Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Barking in the Wind

Barking in the Wind

I experiment with sensual prose to make my other writing more attractive…I’m looking for the perfect blend that stirs the reader without offending their sensibilities. It is an almost task because were that line is represents a moving target from on person to the next.

Still, every week I dutifully write my entry to the Weekly Quickie Contest…I always get at least one review because the host is obligated to comment…sometimes another of the contestants throws in their two cents worth which is always nice…then there is a core of readers who sometimes comment as well.

I don ’t do well in this contest….This is for two reasons, maybe three

First the sole criteria for the “Quickie” is excitement. That all but presupposes that the sensual prose will be an end rather than a means. I don’t write sensual prose as an end so that puts me behind the power curve. “Oh Percy…they comment…It was well written but it just didn’t excite like some of the other submissions. This is entirely valid because my erotica is designed to promote the story rather than appeal to the prurient interests of the reader.

Second is the sad but undeniable fact that I have an abrasive personality. Readers get a bad first impression of me and it becomes a case of “Hate me hate my dog..”

And possibly, way back in distant third is the possibility that every writer hates to acknowledge….Maybe my material “Sucks.”

Now while all this is going on I keep pecking away like a little bird, writing what appeals to me…. And an amazing thing is beginning to happen. This is going to blow your mind. My work is having an influence on those other writers around me. More and more I see submissions where there is a story and the erotica makes it better. Some of this was going on before I got involved (Dawn Embers) but it was the exception…Now I am seeing a conscious attempt at story telling using sensual prose as an accent rather than the main entrée. In the better submissions, not always those who win, there is also more dialogue being included and the characters are actually showing some definition….all in 869 words!

Now I point this out not to blow my horn….It certainly isn’t all me…What it shows is that just because you don’t win a contest, or get gushing feedback doesn’t mean your writing is not having an influence on those around you. I know I am being read by the number of views a vignette gets in a months period….Further an indicator I thing is repeat views….If someone read it and thought it “Sucked” would they be reading it a second time….?

I doubt it… Try entering a weekly contest on a consistent basis and express your views in a forum…Pay attention to “Views” and how the entries are being written. You might be having more of an influence than the feedback might seem to be indicating. Then again like me, you might be barking in the wind.