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Self-Censorship
Jul. 7th, 2010 11:55 pmAbout a month ago, in the comments section to my post My Mind is Full of Thoughts, I had an amusing exchange with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
triciasullivan and a few other ljers about writing sex scenes.
Except the conversation wasn’t really about writing sex scenes. The conversation was really about self censorship.
I believe I have love stories in all my books. There is, therefore, sex in my books. However, I have never been one to write explicit sex. I tend to write “fade to black” or “draw the veil” sex, which allows the reader to fill in the blanks or use her/his imagination and either ignore the business or color it however s/he pleases.
I have no trouble reading explicit sex scenes. Indeed, I enjoy reading a well written sex scene the same as anyone else who enjoys reading an explicit sex scene (and I understand that some readers simply prefer not to have explicit sex in the books they like most), but I just am not comfortable writing it even though I do not consider it at all "autobiographical".
More recently, I have come to the sad conclusion that I may now never be able to write explicit sex scenes because I know my kids may read my books.
In the course of the lj conversation referenced above, I had the following conversation with my daughter:
Me (speaking to my 22 yr old daughter): While it is true that I may not have the personality to write explicit sex scenes anyway, I have come to the conclusion that I am self censoring and do not even try to write explicit sex scenes because I know you guys read my books.
Her (looking directly into my eyes with an intent gaze): Good. Keep doing that.
Periodically I think about the larger issue of self censorship: what I won’t write about, and why I won’t write it. I would have to define what I consider to be self censorship, though. It is highly unlikely I will ever write a “serial killer” book because I really detest the trope, avoid books using that character and plot type, and have no interest in it. That is not self censorship; that is preference.
One way I define self censorship is as things I might be interested in writing about but avoid because of some inchoate or perhaps specific fear or anxiety about what will happen if I write about the subject.
I self censor in two areas:
1) there are things I won’t write about in my novels (see the discussion of explicit sex, above)
2) there are things I will almost certainly avoid discussing that deal with the larger sff community conversation, because I see no benefit and considerable disadvantage to throwing my opinion out there.
How do you define self censorship? Do you self censor? Care to talk about it? Or would you rather not?
triciasullivan and a few other ljers about writing sex scenes.Except the conversation wasn’t really about writing sex scenes. The conversation was really about self censorship.
I believe I have love stories in all my books. There is, therefore, sex in my books. However, I have never been one to write explicit sex. I tend to write “fade to black” or “draw the veil” sex, which allows the reader to fill in the blanks or use her/his imagination and either ignore the business or color it however s/he pleases.
I have no trouble reading explicit sex scenes. Indeed, I enjoy reading a well written sex scene the same as anyone else who enjoys reading an explicit sex scene (and I understand that some readers simply prefer not to have explicit sex in the books they like most), but I just am not comfortable writing it even though I do not consider it at all "autobiographical".
More recently, I have come to the sad conclusion that I may now never be able to write explicit sex scenes because I know my kids may read my books.
In the course of the lj conversation referenced above, I had the following conversation with my daughter:
Me (speaking to my 22 yr old daughter): While it is true that I may not have the personality to write explicit sex scenes anyway, I have come to the conclusion that I am self censoring and do not even try to write explicit sex scenes because I know you guys read my books.
Her (looking directly into my eyes with an intent gaze): Good. Keep doing that.
Periodically I think about the larger issue of self censorship: what I won’t write about, and why I won’t write it. I would have to define what I consider to be self censorship, though. It is highly unlikely I will ever write a “serial killer” book because I really detest the trope, avoid books using that character and plot type, and have no interest in it. That is not self censorship; that is preference.
One way I define self censorship is as things I might be interested in writing about but avoid because of some inchoate or perhaps specific fear or anxiety about what will happen if I write about the subject.
I self censor in two areas:
1) there are things I won’t write about in my novels (see the discussion of explicit sex, above)
2) there are things I will almost certainly avoid discussing that deal with the larger sff community conversation, because I see no benefit and considerable disadvantage to throwing my opinion out there.
How do you define self censorship? Do you self censor? Care to talk about it? Or would you rather not?
