Worldcon 2019: Ins and Outs of SFF Erotica

[spindizzy]

Ins and Outs of SFF Erotica: moderated by Dr Tiffani Angus, panelled by Atlin Merrick, Elliot Kay, Anna Raftery. Cut because obviously, somewhat NSFW. Caution warnings for mentions of bestiality and paedophilia.

• When I say it was punny, I mean the first two bullet points in my notes are:
  
  • Elliot Kay: I write smutty urban fantasy, or as my friends call it: smurf.
    Dr Tiffani Angus: So it's a little blue.
  
  
  • Anna Raftery: We are not gonna talk about the Gray elephant in the room!


• I like that half the panel seemed to have the same smut-origin story as me, which is "started going through books for the smutty bits as a pre-teen, discovered fandom." Plus, there was actually respect for fic writers!


• There are SO MANY AVENUES to getting your smut out there, although it all has its own set of rules that are hard to find! Kindle Unlimited's rules at the last check was "No nudity or guns on the covers, don't write incest." Smashwords has a specific chart of their rules. Indie publishers: go ham! Although apparently there's at least one whose rules specify "no animals that we have now." ... But also their serious recommendation was "if you follow agents/publishers, you'll eventually find your niche!" (I will also say that I've seen r/eroticauthors recommended as a good place to talk about trends, rules, and how the fuck to find a niche.)


• Other serious advice: if you don't know what kinks/smut/whatever you like reading, GO TO AO3. BROWSE THE TAGS. FIND OUT WHAT YOUR KINKS ARE FOR FREE! ... Maybe be careful clicking on things you don't recognise though.


• I cannot parse my next notes about language/euphemisms, because what I've written is "Aliens and you use penis, get human genitalia on the front, or cloaca, which: fur." I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS! I DON'T THINK FURRY THINGS HAVE CLOACAS, DO THEY? And I assume it's "Yeah, the alien might be a sentient ooze cloud, but it still has to have a dick" maybe?


• Specific tips for how to do the thing:
  
  • Elliot Kay: Agency, agency agency. Is very careful to make sure it's consensual. Also language is hard because a lot of words for AFAB genitalia has negative connotations, which amab doesn't. Best thing to do: pick the phrase/word you're using and stick to it. Also put really solid warning labels on things. You can use sex to tell a story; decide whether you want to do that or not. And for a story with no dialogue: watch pro-wrestling or a Jackie Chan fight scene.
  
  
  • Dr Tiffani Angus: Even if you're writing aliens, it's still a story about humans because WE ARE HUMANS.
  
  
  • Anna Raftery: Make sure everyone either orgasms or actually acknowledges that the orgasms AREN'T happening.


• OKAY, SO THAT CRACK ABOUT THE AUDIENCE I MADE, AND ALSO THE THING I BITCHED ABOUT TO LITERALLY EVERYONE WHO SAW ME FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS BECAUSE I WAS APPALLED! Two audience members stood up in a panel about erotica and asked if there was any laws prohibiting writing about bestiality and/or children, to which the entire panel's reponse was "... What the fuck?" and also "We are not lawyers, you should speak to a lawyer about that, we can only tell you what is in the TOS of publishing sites." AND THEN BOTH OF THESE PEOPLE WENT ON MASSIVE RANTS ABOUT HOW THIS WAS CENSORSHIP AND LIKE THE NAZI BOOK BURNINGS. BECAUSE A PANEL WOULD NOT ENDORSE THEM WRITING PAEDOPHILIA. Like, the panelists was pretty good about cutting them off and shutting them down, but holy shit. Like, if you wanted to argue "Well we should be able to write about these topics," fine, cool, I never want to read it but you can go off and have your free speech debate somewhere else with someone who will make sure that you write it respectfully and without titilation. But if you are specifically making that argument in a panel about EROTICA, where the whole purpose of the GENRE is to be sexy/arousing/whatever? You have FUCKED UP!


• So yeah, good panel, but that was some WEIRD SHIT.