Everyone's heard the phrase "The writer's barely diguised fetish" in regards to some story or movie or whatever. We may even have a few names on the tips of our tounges (currently leaning towards Quentin Tarantino myself). But that phrase doesn't really apply to erotica/smut/etc, because I doubt any of us are disguising our fetishes (y'know, the whole porn thing makes it kinda unnecessary). So what does? What poorly disguised thing is so often so deeply woven into our writing? And don't say political beliefs unless you write Obama x Trump yaoi or something. I thought about this topic because I was wondering what music my characters would listen to and wasn't sure whether or not I should use that to further my agenda of hyping up my favorite artists or if that was a common thing, or even viable without complety disrupting the flow of the chapter (now that I think about it, maybe the comments are good for that).
But but but Give me one person who strongly believes in something considered political where it doesn't come across in their work. Heck, I'm not even an exception
"Writer's barely disguised burnout." "Writer's barely disguised struggle with depression." "Writer's barely disguised enthusiastic nerdery."
Exactly why I don't want it said: I see it enough already, and its kinda the only answer that could possibly rival the disguised fetish in contemporary media.
Ah in that case, it's going to be anything we don't guard against and place intentionally when it is there. Our writing is by default an expression of ourselves, and will inevitably take on part of our personalities and ideals. The only question becomes how much and to what extent.
I mean, when writing erotica, why should it be free from my fetishes? I'm not getting paid to write something different.
I don’t like “the writer’s barely disguised fetish” because every character you write is a bit of you, right? So every character will inherently be akin to you, to some extent. Someone mentioned music, and let me put it like this: your character likely won’t be a fan of music you’ve never heard of, right? It’ll be something you know/ listen to, because that’s what you know. basically, I think everyone writes themselves, so the phrase lacks depth to me.
To answer the question? Character development does. Like Michael said, our characters are often apart of us. In my case, I have numerous OC's, many of which have pieces of me split among them. One character doesn't like all the same music I do - but she absolutely enjoys the stuff I do that fits her vibe. I enjoy living vicariously through them and often real-world experiences shape some of theirs; music and personal taste included. As for disguising fetishes, there's no need. Some of my more niche tastes are what inspired me to finally start publishing stuff, hoping other people in my position will find it and appreciate it. Plus it's just something I enjoy and get a kick out of actively writing. It's what sets things apart, too. If we all wrote the same lifeless or vanilla themes, things would get boring pretty quick.
