Self-Censorship – Does this happen to you while writing?

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  • July 10, 2008 at 3:39 pm #72929
    AlexG
    Keymaster

    In this week's installment of Inside the Writer's Studio we'll be delving into a subject that I've come to call Self-Censorship.

    This can take many forms, some as benign as the inability to get a story going in the first place – i.e. staring into blank page, the mind freezes up.  Or while writing a story, the conscious awareness that others (an audience of countless hundreds, even thousands, perhaps) will be reading your on-line work causes you to hesitate, sometimes preventing you from properly articulating the thoughts in your head (Yes, they're there, but dammit why can't I get them to spit out?) or worse, you find yourself "politically correcting" your story line to tone it down for any number of reasons. 

    This last seems to happen most with subjects of a highly sensitive nature – i.e. the third rails of writing – sexual, religious and political.

    So, Self-Censorship – Does this happen to you while writing?

    “I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”
    ~ Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens (1907)

    July 10, 2008 at 8:26 pm #72930
    JimmyDimples
    Participant

    I don't call it "self-censorship," AlexG.  I call it "editing."  😛

    But seriously, there are some things I just don't do.  You might notice that in my stories, people don't curse or take the Lord's name in vain.  Y'see, back in the day when Little Jimmy's folks were building a new house, Little Jimmy was fiddling around with letters and making nonsense words at random.

    Then he not very prudently scrawled one on the cinder blocks making the house's crawlspace. 

    Jimmy's dad saw this, went nuclear, and took a paint stirring stick against Li'l Jimmy's backside.

    Later on, Jimmy said it out loud.  On purpose.  To his MOTHER.  She gave him the same thing.

    Big Jimmy's been a VERY clean mouthed chap after that. 

    And as far as sex, well… I think I've spoken about that elsewhere. 

    But just for the record, the JimmyDimples rules of writing say:  If I can't show it to the MPAA, or my students, or my pastor… I can't show it.

    I know, it may seem unrealistic at times when I'm writing stories including, oh, I dunno, a motorcycle gang… but I think I can get away with it. 😉

    July 11, 2008 at 3:05 am #72931
    pelourinho
    Participant

    I don't think I have ever consciously toned or dumbed down my material, but I have had the whole creative block, at every step of the way.  Sometimes I can't start writing for lack of knowing what to say.  Other times I have an idea in my head, but I know I'm going to be busy with other affairs, so I don't start.  When I start writing, I expect that my story will be about 5000+ words, so if I want to write, I want to make sure I have enough time to sit down at a place and time where I will have two solid days to work on nothing but the story.

    Then, still other times I will start a story, put it down, and when I resume, sometimes months afterward, I'm in a completely different mood and so the story loses its emotional continuity and pacing.  And even when I reach a stopping point I feel it is good, but I don't know where to take the story for a second act.

    July 11, 2008 at 10:12 am #72932
    Wachsende
    Participant

    Absolutely. For me it's that awkward balance of trying to grapple with larger philosophical/emotional ideas while knowing full well that the majority of readers are interfacing with it as fetish fiction. There are times when something would be thematically or emotionally appropriate in a specific context, for example two 13-year-olds experimenting with sex for the first time, but would not be appropriate for the fetish audience. For this reason, I avoid sexually-compromising situations with younger characters and rape scenes with older characters. In my writing both here and generally, I try not to play into stereotypes too much.
    This is actually a big part of what's tying up my current project. The story brought itself to a head at a place I wasn't comfortable taking it.

    July 11, 2008 at 10:30 am #72933
    CaptMalcomReynolds
    Participant

    There are times when something would be thematically or emotionally appropriate in a specific context, for example two 13-year-olds experimenting with sex for the first time, but would not be appropriate for the fetish audience. For this reason, I avoid sexually-compromising situations with younger characters and rape scenes with older characters.

