I had the pleasure of "sitting down" with one of my favorite authors here on TM- dweaver999. Dave, in my opinion, is a wonderful author who's able to spin a tale with such vivid imagery that I often find myself carried away to a lab, space, or an island right there with the characters.
Here's what Dave had to say about his writing, and how he's able to accomplish his magnificent feats.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
~mamma~
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When do you recall your first interest in writing? What age?
I guess that depends on how you look at it. I’ve been a voracious reader for as long as I can remember. My first attempts at story telling were in designing scenarios for my players in Dungeons and Dragons games. My first interest in writing was much later, though, probably in my mid-30s.
Do you remember the first piece you wrote for fun and not for assignment?
Yes, my first fun piece of fiction was a psuedo-screenplay for Doctor Who. It was most definitely not erotic. I wrote a story that brought over a dozen of the older companions back together. I never submitted it to anyone and it’s lost in the dust bin of time and several computer changes.
How did you get started writing erotica? Is it the only genre you write in?
I started writing erotica because I wanted decent stories to jack off to, something I figure is common in the genre. It turned out, though, that I can’t write stroke stories. I have to have a plot. Those early writings are gone, thankfully. The first stories I ever posted for others to read were chapter 1 of Galactic Slave and chapter 1 of Valerie (originally posted as Valerie’s Submission). You can tell from how those two chapters end that Valerie wasn’t intended to be a novel at first, while Galactic Slave was. It was reader feedback on literotica that prompted me to write the rest of Valerie.
What are some of the greatest challenges you face when writing erotica?
Without a doubt, my greatest challenge is my personal inexperience in sex. I started writing for public consumption in early 2007. I was a virgin until late 2008. In that time, I completed 10 novella or larger stories, 4 short stories and two essays (one how to write erotica and one examination of pleasurable pain). I like my stories to be as realistic as possible and I had no first hand information to base it on. It’s even more of a challenge to write BDSM realistically with no experience to draw on.
How did you overcome such a challenge?
In a word, research. While I’ve only been writing erotica for a couple of years, I’ve been reading it since before it was legal for me to read it. I’ve also been fascinated by BDSM for that long and have read everything I could get my hands on about it, both fiction and fact. I guess something’s stuck. It also helps that I have a vivid imagination homed by decades of outwitting players in AD&D games.
How do you set your environment for writing, i.e. do you have to have a quiet room, can you be in public, soft music, candles?
I can write anywhere I can set up my laptop, so long as there’s some privacy for my screen and there’s background noise. I can’t concentrate in pure silence. It doesn’t matter much what the noise is, though visual distractions, such as TV, will slow me down tremendously. I’ve even written stories while my students take their finals.
Do you ever write long hand and transcribe or you type as you go?
Good God no! My handwriting is so bad that if I write longhand first, I’d never know what I’d written.
Do you scribble or jot down notes regarding current future stories whenever/wherever the muse hits?
Not really. I do have a small notes file on Valerie and Amber’s Enslavement. I have trouble remembering what I’ve called Delgrasi’s publications and I was struggling to remember who was whom in the middle of Amber’s Enslavement. In general, I remember broad ideas easily, as well as seemingly unimportant details. For example, I already know what happened to Brusjin and how I’ll tell everyone in Galactic Whore, even though I haven’t written even a word of it. I have ideas for short stories about Angela, the auctioneer at Mephisto’s and another about Joyce where she tries dominating (I’ve always intended Joyce to be a switch).
Do you have to be “in the mood for love” to write?
No, in fact, being in the mood can get in the way. If I’m too horny, I can’t concentrate on the story. Usually, it’s writing the sex scenes that gets me in the mood and I have to take a masturbation break to continue.
How often a day to you commit to your craft?
That’s decided by my teaching schedule. On average, it works out to about an hour a day, but usually several hours are crammed into one day with gaps between the days.
Do you outline, or let the story flow as it grows?
Definitely the stories flow as they grow; sometimes even surprising me as to the direction. Valerie was suppose to fall in love with Charles, but she insisted on falling head over heels for Sally. The shorter stories often stay the way I mentally plan them, but the longer the story, the more of a life of it’s own it has.
Do you have to like a character to write him effectively?
