Creativity

Review: Jodorowsky’s Dune

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I’m taking a break here by moving to a review of a most unusual film about an unusual film that never was. Perhaps the archetypical Nevermade movie, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s attempt to make Dune in the 70’s.  This is “Jodorowsky’s Dune.”

SHORT REVIEW: Must-watch film for media historians, writers, and filmmakers. Be warned of some odd and offensive language, however.

PROS:

  • A fascinating exploration of the unmade 1976 Dune.
  • Provides insights on how the unmade movie seeded other ideas and brought people together.

CONS:

  • Some parts may be offensive, including a creative/rape metaphor that I found pretty horrible.
  • It’s one-sided, focusing mostly on Jodorowsky.

Read more

180 Shades Of Profit: An Analysis Of An Amazon Erotica Author

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I was going to write about networking, but I caught an article on Kindle micro-erotica fiction and wanted to analyze it.

Over at Cracked Magazine (unofficial motto “The most unexpectedly informative site on the internet.”), author Robert Evans interviewed author Peter Hayward. You probably don’t know Peter as he writes under the Nom De Porn “Pandora Box” at Amazon, and has written over 180 books. Actually you probably don’t know Pandora either, since she/he writes very specialized Amazon Kindle Erotica, and her/his story something worth analyzing.

Now I advise reading the article in its entirety – though fair warning it’s NSFW and some of it is a bit squicky. But it’s a rare, human, and fascinating insight on the fact people are churning out some pretty specialized short erotica in ebook form and making a decent amount of money. We may joke about Dinosaur porn but this is a real thing, its impacting us, and we might as well think about it seriously.

Why seriously? Because eBooks have changed literature. Because people can self-publish. Because people are making money at this. Because it is a fundamental shift in writing and marketing and getting paid.

So before we discuss my take, here’s a quick summary of the article:

  • You can make a lot of money – if you write a lot.
  • You need a niche
  • It’s insightful on people’s fetishes
  • Some erotica terms are code for OTHER things.
  • Amazon has some pretty arbitrary rules.

Now after reading the article there’s a few insights to share with you, my fellow authors. Gay time-traveling cowboy romance aside.*

This Is What People Used Fanfic For

I know fanfic. I’m an Elder Geek. I’ve seen it, wrote it, edited, read it over the decades. I’ve also seen many times where fanfic took a pretty quick turn straight into fetishville- and having been in MST3K fandom, probably moreso. MST3K fandom was often the equivalent of people that want you to smell the milk to see how rotten it is.

A lot of this Amazon erotica sounds like fanfic, targeting specific needs.

I wonder (and I have no evidence either way), if this is where some people are going for needs that fanfic would have filled, or to writing it instead of fanfic as its monetizable. I’d love to see someone do research on it, and that’s a hint to my academic friends.

In fact . . .

This Trends Needs To Be Studied

I’m not saying you need to do a PhD thesis in Werewolf Mind Control Romance** but someone should be studying this trend of fast, specialized, electronic micro-erotica.

Think about what we can learn. Right now people can practically make a living speed-writing a specialized forms of literary pornography and distributing it electronically. Joke about the content, joke about the readers, joke about the book titles***, but this is a historical event. This is something we should be doing academic research on because it is a massive, historical change.

It’s easy to joke about it (it’s not like I’m not doing so), but this is a confluence of so many issues about economics, communication, technology, and human nature someone needs to figure out what’s going on. Narrative examination, research, polls, someone needs to get to this.

If you’re looking for that PhD thesis, I got your subject, but your reading list might not be what you wanted . . .

This Is Insight Into What People Won’t Admit

Research is useful for finding what we don’t know, understanding what we do know, and asking new questions. This area provides some fertile insights into the human conditions.

Once you read this article, and any related articles about trends like Shapeshifting Wizard Incest****, you may joke about the people that read this stuff. Of course when it sells good enough that people can make a living at it, maybe you ought to pay attention. This is providing us insight into things people won’t admit.

