Discussion History Literature / HowNotToWriteANovel

\\\"In a time when fetishes are becoming a must-have for the really hip, urban professional...\\\"

Imagine if you replaced the above statement with:

\\\"In a time when homosexuality is becoming a must-have for the really hip, urban professional...\\\"

Doesn\\\'t that sound ridiculous?

Maybe there are people out there who pretend to have a fetish because they think it\\\'s cool, but if so that\\\'s not the same as actually having one. I don\\\'t know anyone like that. I do know plenty of people - through their pseudonyms at fetish-related forums - who, far from flaunting their sexuality, are discreet about it because they don\\\'t want to be stigmatized and ridiculed.

This particular stereotype is not as bad as some, but it\\\'s still annoying because it implies that fetishists are poseurs.

\\\"In a time when fetishes are becoming a must-have for the really hip, urban professional...\\\"

Imagine if you replaced the above statement with:

\\\"In a time when homosexuality is becoming a must-have for the really hip, urban professional...\\\"

Doesn\\\'t that sound ridiculous?

Maybe there are idiots out there who pretend to have a fetish because they think it\\\'s cool, but if so that\\\'s not the same as actually having one. I don\\\'t know anyone like that. I do know plenty of people - through their pseudonyms at fetish-related forums - who, far from flaunting their sexuality, keep quiet about it because they don\\\'t want to be stigmatized and ridiculed.

This particular stereotype is not as bad as some, but it\\\'s still annoying because it implies that fetishists are poseurs.

\\\"In a time when fetishes are becoming a must-have for the really hip, urban professional...\\\"

Imagine if you replaced the above statement with:

\\\"In a time when homosexuality is becoming a must-have for the really hip, urban professional...\\\"

Doesn\\\'t that sound ridiculous?

Maybe there are idiots out there who pretend to have a fetish because they think it\\\'s cool, but if so that\\\'s not the same as actually having one. I don\\\'t know anyone like that, but I do know plenty of people - through their pseudonyms at fetish-related sites - who for various reasons choose to keep that information close to the vest.

Sorry to be so ranty. :)

\\\"In a time when fetishes are becoming a must-have for the really hip, urban professional...\\\"

I\\\'ve seen this idea bandied about elsewhere, but I\\\'m surprised to see it here. A fetish is not some fashionable accessory you can put on and take off at will, it\\\'s an integral part of a person\\\'s sexuality. Many fetishists become aware of their proclivities in early childhood, and many keep it in the closet because they were raised to believe it was wrong or just don\\\'t want to be stigmatized and ridiculed. This stereotype isn\\\'t as bad as some, but it\\\'s still annoying because it implies that fetishists are poseurs.

Imagine if you replaced the above statement with:

\\\"In a time when homosexuality is becoming a must-have for the really hip, urban professional...\\\"

Doesn\\\'t that sound ridiculous?

Maybe there are idiots out there who pretend to have a fetish because they think it\\\'s cool, but if so that\\\'s not the same as actually having one. I don\\\'t know anyone like that, but I do know plenty of people - through their pseudonyms at fetish-related sites - who for various reasons choose to keep that information close to the vest.

Sorry to be so ranty. :)

Anyway, this hottips concept if nothing else clears up the problem with Eric Clapton, Cream, and Blues in general. Since we\\\'ll be keeping Blues around, we\\\'ll have to do as I said before and keep it extremely exclusive. Clapton will be sent to Blues while the Cream stay in Rock[[hottip:*:If JackBruce or GingerBaker get a page, they\\\'ll stay under Rock since their careers have been primarily based in that genre (though Baker considers himself a Jazz player). If BlindFaith gets a page, we\\\'ll stick Baker under that while also pointing the reader to Cream. And finally, if Music/{{Traffic}} gets a page we\\\'ll point the reader to Blind Faith (honestly, these English [[BluesRock blues rockers]] were too close-nit).]]

Anyway, this hottips concept if nothing else clears up the problem with Eric Clapton, Cream, and Blues in general. Since we\\\'ll be keeping Blues around, we\\\'ll have to do as I said before and keep it extremely exclusive. Clapton will be sent to Blues while the Cream stay in Rock[[hottip:*:If JackBruce or GingerBaker get a page, they\\\'ll stay under Rock since their careers have been primarily based in that genre. If BlindFaith gets a page, we\\\'ll stick Baker under that while also pointing the reader to Cream. And finally, if Music/{{Traffic}} gets a page we\\\'ll point the reader to Blind Faith (honestly, these English [[BluesRock blues rockers]] were too close-nit).]]

Anyway, this hottips concept if nothing else clears up the problem with Eric Clapton, Cream, and Blues in general. Since we\\\'ll be keeping Blues around, we\\\'ll have to do as I said before and keep it extremely exclusive. Clapton will be sent to Blues while the Cream stay in Rock[[hottip:*:If JackBruce or GingerBaker get a page, they\\\'ll stay under Rock since their careers have been primarily based in that genre. If BlindFaith gets a page, we\\\'ll stick Baker under that while also pointing the reader to Cream. And finally, if Music/{{Traffic}} gets a page we\\\'ll point the reader to Blind Faith (these English [[BluesRock blues rockers]] were too close-nit).]]

Anyway, this hottips concept if nothing else clears up the problem with Eric Clapton, Cream, and Blues in general. Since we\\\'ll be keeping Blues around, we\\\'ll have to do as I said before and keep it extremely exclusive. Clapton will be sent to Blues while the Cream stay in Rock[[hottip:*:If JackBruce or GingerBaker get a page, they\\\'ll stay under Rock since their careers have been primarily based in that genre. If BlindFaith gets a page, we\\\'ll stick Baker under that while also pointing the reader to Cream. And finally, if {{Traffic}} gets a page we\\\'ll point the reader to Blind Faith (these English [[BluesRock blues rockers]] were too close-nit).]]

Anyway, this hottips concept if nothing else clears up the problem with Eric Clapton, Cream, and Blues in general. Since we\\\'ll be keeping Blues around, we\\\'ll have to do as I said before and keep it extremely exclusive. Clapton will be sent to Blues while the Cream stay in Rock[[hottip:*:If JackBruce or GingerBaker get a page, they\\\'ll stay under Rock since their careers have been primarily based in that genre. If BlindFaith gets a page, we\\\'ll stick Baker under that while also pointing the reader to Cream.]]

Anyway, this hottips concept if nothing else clears up the problem with Eric Clapton, Cream, and Blues in general. Since we\\\'ll be keeping Blues around, we\\\'ll have to do as I said before and keep it extremely exclusive. Clapton will be sent to Blues while the Cream stay in Rock[[hottip:*:If JackBruce or GingerBaker get a page, they\\\'ll stay under Rock since their careers have been primarily based in that genre.]]

I was hoping that if we do go with hottips, we could instead use Asterisks (*) to keep the pages less cluttered. I\\\'ve always hoped that this list would be a rather clean page without any writing on it, but we seem to be heading in that direction.

Before proceeding with such a project, I\\\'d like to get some consent from the other frequenters of this page. We can\\\'t just go making decisions on our own[[hottip:*:Actually, some people have complained that that may be the case with the forums.]]