds, but I've done no writing recently. Currently helping with the local cycling festival, and am exhausted.

I saw this and thought of Naoko:
'Students! Your lecturers are on strike because they are struggling to survive'
http://www.theguardian.com/higher-e...ey-are-struggling-to-survive?CMP=share_btn_tw

 

[Handley_Page]

Hello all,
Just briefly dropping by. Still recovering and in Wales with the dogs. Not sure what the future holds, but I've done no writing recently. Currently helping with the local cycling festival, and am exhausted.

I saw this and thought of Naoko:
'Students! Your lecturers are on strike because they are struggling to survive'
http://www.theguardian.com/higher-e...ey-are-struggling-to-survive?CMP=share_btn_tw

Red,
You concentrate on getting right.
Writing can wait.

 

[Gorza]

I thought Naoko's thread deserved a quickie bump into June.

I'm thinking about how smut can be positive, joyful and humanising. The worst stuff I've written seems to turn readers on, but it lacks that which makes you feel more human when you walk away from it. What do fellow litsters think about the idea of human-positive smut?

 

[NotWise]

I thought Naoko's thread deserved a quickie bump into June.

I'm thinking about how smut can be positive, joyful and humanising. The worst stuff I've written seems to turn readers on, but it lacks that which makes you feel more human when you walk away from it. What do fellow litsters think about the idea of human-positive smut?

Good to see you around again. I hope your situation has improved.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean, but I expect "Slick Willie's Swamp Shack" would be an example of human-positive smut.

Romances (which almost always have a happy ending) are probably another example, and "romantic" stories can appear in most genres. Tragic stories should also be capable of emphasizing a common humanity, but tragic stories don't seem to be well-accepted on LIt. And then there's humor.

 

[Handley_Page]

I thought Naoko's thread deserved a quickie bump into June.

I'm thinking about how smut can be positive, joyful and humanising. The worst stuff I've written seems to turn readers on, but it lacks that which makes you feel more human when you walk away from it. What do fellow litsters think about the idea of human-positive smut?

I like the idea.
But
Humour with sex ? I suspect that's a trifle tricky. . . .

 

[Gorza]

Good to see you around again. I hope your situation has improved.

Thanks. I've still no job to go to, but I'm working out my notice.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean, but I expect "Slick Willie's Swamp Shack" would be an example of human-positive smut.

Yeah, I suppose it is.

Romances (which almost always have a happy ending) are probably another example, and "romantic" stories can appear in most genres. Tragic stories should also be capable of emphasizing a common humanity, but tragic stories don't seem to be well-accepted on LIt. And then there's humor.

I'm not sure I would limit an idea of human-positive to romance. I think it's possible for a story to bleak, unromantic, pornographie or any combination of those and still give us a positive sense of our humanity. I think what I'm aiming at is how easily smut can dehumanise, especially by objectifying women.

I've read a few tragic stories here that I thought were very good.

I like the idea.
But
Humour with sex ? I suspect that's a trifle tricky. . . .

Yup, I think humour is tough to write, but sex is often funny. I think the tenderness of a couple laughing and being playful with each other is a great thing to capture in erotica. Not everything has to be steamy.

 

[ElectricBlue]

My yarn for last year's Nude Day comp "in Search of a Story" got some lols and a decent score. Naoko took it far more seriously than I did, I think - but did like my leading lady.

I like the idea.
But
Humour with sex ? I suspect that's a trifle tricky. . . .

 

[NotWise]

I'm not sure I would limit an idea of human-positive to romance. I think it's possible for a story to bleak, unromantic, pornographie or any combination of those and still give us a positive sense of our humanity. I think what I'm aiming at is how easily smut can dehumanise, especially by objectifying women.

Getting a positive sense of humanity out of something that is bleak could be difficult. I guess some Noir might qualify.

Maybe the approach would be to use a conflict that makes the reader think about a common human characteristic from a different point of view, then resolve the conflict in a way that satisfies.

 

[Gorza]

Getting a positive sense of humanity out of something that is bleak could be difficult. I guess some Noir might qualify.

I had BBC Radio 4 on in the office this afternoon. They aired a play about a man killing himself some time after his wife is killed in a car accident. The listener doesn't know that that's the set up at first, because he's hallucinating as his life slips away. It's told with mythic feeling: his dead wife calling to him, and journeying over an unusual landscape accompanied by a friend (it's only later that he remembers his friend has been dead for years). Then there are flashbacks to his memories of good times with his wife. The dénouement is his meeting his dead wife who urges him to go back and live for her. At which point he is resuscitated. It's an intensely dark tale, but has a powerful ring of love stronger than death, and could be adapted to an erotic tale.

