newsmutproject

[newsmutproject]

i was scrolling your “life is in your home too” tag, which I love btw, and saw a post about how you learned to be a good dom from experienced expert doms by reading how they dom and some of their best scenes, do you think you could point me in the direction of some resources for me to study that too? thanks in advance, if not, thanks anyway!

(post referenced is here - link 1)

first of all tysm for this ask (+ your incredibly kind follow-up), it was a delight to receive + i’ve been wanting an excuse to talk about a lot of this for a while so i very much appreciate the interest!

as always please keep in mind that i am Just Some Fem, nothing is universal including when it comes to D/s & i can only speak to what works for me. i try to focus on starting points rather than specifics but ultimately my advice will always be limited by what i needed to hear & wasn’t told, which may not be what’s helpful for a different person. with that being said, here’s some suggestions!

i’ve posted a previous reading list (link 2) with relevant recs; particularly the practicality + sex writing sections have the kind of thing you’re looking for. specifically, The New Topping Book (2003) is a solid starting point; i definitely have my issues with it (haven’t read it recently enough to recall many specifics but i have the sense of general pervasive racism & ableism) but it did a good job at making me think & i appreciate the supportive tone they were going for

another book added to my tbr since then is Coming to Power (link 3), released by SAMOIS in 1983

other authors whose sex writing has been influential in my life: Sandra Cisneros, Natalie Diaz, Joan Nestle, Judy Grahn

the fic At The End of His Rope by Letterblade (link 4) is genuinely some of my favorite sex writing of all time & accomplishes the incredibly impressive feat of representing a broad array of dom styles & changes over time in the same piece

my “impurity culture” tag (link 5) houses the building blocks of my sexual ethic

i’ve found many of those foundations by poking around the incredible bodies of work original & archived @newsmutproject @woman-loving @gatheringbones

for me, studying sex is the same as studying poetry – reading for craft is a different process than for pleasure (not that there isn’t a great deal of pleasure to be found in such practice, especially for sadists – perhaps that’s why as a child i never resonated with Billy Collins’ “Introduction to Poetry,” like i love tying poems to chairs & beating them idk what to tell you). so, keeping in mind that these are suggestions not requirements, here’s how i read for + work on craft:

there is no such thing as too much journaling. this can take whatever form you prefer – voice memo, discord message to yourself, the noble notes app, your own personal sexy red string corkboard, a vast & stunning array of other approaches i can’t even begin to imagine. i personally have an elaborate web of spreadsheets & google docs lmao. what matters is developing a collection of ideas you want to play with + a practice of continually reflecting on past experiences.

pay attention to structure, not just content. find a scene you think is disjointed and pick at the seams, brainstorm better transitions. then find a scene that flows so smoothly it carries you with it and figure out what makes it work.

rewrite a scene you’re drawn to or affected by to suit your own preferences. i first did this when i couldn’t shake “Interlude 3” (link 6) from my head after reading The New Topping Book; you can read my variation on the theme here (link 7) if you’re interested.

write or think through a scene fantasy you have from negotiation to aftercare. obviously it’s very difficult if not impossible to fully script a scene in advance; the purpose isn’t planning something you’ll later do but rather getting used to coming up with ideas to get from one disparate moment / act to the next.

revisit a scene you’ve read, written, thought about, etc and list the physical & mental acts that are required / expected of the sub (eg, kneeling for 10 minutes; making eye contact; counting to 30, etc). then rework the scene for a sub who has the same interests & goals who cannot do 20% (or 50%, or any) of these acts.

revisit a previous scene and list the places where you think a sub might safeword & why. then rework it with the sub safewording somewhere that isn’t any of these places.

i also recommend keeping in mind that like… for me, reading about ethical sex can often be a very distressing process for the same reason that it’s liberating: because it proves that things i’ve experienced are not the way sex has to be. i’ll tell this story in its fullness one day but the first time i read S/HE by Minnie Bruce Pratt i literally had a flashback to events i’d repressed for years, it was devastating, i’m so grateful for it. hell, in the process of compiling resources for this post i cried twice editing this quote (link 8) because between reading that book the first time & now someone did “respond with scorn or ridicule” when i safeworded. so i would really encourage folks to approach this kind of work with as much grace & comfort for yourself as you can muster or borrow – if it’s really fucking hard, you’re not alone in that, & it’s okay to take your time + pace yourself + seek support.