  • People won’t admit to these fetishes in public – but will enjoy it in the safety of a kindle window.
  • People will write this stuff for money – I’m sure not everyone will arm it it.
  • Amazon is glad to make money off of this despite some confusing rules – what hell must it in their legal department.

This trend shows insight into human tastes and conditions and culture we’ve not had before. There’s a lot not admitted. Why? How?

As the person behind Pandora says “The more messed up the story is, the more it’ll sell.”

Kinda makes you wonder what your mom is reading on her Kindle, doesn’t it?

It Must Be Tempting

How many of us know or are authors? How many of us have wanted to write fiction? How many of us want to make money at it? OK, I know that’s a larger number, now tell me this . . .

At any time you read this article, were you tempted, just a bitto see if you could make Genderbending Leprechaun Romance*****? Yes, you were. Admit it, you were, even if for a half-second of thought and several minutes of guilt.

It must be incredibly tempting for people who look at this world of strange, specialized, micro-erotica that make money and want a slice of that. It sounds like money in the bank if you have the time, the commitment, and probably an iron stomach. If you’re unemployed or underemployed, it has to be even more tempting.

Maybe it’s not even the money. Maybe you want to challenge yourself. You have to think “any idiot can do this, and I’m any idiot” and wonder if you can do this. Maybe your ego is hurt that someone is writing these books and you aren’t and you want to soothe the wound. But whatever the reason you probably were tempted.

You Can Make Money – But What Are The Implications?

Now, yes this looks profitable. I’m sure many people could make money at this, which is a weird way of saying that I have faith that you, my audience, could right some really well-selling disturbing erotica if you wanted. But there’s a flip side – namely, what are the repercussions for your career?

If this is a side thing, I can see it not being a problem. But if you spend two years writing this stuff do you put it on your resume? Do you mention it in interviews? If you spend a lot of time with this as your only income source how could it look to an interviewer or a client?

I’m not one deep into the world of freelance/professional writing, so I assume writers have a lot of ways to dodge around the dodgy. But if someone gives into the temptation to try this (or the temptation to actually make enough money to live) then one has to evaluate the career tradeoffs. “Fast porn writer” isn’t exactly going to let one branch out.

Closing The Chapter For Now

So, those are my analyses as opposed to my intended rational column on Networking. That’ll probably be done later.

I’d love to hear other people’s insights – seriously. This bears discussing.

Respectfully,

– Steven Savage
http://www.musehack.com/
http://www.informotron.com/
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

* Start writing.
** Start writing.
*** It’s not hard.
**** Start writing. Also, good Black Metal Band Name.
***** Start writing.

Way With Worlds: Realism

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Train Track Sky Surreal

Realism” is something that many worldbuilders, writers, gamemasters aspire for. That sense of believable, of true, of relatable is treasured as it makes it all real. Realism is that thing that makes a tale have an edge, a game hit you in the gut, that thing that brings a visceral element to the experience and you’re there.

Because of this, Realism is both something to seek in our work. It’s also a sign of successfully making a good world and thus a good tale from it – because people live what we create. However when we ask what realism is in an attempt to achieve it, it becomes much more difficult.

It’s difficult because realism is a trickster.

When you step back from a fiction that seems “realistic,” it may suddenly seem rather unrealistic. Yes, you related to that hero fighting a dragon, felt the fire on your face and smelled the blood – but she was fighting a dragon which isn’t exactly a realistic beast. Yet there, in the experience of a good fantasy novel, it seemed real.

At the same time, just having “realistic” elements in a tale or a game doesn’t mean it seems real. A world of cars and computers and gritty real-life experiences can seem detached, empty. The elements are real but it doesn’t “feel” real.

Sometimes dragons are more believable than accountants. Realism is a trickster.

This is because, like any good trickster, realism has more than one face – two, as far as i’m concerned. Your world and the tales and games within it need to show both faces to be truly “real.”