    Well, given the recent Supreme Court Decisions, I think Lingster should fix some of the stories on brawna.org. (Hardbody comes to mind) Many of those stories involved minors (under the age 18 as defined by FEDERAL LAW) in explicit situations. You certainly don't  amaz0ns or brawna to show up in some search with the implication that there might be illegal activities.

    I've always said, that the last thing storytellers should do, is blur the lines between an adult fetish about muscular WOMEN (emphasis on WOMEN, not girls), and a depraved one.

    July 11, 2008 at 5:16 pm #72934
    AlexG
    Keymaster

    I can only reiterate what I said before in another thread:

    Source: Re: warning labels!

    Instead of complaining about it, why aren't you reporting it to the moderators?  That sort of thing is not suppose to be posted here, ever – Lingster has made that crystal clear.

    Policing the forums only works if all of you participate in the process.

    The moderators simply can't be expected to read every single post to make certain that it's kosher, we just don't have the time to do it all on our own.  That's where all of you come in, if you see something that's out of line, then for goodness sake report it – don't just sit on your upholstered duffs and say nothing, instead speak up by reporting it to the moderators.

    Second, have you made the effort to pointedly bring this up to Lingster?  I mean, with a PM?  If not, then why not?  Realize, that's the only way to be certain that what's going on over at Brawna has been brought to his full attention.

    “I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”
    ~ Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens (1907)

    July 11, 2008 at 9:21 pm #72935
    CaptMalcomReynolds
    Participant

    I've sent a message on brawna.org about the subject. I think that there has even been a few discussions on various incarnations of Lingster's boards in the past.

    The stories are still there. As for the monitoring, all that really needs to be done is a quick search on key words regarding age. Words like "highschool"(perspective on whether it may involve a minor) "teen" (used in regards to age ie. fourteen, sixteen, etc.." "girl" "young" and younger ages written numerically, (14, 16, etc) are pretty easy to do in a web browser. That's become standard practice in how I screen stories. If they have those elements, then I skip over it. It only takes a minute or two to determine the context of these words in a sentence and determine the nature of the story.

    I for one, don't understand why people take this fetish and ascribe it with very young characters. It's disgusting and it makes me wonder just who visits these boards and if law enforcement is noticing as a consequence. I'm not trying to be negative, but it IS disturbing to see and it SHOULD be a concern.

    July 13, 2008 at 2:44 pm #72936
    Prophet Tenebrae
    Participant

    I am inclined to agree with CaptMalcomReynolds… and while people might say "oh, there's no sexual content"… well, that's not really an excuse given that it's fetishistic writing and hence has the intention to arouse people with our particular kink… but I've beat that drum plenty.

    Writing wise, I don't really self-censor… at least, I've never felt the need.

    July 15, 2008 at 4:30 am #72937
    pelourinho
    Participant

    I for one, don't understand why people take this fetish and ascribe it with very young characters. It's disgusting and it makes me wonder just who visits these boards and if law enforcement is noticing as a consequence. I'm not trying to be negative, but it IS disturbing to see and it SHOULD be a concern.

    I would have to agree.  The only rationalization I could give for the authors who frequently use minors in explicit situations is that the authors may have been minors themselves at the time of writing some of these stories.  All the same, in the eyes of the law the content is still illegal.  I don't like that story sites could draw the unwanted attention.

    July 15, 2008 at 9:08 am #72938
    Chuck
    Participant

    I'm with Jimmy's camp in that I nor my characters use the lord's name in vain when I write, and swears are reserved for very special circumstances.

    Mostly with anything else, I do my best to not censor myself as I go along. Censorship usually comes later when I try to tailor a piece of material for a specific audience.

    As for the minors issue, particularly with the growth crowd, I think it's one of those things that has to do with extremes. For a growth fan, usually the more extreme the growth from beginning to end, the more tittilating it can be. However, that's still no excuse to use minors in a story for things that could get you in trouble. That's why in all of my stories, none of the growth related devices will work if the subject in question is under the age of eighteen. It's part joke and part failsafe so I don't get in hot water.

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