your + others’ interest is definitely motivating me to actually write posts i’ve been tossing around for months so thank you again & feel free to keep an eye out for more shut-in sex tips in my new “tomorrow sexting will be good again” tag. would love to hear your thoughts on any of this post / these or other books / whatever really lol. wishing you all the best & i hope today is kind to you! 💓

#thanks for the shout-out! #kink #resources

[newsmutproject]

Some recent digital pieces. I offer all of these up as prints on my shop at store.anthonyhurd.com

#mlm #art

[newsmutproject]

We've been asked if there's a way to be updated when the New Smut Project resumes with calls for submissions and publishing plans. You can subscribe to our newsletter for such updates.

An update on Erato II

Good morning, everyone! Co-editor T.C. Mill here.

This is not the update I would like to make, but after serious consideration, it feels like the best option for the editorial team and the fairest for the writers waiting to hear back from us.

At this time, we are not going forward with the anthology. This is because of a variety of health and other personal matters among the editorial team, enough to make the prospect of editing and releasing a book this year overwhelming. We've been reading submissions and whew, there are some wonderful stories you've sent us! But we don't feel able to do them justice with the time and energy we currently have available. Nor do we want to keep writers waiting any longer.

So we're going to release all submitted pieces and cancel publication plans for Erato II. In addition to this official announcement, we'll also be sending out emails to this effect over the next few days.

What this means for NSP: In the long term, nothing bad! You may have noticed this blog is posting less frequently; that's another effect of the more limited time and energy available, but we intend to remain active, keep our previous anthologies up for sale, and put together more anthologies in the future. These future anthologies may be smaller and more tightly focused, and we'll aim to be more strategic with scheduling (and hopefully more lucky). It's even possible we'll give Erato II another go someday. Now is, alas, not the right time.

To everyone who submitted: Thank you for sharing your stories with us! We wish you the best in submitting them elsewhere. The world deserves to read your good smut!

Again, we'll be sending out submission response emails with this information over the next few days to reach everyone who might not see this blog announcement.

[newsmutproject]

An update on Erato II

Good morning, everyone! Co-editor T.C. Mill here.

This is not the update I would like to make, but after serious consideration, it feels like the best option for the editorial team and the fairest for the writers waiting to hear back from us.

At this time, we are not going forward with the anthology. This is because of a variety of health and other personal matters among the editorial team, enough to make the prospect of editing and releasing a book this year overwhelming. We've been reading submissions and whew, there are some wonderful stories you've sent us! But we don't feel able to do them justice with the time and energy we currently have available. Nor do we want to keep writers waiting any longer.

So we're going to release all submitted pieces and cancel publication plans for Erato II. In addition to this official announcement, we'll also be sending out emails to this effect over the next few days.

What this means for NSP: In the long term, nothing bad! You may have noticed this blog is posting less frequently; that's another effect of the more limited time and energy available, but we intend to remain active, keep our previous anthologies up for sale, and put together more anthologies in the future. These future anthologies may be smaller and more tightly focused, and we'll aim to be more strategic with scheduling (and hopefully more lucky). It's even possible we'll give Erato II another go someday. Now is, alas, not the right time.

To everyone who submitted: Thank you for sharing your stories with us! We wish you the best in submitting them elsewhere. The world deserves to read your good smut!

Again, we'll be sending out submission response emails with this information over the next few days to reach everyone who might not see this blog announcement.

[newsmutproject]

When it comes to sex scenes, the rules say things like: Don’t write them at all, and if you do, don’t use these words. Don’t write them silly, porny, dramatic, tragic, pathological, grim, or ridiculous.

