Researching Porn

I'm not quite sure how it came up — pardon the expression — but I had a conversation today about some of the research I've done for my short fiction. Recall that the stories I publish are directed at an audience of adult, gay men and you may wonder a moment about the type of research I'm talking about, but that's not what I meant at all.

I like for facts and settings in my stories to be accurate, and occasionally plot elements arise that require fact checking. I won't reveal the use to which I put them — I try to sustain a modest sense of mystery — but these are some of the unexpected topics that I recall looking into:

Feel free to try matching these up with the story titles if you like. Oh yes, I also looked up street maps and photos of civic buildings in Goodland, Kansas, but guessing which story they were used in is a give-away if you look at the titles.

Posted on April 9, 2007 at 16.29 by jns · Permalink
In: All, Writing

3 Responses

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  1. Written by S.W. Anderson
    on Tuesday, 10 April 2007 at 00.19
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    Dutch elm disease and pan-head Harleys? My, the genre has come a long way from the mostly down-to-business "My Secret Life," and "Lady Chatterly's Lover."

    Seriously, there's nothing to lose and much to gain from making erotic storytelling an exercise in quality writing.

    Carry on, ahem .

  2. Written by jns
    on Tuesday, 10 April 2007 at 11.27
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    I think it's worth doing well; how well I manage is necessarily a judgment left to my readers. I'm sure it indicates my own residual prejudices, but I was pleasantly surprised in earlier years to join conversation with some of my fellow writers and discover that they, too, take their work quite seriously.

  3. Written by S.W. Anderson
    on Tuesday, 10 April 2007 at 22.34
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    I'm confident you manage quite well and have a following. I don't see you being content to continue with it indefinitely if you did not.

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