Shadow Puppet Storyteller

Feeling Curses and the Evil Eye

Well, if my title for this entry doesn't raise some eyebrows, I suppose my topic (or rant) probably will. I'm trying to process a slight rejection. Someone bowed-out from reviewing a new interactive I wrote. I accept that I don't really know the person to whom I made the request. And I had a slight feeling after selecting the reviewer that maybe something involving some sex wasn't what that reviewer would normally look into.

I also admit that I would not normally allow myself to express adult romance, but lately I have wanted to test my ability to do so. When I was younger, and not long out of high school, I was glad to have the absolute freedom to read works considered indecent. Anis Nin was probably about as salacious an author that I ever sought out. I believe while I was still in high school I read James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. And in college, I was asked to consider The Handmaid's Tale, and I was introduced into a clearer understanding of what motivated the leads of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie.

Now realize, most of my forays into what is deemed indecent in literature were from a former century. How sad is that?

Back to the interactive. Maybe it's just silly to have an interactive that utilizes the current frenzy over XFactor creation, 1D. So? I had enough to put forth four chapters. Is the premise beyond reason? Should it keep me from writing it? Or keep me from discovering if any other authors want to add? I have read items that are clear that they involve graphic content. I did not want mine to fall into that category.

I felt my disclaimer was clear: I imagine the start of this story to be taking place a little more than a year after One Direction "breaks up." I won't dictate what caused the break up, or detail what has happened to relationships presently rumored for each of the five men of the group. Those areas might be interesting to explore, so feel free. There's scores of teeny-bop feels and What Ifs already in existence, but for this, if we can place motivations in an adult context, think: the demands of fame, and exploring self worth, attachment, freedom of expression -- those insights make for the tastiest soup. The first entry I somewhat randomly timed as 11/12/18. Which would place the oldest 1D member at nearly 27 years old.

It's always nice to keep the same verb tense (past), and having started in first-person perspective, that would be nice to keep too. But I find myself flexible and more forgiving of mis-steps in the interactive format -- that way everyone's true voice can be heard. Do keep all sexual encounters from becoming violently graphic -- the rating is Adult, which allows for cursing, a range of sensual tastes, and expression of adult emotion, but I will take action to remove or request alteration to entries that veer into violent sex, or for whatever reason, gore. Thank you for understanding.

Honestly, I thought I was being awfully "square" to lay down the law about how to be adult, but not mean.

So what I really want to have here is a better understanding of the concept of inappropriate.

In the moment, I know I was stunned. Was I inviting others into something inappropriate?

Perhaps I gave an awkward explanation when I mentioned "teeny-bop feels" in the disclaimer at all. For that reason, it is now stricken from the disclaimer. It's taken me another half-day to raise the thought that perhaps my potential reviewer completely misinterpreted (i.e., never heard mentioned before) teeny bop feels, so I suppose that guessing game could have been a part of the problem. A feels has nothing less than half a dozen entries in the urban dictionary, and is not predatory or related to groping, as in "coping a feel." That sounds antiquated even to me. I'm glad I listen to younger folks chat.

What Ifs and Feels are a real internet activity in which the raw expression of desires from a young sea of girls daily fills You Tube channels and Tumblr blogs in formats that are more difficult to censor or block as inappropriate. How ironic. No one can really verify those are being created solely by prepubescent females, but it seems likely. This is why I mentioned the phenomenon in the disclaimer -- I was not advocating them, or saying their efforts needed to be stepped up.

So, I thought I'd created some layers of protection from criticism: 1) I suggest in the basic description that the Chapters really are in that category, but have been uncovered seventy years later. 2) Even though the members of One Direction are all adult males at present, they are marketed as a Boy Band, (somehow appropriate in name for a raving fandom of non-adults), so I start the story at a future date. 3) I ask for contributors to provide motivation in an adult context; and the examples given are: the demands of fame, exploring self worth, attachment, and freedom of expression.

I do not suggest that chapters of the story will be sexual encounters with under-age concert goers or subscribers to Tiger Beat poster magazine, or Target store, iTunes and age 10 - 17 record label consumers.

Can some people really not read a sexual experience described in words -- is the problem that basic? It's just verboten?
In today's world, a person would have to not listen to radio, TV, nor the internet to avoid innuendo at the very least. And by Jr. High, cursing is prevalent on school grounds and on the streets around school yards. How long will innocence last really in such an environment? And knowing this, should I exorcize my own creative faculty and train it to not tempt any further?

Bull.

I will get over this.

Perhaps the next item from me will delve into other actions that exist, but are blocked from people's minds altogether.