Brooks D. Simpson -- FWIW, Ray O'Hara (who commented a great deal on Connie's blog and FB page after I booted him BEFORE those revelations, was arrested, but I have no record that he was convicted. Carl, of course, dabbles in kiddie porn ... as a writer.(1) To the best of my memory,Ray O'Hara never commented on any of my blogs.
(2) Ray O'Hara was removed from my Facebook Group Due South at the request of several other members. I did a search of the group to pinpoint the date that I announced to the group that, due to their requests, he was being removed. It's March 7, 2012. (This screenshot is of the search index; it does not show the entire post.)
(3) Several weeks after O'Hara was removed from Due South, I received a PM from a group member with a link to the news report of O'Hara's arrest for trafficking in child pornography, after it appeared in a Massachusetts newspaper http://patch.com/massachusetts/dedham/dedham-man-pleads-not-guilty-to-child-porn-charges. That was the first I'd heard of it. Here's a screenshot of the PM, dated 5/3/2012.
(4) Carl, of course, does not "dabble in kiddie porn ... as a writer." And we shall see why, so keep reading.
Brooks D. Simpson -- Meanwhile, the Flaggers once celebrated someone who was later revealed as a sex offender as a gift from God. We chose not to highlight the details.If it was "revealed later," how were the Flaggers supposed to know about it earlier?
(Simpson continues) -- Carl's a liddle sick puppy.Well, no, he's not...keep reading.
Kat McNeal -- Wait, why are they mad that you kicked someone out because of kiddie porn? That is one of the most morally unimpeachable reasons to boot someone. Frankly you should be fucking applauded.If this is about O'Hara and Confoy, after his arrest in Massachusetts for trafficking in child pornography, O'Hara was prohibited from using the Internet. Besides, Simpson says he booted O'Hara "before those revelations" so he can't take credit for booting O'Hara because of kiddie porn.
Confoy, on the other hand, enjoyed continued access to Simpson's blog comments until *I* posted a link to this: http://patch.com/virginia/chantilly/three-men-arrested-after-attempting-to-solicit-minors
So, Ms. McNeal, you can effing applaud ME since Simpson kicked that someone out because of information *I* posted here: http://mybacksass.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-crossroads-carnival-of-malice-part.html
Reluctantly kicked out, I might add. He wasn't real happy about having to boot Confoy (see http://mybacksass.blogspot.com/2013/12/sad-simpson-and-schadenfreude.html and https://cwcrossroads.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/some-sad-stories/#more-6930
Corey Meyer -- He is a walking piece of shit.I wonder how many of these hedonists who are impersonating self-righteous fundamentalists have even read Carl's fanfic. I have. That's how I know it's not "kiddie porn" -- not even close. It's not even erotica. It's not even "warm" or "spicy" romance.
Brooks D. Simpson -- I think he staggers and waddles.
Kristen Schroeder Konaté -- Heavens...
You see, many firms that publish romances, and sites that review them, have heat ratings, and Carl's story falls at the "sweet" end on all the following:
Long and Short Romance Reviews
Review Heat Level Descriptions
http://www.longandshortreviews.com/
SWEET: no visual love scenes and no descriptive kissing; (Carl's story would be compatible with SWEET.)
SENSUAL: Contains a high degree of sexual tension, steamy kisses and passionate clinches, but all fully consummated love scenes will be implied, not described, and with the bedroom door firmly closed.
SPICY: Contains actual love scenes and may include detailed descriptions of foreplay and consummation.
HOT: Contains sizzling and very detailed love scenes throughout and graphic, explicit content which may be offensive to some.
All About Romance
http://www.likesbooks.com/kissburn.html
(Carl's story would be "kisses" or "subtle")
Romcon
http://www.romcon.com/romcon-romance-heat-scale
According to RomCon's heat scale, Carl's story would be "Sweet" (No sex or scenes of physical intimacy except kissing. No profanity. No graphic violence. (e.g., Christian Fiction, Sweet Romance, Young Adult Romance...) The remaining levels --
3) Mild
4) Hot
5) Wild Ride
6) Blood Thirsty
Desert Breeze Publishing
These folks published my novel, Storm Surge. Here is their list of heat ratings.
http://www.desertbreezepublishing.com/shop-by-sensuality-rating/
Carl's would fall somewhere between Sweet/Blush and Warm
Sweet/Blush: Nothing more physical described in the book than handholding, brief kisses and embraces. Limited displays of affection. No discussion of arousal. If the characters are intimate, it is within the vows of marriage and only implied behind closed doors.