No, but it helps. Case in point, Barry Gaskin. I hate that son of a bitch. Yet, I think I wrote him very well. What I can’t do with a character I don’t like is to give him or her depth. I can’t spend a lot of time writing about my villains, so to speak, so I have to develop them quickly and in small batches. It helps to show their past via conversations (like I did with Barry).
How do you develop your characters?
I feel like saying I don’t, they develop themselves. But, in all honesty, I do develop my characters. My method is to pick one or two character traits and fix them, letting the story determine where the character’s development goes. For example, I decided that Susan Melnin would be very smart, a bit naïve about the greater universe, and a financial genius. From that small package, I developed the sexually alive woman who survived being a slave to become the dedicated anti-slavery force to be dealt with
What is your favorite work of your own?
Without a doubt, it has to be All Things For All People. It started as a rebellion against the overwhelming mediocrity in mind control erotica. As soon as I was into it, I knew I had something fantastic. I was able to explore the depths of the human condition in ways that I may never get to do again.
What is your least favorite work of your own?
That would be Infection. The idea of a sex inducing alien virus seemed cool on the surface, but the story seemed to stall and the ending was very forced. By the time I finished it, it seemed too long, yet I don’t see any way to shorten it. It’s the only one of my stories I don’t reread.
What’s your favorite book or story by another writer?
That’s a hard one. I’m limiting myself to erotica, otherwise I’ll never be able to make a choice. Honestly, it’ll depend on when you ask. Right now it’s a story called The Vassal Academy by savannahmann. His stories can be found on both literotica and storiesonline. But, I expect that later this year, if he writes the third book, it’ll be the Praxton books by N S Howard (I think he used a different name for the first book), which can be purchased as ebooks on
http://www.a1adultebooks.com/dweaver999.htm.
What’s your favorite story from The Masque?
That’s a little embarrassing. I haven’t actually read anyone on the site. I’m so busy with my teaching, that I can barely keep up with my writing as it is. I only keep track of a few authors on the other sites that I’m familiar with. I’m hoping to explore some new talent (for me) this upcoming summer.
Who has most influenced your writing and style?
This will seem silly, but an unnamed English graduate student at EWU back in 1977. He taught my freshman composition course and molded my writing style to this day. Specifically, he taught the course by having the class write an in class essay, turn it in and get it back the next day; when we repeated the whole process. We were literally graded on how good a first draft we wrote. To this day, I can’t edit my own work without making it worse. That class is why I have everything in my head all the time (remember that in 1977, in class writing was by hand).
What kind of advice you have for someone trying to write?
Get a good proofreader/editor. I don’t care how good a grammarian you are (and I’m not), your own work is nearly impossible to edit. You develop blind spots that need a fresh eye to spot. The second piece of advice is to write. I know, that sounds silly, but it’s far too easy to find reasons not to write today, or at all. If you’re thinking about writing, it’s because you think you’ll enjoy it. If that’s true, why delay? Just do it. Don’t worry about how good it is at first, just get it onto paper (or screen) first. It’ll never get good until it’s written.
What do you avoid when writing?
Kids. I mean kids near me when I write. I just can’t seem to write about sex when the 4 and 5 year old are watching Scooby Doo in the same room. It just squicks me out. I also avoid second person point of view. It’s always bothered me to read it and feels so unnatural to write (I did recently for a friend who wanted a story about her).
Are you “out” to your friends and family as a writer?
Not really. One of my roommates knows I write erotica, but not his wife or anyone else. Of course, I recently started going to a munch, and they know, as well as numerous online friends I’ve met through my writing.
What story out there do you wish you’d written?
The Story of O and 9 ½ Weeks. Not because I think they’re very good; they’re actually pretty poor stories in my opinion. I wish I’d written them so I could have made them so much better stories, especially the endings. What is it with the older D/s fiction that insisted that they have sad or unhappy endings? Or worse, that anyone into BDSM has to have a mental disorder? I recently watch The Secretary and was appalled. Is this the best there is for us? We deserve stories about healthy people who just happen to enjoy pain in their sex, who can have happy endings and romance.
So you’re a romantic at heart?
Yes, most definitely, though I haven’t tried to write a “romance” per se. I believe our stories should have happy endings and good people as the heroes. I hate it when the bad guys win or when the hero is really an anti-hero.
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