Story dilemma

[Guest Tingle]

Ok, newbie here writing her first new post. Go easy on me people.

A minuscule number of you know that I’m at university studying Illustration for Children’s Publishing and that my degree includes writing as well as illustrating.

Well here’s the dilemma. I’ve come up with a fun plot for a cute story about a witch’s familiar and I desperately want to develop and write it. So what’s wrong with that? Well my main character is going to run into difficulties because of her allergy to her own fiery magic dust. Every time she sneezes she loses control of her magic causing varying strengths of fire spells to cast (depending on the strength of the sneeze). I’ve planned out the entire plot and as u can imagine it includes a lot of sneezing. But my story is designed for children. (this one specifically, probably for 7-10year olds) Is it morally wrong for me to create a story that is riddled with my fetish? OBVIOUSLY there will NOT be anything even remotely suggestive or indecent in it but I still can’t help but feel…I don’t know…a bit dodgy. :"(

My SF is a closely kept secret between my bf and the SF community, so it’s not like anyone should make the connection anyway. However that raises another problem. What if I decided to write it and by a cruel twist of fate someone does discover my fetish and decides to make my life a living nightmare?

I really don’t know if I should create the story or not, so I thought I’d put it to you people and hope you can help me decide.

Tingle

[Pilgrim]

I understand your pain. My motto has always been to not take unneeded risks, unless you can keep a straight face and cover your tracks. I think you should go ahead and write it. As long as you don't accidentaly write " I am a sneeze fetishist" on the cover you should be fine. As for the morale dillema, there's nothing wrong with others benifittinng from your fetish. You might even provide help for a young fetishist . But you shouldn't do anything you're uncomfotable with. If you don't think it's right, don't do it. If you do, though, please post a copy of it or a store where it will be sold:laugh: .

[tma]

Maybe if your boyfriend isn't an sf- you could show him the story and see if it appears Obvious to him as far as fetish- or just looks like a normal story. Several children's books have sneezing in them, and what might seem Completely "obvious" to us doesn't strike people without the fetish in the same way.

I would think that if it is a part of the story- have fun with it and see how it turns out. You could always write extra parts for you (and us- if you want to share) that wouldn't be in the book.

[Bondi]

Objectively, I'd say go for it. No one except a fetishist would see anything even remotely sexual in what you're doing; most people would just see it as sneezing, which isn't really all that uncommon in children's novels anyway. So if you think you can write a good children's story about a sneezing witch, go for it. It's not like you're putting any hardcore porn pics or nude pictures in this thing.

Of course, on the other hand, if you're not comfortable doing so, then don't do it. Simple as that.

[Lady Tori]

I agree with all that's been said here. I remember reading so many stories about sneezing when I was a small child. I think many people find the loss of control related to sneezing funny-we just see it as sexual instead. For children who are non-SFs, I guess it could be funny in the way that adults, in positions of power, are rendered temporarily powerless. This is just a hypothesis, though, because for me it has ALWAYS been sexual.

Otaku is right, you may provide help and comfort to a young fetishist. I remember it was around the age of 10, when I was just beginning to experience puberty, that I repressed my fetish so deeply that I couldn't feel aroused by it anymore. I just didn't let myself. Now I feel bad that I went through that phase. If your book can maybe help a child understand that it's ok to be interested in sneezing, and help them to understand and accept him/herself earlier, then I think it's a wonderfully moral thing to do.

On a sidenote, children's literature is a passion of mine. Over the years I have entertained the idea of being young adolescents' writer, a la Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary.

[Sternuto]

write it. there is nothing sexual about sneezing.

Well...

[sarub2]

Unless your books become really popular, I don't think it will become any sort of news if somebody finds out about your fetish. Besides, it's not that likely that somebody will find out about your fetish... the only real danger is if they catch you looking at a forum like this or something (lock your door when you're doing it).

[Geist]

My motto is, "a life without risk is no life at all" and "It's not the things you do in life that you regret, it's the things you DON'T do . . ."

Do it, darling. I seriously doubt people will go digging around for suspicious info!

~Frack