Warm: A step up from blush. Prolonged, sensual contact. Long, deep kisses. Touching. "Making Out." Sexual intimacy may occur, but description goes 'to the door' and stops. No details.
(They gave Storm Surge a "warm" rating.)
Carl's story can't be pornography because it has no sex scenes. Even if it did, it could not be child pornography because a child has to experience abuse in the making of it for it to be kiddie porn, which is what occurs when the abuse is photographed, filmed, videotaped, etc. Writing about underage sex doesn't qualify as it is not a visual depiction of actual child abuse...
"According to the Supreme Court case Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (535 U.S. 234 (2002)), text alone is not illegal because it does not visually depict actual child sexual abuse." http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/are-written-words-considered-child-pornography-und-1191402.htmlThese floggers and floggerettes are truly amazing -- addicted to denigration, dedicated to harassment and persecution, getting off on hurting people (or at least trying to), embracing the smear, the put-down, the lying -- all because somebody sees history differently than they do.
___________________
Carl knows that my only criticism of his fanfic story is that the characters are not married to each other, not that they are minors.
Connie, even if I were inclined to take the accusations of a man like Simpleton and his toadies seriously, it would not chance the fact that I wouldn't care for his criticisms anymore than I would someone who wrote a bad review.
ReplyDeleteAt least he actually WROTE a review for your stuff, such as it was. I didn't even get that much, not that I'm complaining, just bad form not to leave a review in fanfiction circles...then again I wouldn't expect someone like him or his fanbase to grasp the concept of manners, except as an abstract.
Moreover, I am not certain a man who harbors (and possibly continues to harbor) pedophiles on his blog has room to label anyone's work - even decade old work - as "porn". Frankly I shudder to think what his fellow travelers do with those photos of Missing Lilly Everett while they're allegedly "aiding" in the search for her and her mother's whereabouts.
Thanks for your words Connie. It's good to get a professional opinion.
ReplyDeleteEven though I've technically been retired from fanfiction writing for years, I still get reviews from people who read my stuff, almost all of it positive. Several have told me that my stories inspired them to write fanficiton - a couple even told me my writing inspired them to write professionally. One young lady will be getting a book published soon and said that I would be mentioned in her Acknowledgements page for helping inspire her stuff. I'm rather honored by that actually. Praise like that means far more to me than what some blogger who barely has any influence beyond a dozen or so sycophants who follow his every word could ever throw at me.
I thank you for your defense of one of my many stories - and for your minor criticism, which I would like to address briefly.
In defense of writing about a pair of 17 year old teens having their "first time" out of wedlock, I won't go on about how in the real world teens that age and younger are often active sexually.
Anyone who is a hardcore fan of Nickelodeon fanfiction knows that in regards to the show "Hey Arnold!" by (the master) Craig Bartlett the two main characters: Arnold and his arch-nemesis/classmate Helga are both destined as adults to marry and have a family. This is a fact discussed in various chats and interviews done by the creators of the show. There's more to the story, but its complex.
You know, since my fanfiction work and the content of a single story seems to be a hot topic among the floggersphere - no doubt because its a slow news season for the hacks, I may have to go into detail about the history of said story and how it came about, and what inspired me to write it.
With your permission, Connie, I'd love to offer the story on your blog. I've written it several other times on other facebook pages: mostly Hey Anrold! and Nickeoldeon and 90s Cartoon community pages where many appreciate the story and know where I'm coming from. Many of them had similar experiences and share them often on those sites. I'd be willing to tell that story, and hopefully offer some realistic perspective on this issue to counter the misinformation from our "educated" (sic) pals.
I'll be glad to host the history of your story. And, by way of explanation, in both of my short stories, the heroines have out-of-wedlock children, and I don't approve of that, either.
DeleteThose stories were originally planned as novellas, to show the importance of fathers in children's lives, but things happened and they ended up as short stories without that aspect. I may eventually re-write them as originally planned, but I have a bunch of other projects in the pipeline ahead of them.
Also, I know of your disregard for what Simpson and his ilk think of your stories; I feel the same way. I know writers can't please everyone with their stories, and I know that's no reflection on the author personally. I've read lots of things I didn't care for, for one reason or another, but that had no bearing on my opinion of the author personally.
