Halloween, Weak/Cowardly Prose, How da' Prinny doin' etc.
Posted by PrinnyDood 2 weeks ago
Hey there people who read these! Been a while since my last, slightly dire update, so I figured I'd fill those interested in on how things have been going.
So yeah, the Prinny-Situation has been . . . odd. A LOT has happened to me in the past few months, and not all of it great, to be honest. Most recently I've been trying to hold my work situation together, while basically ALL my coworkers have suffered separate, debilitating injuries (nothing too serious) that will take weeks to recover, all SOMEHOW at pretty much the same time. The fatigue and stress are kinda getting to me at this point, but hopefully I'll catch a break soon.
But on the positive, creative writing front, I've actually been feeling weirdly inspired, with a more ideas and desire to write since before my burnout . . . now that I have almost no free time/energy to actually sit down and write, of course. xD
I've also been looking back over some of my stories with a critical eye, and asking myself some questions about how I approach writing prose overall. Feedback on this point especially would be appreciated.
Once I was looking with a bit more detached analysis, one thing I noticed about my style was a few uncomfortable similarities with AI generated text. I use a lot of negative parallelism (variations of 'It didn't/wasn't X, instead it was Y') and em-dashes (this guy: '–' ) in my writing, though in my defense I've been doing that since before chatbots could string three coherent sentences together. I find myself I bit self-aware about in now, and I'm not sure if I should deliberately avoid using them unless really needed, or just keep doing what I've been doing. Eh.
The other thing I noticed is my habit of avoiding even very mild vulgarity in my descriptive prose. I almost never write something like 'the tentacle squeezed her ass', and instead use 'the tentacle squeezed her bottom/buttocks/backside/etc.' Given the incredibly smutty subject-matter of my writing, it struck me as hilariously prudish and kinda cowardly to tiptoe around words like ass/dick/pussy/balls/whatever. I think I was just kinda insecure about it when I started writing a couple decades ago, but the unexamined habit kinda stuck around without me thinking about it. But I'm very curious if any of my readers have thoughts about it one way or the other? Please let me know if you do!
Finally, I'm definitely going to have a Halloween story this year, though probably just one large-ish one on the 31st. But the structure I'm thinking of allows for a variable number of disconnected scenes, so I figured I could still sorta open the floor to suggestions as has been my Halloween tradition!
Spoilers for the Halloween Story premise:
The basic idea is a cursed digital chain-letter sweeping across the globe, and giant slugs appearing to sexily devour women who fail to send it to ten female friends in 1 hours time. On Halloween night, of course.
This format has plenty of potential for isolated scenes of mass-vore and/or one-on-one encounters in a variety of locations, so I can expand accordingly if I have a surplus of time/energy (ha!) or just stick to a single perspective through-line if my time/inspiration runs short. But I still have about a month to write, so if any particularly appealing places or situations with that premise come to mind, please share! I might steal and adapt them into the final story.
Posted by Cruich 2 weeks ago Report
I would welcome more explicit language in your prose, but do not surrender your use of the noble em dash, no matter who or what else uses it.
Posted by PrinnyDood 3 days ago Report
Haha, that's also my impulse, but I wanted to see what people thought.
Humans were utilizing the em dash to great effect long before the machines copied us. And they kinda (over)use it badly, more often than not.
Posted by nomnomfap 2 weeks ago Report
There seems to be no limit to the varying ways you are able to describe women being devoured, I'm always thoroughly impressed by the descriptors in your writing and the scenarios you come up with. I've never thought the em dash usage to be excessive, in fact I think I never noticed it until now.
I get what you mean about inspiration hitting the hardest when you are busy with life. I'm most excited about stories and scenarios when I'm out in the world and have only my phone to take down notes or stories on. Funny how that works.
Regarding AI, as an experiment I've tried feeding my stories into some self-hosted models I set up on my machine to get around the guardrails the web-based ones have. There would be a few decent sentences but it never really came out as quality stuff and usually wound up stuck in a loop. As a technology it's neat to see how far it's come and I'm sure there's better stuff coming, but we're not anywhere near it replacing a human.
Now you can tell me you've been an AI program this whole time XD
Posted by PrinnyDood 3 days ago Report
Thanks, I'm really glad to hear you appreciate my descriptive prose! It's a real boost.
Yeah, I've played around with text-generating AI stuff a few times out of curiosity, and had a similar experience. It's still a fascinating technology (ethical issues with how it was produced notwithstanding), but not really anywhere near matching a writer of even my modest abilities.
Posted by kuso 2 weeks ago Report
Sounds like a lovely halloween idea. Maybe if you try to cheat you go straight to hell and skip slug digestion...instead getting a demon treatment. And for the slugs it could be a kind that feeds once a year on halloween. They feast so much in addition to an incredible slow digestion it takes them almost the full year to fully digest.
Posted by PrinnyDood 3 days ago Report
I'm glad you like the Halloween idea! It should be a fun one, especially if I can find the time to give it some proper scope.
