Robert_Hart
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Sex content in "Through my Eyes. Again"
🕑 Added 2020-02-22 23:43:27 +0000 UTCA reader enjoying TMEA emailed me, musing on whether a story with minimal sex belonged on Stories Online (SOL). In order to explain why TMEA is posted on SOL, I need to cover a bit of ground - so please bear with me.
As readers of this site know, this is my first 'public' attempt at storytelling - I have been toying with writing ideas for most of my life (including my childhood). But there was always something else more important in my life and, to be truthful, I was never satisfied with what I wrote - particularly the dialogue. So, many horribly executed ideas died, writhing on the floor.
I have talked about writing on many occasions with my daughter (a published author of fiction) and she has encouraged me to try writing many times. Finally last year, inspired in part by reading the first draft of my daughter's latest novel, I started writing Through my Eyes. Again.
I had a first scene, a couple of (I hoped interesting) 'hooks' and an ending. This left a yawning chasm in the middle that I hoped would become clearer as I wrote. I had read how one author here on SOL whose work I deeply respect had started what turned out to be a brilliant trilogy with almost no plan - so whilst I was uneasy, I pressed on.
As I wrote, I was also considering what, if any, sexual/erotic content would be right for the story. The protagonist and storyteller is a strange amalgam of a teen with all the knowledge and experience of a seventy-year-old layered on top of the hormonal surges and almost-adult rebellion and struggles of teendom. The story is also set in middle-class England in the early 1960s - which was far more sexually constrained than you may have read. So, I decided that minimal sex was probably where this story belonged.
So why is TMEA posted on Stories Online?
You may have gathered that I am a bit insecure about my writing: I really needed feedback so that I had some measure of its merit or otherwise and perhaps also some constructive criticism. Thinking about what I have read on SOL, the stories that have appealed most to me generally have limited (or no) sexual content and yet those stories have been highly rated by the readers. So I knew that stories with minimal sex could do well here - in other words, if I posted TMEA here and it received a low rating I would know my writing sucked, hopefully with some comments that would provided guidance should I make another attempt.
So, there you have it.
Finally, thank you to all of you who are reading, providing feedback by voting and for the occasional comments: it seems that my writing does not suck, but is some distance from the level of the authors here on SOL that I respect. Please continue reading and please provide as much constructive criticism as you have time for - or just vote!
