Big Ed's Place

Online erotica is a funny field. Most of the writers who release stories are amateurs, not getting paid in any coin other than appreciative emails from readers and internal satisfaction. True, there are some pros around, and a fair number of semi-pros, who release both free material as well as writing for paying markets, but the dominant material is by pure amateurs.

So what’s the appropriate level of criticism?

I think newbie writers really need encouragement more than anything. This is in part based on my own experience. I posted my first erotica to alt.sex.stories back in 1992 and it got savagely criticized. Stung, I withdrew and didn’t publish anything more until I got some serious encouragement from Frank Downey and Girl Friday, starting with praise from Frank’s yahoo group for A Good Christmas.

Does that mean a newbie shouldn’t hear what’s wrong with their work? Not necessarily. But I think the overriding prerogative is to be kind. Weak writers will figure it out eventually, and either get better (like I did) or find other things to do with their time. Silence also speaks wonders. And if there’s a gem underneath the problems? Maybe a bit of encouragement will lead it to flourish.

I kept writing after my alt.sex.stories disaster because a female friend wanted personalized stories (a scenario I stole for Friends and Benefits). I got better. Then, thanks to Frank and Girl Friday, I started sharing my stories online again. And I think I continue to improve.

But back to criticism–if we treat newbies, putting their work online for free with gentle kindness, the other end of the spectrum is the pros. That doesn’t mean walking away from kindness, but fair toughness is much more called for. If an audience has to pay for a work, providing a fair assessment (a decent critique) is a service to the audience. I, for one, pay attention to movie reviews before I plunk down my dollars (and my scarce free time). I believe that part of ‘getting paid’ for something inherently means accepting that critics may evaluate it.

There’s a flip side to criticism for the pros as well. If a reviewer is known for being fair, a positive review can help increase the audience.

But what about the folks in between? The Frank Downeys and Nick Scipios of the online world? And all the popular authors on sites like StoriesOnline? They’re certainly not newbies, but they’re also not true professionals, since they don’t charge for their stories. Are they fair game for a hard review?

I’m leaning toward a qualified yes. The main qualification is permission. The popular authors know that they’re well liked and probably don’t need the encouragement that a newbie does. But at the same time, they didn’t a priori sign up to have some guy publicly pointing out the flaws in their writing, much less anyone commenting in follow ups to that critique. So I’m coming down on the idea that I can ask the authors if they’re willing to let me do a review, and if so, they’re fair game. If not, well, it won’t be public.