When I write stories that are set in more modern surroundings and modern times I sometimes get advice from people and suggestions that concern the realism of spankings and whippings and things like that. This makes me think about what is real and what is not real in a story. Don't get me wrong! I do want to hear from you, Dear Readers! It is just that it fascinates me why this happens only with stories that are, seemingly, set in our present world. It appears as if those stories are more realistic than others, like the ones when there is some cruel whipping in a town square.
Maybe it is the case that when the setting is a modern world or at least something that appear modern we, as readers, tend to apply modern rules and think that the story is about the real world. My position has always been that it is not and that the similarity is only an illusion. I think it is easier to accept a story about a Roman slaver who whips the living daylight out of a slave than a person who could be someone we meet in the street doing the same to someone. We may even see the exotic setting as a little romantic and a whipping as something quite exciting.
I still think that all my stories are fantasy stories, they are all set in fantasy land and they are all unreal or even surreal. They are all dreams. I have this fantasy that strikes now and then and you have seen it as an element in my stories. It is about the stranger or near stranger that without asking puts his hand down my knickers. In the real world this would be outrageous, at least in my part of if. I would most likely scream and try to punch him and be terribly upset and traumatised by it. As a fantasy, on the other hand, I may find myself surprised ans excited by it. It is the thing that breaks down a barrier and makes the world come closer to me.
Even if this is more realistic than say a spaceship or a Roman slaver and, thus, more likely to really occur, it doesn't make it more real in a story. It is still a fantasy and it is still about how I feel and how I choose to lay out the world. It is a surreal world, a world I move in when I am in my fantasies.
The bottom line is, don't believe a word of what you read here! It is all made up and it is all surreal and strange, however real it may appear on the surface. I know you know this but I can't help myself talking about this and perhaps it is a kind of disclaimer for me, that everything is fiction and not real. It is not even realistic, it is surreal.
Janice, you have a wonderful imagination, which is a pleasure to read.
ReplyDeleteBecause you may strike a cord of my fantasy you can make me enthusiastic, this doesn't mean that I think it's real.
Believe me, if we should meet, I won't be sticking my hand down your knickers, at least, not until after we've been introduced. *SMILES*
Warm hugs,
Paul.
Dear Janice, we have discussed this a lot and I think some readers do have a difficulty seeing the difference, that will always happen. It is like those people who believe characters in a sitcom are real, because the setting is modern it seems real and these people must exist in reality somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy your fantasies because I can relate to them. Many of the things I fantasise about I might not want to really happen but my imagination enjoys it all immensely.
Hugs
Mina
Dear Paul, it honours you that you wouldn't stick your hand down my knickers, not at the first moment anyway...giggles. Thank you for your comment and I am chuffed I strike a chord. I think you see the difference between real and not so real but there is a confusion out there I encounter at times.
ReplyDeleteDear Mina, I sometimes want to put a sticker on my stories that says, 'don't try this at home!'...smiles. It is, kind of, romantic with slavers and whips but I think it wouldn't be so nice if they were real. I am glad that you relate to my stories. That is actually what means the most.
Hugs
Janice
Being confused with our creations is a problem for all of us with strange, or at least "non-traditional" imaginations.
ReplyDeleteReaders' suggestions are sometimes interesting -- sometimes inspiring -- but I think they are too often a substitute for creating... surrogate writing...
I suppose it is a kind of flattery.
But THANK GOD for the veil of anonymity!
I don’t understand why people are more concerned about ‘reality’ when a story is set in the present day rather than in, say, Ancient Rome. All fiction, not just erotic fiction, is unreal (‘fantasy’?) – otherwise it would be biography. But for a story to work, the reader has to suspend disbelief and accept the author’s version of reality, however ‘surreal’ it is. Above all other reasons, that’s why I think you, Janice, are so good: the scenes you create bear no relationship to my everyday life but, when I get into one of your stories, I’m wholly taken in. Here’s a thought: it may be that (some) readers are more able to suspend their judgment temporarily when a story is set in ‘olden times’ rather than in the present because they have only a vague idea of what the past was like; so an author doesn’t have to work quite so hard to keep them locked into the story’s ‘temporary reality’. I hope this makes at least a little sense.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, what do I care when most of my favourite 'Janice' stories are set in the present?
Dear Wystan, to some extent I think you are right although I do enjoy that part of blogging, sharing and hearing about what others think and fantasise about.
ReplyDeleteDear Mick, I think you sum this up very well. I would say, spot on, actually. Thanks for this comment. And thanks for the nice comments.
Hugs
Janice