DeleteBut floggers and floggerettes use difference of opinions about history to viciously attack people personally. That seems to motivate them far, far more than accurate history. And they'll use anything -- your fanfiction, my novels -- Susan's red shirts, for cryin' out loud -- as an excuse for personal attacks. I couldn't help it ... I just had to pop them on the mouth, and show how they will even use their own ignorance in a personal attack. Not that it will make any difference. They are supremely unconcerned with truth, facts, accuracy and decency.... But for any fair-minded people who happen to be lurking, I thought a dose of literary and publishing reality might be beneficial in showing true flogger motives.
I know, their attacks are pathetic. Just a bunch of fools running their collective mouths, patting themselves on the back just to feed their own inflated egos.
DeleteI also know that the dig at fanfiction writing has less to do with the culture of fanfiction writers in general as it does with attacking me personally, in a lame attempt to try - and fail - to score points.
That it insults fanfiction writes in general is another thing. I suspect if I sent a link to their comments to several fanfiction sites, their blogs would suddenly be shut down from the angry messages they'd get....tempting but I won't do it. I have too much respect for writers to expose them to trash like Simpleton and his clique.
Let them say what they will, it only amuses the dozen or so leeches that actually take them seriously. The rest of the world can move forward.
I also get your point about how you view per-marital relations. While I have no issue with it, beyond the idea that people should practice safely, I do get the point about the negative effects of such actions. I've also - in the course or reading fanfiction stories - read stories about pregnancy, abortion, depression, suicide, ect. When I wrote fanfiction I would have avoided such dark topics myself, instead focusing on adventure stories, but to each their own.
(Part One)
ReplyDeleteNicktoons of the 90s and early 2000's were then what Pixar movies are to animation today. 90s animation, particularly Nicktoons, is especially brilliant in regards to story and character development - as opposed to the skull rot we call animation today - with some exceptions of course. Some of those producers and creators of Nicktoons managed to create shows with stories that touched on real serious issues and emotions, and characters that many could relate to at one point or another.
Now fans who write fanfiction stories for Nickelodeon shows are made up primarily of people who were teenagers in the 90s when Nicktoons were at their height - myself included. Some fans today are young people who enjoy reruns of the shows and were also inspired even to this day by their magic and character development to write fanficiton stories. Many of these fans are the kind of internet geeks who get hooked on a series and find out every little detail about its conception, its writers, its voice actors, ect.
You think Trekkies and Trekkers are bad, you should try looking up Rugrats fans sometime. LOL!
Now then, I was already a big fan of Nicktoons for years before "Hey Arnold!" premiered on Nickelodeon TV in late September of 1996. I confess at first I barely watched it because at the time I was 20 years old and preparing for what I hoped would be a career in the US Navy. Unfortunately, I was discharged honorably several months later due to medical reasons and severe depression caused by a some factors I won't discuss here.
Anyhow while I was back at home, feeling sorry for myself like a complete emo, I resumed my life as a couch potato while trying to find out what to do with my life. It was then I got into the show, and actually enjoyed watching the adventures of a 9 year old kid with a football-shaped head who helped people - including adults - to believe in themselves again using just good-ole common sense wisdom. His arch-nemesis Helga was a damaged girl who bullied him because she secretly loved him and was afraid to tell him so - a story arc that spanned the entire series until the ill-fated "Hey Arnold! The Movie" in June 2002 when she finally spilled the beans. Watching the two play off each other verbally would come to be a highlight of some weekday evenings at my house.
It was an episode in the show's third season "Crabby Author" that actually - in a weird way - saved my life. Figuratively, not literally mind you.
The episode centers around a class assignment Arnold and his friends have to do a report about their favorite authors. Arnold's favorite was a woman who wrote fantasy adventure stories. He wanted to meet her and do an interview, but when he met her, she was....uh, well, a complete "Kontate" let's put it that way. LOL! A person who gave up believing in the things that made her stories good. Arnold stood by her and told her she was still his favorite author despite her treatment and verbal tirades at him. Later on Arnold finds out she wrote a new book which included him as a character who helps a mean old witch find her purpose in life.
Prior to watching that episode, a friend of mine I knew from the local public library told me a branch nearby would need a new assistant librarian. At first I was skeptical and I knew I'd have to take classes to qualify for the job. But when I saw the episode, it more than anything else encouraged me to get off my behind. A year later I would write to the creators of the show and tell him how their intellectual property inspired me. I got a response back from the show's creator, along with an autographed animation cell from the episode itself, which I still have framed on the wall of my den to this day.
