March 2 question – Have you ever been conflicted about writing a story or adding a scene to a story? How did you decide to write it or not?
The first time I wrote a sex scene, I was conflicted as to how far I should take it. There’s a fine line between erotica and pornography, after all. I ended up doing a good bit of reading in the genre and asking a couple of writer friends, then going a little further than I’d originally thought of doing, but not as far as some stories I’d read. I made this decision based on what genre I was trying to write and what most of the stories in that genre had gotten away with.
Insecurity is something all writers must deal with. Many times, you can resolve this by speaking with other writers and seeing how they deal with the problem. Other times, you can use logic and read in your genre to compare your writing to what’s already on the market. The important thing is not to give up. I’ve been getting rejection after rejection lately because I’m sending short stories out to a variety of anthology contests. This is an extremely competitive market and I expected rejection when I started out, but I’m going to keep trying because even one acceptance will put my name out there for readers to see and wonder about. Keep plugging away at your craft and eventually, you’ll get that “yes” from someone.
