Clean v dirty?
It’s terminology that we hear a lot in fiction circles, especially when discussing romance writing.
How divisive and judgmental is that simple question?
I’d suggest in no uncertain terms it’s time to change the narrative.
What defines clean?
Who decides?
If the story a closed door, no sex on page, then some consider it clean. I’m trying so hard to fight the machine, to swop out clean and use sweet as the descriptor. It’s difficult. Algorithms like what they like know what they know. Those pesky keywords we still have to use to market our work come into play here.
I’m hoping that soon AI will smooth the pebble strewn path that is author marketing. It could scan the work and pick out the keywords throughout the entire book, without us pandering to a system that is so blatantly open to manipulation.
Before you launch into a massive anti AI rant here, it’s here. We all know our devices listen to us, the ‘matrix’ knows everything about us, our shopping habits, TV pleasure. The least it could do in return is help us sell more books!
Back on topic…
Clean automatically suggests the opposite is dirty, doesn’t it?
Sex isn’t dirty
None of us would be here without it, after all.
Sadly, scarily, the fictional Gilead, as predicted by the awesome, ground-breaker Margaret Atwood in The Handmaid’s Tale, sneaks ever closer.
If you haven’t read that book or watched the brilliant TV adaptation, please do. It’s dark and now terrifying as we witness the US edge towards a reality too much like the book’s fictional dystopia.
I’m in the UK but the US is a massive market for readers and has obvious global impacts on the industry, as well as society. Everyone here is seeing what is happening, but is powerless to stop it.
Banning books is actually a thing! Can you believe that? How outrageous is that? Especially in places of education.
I get it
Fear is a massive motivator.
What people don’t understand, they often don’t want to tackle or even look at. But it’s worse than that, more dangerous. The people taking these decisions have seen what you haven’t. They don’t want you to see it. Why?
How deep does it go?
I wear a tin hat, conspiracies keep me awake, but remember…
‘Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.’ Joseph Heller
Yes, quoted from a banned book. Catch 22
I get it, truly, some stuff shouldn’t see the light of day. It shouldn’t. But that doesn’t mean it should be hidden.
It should be exposed, within boundaries, so it can be cleansed and tackled and those responsible held to account. I want my children, all children protected, I want everyone safe and able to live their lives without fear, but we’re not talking about the stuff I won’t mention.
We’re talking about topics that matter, sexuality, race, democracy, life in the raw.
“The authors whose books were targeted were “most frequently female, people of colour, and/or LGBTQ+ individuals”, read the report. It found that 30% of banned books included characters of colour and themes of race and racism, 30% represented LGBTQ+ characters or themes, and 6% included a transgender character.”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/22/democracy-book-bans-us-public-schools-rise
Mums know stuff
Many moons ago, and maybe my mum knew my future career before I did, a cast off comment of hers stuck with me. In that way they do.
A woman in the UK called Mary Whitehouse, had set herself as a self appointed evangelist on a mission to ‘clean up’ what she no doubt saw as a cesspit of porn and more. Look her up, not a nice woman, but very motivated. Anyway, back to my mum’s view.
‘She just gets to read and watch it all first then stop the rest of us enjoying it.’
Check out the reading list suggestions at the end of this post for more fiction on the topics mentioned here.
Also, as the genius writer and from his social media, funny man, Stephen King suggests, the minute a government says wish to ban a book, go buy it and find out what they don’t want you to know!
OK, I’ll climb out of that rabbit hole…
Clean v dirty?
What words do you use when you search for fiction or adult content?
Do you search by kink, by author, by ‘long keyword’ otherwise known as a sentence, or do you just take pot luck with one word and let the machine serve up the books it thinks you’ll like?
The word smut has taken the world by storm thanks to the tick tock clock app. But now even that can trigger bans and dungeons for content. No doubt another word will soon take its place. There are only so many asterisks and sneaky synonyms, metaphors or other wordy devices you can drop online before it catches you for it.
Am I the hypocrite?
If I said I was posting a sweet romance, you’d get the idea. If I use ‘clean’ as a descriptor, please feel free to correct me.
However, on the opposite side of the coin, if I call my work dirty, allow me the privilege. It’s probably my way of catching the eye of those struggling to find what they want to read.
Who tells you what you can read?
Certainly not me. I write as I read. Multiple authors, multiple styles and genres, varying levels of heat, violence, romance and anything in between.
My DD style is heat with feeling.
No taboo, or what I consider falls under that headline. My ‘action’ is consensual, or as I say (con)sensual is my overarching theme. I hope that comes across.
My version of clean is usually occurs in the shower.
Have you noticed my characters all have wet rooms with good solid tiles and non-slip flooring?
No idea why, they just tell it that way.
Clean v dirty?
For me, sweet or smutty, love or lust, closed door or open legs. I’ll mostly serve you what you want. Call it what you will.
Keywords
The marketing algorithms insist on these, or your work falls into the abyss. Readers know that by using a specific term / word, they’ll find what they want. Hopefully. Mostly.
The art of selling books relies on marketing, of course. We have to play the keywords game. We need to include them in our blurbs, ads, descriptions so they catch not only the eye of the reader but also that of the ever-so-secret, ever-changing algorithms.
Not only that, we need to do it in a way that ‘it’ doesn’t spot our subtle manipulations and boot us off the platforms for our alleged advertising crimes.
It’s not always easy being a writer, but I love it. It’s my world and I’ll continue to bring you content as long as you want. Soapy or otherwise!
Tiny Reading List:
The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
A quick Google search will give you a banned book reading list that even includes some classics I studied for my degree, alongside of course, less classic fiction, but reads still worthy of your consideration.
I’d love to hear your take on this rambling post, but important topic.
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