How responsible should writers be for how our content affects readers?

Quote by CumGirl
Hi Kimmi

I believe that you are asking the wrong question, that your question contains within it two separate questions that need to be considered.

The first is: 'How responsible should writers be for the content within their stories?'

I feel that is only once you have satisfactorily considered that question that you can begin to consider the separate question of readers and their responses.

CG

Xxx

Quote by WannabeWordsmith
An excellent question, perfectly answered by everyone here. Culpability rests with the reader/interpreter not the writer. If someone doesn't like it, stop reading or buy some adult pants. As sprite says, we filter out truly objectionable stuff. Everything else is fair game. I have thus far avoided writing in Wife Lovers as a genre. Not being into the scene is an impediment to doing it justice, but mainly it's because there's this expectation that certain acts will come to fruition. I like to play with norms, turn them around, so it would get slammed for the actions of the characters if I dabbled there. Yeah, call me chicken.

That said, my collab with the incredible tams_back_yay called "From A to Z" I admit is a hard read for some. We agonized back and forth for months over this very question of how far we should go.

It's fairly well received, but one reader in particular wrote the comment: "I hate it" and scored it 1. Then wrote me a lengthy exchange via PM about why and how it resonated too much with him, ultimately apologizing for the rash 1-bomb. That, to me, is the sign of a well-told story that can really get under people's skin so I wasn't at all offended. I took it as a positive reinforcement that words can have incredible power when used effectively.

So, yeah, stick to your guns. Let the readers make up their own minds. You won't please everyone, but if you're happy that the story says what you want it to say, in your way, that's what counts.

Quote by KimmiBeGood
His view of me completely changed overnight due to one hardcore story.

Quote by KimmiBeGood
I ask this question because a story I wrote a while ago still haunts me. I have considered deleting it several times. I wrote a hardcore story about a woman blackmailing a cheating husband. He had to submit to some painful and humiliating play with her else she would tell his wife about his cheating.

A young male reader wrote me and said as a writer with a following of sorts I should have been more careful with my story. He said I spread the idea that cheaters shouldn't be forgiven and that blackmail was acceptable. He called me reckless with my words.

I have seen several authors personally attacked in comments recently for the actions of their characters. Are we kidding ourselves by hiding behind the "its just fiction" statement? If we write an unsavory act and a reader mimics that act, do we shoulder any of the responsibility for his actions?

For example, are we spreading hate speech if a character spouts it?

Quote by Kimmi Be Good
Actually, I had been helping him get his first story published. He had reached out to me for help as his story was rejected. He was barely old enough to be here. And he was so upset by what I wrote he said Lush wasn't for him and he left. That's what really upset me. He was gone before I could respond. His view of me completely changed overnight due to one hardcore story.

Quote by KimmiBeGood


Another spanking story offended a couple of readers, as they don't think that promotes a healthy form of play.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

Thank you so much for responding. Actually, I had been helping him get his first story published. He had reached out to me for help as his story was rejected. He was barely old enough to be here. And he was so upset by what I wrote he said Lush wasn't for him and he left. That's what really upset me. He was gone before I could respond. His view of me completely changed overnight due to one hardcore story.

I very much appreciate everyone's comments

Quote by GrushaVashnadze


No.

Three reasons I can think of:
1.If we are writing fiction - particularly if we are writing about anything remotely resembling the real world - then, inevitably, we will find ourselves describing actions, words and attitudes that are morally questionable, even reprehensible. It is entirely reasonable for a writer to present such things in fiction, and leave the reader to make up his/her own mind about the moral rectitude of them.
2. If we self-censored everything unpleasant from our stories, most of them would end up very dull indeed.
3. If we want to write a story effectively condemning any particular behaviour or attitude, we can often make our point more strongly by showing that attitude uncensored. So many of the greatest moral crusading novels of the twentieth century (I am thinking, for example, of To Kill a Mockingbird, or The Grapes of Wrath) made their point by uncompromisingly depicting man's inhumanity to man, in quite shocking ways They are examples to admire, and, if appropriate, emulate.

Quote by wicked_jocelyn
It definitely depends on framing too, right?

I can imagine an extremely racially stereo-typical trope in a story -Submissive Asian geisha girl and some white CEO for instance- that could either be endorsing white supremacy, lampooning it, or criticizing it, depending on everything else in the narrative.

Quote by wicked_jocelyn


It definitely depends on framing too, right?

I can imagine an extremely racially stereo-typical trope in a story -Submissive Asian geisha girl and some white CEO for instance- that could either be endorsing white supremacy, lampooning it, or criticizing it, depending on everything else in the narrative.

Quote by wicked_jocelyn

Submissive Asian geisha girl and some white CEO for instance- that could either be endorsing white supremacy, lampooning it, or criticizing it, depending on everything else in the narrative.