Posted by 2Ron2R 13 days ago Report
The prudish language isn't always a bad thing, especially when the reader is observing things from the perspective of the victim. It creates a kind of comedic juxtaposition, contrasting the vulgar acts being described with the innocent naivete of the victim.
Posted by PrinnyDood 3 days ago Report
That's a good point I hadn't thought about related to this topic. The main POV of a section can and should impact the language of the prose, and that includes vulgarity or the lack thereof.
Posted by DrakentheBlack 13 days ago Report
Hello, one of the five people who reads these!
Hope your work situation improves!
I'll say I have no experience with AI writing, but given all the tentacles and serpents in your content, it would be very obvious if you were uploading images instead of stories. But weather its just your punctuation and sentence structure, or how vulgar or 'tame' you write a helpless female being brutally violated by a tentacle monster, it's all something I would see as your own writing style.
I think it would be a funny addition to your Halloween story to have one of the women involved in this supernatural pyramid scheme hanging out at a party when her deadline hits, and thus everyone at the party gets eaten whether they were among the ten 'friends' or not.
Posted by PrinnyDood 3 days ago Report
Thanks! Work has been getting a tiny bit better this past week or so.
Well, I'm glad you see my style as distinctive, I sometimes worry I'm a bit too mechanical . . . thus my concern over seeming too 'AI-like'. xD
Posted by DragonGiantess 13 days ago Report
I've never thought your use of the em dash to be excessive, and I'm someone who tries to limit its use to sentences where it would make the most impact. As for explicit language, I'm torn. On one hand, the use of extremely tame language for extremely lewd and kinky scenarios creates a comic juxtaposition that I find very entertaining, sort of like Avrinn's cheerful banter in "Earth Girls are Edible". On the other hand, certain more vulgar terms do appeal to me more than tamer ones (primarily "ass" over "buttocks").
Regardless, I wouldn't call this an example of weak/cowardly prose, just a question of how you want to develop your writing style. And I don't think either of these decisions would greatly reduce my enjoyment of your work no matter which option you choose.
Posted by PrinnyDood 3 days ago Report
Yeah, vulgar language in prose is something I see a LOT in smut, but just because of that I'm not sure it's the best path for me. I probably will start sprinkling in the occasional use of the word 'ass' and see how I like the results, because that is the one I'm least happy with the alternatives for.
Posted by BoredAgain34 13 days ago Report
Your writing style is awesome don’t overthink it! Using vulgar language can be good sparingly for emphasis I think, but I like that your stories are comedic and somewhat light despite the obviously horrific and vulgar scenarios depicted.
For the email chain worms suggestion… it would be very funny if a group of women receive the email, and all decide toghether to follow the instructions and send to 10 friends… except for one or two skeptics who refuse. They of course would be spectacularly proven wrong an hour later in front of their friends who heeded the email chains warning.
Posted by PrinnyDood 3 days ago Report
Thanks you! I really appreciate the vote of confidence in my writing style. That mix of comedic and horrifying is something I really enjoy in these types of stories.
Yeah, it might be fun to show a contrast between the consequences for failing to spread the curse vs not.
Posted by CoolKaios 12 days ago Report
Personally i think that its very creative if you can avoid vulgarity in your writing. Maybe if you feel enclined you can have charecters use vulgarity while the narrator remains a bit aloof.
Posted by PrinnyDood 3 days ago Report
Thanks!
Yeah, that's how I currently do it. I don't shy away from having characters swear in dialog where appropriate, but I never got into the habit of having any in the actual, descriptive prose.
Posted by Vision 12 days ago Report
Unfortunate that you've been a little overrun at work, but as you said - hoping you're able to catch a break soon!
Re: vulgarity - while I understand the perspective that it might come off as unnecessarily prudish, I think it adds to the appeal of how you write vore for two reasons:
The first is that you're exceptionally talented at finding amazing and creative ways to describe situations without getting repetitive.
The second - and this is perhaps more personal opinion - words like "pussy/cock/etc" all tend to have a bit of an edge to them. I don't mean that negatively, I can enjoy it depending on the type of story. But I personally tend to associate softness with sensuality. So the absence of those words in your writing really amplifies the sensuality of the vore scenes you write.
Wouldn't be opposed to you using those words more if you'd like to! Ultimately I trust whatever you feel is best, just wanted to give my two cents.
Posted by PrinnyDood 3 days ago Report
Thank you very much! I appreciate the compliments and the thoughtful reply. I hadn't really though about it like that, but you might have a point. There is a certain esthetic to avoiding the 'crass' vocabulary that perhaps has some value to it I hadn't considered.
Posted by ArtaxIsSleeping 10 days ago Report
LLMs can pry em dashes from my cold dead hands. Make whatever changes you want to your style, but make them because you want to make them, not because you're comparing your work to the output of a probability model. You've been a favorite author of mine since before LLMs could string a coherent sentence together.
Regarding profanity, I'm not opposed to adding it, but I really do like how your writing feels currently. The juxtaposition of clean, cheerful language and messy, horrifying subject matter is very tasty when done right and you do it very right. I hope that's something you keep going forward, but of course the final decision is up to you.