(Part Two)
ReplyDeleteSo naturally, I eventually became one of those hard core fans of the show and found the world of fanfiction writing. I read many stories, a good many of them by people who could be very good writers in their own right. Raw talent to be sure, but there were plenty of gems there. So I wrote my first HA! fanfic in 2000 at 23. The story was well received for a first draft work that I barely proof read (To this day I cringe when I read all the spelling and punctuation errors I find in them, and which several other writers are all to happy to point out).
So over the course of four years I wrote about 14 fanfiction stories for Hey Arnold! and another 20 for others shows on other sites, and made something of a name for myself among the fanfiction community.
Now as for the "kiddie porn" that Simpleton and his turd blossoms refer to, that came about in 2001, when I was 24. I was reading some stories on one of the fanficiton sites, and found that there was a M-Rating (R- Rated for non-fanfiction folks) section. Curiosity got the better of me and I looked.
Before I go on, perhaps I should add some details that only hardcore fans of the show know for some insight.
In 2000, the creator of the show, (master) Craig Bartlett was commissioned by Nickelodeon to do a spinoff show called "The Patakis" which would center around a now teenage Helga and her dysfunctional family. The show would be more adult oriented, and serious issues like her mother's alcoholism - something hinted at in HA! but never discussed - would be tackled. The corporate suits at Nickelodeon didn't like it, said it was too dark and cancelled the project. This led to a falling out and Mr. Bartlett was soon out of a job. This would lead to Hey Arnold! being cancelled before several story arcs - including Arnold and Helga coming together as a couple officially - would happen. A fact that many fans still to this day - God Bless Them - band together and write letters to Nickelodeon demanding the show's final episodes and a sequel to Hey Arnold! The Movie be made.
This leads back to the subject of teenage and young adult fanfiction for the show (and others). Since the spinoff and story arcs were never resolved, fans took it upon themselves to write their own versions of how Arnold and Helga would be as a couple, both in youth and their teenage years. This of course leads us to the subject of sexual content.
So I read some of them.....and frankly I was unimpressed. Indeed I was not very pleased at all. Much of it is in fact pornography. Thankfully all of it has the characters at legal age (fanfiction.net especially would ban users who did otherwise, thank God!) but what they wrote offered details that I would never even consider writing, even if I thought I was talented enough to pull it off. Writing graphic details like that might work for garbage like Fifty Shades of Grey, but not for this small town Southern boy. I've always felt that when it came to romance, tender emotion works best, not "she shoved him down and took over - oh-la-la, ba-chick-wow-wow". (Sorry I had to, LOL!)
So when I told this to a friend of mine - who was also an avid fan of the show - she suggested I try writing something more T-Rated (PG-13). I took the challenge and in the course of two days wrote what I felt was the best possible alternative. I also made it clear in the synopsis at the beginning that the two characters were 17 and that anyone who wasn't mature enough should avoid reading....I covered all my bases.
The response from fans was great. Many say it's one of my best works, though I would disagree. Personally knowing what I know of writing now, I would go back and revise much of it, getting rid of the glaring punctuation errors and doing a second draft - nearly all my old fanfics are first drafts.
And there you have it. The full story of my fanfiction story and my involvement in the world of fanfiction writing as told by Carl W. Roden (esq.) - The man the Deniers fear the most.
Thanks for the background Carl. I've read how others were led to writing, and the journey is always interesting, and usually involves inspiration like you had. (My greatest inspiration to write was Rex Stout, author of the Nero Wolfe detective novels.) I think there are some writers who are hacks who do it just for the money, but most writers are creative, in some level or another, and writing is personal expression for them.
ReplyDeleteYou write well. I hope you will continue to pursue writing at least as a sideline.
Well if I can successfully finish one of the writing projects I'm working on, and get it published, I am hopeful to make a serious career at writing. Who knows, maybe in a few years I may have written a successful young adult series like Hunger Games and people will be writing fanfiction about original characters I wrote?
DeleteOf course, that's in my dreams. I'd consider just getting some short stories published as my current goal. I'm hopeful.
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2014/02/internet-trolls-sadists-psychopaths-lulz
ReplyDeleteNot much of a shocker.