Trying to deal with backlogged e-mail today, and finish the Sizzle story. I'm writing a little piece to go with the photos they have on file, and it's frustrating, because the photos are so obviously unrealistic, and very difficult to make into a coherent story. Oh well. Also need to try to reach some more people for the dominatrix article -- way behind on that. At least theoretically. Don't think I ever set a date with the editor.
Better et to work, but I thought I'd repost something here I just sent to the erotica workshop list, in case any of you were interested.
A challenge, a challenge! I'm going to try this, I think -- anyone else up for it? If you do, then mail your subs to Celeste at the address below (if anyone isn't familiar with her, Celeste twice weekly reviews stories from alt.sex.stories on alt.sex.stories.d. A very nice lady). I'm a little unclear if we're supposed to fit in all 20 words or only 10 - so I'm shooting for 20. The deadline is in just a few days. - Mary Anne
From: celeste801@aol.com (Celeste801)
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.d
Date: 11 Jan 1997 22:22:37 GMT
Note: I want to remind you of my Third Annual Celestial Writing Contest. The story can be of any length, but students (say, in an English class) should reasonably be able (and eager) to read it three times in one week. The purpose of the story is to combine learning with pleasure - that is, to teach vocabulary in the context of a creative sex story. The story should use all of the words on the following list. Preferably, it should use them in creative ways that enable learners to see their meaning in context, and it should use the words more than once - in fact, as often as possible without becoming silly. The story should not be obviously didactic - that is, it should be a story about sex, not about learning these words.
The deadline is January 15. I have already received one excellent entry and have the promise of another from a very good writer. Please feel free to take a shot at this. Here are the words (all taken from one of those SAT study lists): acerbic, adept, ameliorate, apocryphal, assuage, blithe, constrict, credulous, dilatory, egregious, fatuous, guile, hedonism, impervious, incipient, irascible, lethargy, mundane, prolific, redundant.
All 20 of these are words that intelligent people use when the context calls for them (Quite possibly I may have used them here in Celestial Reviews.), but most high school students have no idea what they mean. They are useful words; and if you write a story with them, at the very least YOU will probably learn some functional vocabulary words.
A few authors have commented that some of the words are difficult to work into a sex story. My advice is to consider the possibility of ironic usage. For example, my husband's irascible tongue has done some wonderful things to my clitoris; and we have spent some lethargic mornings in the sack. If you really cannot fit one or two words into the story, submit it anyway; a "10" story with only 8 words will fare better in my judgment than an "8" story with all 10 words forced into it. A couple of authors have told me that "acerbic" is not sexy. Don't tell that to the Ng sisters, whose banter in their stories is often pleasantly acerbic but still very sexy.