Posted by PrinnyDood 3 days ago Report
Haha, I kinda agree. Robots are only copying our use of em dashes because em dashes are so damn great at adding emphasis or controlling the feel of prose! I honestly really hate that they're getting a bad reputation, but you're right, I shouldn't let that discourage my use.
But yeah, thank you very much! I must admit it's nice to hear you and others saying they appreciate my current writing habits. And I think you're right that there's a certain stylistic value in avoiding the 'crass' language while describing the decidedly squishy, unclean events transpiring.
Posted by kornflakegirl 9 days ago Report
Sorry to hear you've had a rough time lately. I hope things pick up for you.
Just wanted to echo what ArtaxIsSleeping said - "The juxtaposition of clean, cheerful language and messy, horrifying subject matter is very tasty when done right". This is very true of your writing. Much like Karbo's work, the cheerful, playful sexiness of Felayra's preds juxtaposed against the unimaginable visceral biological nightmare that the victims are enduring is what makes it so hot (in my opinion). You walk that line so well in your writing too. (As an aside, I hope we get more squirrel girl stories from you one day!)
Another thing I love in your writing is when you have unsympathetic observers or orchestrators. Whether it's Susan Shyle, or Rusa and Lilith from the Sorority stories, or Avrinn from Earth Girls. There's just something about having those wicked self indulgent characters observing or even participating that does it for me, perhaps because it closely echoes your reader's viewpoint?
Profanity wise, I think there's no harm in trying it out. It's easy to tone it back down later if you feel like it's not working. That kind of language can have the effect of objectifying the subject, which, when used to refer to squirming ladies who have already been reduced to meat in the eye of the eater (and potentially the reader), isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Posted by PrinnyDood 3 days ago Report
Thanks. Stuff is a bit better on my end this week so far, so finger's crossed that continues.
Thank you so much, it really means a lot to hear appreciation for my silly niche smut stories! As I said to ArtaxIsSleeping, I think you might be right. I might have been overlooking the stylistic value in avoiding the 'crass' language while describing the 'unimaginable visceral biological nightmare' (couldn't have said it better!) of the scenario.
I too really love the 'unsympathetic observers/orchestrators' in vore. I'm sure I'll have more of that sooner or later. And maybe more squirrel girl, though I don't an outline for another story with her currently.
Posted by Nalzindar 9 days ago Report
I’m starting to get used to the feeling of having a ton of additional work myself these days, but mine are home and sadly won’t be improved. Anyway, I sincerely hope your work load will ease again soon now as your muse finally came back : )
Funny about your writing style, I have never thought of it as anywhere similar to AI generated text. I have long since fallen for your style, and the way you avoid vulgar prose and keep certain sentence structures and descriptions seems more like a trademark than anything else. I think it makes your style stand out a lot in a positive way that makes it easy to recognize, especially the way you so delightfully describe your characters and how they are getting eaten.
Negative parallelism, thank you for the word, I have (to my great dismay) been forced to read and seen a lot of AI generated texts over the last couple of years, and I have long wondered what that literally style is called when overusing not/don’t/wasn’t/wouldn’t etc. AI is best at identifying and sorting out spelling and grammar mistakes, I have used it on some of my texts and got confirmed that with English as my second language, I can still make stupid mistakes, even after using it continuously for 30 years!
Ahh, the new Halloween story from you, the only highlight I get out of Halloween in general ^^
What about if one of the chain-letters accidentally ending up at your ghost, Elizabeth, or one of your other predators, giving them an unusual Halloween experience?
Posted by PrinnyDood 3 days ago Report
Ahh, tons of work can really make it hard to be creative, eh?
Thanks, I appreciate your vote of confidence on my writing style! Others have pointed out as well, but yeah, avoiding crass prose while still describing the very squishy, unclean events has a certain value, I suppose.
Haha, yeah, negative parallelism is (along with the em-dash) one of AI writing's more infamous 'tics'. It just can't seem to resist (mis)using it, apparently. xD
Oh yeah, I absolutely use a spell checker and that kind of tool, that's a whole different thing vs. the kind of AI writing people think of these days.
Ohh, that's a neat idea, I've always wanted to do a Halloween crossover thing with Elizabeth or maybe Rusa!
Posted by psychoboy07 4 days ago Report
Ashamed I only noticed this tonight. I was beginning to fear the worst, old friend
As for the concerns, AI is basically legalized plagiarism so I wouldn’t worry too much about the fearful symmetries between what it pukes up and your writings
Sure I noticed you didn’t use much vulgarity but don’t mind as it’s your “baby” and your “voice”, if that makes sense
Posted by PrinnyDood 3 days ago Report
Ahh, no worries man, these days I sometimes take longer than that to reply even it I DID see the message. xD
And as befuddled as I've this past . . . year or so? I'm not planning to go and vanish just yet!
You're right, I'm probably just overreacting to the bad press my poor, innocent, precious em-dash has been getting.
Posted by Whitebrand 2 days ago Report
Don't worry about censoring yourself, I say. Your writing is comfortable enough to me, and it doesn't need "spicing" just because.