The Face Within: Internal Realism

We can read the most outlandish science fiction or magic-drenched fantasy and be lost within it. We can follow things with little connection to our reality and live them. The unreal, the fantastic, the not-yet true can be very real in a good world and a good tale.

This is because a setting is believable if it has consistent rules and principles that are followed. It may be a realm of clockwork stars and sorcerous cats, but if people can recognize why and how, cause and effect they buy into it. We humans like rules, and when we can divine them in a work, then we can believe it.

Internal realism is this kind of realism -the realism of a setting that is consistent, if outlandish. It can be understood and comprehended and analyzed. Because there is “something” there, it can be believed. Because it can be believed, it seems real to people.

But Internal Realism has an equal partner.

The Face Without: External Realism

When wizard cats battle among clockwork stars, we may find ourselves cheering the heroine because we understand her motivations. When superheroes thunderously battle across dimensions, the blow-by-rib-cracking blow stories make us feel each unrealistic punch. When people who never existed come from cities we’ve heard of, we “get” them. When we read of the glint of sunlight on a sea that never was, we “see” it.

No matter how untrue or fantastical or made-up, a good world with good characters, a good tale, gives us ways to connect to the characters and setting. We can relate to characters, feel their pain, gasp in wonder at a description, or nod at a man who never was describing a good Philly cheesesteak.

This is the realism that we connect to – pain and emotion, location and cuisine, a visual description that is evocative. It is the realism that connects us to the fictional through experiences we can understand. Everything else may be unrealistic, but there are elements of “real” we connect to.

These places of connection could be real historical events, believable technology, relatable characters, and visceral experiences. They can be many things, but all good External Realisms bridge the gap between us and the fictional.

Someone may fight dragons, but we relate to his need to keep an armor budget.

Realism: The Two Sides Together

Both realisms are your goal as a worldbuilder and creator because they work together. Internal realism means your world is understandable and External Realism makes your world relatable. Both mean your audience connects to a setting and its characters – even if that setting is strange and alien.

If you lack Internal Realism, your world is ruleless, hard to relate to, the realistic parts floating in a sea of incomprehensibility.

If you lack External Realism, your world is one people can’t connect to. The characters aren’t relatable, the experiences lack visceral elements, the setting seems lifeless.

Together? Together you can have the most fantastical world that people can connect to. They might not consciously realize just how deep they are in a setting that is totally “unreal” because it’s so real.

Again, realism is a trickster.

Getting Both Sides Of Realism

How does one develop both kinds of realism? I’ve found these things help:

  • Good world design. In short, don’t skimp on building your detailed setting. Throw yourself into it and get all those fine details. That’s good for Internal Realism.
  • Worlds that work. Put your worlds to work and create with them. Can you write multiple tales n them. Can you write up a description of, say, the magic in a way that explains things understandably. Can you translate characters to RPG rules effectively? Play with your world in different forms to et a feel for it and see if you can relate to it in different ways. When you can, it shows there’s a real “there” here. Good for Internal Realism.
  • Empathy for the characters. Learn to step into character’s shoes so you understand them. Understanding them as you build them and write them better – and this mean sin turn people can “get” them. Good for External Realism.
  • Ask questions. Asking questions of why and how helps you flesh out a world – and you’ll often be thinking like a reader or player. Good for Internal Realism and External Realism.
  • Empathy for the reader/player. Whoever peruses your media you also want to think of them. Is what you write readable and relatable, do your descriptions evoke and inspire. Thinking of how they connect to your work and you world helps you create better -and maybe find some flaws in your work. Good for Internal Realism and External Realism.

A Worthy Quest

Developing both sides of Realism is a worthy quest indeed. It means you’ll create worlds people truly connect with -and works people truly connect with. These are powerful, affecting, and memorable.

In other words, very real.

Respectfully,

– Steven Savage
http://www.musehack.com/
http://www.informotron.com/
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/