Quote by asian2013
This has been one forum thread that got my attention (very few do).
I dont think I need to add more comments, I just wanted to give you a hug.
Your profile says you'll be back, I hope you see this soon.

You have many RR stories, I'll be sure to read them once time permits.

Quote by Twisted_Skald
A dear friend of mine gave me a little word of advice when I mentioned I was going to try writing.

1. Don't put yourself in your characters, that way you can play with how they respond to the world and allow them to be so much different to how you'd see the world that you can explore the world in whole new ways.

I just found this forum post, so I'm a little late to the party, and I see the viewpoints have been thoroughly explored. But I'll throw in my two pennies anyway!

Yes, our words affect people. That is why we put pen to paper and write them down. We have every intention of constructing images and ideas in a reader's mind. Whether we are trying to convey a touching love story or a depraved, mentally unstable blackmailing bitch! But like my dear departed father used to say, "Son, you can't please everyone!"

I understand feeling responsible for what we portray in our writing. I have published stories that delve into some very uncomfortable situations, and I had a lot of reservations about how it might affect some readers. That being said, I believe censorship is a slippery slope, and it is ultimately up to the reader to decide if the content is acceptable in their worldview.

I think the big issue is how we, as writers, keep our surprises and twists close to our vest, yet warn those who might be offended by what is in our story.

Keep that ink flowing, Mistress, Kimmi Sue.

 7 Mar 2021

Taking down a story should be your decision not the readers.

If the Mods processing the story didn't see anything wrong w/ it, why should a readers opinion matter after?

Quote by armagnac
If a fictional story written by me makes an impact on someone and triggers a certain sequence of physical events, then my writing becomes a "material force" whether intended or unintended.

For example, I write a steamy sex scene and someone gets inspired enough to proceed to have an intercourse with his/her spouse to their mutual satisfaction. Do I deserve a credit for providing that inspiration?

Let's now assume that I write a story on sex, jealousy and betrayal that somehow hurts an emotionally sensitive person. Although I may not be responsible for that person's actions, but hurting is real. Do I bear any responsibility for that hurting?

The answer could be "Yes" to both or "No" to both.

For example.

"Yes and I should never write anything anytime anywhere," or
"Yes and I do not care about someone getting screwed as a result of my writing,"
or just plain "No."

In sum, this is a matter of personal choice.

Q.E.D.

As with everything he writes, I think Armagnac’s observation is on the money. When a reader, here or elsewhere, says they were moved/excited/challenged by something we’ve written, we happily take the credit for that. What could be more thrilling for a writer than to hear that your words have purchase in the mind of another? Earned praise is a pleasure to own.

True, we are only partial owners of those experiences. The *right readers* are willing (some more than others) to play along with a story. We don’t inject our stories into passive readers with a hypodermic needle. They have to work with us: filling in whatever open spaces we leave, suspending disbelief, curating their own experience or imagination to complement and amplify what they’re reading. Good readers earn whatever pleasure they take in your writing.

“Erotica” can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. I was fired up, when I found this site, to dive in and read all the genres that get my motor cranking (wife lovers, swingers, cuckold, etc.). The keys in many of those stories happen to fit many of the locks in my fantasy world, so I’m very happy to explore alongside those authors. I very often ponder, though, the psychology of my obsessions. So many of my fantasies require me to push through a membrane of pain. Why not fantasize about something less conflicted?

And I guess that brings me back to Kimmi’s question. When I write about my fantasies, I play with my own pleasure and my own pain. When I publish those stories, I invite myself to play with and alongside others’ pleasure…and their pain. The “right readers” will know how and where and how much to safely and pleasurably add their own pain in the mix. But the unprepared, or unlucky, might find a key that unlocks the door to the wrong pain—the first awful betrayal, the deep wound, the true fear. Would I ever intend to hurt them? No. Did I create their pain? Of course not. Did I hand them the right key for the wrong lock? Yes. I did.

I like your question (and your follow up) because it doesn’t blame the reader for their own found pain (even if pain makes them blame you). I like it because we live in a time that is tragically devoid of soul-searching. But I’ve read a fair amount of your work, and many others in this thread, and I mostly like the way you write to explore your own mind(s). We all know exploration can reveal terrible things. Especially when we’re looking for them. But exploration has revealed every good thing we know.

[sorry if I’m blathering. My internal moderator has the night off.]

A writer is responsible for putting forward their most creative effort in the pursuit of a well written story. A story will effect the intellect of the reader in a pleasurable way or not. What the reader does thereafter has nothing to do with the author.

What you wrote is a ‘story’ of a relationship that possibly could be true in some place or other, never the less a story.

Unfortunately ‘social media’ has spawned a group of these Fuckwits. He didn’t have the guts to continue the discussion obviously as you imply a misguided youth.

Forget him and keep writing.