 

[TxRad]

This is an old story of mine and it could do with some editing but it fits the dark romance type story well.

Cecilla

 

[Gorza]

This is an old story of mine and it could do with some editing but it fits the dark romance type story well.

Cecilla

Always putting that Lone X in TRAD: 'sgoin' on my readin' lis'.

 

[Handley_Page]

This is an old story of mine and it could do with some editing but it fits the dark romance type story well.

Cecilla

I thought it a damned good story

 

[TxRad]

I thought it a damned good story

Thank you.

 

[Handley_Page]

Thank you.

No sweat.
Wish I could write like that (I have real trouble deciding the ending).

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'm thinking about how smut can be positive, joyful and humanising. The worst stuff I've written seems to turn readers on, but it lacks that which makes you feel more human when you walk away from it. What do fellow litsters think about the idea of human-positive smut?

I like it, and it's something I aim for in most of my work. Perfect characters get boring, but I think "flawed people work to be good to one another" is something I could happily read a lot more of.

 

[8letters]

I'm thinking about how smut can be positive, joyful and humanising. The worst stuff I've written seems to turn readers on, but it lacks that which makes you feel more human when you walk away from it. What do fellow litsters think about the idea of human-positive smut?

Good to see you again, Gorza. Good luck on the job hunt.

I think in a lot of smut, the author is more interested in getting to the sex and less about building a chemistry between the main characters, which means typically resorting to the man dominating the woman. It could be by having a huge cock that she goes wild over or it could be through emotional dominance. Sometimes the author gets us tot he sex by having one of the characters (usually the woman) losing all self-control. While that can make for a great stroke story, they don't make feel me feel uplifted about humankind. Is that what you're talking about?

 

[JackLuis]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gorza View Post
I'm thinking about how smut can be positive, joyful and humanising. The worst stuff I've written seems to turn readers on, but it lacks that which makes you feel more human when you walk away from it. What do fellow litsters think about the idea of human-positive smut?

I wrote the Spreading Seeds Saga's with that idea in mind. The original story was very poorly edited but I republished an edited and polished contraction of it last December. I left the 40 Chapter version up and published the Six Saga contraction of by lumping ~six chapters in each Saga.

The Scores are most gratifying and I think justify the pain of pounding out 200K words over several years.

The Story is based on a future with women out numbering men 10:1. You can imagine how that might effect social mores. The problem I had was creating a story line from thin air as I wrote each chapter. I don't start with an outline I was just winging it as I went, which made the original chapter version a little disjointed.

I started tracking the Saga's scores, and views every day for the first 90 days and now once a week or so. After about four months votes almost stopped but it gets one or two a week still. Once the last Saga dropped off the "New" page views declined but it still gets ~100 a week. Some are people reading the next saga as each of them is ~40K words.

I have in mind another story set in Mesopotamia~5,000 years ago, but it has Goddesses and Amazons in it. But a young shepherd is accused of starting a war but ends up helper of the Ne Lugal and has his own burdens to bare. His Concubine has to teach him the skills he needs to fit in to the Palace life. I think it will be quite jolly.

 

[NaokoSmith]

Hullo boys 'n gurlzzzz

I have been absent partly because I was offered some extra work (paid!), and also there is a lot going on in my institution right now which I try to keep tabs on.

Partly too, because I was checking out some dating sites. There was one which I paid for. That was kinda good as if you have to pay, it keeps nutters and cheapskates at bay. However this means much more women go on those sites, and there was fierce competition for the better class of blokes. I got two nice dates. One guy had debenture seats in the Millenium Stadium! and some kind of cool car (Mazda Miata? that's what it sounded like). I was v. sad when he said he felt that the 20 year difference in our ages, his being competely unqualified while I have a PhD and being a total Tory while I am so far out on the left wing I could play for England (especially in their current parlous state - losing to Iceland!), made us incompatible. I mean - he had seats for all the home rugby matches and I like rugby, how more compatible do you want to be?

Then I went on a free site and could see why all the women go on paid sites! In the very first day, I had explicit inappropriate messages sent to me by drooling guys who just get off on these things, and so many hopeful messages from men who were plainly completely incompatible with me that I could hardly keep up with replying to them.

Men on there complain women won't reply, but that's not surprising considering that if you do, you get rude messages and even when you say: "No, thank you, I think that you being a freemason and into clay pigeon shooting while I am a left-wing radical feminist and into ballet and gardening," the men keep on and on hassling you: "Oh but you never know unless you meet up with someone." If I met up with all the men who hassled me, I would be booked out til Christmas.

