SG Chapter 7 and Racist Readers

First, Suburban Girl Chapter Seven is now available on this site. You know where to find it.

Second, why do I keep getting racist e-mail about this chapter? Here's a great example from steinman88@*****.com:

you [sic] problem is that you [sic] story went from good positive natural and normal sex and a little slutty too to stereotypical 'the white man is small and blacks are huge' shit... I thought better of you after eveything [sic] you wrote before. Hope you get back to good stuff and leave the blacks out... this is turning into another 'white girl becomes black gang's slut' story'... I give you one more chapter then I quite [sic].

Now here's the thing. When I posted this chapter I admitted that I didn't think it was my best work. But I was thinking that the negative reaction I would get for it would be comments like, "You took too long getting to the action" or "This chapter was really slow compared to the others". You know, stuff like that. I never, ever expected that so many of my readers would be upset about interracial sex!

I mean, let's think about this for a second. I've put Becky through bestiality. I put Tina through prostitution. I put both Amy and Kaylee through incest. And other than Kaylee, every female protagonist I've ever written about has endured rape, torture, coercion, etc. None of that upsets the people who have initially responded to SG Ch.7, though. No, what bugs them is that I had Becky have sex with black men.

I have received, as of 2:56am EDT on this date, exactly 14 e-mails about SG Ch.7. Not nearly as much as I got for Family Honor, but I mean, FH was sort of a fluke (keep 'em coming, btw! I still love all the e-mails I get about my first and only short story...). Anyway, 4 of those e-mails have been anonymous submissions via SOL.net. The rest have been from people like steinman88 up there, people who have such little shame about their utterly racist hearts that they don't care if I get their e-mail address. Oh, and of those four anonymous messages? Yeah, only one didn't include any racist-leaning comments.

All of this has come completely out of left field. Hopefully this initial reaction to the latest chapter will turn out to be a minority viewpoint. I'd hate to think that most of my reader-base is made up of racist assholes, you know?

Grr. I mean (and I'm sorry for going off on a rant here!) I could honestly understand if it was the opposite; if it were black people writing me angry e-mails about this chapter. Think about it: I've never included black people in any of my stories before and then, when I finally did, I had to make them gang-bangers. I could understand getting e-mails criticising me for employing that ugly stereotype, or for the dialogue I wrote for them (did anyone notice that only Maurice speaks proper English in the chapter?). But to get so many e-mails right off the bat from readers pissed off primarily because I had Becky get involved with black people... ugh. It makes me feel sick.

I'll just never understand racism, I guess. It's a totally foreign notion to me. To not like a person and, indeed, hate a person just because of the color of their skin... I'll never get that. I mean, I've known a lot of racists in real life. I dated one in high school for a very long time. I've heard all the so-called "explanations" for why racism is "acceptable" or "logical" or "scientific". But for me it's all bullshit. Like, you might as well try to convince me the Earth is flat. I can accept that you think it is and I can accept that other people share your belief. But I will never agree with such a statement, now will I ever understand why you'd choose to be so ignorant.

Suburban Girl Part Seven

I just posted chapter seven of my story, Suburban Girl, to storiesonline.net. It usually takes about 24 hours before submissions appear on the site but once it shows up you'll be able to find it by clicking here (make sure you're logged into SOL.net first). I'll add the chapter to my stories section on this site shortly after it appears on SOL.net, too.

In the meantime I want to talk a little bit about this story in general and this latest chapter in particular. A lot of people like to bug me about both this story and my other unfinished one, Trailer Trash Teen. I'm constantly asked via chat or e-mail why it takes me so long to post updates. Some people have even suggested that I not post anything unless the story is completely finished. While there is a certain logic to that, for me part of the fun of writing something as long as SG or TTT is the constant feedback I get after posting new chapters. Also, finishing a chapter is extremely difficult and time consuming and it sort of recharges my batteries when I can post something new for all of you to read.

But why does it take so long for me to finish these things? Simple: I want them to be good. Or, at least, as good as they can be. Take this latest chapter of SG, for example. I actually could have posted it quite a while ago. If I had, though, it would have been a disaster. I basically re-wrote the entire thing over the holiday weekend and trust me, it's a lot better now.

That being said, let me tell you something about chapter seven. It's not great. I mean, it's good enough to post and I'm satisfied enough to move on to chapter eight but I have to admit that chapter seven of SG is not my best work. I'll be interested to hear every one's opinion about it, but I just wanted to warn you that I'm not 100% satisfied with the final result.

Why am I posting it, then? Simple. Writing a story like SG is like taking a cross-country trip. Say you start in South Carolina and want to drive to Oregon. Now, a lot of the trip is going to be fun and scenic, right? At the same time, though, there will be big boring stretches (Nebraska, anyone? :P) you'll have to drive through, too. Chapter seven is one of those necessary but not exactly amazing stretches. Now, I understand that an extremely gifted writer can avoid a stretch like SG Ch.7. I'm not at that level yet, though, sorry! :(

Anyway, is it boring? I think probably a little. Is it erotic? I hope so! You let me know... thanks!

//Update: Wow, Ch.7 is already on SOL.net! That was quick. What's most interesting to me, though, is that SG is now my longest story according SOL.net. Trailer Trash Teen (still incomplete after 11 chapters) is "only" 458kb in size; Suburban Girl, after posting Ch. 7, now shows as being 477kb in size. Interesting...!