Desdmona

interviewed by H. Jekyll

Desdmona (yes, that's the correct spelling) is one of the most energetic people to grace erotic stories on the Internet. She's a seasoned writer, but she's also a contest organizer, an editor, and an entrepreneur -- in all a major presence among netizens of Sex Storyland. She developed the alt.sex.story.d story-criticism system called the "Fish Tank," which she later moved to her Web site. She hosts story contests there, and pays real money to contest winners. She is also a major force at the subscription ezine, Ruthie's Club. A good person to interview, no?

H. Jekyll: You began around here as an author (in 1998?). Can you tell us a little more about how you got into on-line, sex-story writing in the first place?

Desdmona: I can't remember the exact date, but yes 1998 sounds about right. I was dawdling away on the Internet, involved in chat rooms (especially a specific nurse room where I'd been socializing since 1996.) Online relationships were easy, uncomplicated, and exciting in a novice sort of way. My writing grew out of shared fantasies, real experiences, and my hot-blooded imagination. A friend directed me to the newsgroups because he thought I had something to offer. My first submission to ASSM was scary and exhilarating - especially when the feedback began to pour in.

HJ: About your first attempt at erotica, you wrote, "I like reading this to see how far I've come." How much do you think your fiction improved or changed over the years? Is it obvious to you, when reading older stories, that you made 'mistakes' that you wouldn't make now?

D: My first attempts at writing erotica, while erotic due to their simplicity, were not really stories. They were sex scenes mostly. I owe two men in particular for my growth as a writer - Mat Twassel and Poison Ivan. Both of them sent me email to encourage me in my first efforts and continued long after to help me to improve my writing. Without their initial efforts, I may still be writing sex scenes with more ellipses than actual content. I've also taken classes and read a ton of books to help me along the years. I think the biggest difference in my writing now is I don't try to outlast a Thesaurus, and I use all the five senses to paint a picture. Oh, and they're actually stories with beginning, middle, and end.

HJ: Your stories strike us as usually sweet and sour--more acerbic than sweet--which is usually rare in online erotica. They also leave much to imagination, rarely becoming explicit or stroke stories: they have feeling and content. So, first of all, are you more influenced by printed books than by online erotica?

D: I read a ton of stories, sometimes as many as 2000 per year thanks to the FishTank, Ruthie's Club, and Desdmona's Contests. The stories that get to me and make me squirm are the stories that titillate. I'm a voyeur by nature, so I want to see the fire build from kindling - slow and steady - so when the real burst of flames happens, I'm ready for the heat. Sometimes that happens in printed books, but I get most of my real erotica online. Online authors have no fear. I turn to mainstream printed material to appease my thirst for mystery and thrillers.

HJ: What leads to your preference for the implicit instead of the explicit.

D: I totally believe the human mind is an erogenous zone, and I like to tickle it as much as I like to tickle a man's groin. Let the reader use their own imagination to fill in the blanks. It's sort of mad lib for sex, isn't it? The answers are almost always unique. If you know what comes next, the element of surprise is lost.

HJ: And, in consequence: what is erotic for you? What do you try to put into your stories, what feelings do you want to draw from the reader?

D: It depends on the story. Sometimes I'm looking for total communion between the partners, the kind I feel with my lover. The kind that leaves you wanting to crawl inside his body and melt. Other times, I want the reader to feel the underbelly of sex - that sex is just sex, and we all need it to survive. Mostly, I think I like the humanness of sex one-on-one. And still other times, I try to write about the lightheartedness and funny parts of sex. Sex can be a riot, and I like to laugh.

HJ: You show a preference for shorter stories, and you seem to have a taste for flash stories. Is it really a fondness for shorter forms, or something else?

D: I totally blame Neil Anthony for stroking my flash bone and bringing it to life. At first, it was a challenge, and then it became such an instrument of learning. When you write Flash, you really have to choose your words to keep in a word limit. You quickly learn what words are important and what words are just baggage.

Writing short stories is a lot easier than writing long, multi-chaptered works. I've written a couple of the longer kind and all the preparation, plot squirreling, and such can be a drain. But that doesn't mean I won't attempt it again. It's all about the challenge.

HJ: What was your inspiration for beginning the Fish Tank (and why is it called the Fish Tank)?

D: I took part in an online writing group for romance writing. I thought erotica writers could really benefit from the same sort of feedback, so I mentioned it over at ASSD. I was lucky enough to get a huge response, and it sort of took off from there. We named it FishTank, only because of the idea of a fish bowl - something for everyone to see. One thing that I don't think people understood was the tremendous amount of work it took to keep the Fishtank afloat at ASSD. I had to constantly cajole people to submit a story just so the project wouldn't die out. Switching to a website was one of hardest decisions I had to make, but after two years I don't regret it.

HJ: What about contests? How did you begin them? How/when did the idea of awards develop? How are entries judged?

D: It appeared to me that there weren't enough accolades for Online authors of erotica. And I wanted to rectify that situation. Thanks to an investor who agreed with me, we were able to host the contests. We are one of the only contests around that do not require an entry fee and still remain competitive in our prize awards.

The judging is done by a panel of two or more judges. The only constant is me. I am always one of the judges. The other judges, for each contest, have done so because I've asked them for their time, and they've graciously agreed. It's not an easy job. It's time consuming and it often times seems impossible, but we some how come to our decisions. The most important feature about our judging is it's all done anonymously. All author information is stripped before any judge (that includes me) sees a story. Another contest should be up soon. I encourage anyone to submit a story.

HJ: When you moved to Ruthie's Club, which is a subscription e-zine, you had some big shoes to fill. What drew you to make that move?

D: In Ruthie's last days, we did a bit of communicating. Around that time, Poison Ivan and I had been seriously considering developing a website for erotica. It so happens that our plans and Ruthie's passing coincided. I was already friends with Neil Anthony, and the move seemed to be a good one for all of us. Thanks to Ruthie's family, especially her daughter, the transition was smooth. I won't say it's been easy, but it has been rewarding and Ruthie's Club is bigger than ever and flourishing.

HJ: In addition to managing Ruthie's Club, you maintain the Fish Tank and still write erotica. Do you still have a RL career as well, or are you full-time on the Web? And when do you sleep?

D: I've been able to give up my career as a nurse. I miss it sometimes, but I don't miss the long hours, weekends and holiday working hours. I'm a stay at home mom with enough free time to keep up with all the websites (most of the time.) I sleep just after sex and when I'm lucky, just before it. :)

One tidbit that I wasn't sure where to put was the relationship between Poison Ivan and me. Some people know, others don't. We have been married for six years. We met through our writing at ASSM. The reason he and I put so much of our time into these online projects is because it's this crazy world of online erotica that brought us together, and we are forever grateful.