No-Prey-Remains (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nopreyremains) wrote2010-07-07 11:51 am
nopreyremains) wrote2010-07-07 11:51 am
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Writers Muses #122.7
I answered this for Adrien, but I wanted to answer it again, a little more on-topic this time.
WM # 122.7: Are you a multiple sex writer/RPer or do you find yourself only writing one or the other? What draws you to your preference? Have you ever rejected a muse solely on the basis of their sex, or sexual preference? Would you ever write a muse AU in the opposite sex just to allow you to bypass your preference?
I tend to write exclusively for male characters. As a computer science major, I have a lot more immediate experience dealing with men in everyday situations than women. Hazard of working with computers, I guess. I enjoy writing for male characters because their outlook on life is a refreshing change of pace. In my professional life, as a whole, it's much easier working with men than with women. Men tend not to take insult as quickly over the stupid little things that women do, which is a plus when one is a computer geek that moonlights as a security guard. Drama is probably number one on my list of Top 10 Most Annoy Traits Ever. Naturally, given that roleplay is mostly, for me, an escape from the everyday grind, I dislike writing drama queens and emo bitches.
I've taken creative writing, essay writing, and literature courses in college. Maybe that's colored my perception of fiction writing a bit, but there are two things I try not to do in my writing. I try not to write smut only for its own sake, and I try not to write homosexual smut unless it is absolutely required of the story. I have nothing against those writers that do either of these things. However, I feel it tends to detract from a character if all they are ever seen doing is sleeping with someone. Just like no one really ever RPs trips to take a piss unless it furthers the plot line, I tend to never write sex scenes unless it furthers the plot line to do so. Sex scenes in my fanfiction (solo writing) tend to be subdued, with the focus on the build-up and the consequences, not the act itself. This, too, is to further the plot, not to keep the focus on the sex. I like a good smut scene as much as the next girl, but I'm not a romance writer. My characters are not romance characters. I don't want them to start looking like that.
As for the hands-off rule when it comes to homosexual sex, that is mostly personal distaste for fanfiction writers and their obsession with girly guys doing each other. Yes, I realize my character Adrien was, until late 2009, technically bisexual. I've been writing for him since 2003. I was in high school when I first came up with him. Naturally, I've matured a bit and so has he. He has since evolved from such embarrassing beginnings to being more asexual in his approach to relationships. That is, as a vampire he is more attracted to blood than to traditional sex, and as a paranoid schizophrenic, he trusts so few people that if he does find someone he trusts enough to be in a relationship with, he doesn't care what sex they are.
Yes, I have rejected characters based on their sex or sexual preference. I am terribly heterosexual and I grew up in the Bible Belt to boot. Yeah, I get that I like guys, but actually understanding how a guy could like another guy? That's something that I don't do very well. Same thing with female characters, though I have dropped any female characters that I once had. It weirds me out, personally, to think that females may be attracted to me in more than just a platonic way, and so I tend to avoid it in my writing as well. Bad of me, but true. As for dropping female characters, I'll just quote you the age-old guy saying: "I'll never understand women".
Would I consider writing a muse as the opposite sex in an AU situation? No. Absolutely not. A canon muse is just that. It has an established author and background, and writing fanfiction based on that is an insult enough to its original author. Changing the character drastically from how it was intended, not living up to the author's intentions for the character? That is an insult to the original author's work and I have too much respect for them to do that. Yeah, I get that some authors would say all fanfiction is an insult. I'm harmless, honest. I enjoy writing fanfiction on occasion, though many of my current characters are OC or mostly-OC based on White Wolf's games, due to White Wolf's extremely detailed character and world guidelines and their encouragement of roleplayers.
So, yeah, that's my two cents. I may or may not post it on WM, but here it is. This isn't meant to pick on anyone, honest, it's just my personal feelings on the matter.
WM # 122.7: Are you a multiple sex writer/RPer or do you find yourself only writing one or the other? What draws you to your preference? Have you ever rejected a muse solely on the basis of their sex, or sexual preference? Would you ever write a muse AU in the opposite sex just to allow you to bypass your preference?
I tend to write exclusively for male characters. As a computer science major, I have a lot more immediate experience dealing with men in everyday situations than women. Hazard of working with computers, I guess. I enjoy writing for male characters because their outlook on life is a refreshing change of pace. In my professional life, as a whole, it's much easier working with men than with women. Men tend not to take insult as quickly over the stupid little things that women do, which is a plus when one is a computer geek that moonlights as a security guard. Drama is probably number one on my list of Top 10 Most Annoy Traits Ever. Naturally, given that roleplay is mostly, for me, an escape from the everyday grind, I dislike writing drama queens and emo bitches.
I've taken creative writing, essay writing, and literature courses in college. Maybe that's colored my perception of fiction writing a bit, but there are two things I try not to do in my writing. I try not to write smut only for its own sake, and I try not to write homosexual smut unless it is absolutely required of the story. I have nothing against those writers that do either of these things. However, I feel it tends to detract from a character if all they are ever seen doing is sleeping with someone. Just like no one really ever RPs trips to take a piss unless it furthers the plot line, I tend to never write sex scenes unless it furthers the plot line to do so. Sex scenes in my fanfiction (solo writing) tend to be subdued, with the focus on the build-up and the consequences, not the act itself. This, too, is to further the plot, not to keep the focus on the sex. I like a good smut scene as much as the next girl, but I'm not a romance writer. My characters are not romance characters. I don't want them to start looking like that.
As for the hands-off rule when it comes to homosexual sex, that is mostly personal distaste for fanfiction writers and their obsession with girly guys doing each other. Yes, I realize my character Adrien was, until late 2009, technically bisexual. I've been writing for him since 2003. I was in high school when I first came up with him. Naturally, I've matured a bit and so has he. He has since evolved from such embarrassing beginnings to being more asexual in his approach to relationships. That is, as a vampire he is more attracted to blood than to traditional sex, and as a paranoid schizophrenic, he trusts so few people that if he does find someone he trusts enough to be in a relationship with, he doesn't care what sex they are.
Yes, I have rejected characters based on their sex or sexual preference. I am terribly heterosexual and I grew up in the Bible Belt to boot. Yeah, I get that I like guys, but actually understanding how a guy could like another guy? That's something that I don't do very well. Same thing with female characters, though I have dropped any female characters that I once had. It weirds me out, personally, to think that females may be attracted to me in more than just a platonic way, and so I tend to avoid it in my writing as well. Bad of me, but true. As for dropping female characters, I'll just quote you the age-old guy saying: "I'll never understand women".
Would I consider writing a muse as the opposite sex in an AU situation? No. Absolutely not. A canon muse is just that. It has an established author and background, and writing fanfiction based on that is an insult enough to its original author. Changing the character drastically from how it was intended, not living up to the author's intentions for the character? That is an insult to the original author's work and I have too much respect for them to do that. Yeah, I get that some authors would say all fanfiction is an insult. I'm harmless, honest. I enjoy writing fanfiction on occasion, though many of my current characters are OC or mostly-OC based on White Wolf's games, due to White Wolf's extremely detailed character and world guidelines and their encouragement of roleplayers.
So, yeah, that's my two cents. I may or may not post it on WM, but here it is. This isn't meant to pick on anyone, honest, it's just my personal feelings on the matter.