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Your views on ...

ButterflyButterfly
edited January 2008 in - Writing Problems
writing erotic fiction and writing for children. Should you do both?

Would writing erotic fiction put off children's publishers?

Your thoughts please.

Comments

  • LixxyLixxy
    I don't think it makes a difference, at least I don't think it SHOULD make a difference - as long as you don't write erotic children's fiction - if you can be published in both fields good for you. A lot of authors I have heard of have written in several different genres, James Patterson, for instance, started off writing psychological thrillers with a fair bit of guts and gore - and has also written books for teens. Just my humble opinion. :)
  • DaisyDaisy
    I've always written children's stuff, but if I decided to try erotica I would write under a different name. I don't see why authors can't write in different genres if they are able to.
  • BetsieBetsie
    I don't think it should pose a problem.
  • Isabella KingIsabella King
    On the face of it I would say, with the use of a pen name, I see no reason why you can't do both. It would be no different than having 2 jobs but after giving it some thought I got to wondering, if a playgroup would be happy to employ someone as a helper if they were also the editor of a pornographic magazine. In the eyes of society we are judged by who we associate with and I can just see the headline now... Children's author - in sex industry scandal!

    Would you be morally obliged to inform your children’s publisher that you wrote erotica? I don’t know. Would I care if my child were reading a children’s book written by a person who also writes erotica? Absolutely not – providing the content wasn’t of an adult nature.

    I personally think there is a huge difference between fact and fiction. You are not attempting to influence anyone’s opinion when you write fiction – only to entertain.
  • DaisyDaisy
    You have a good point there about preschool employees, IK. Or teachers in general, maybe. I guess someone like that would change jobs. (I'll play it safe and stick to children's fiction. No desire to write erotica anyway!)
  • BetsieBetsie
    I don't see how the genre of one's writing in any way devalues one's integrity. Does that mean if you write crime fiction you're liable to commit murder?
  • Isabella KingIsabella King
    Daisy, It was a good question to pose. When I first read it I thought my answer was already cut and dried but so much of one's life choices involve the consideration of how they will effect others and, rightly or wrongly, this is one of those.

    Betsie, I agree but my thoughts were mainly with the media who have never been known for letting the facts get in the way of a 'good' story.
  • LixxyLixxy
    edited January 2008
    How many of our fathers had 'top shelf' mags under their beds? How many parents engage in activities that are unseemly to 'polite' society? Does it make them unsuitable to teach or write childrens books (or raise children)? Just because someone puts on paper what happens every day between consenting adults does not make them pariahs, does it? I agree with Betsie, I write horror, crime and mystery; does that make me a two-headed slavering beast of a serial killer that lurks in the mist - I don't think so.

    It is so easy to cowtow to the mass media and believe the half-truths and sensationalism that comes in the press. I certainly won't let it stop me from writing the stories that come to me and I don't believe anyone else should either.

    Lets bear in mind that Hitler was a vegetarian painter that taught history, whereas Winston Churchill was a drunken womanising school drop-out. (Apparently)
  • ButterflyButterfly
    It isn't an easy one to conclude is it. I too think that we should be able to write both, using a pen name for the erotica. Both to be kept separate, but then you get 'What would the press make of it?' Imagine JK having a erotic novel come out of a bottom drawer and what the papers would make of it. Love it or hate it we are all in the hands of the journalists.
  • VericaVerica
    I agree that everyone should be able to publish work in different genres, but use a different name for vastly different readers, such as children and adults who read erotica. However, I hope that all erotica is not pornographic which, to me, means obscene, but maybe I'm wrong. Perhaps Josie would be able to tell us, as she attended Mitzi's workshop on erotica.
  • BetsieBetsie
    Yes, good point Isabella - I see what you mean about the media adding their spin
  • dorothyddorothyd
    I wrote erotica for years. I told the publisher I wrote it, when I began educational writing, so she asked me to find a pen name that was far removed from my own and my erotica writing name, which I did. I visited schools for a whole year as 'the visiting writer' with no problems, using my pen name. That name is also registered with ALCAS for royalties on photocopying of those educational books. It is not a problem.
  • ButterflyButterfly
    This is interesting Dorothyd. I did a couple of short stories 4 years ago and got them published. But I'm now concentrating on the children's work and I don't want to comprimise it with erotica. However it did pay and the children's isnt yet...still hoping. But I don't want to hinder my chances because they don't want an erotic writer writing for children. Inside I guess I really only want to write for children and should stick to that. It does feel like a skellington in the cupboard although it is mentioned in my authors biography. I've always wondered if it's put agents/publishers off - I guess not it's just my work isn't quite right yet.
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