Then there was the one to whom I said: "I don't think we're compatible, I like fine dining," and he said: "I don't know what you mean, I go to Harvesters for Sunday lunch sometimes." I explained that the last date I'd had had taken me somewhere rather more pricey, and he said when I realised I wasn't going to find my millionaire on the site, he would still be willing to take me to MacDonalds. - what a gent! how could I resist?

I have been cruised by TWO guys living in France, who insisted that they had cars and it's not too far to travel. As well as flirting in French, I have been able to flirt in (basic) Italian and Klingon - that was a lot of fun, and I did actually go to meet him. He is a sweet and hilarious guy, and I shall see him again, but I don't think you need start saving up for wedding presents yet

Don't buy the iPhone
OK so it has a fantastic camera, superb sound, lovely interface BUT
you'll suddenly find strands in your life connected and suggested, that you'd much rather forget and have to keep signing in to prove your ID with password that can only be written in Cyrillic symbols and when you inevitably drop it on a hard surface ...

Just the other day I met someone who has a Microsoft Lumia somethingorother. (This was while I was on a work trip to Llandudno - yes, Basturd Idiot Line Manager sent me on a 400 mile trip to do something he ought to have given to the lecturer who lives in the neighbourhood.) I really like it - not least because Piglet squealed in outrage, and thinks it's so untrendy that she will probably never deign to touch it in order to spy on my messages. It's so untrendy that it only costs £100 to buy, and then you can get a £9 per month SIM-only contract with unlimited texts and messages and 4GB download. Does that sound like a good deal?

 

[beachbum1958]

Hullo boys 'n gurlzzzz

I have been absent partly because I was offered some extra work (paid!), and also there is a lot going on in my institution right now which I try to keep tabs on.

Partly too, because I was checking out some dating sites. There was one which I paid for. That was kinda good as if you have to pay, it keeps nutters and cheapskates at bay. However this means much more women go on those sites, and there was fierce competition for the better class of blokes. I got two nice dates. One guy had debenture seats in the Millenium Stadium! and some kind of cool car (Mazda Miata? that's what it sounded like). I was v. sad when he said he felt that the 20 year difference in our ages, his being competely unqualified while I have a PhD and being a total Tory while I am so far out on the left wing I could play for England (especially in their current parlous state - losing to Iceland!), made us incompatible. I mean - he had seats for all the home rugby matches and I like rugby, how more compatible do you want to be?

Then I went on a free site and could see why all the women go on paid sites! In the very first day, I had explicit inappropriate messages sent to me by drooling guys who just get off on these things, and so many hopeful messages from men who were plainly completely incompatible with me that I could hardly keep up with replying to them.

Men on there complain women won't reply, but that's not surprising considering that if you do, you get rude messages and even when you say: "No, thank you, I think that you being a freemason and into clay pigeon shooting while I am a left-wing radical feminist and into ballet and gardening," the men keep on and on hassling you: "Oh but you never know unless you meet up with someone." If I met up with all the men who hassled me, I would be booked out til Christmas.

Then there was the one to whom I said: "I don't think we're compatible, I like fine dining," and he said: "I don't know what you mean, I go to Harvesters for Sunday lunch sometimes." I explained that the last date I'd had had taken me somewhere rather more pricey, and he said when I realised I wasn't going to find my millionaire on the site, he would still be willing to take me to MacDonalds. - what a gent! how could I resist?

I have been cruised by TWO guys living in France, who insisted that they had cars and it's not too far to travel. As well as flirting in French, I have been able to flirt in (basic) Italian and Klingon - that was a lot of fun, and I did actually go to meet him. He is a sweet and hilarious guy, and I shall see him again, but I don't think you need start saving up for wedding presents yet


Just the other day I met someone who has a Microsoft Lumia somethingorother. (This was while I was on a work trip to Llandudno - yes, Basturd Idiot Line Manager sent me on a 400 mile trip to do something he ought to have given to the lecturer who lives in the neighbourhood.) I really like it - not least because Piglet squealed in outrage, and thinks it's so untrendy that she will probably never deign to touch it in order to spy on my messages. It's so untrendy that it only costs £100 to buy, and then you can get a £9 per month SIM-only contract with unlimited texts and messages and 4GB download. Does that sound like a good deal?

Wondering where you've been, and when you'd be back, it's been too, too quiet without you here. I have news too, I'll drop you a PM when I finish my Sunday morning chores (I have to cook lunch today, Lori's feeling far too grand to cater to me and my whims...)

 

[Handley_Page]

The microsoft Lumia originated in Finland; it was designed by Nokia.