I read Nozzle last night and it blew my mind. I woke up thinking about it today, which rarely happens. I think it's the best inflatable story I've read all year.
It starts out with a setup that doesn't need to overexplain itself; the "huh?" factor is part of the appeal and keeps it fresh (if not waving to Kafka from across the room). The author used first-person brilliantly and the word choice throughout was extremely vibrant; I was there with our heroine in the scene. Even the "mundane" elements of the scene are lovingly described. heliumgirl77's stuff is very subtle and lyrical -- clearly erotic by design, but never vulgar. It's all very beautiful and human, yet totally fantastic. The scenes unspool with perfect pacing.
I'm having a hard time explaining because it's not often that a story hits so many positive points at once. It's not that it pushed personal fetish buttons or anything, it's not like she wrote "my" story -- it's just incredibly finely crafted as fiction. This is a brilliantly WRITTEN story.
Combine this with the early Remnants and we're seeing a legitimate style emerge. Good lord, I think we've gone beyond inflatable stories and we're inching toward inflatable literature.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Some thoughts on the community
This month marks my 14th year in the inflation community. I'm proud of that. And now I will probably ramble.
The best thing about the community is that nobody owns it. I know I've told the story about how I set up the first inflatable fetish mailing list on AOL for a whopping 12 people; even that, I don't really get too much credit for, because, well, how about those other 11 people? It was my list but it was never more "my" community than it was anyone else's. That's kind of the point of a community -- it's a group thing.
Voices and sites have come and gone. I've met some spectacular artists and writers and thinkers; some have stuck around, some have passed through. I've got evidence of most of them on my hard drive in one form or another. I remember when it was all about ACotto's FTP site. Then the BE Archive appeared and -- gasp! -- charged money. Soon it was all about WrenSpot. For a time, my Video Vault was a happenin' place. And ultimately, LVKane set up BodyInflation.org. There are others, too -- whatever happened to DanielSan and the IC/B2E? Where did Ylandra and Champagne Moon go? And why can't Helia come back for good? Ah, well, There's always tomorrow -- anybody could resurface at any time.
The point is, people come and go, variations on our common themes take new forms from time to time, projects appear and disappear...but the community remains. That's because the idea remains. That's more powerful than anything -- and the idea that we're all into the same weird idea is even larger. We're not alone because, at the very least, we have each other. That's kinda sacred to me.
Nobody owns us. Nobody runs us. And while I sometimes sound protective, I don't mean to claim ownership; nobody can actually take credit for the community. In fact, the only time I really get angry is when I see people trying to suggest that the community cannot exist without them, or they are indispensably important to it and/or primarily responsible in some way for it. Sometimes it's just immature outbursts from people looking to belong; other times, I think people really believe it's true, or at least want to make it appear true for egotistical reasons. No; you're nothing without everybody else. We're all shareholders in your stock in the community. Get in here in the soup with the rest of us.
See? I told you I'd ramble. Anyway, here's to 14 years.
The best thing about the community is that nobody owns it. I know I've told the story about how I set up the first inflatable fetish mailing list on AOL for a whopping 12 people; even that, I don't really get too much credit for, because, well, how about those other 11 people? It was my list but it was never more "my" community than it was anyone else's. That's kind of the point of a community -- it's a group thing.
Voices and sites have come and gone. I've met some spectacular artists and writers and thinkers; some have stuck around, some have passed through. I've got evidence of most of them on my hard drive in one form or another. I remember when it was all about ACotto's FTP site. Then the BE Archive appeared and -- gasp! -- charged money. Soon it was all about WrenSpot. For a time, my Video Vault was a happenin' place. And ultimately, LVKane set up BodyInflation.org. There are others, too -- whatever happened to DanielSan and the IC/B2E? Where did Ylandra and Champagne Moon go? And why can't Helia come back for good? Ah, well, There's always tomorrow -- anybody could resurface at any time.
The point is, people come and go, variations on our common themes take new forms from time to time, projects appear and disappear...but the community remains. That's because the idea remains. That's more powerful than anything -- and the idea that we're all into the same weird idea is even larger. We're not alone because, at the very least, we have each other. That's kinda sacred to me.
