Eroticon 2017
My
overwhelming impression of this year's Eroticon was that there were a number of
people from other parts of the world, e.g., USA, Canada, Australia, Europe -
and some had even flown in flor this event!
But
I don't know why I say that with surprise because looking back at previous blog
posts on Eroticon events I've said the same thing. In the light of this, my 7am
train from York
seems rather pathetic!
I've
missed the last two years (clashed with other commitments) so I was looking
forward to saying hi to authors I had met at previous conferences. There were a
number of SMUT groupies, e.g., those of us who regularly attending Smut events
held in the North of England, and it was great to see them. And even better I
managed to catch up with several people I hadn't seen in a few years. But I was
surprised to see so many new people - and at least three I spoke to were at
their first
Eroticon.
So
Eroticon is under new management, and they did it very well. I attended some
terrific sessions:
Auto (erotic)
ethnography by Meg-John Barker. In other words,
understanding ourselves through sexual fantasies or erotic writing. Whether we
read or write erotic work we are doing so in a very safe environment, e.g.,
although I enjoy some aspects of BDSM, I don't personally get anything out of
pain play. But I can vicariously enjoy it through mine or other writers' characters.
There was lots more to reflect on in this session with an engaging presenter.
Sex in Flash Fiction by
Malin James gave some very useful tips such as being sparing with adverbs and
adjectives. That is a good tip for longer writing (and one I am very bad at as
I love my adverbs) but even more essential in flash fiction. Lots more to consider
such as use active words, choose nouns and verbs well, and so on.
Pitching 101 was
by Girl on the Net who is a journalist. Very dynamic presentation and aimed primarily
at people writing articles for magazines etc, but some good tips for authors
such as, consider your unique selling point. I know one of mine is the humour
in my stories. In fact, I seem to include it even when I don't intend to. One
reviewer said they liked the humour in 'Submissive Training' - my thought on
reading that was "what humour?" LOL. It is clearly the essence of me.
Plotting the Erotic
Story by Ashley Lister was incredibly useful and I wrote reams
of notes as he took us through the 8 stage plot device. He did point out that
there is no wrong way or right way, but that this was a tool to guide us if we
wanted it. So the eight stages were: stasis (the setting), the trigger
(something beyond the control of main character which sparks the story), the
quest (e.g., getting the girl/guy), the surprise (conflicts, challenges to
getting the girl/guy), critical choice (protagonist needs to make a crucial
decision), climax (the highest peak of tension in story. Could be final sex
scene), reversal (change of status of characters, eg, realisation of climax
leads to personal revelation), resolution (return to fresh status. Characters
changed, wiser, enlightened, complete).
The
final session (well, the final one I attended. The event was continuing into the
evening and the next day) was my favourite. The topic was the History of erotic writing and obscenity in
Britain by Kate Lister (no relation to Ashley, *slap
my hand for making assumptions*) and was fabulously fun. I am an historian and
I will go into any session that starts of History of....!
She
showed tons of images/excerpts of Roman/Greek life/literature through the
Middles ages and Victorian era and told us of specific dates in history in the
UK where we started having issues with erotic writings through to the famous case
of ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ in the 1960s. But on a serious note she finished
with the ‘about-to-be-implemented’ digital economy bill which may affect us all
in the UK.
Well
done to the organisers and all the speakers.
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