My whole practical thesis around the craft of writing a sex scene is this: it is exactly the same as any other scene. Our isolation of sex from other kinds of scenes is not indicative of sex’s difference, but the difference in our relationship to sex. It is our reluctance to name things, the shame we’ve been taught, our fraught compulsion to an act a theatre of types. It is indicative of the lack of imagination that centuries of patriarchy and white supremacy has wrought on us. 

To teach sex scenes is to talk about plot, dialogue, pacing, description and characterisation: all those elements that make a captivating scene. A sex scene should advance the story and occur in a chain of causality that springs from your characters’ choices. It should employ sensory detail that concretises and also speaks symbolically to the deeper content of the story. Or if not, it should service your work of art in whatever ways you want from your scenes.

“Mind Fuck: Writing Better Sex” in Body Work by Melissa Febos

[newsmutproject]

extremely dedicated scholar hunched over a desk studying scrolls by the light cast by an ancient roman lesbian oil lamp

#history #wlw

[newsmutproject]

Hi! I was just wondering if there were any further updates on the anthology submissions. I hope everyone on your team is doing well!

Thanks for asking! We're hoping to get more decisions out this month, but haven't sent any out yet.

[newsmutproject]

#humor

[newsmutproject]

honey, I was thinking that we could spice things up in the bedroom by turning the heat off and pretending to be gold prospectors in the Yukon during winter who have to have sex to avoid freezing to death. how does that sound, babe?

#humor #or a story prompt

[newsmutproject]

Kake: Sex on the Train (1974) by Tom of Finland

#art and the erotic #Tom of Finland #mlm

[newsmutproject]

terms like trans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, genderqueer, nonbinary, polyamorous, asexual, aromantic, & queer are just frameworks you can build off of. they're the canvas, you are the paint- each and every person who identifies as these terms has a different interpretation and idea of how to use and approach them. embrace that uniqueness; especially in identities you've never encountered before. that's part of the beauty of life!

[newsmutproject]

a sexy little close up of this beaded strap on harness i made a few weeks ago!

an otipemisiwak friend is commissioning one from me and my friend is commissioning one for their coast salish partner!

#kink and art

[newsmutproject]

Annual Trans Surgery Fund

Point of Pride’s Annual Transgender Surgery Fund is a scholarship-like program that provides direct financial assistance to trans folks who cannot afford their gender-affirming surgery.

PointofPride

[newsmutproject]

Make a list of what’s erotic to you: parts of the body, traditional and nontraditional; foods, objects, clothing, words, smells, sounds. Pick seven to ten words from your various categories and make a poem out of them.

Begin a poem with the phrase “I want” or “Tonight I want…”and use things from the lists you made in the previous exercise. If you get stuck, keep repeating your “I want.” 

exercises from The Poet’s Companion, Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux

#writing prompts #poetry

[newsmutproject]

subway??? no man this is domway. we tell you how you want your sandwich and u shut up and eat it.

#kink #negotiation

[newsmutproject]

its good that people have enjoyed smaller tits and that not everyone with tits feels the need to be DDD minimum to feel worthy if attention

but this mentality needs to be more with dicks. The whole obsession with big dicks is rooted in so much bad shit from misogyny to racism and more. Its fine to have a preference but not when it excludes all others and you treat them as lesser for not having it

As a very fat trans woman i deal with this two-fold and im sure many others do as well. Our weight/size making us shoved into the DomTop corner but then mocked & belittled for having a dick thats smaller then average. Like what do expect weight gain, depression and hrt to do?

Cis dudes deal.with this too. and this mentality of what a dick is "supposed" to look like hurts our trans brothers as well

its this mentality of big = top = dom = proper

small = bttm = sub = embarrassing/gross

its fucked up and so many ppl perpetuate it. how many times do u see/hear ppl post about big dicks and etc etc but the only context for smaller ones is humiliation?

we all gotta get less fucked up about dicks

#sex realism #the beauty of people in their bodies #changing the narratives

[newsmutproject]

Source: Family; A Portrait Of Gay And Lesbian America - by Nancy Andrews

#wlw #photography #history