Nobody owns us. Nobody runs us. And while I sometimes sound protective, I don't mean to claim ownership; nobody can actually take credit for the community. In fact, the only time I really get angry is when I see people trying to suggest that the community cannot exist without them, or they are indispensably important to it and/or primarily responsible in some way for it. Sometimes it's just immature outbursts from people looking to belong; other times, I think people really believe it's true, or at least want to make it appear true for egotistical reasons. No; you're nothing without everybody else. We're all shareholders in your stock in the community. Get in here in the soup with the rest of us.
See? I told you I'd ramble. Anyway, here's to 14 years.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Inflation stories as Wordles
Here's an interesting idea that my wife suggested. First, go to this site:
http://wordle.net/create
She said, "You've got to put some of your inflatable stories into this thing and see what happens." So I did -- I cut and pasted stories from my collection.
I ran a few of my stories through it and found, if nothing else, that I repeat certain words too much -- like "said." I should work on more creative attribution of dialogue! Main character names come up a lot too. It's actually a pretty analysis of your story after you've written it, to show you what and how you wrote from a completely different perspective.
It's funny, because stories with a greater vocabulary will not come up with the most titillating layouts -- the stories with less change in language will arguably make more exciting Wordles. I expected lots of "balloon" and "swelling" and stuff like that, but it turns out those words are the money shots in stories and generally aren't overused.
Try choosing "Maximum Words" under Layout and changing it to 75 or 50 words for a few stories; it gives the main words more impact.
By far my best story as a Wordle was Eating Light, which was my first and worst story.
Try it with your favorite stories and post your results.
http://wordle.net/create
She said, "You've got to put some of your inflatable stories into this thing and see what happens." So I did -- I cut and pasted stories from my collection.
I ran a few of my stories through it and found, if nothing else, that I repeat certain words too much -- like "said." I should work on more creative attribution of dialogue! Main character names come up a lot too. It's actually a pretty analysis of your story after you've written it, to show you what and how you wrote from a completely different perspective.
It's funny, because stories with a greater vocabulary will not come up with the most titillating layouts -- the stories with less change in language will arguably make more exciting Wordles. I expected lots of "balloon" and "swelling" and stuff like that, but it turns out those words are the money shots in stories and generally aren't overused.
Try choosing "Maximum Words" under Layout and changing it to 75 or 50 words for a few stories; it gives the main words more impact.
By far my best story as a Wordle was Eating Light, which was my first and worst story.
Try it with your favorite stories and post your results.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
ExpansionStories.com - a positive example
It should be no surprise to hear that I think constructive criticism is the key to, well, just about everything. I try to live it every day in my real-life job as an entertainment critic. Bitching about problems you find in a creative work doesn't help, but identifying and deconstructing those problems in an organized and positive manner truly does offer insight to the creator. The spirit of the criticism has to be true; it's worthless if it's "I hate you so I hate your work." I want to see more people willing to give well-considered feedback to creators who are equally willing to accept it as the positive force it should be.
That's why I'm stoked to see this happening over at ExpansionStories.com. You have to register to download and comment on stories, but I've noticed that the comments are moving beyond the expected "do a part 2" stuff and are starting to address when things went right and how they went wrong in each story. I'm not sure what's fostering this environment but I'm thrilled to see it evolving naturally and I hope it never stops.
Most if not all of my crap is posted on the site, and I still check the comments on my stories there. (Do an author search if that link doesn't take you to a list of my stories.) By all means, chime in with your considered thoughts and keep the good vibes going.
That's why I'm stoked to see this happening over at ExpansionStories.com. You have to register to download and comment on stories, but I've noticed that the comments are moving beyond the expected "do a part 2" stuff and are starting to address when things went right and how they went wrong in each story. I'm not sure what's fostering this environment but I'm thrilled to see it evolving naturally and I hope it never stops.
Most if not all of my crap is posted on the site, and I still check the comments on my stories there. (Do an author search if that link doesn't take you to a list of my stories.) By all means, chime in with your considered thoughts and keep the good vibes going.
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