Author, thinker, all around smart ass. Definitely someone you will tell a story about some day. While this blog covers a wide variety of subjects, a good number of them will be adult in nature, so... Reader beware. If the human body, sexuality, questions of gender, or introspection into the nature of existence bother you, then... Please know that you are absolutely welcome to stick around, but there's a good chance I might not be your cup of tea. Still, I've heard it said that 'an open mind will learn many surprising and unexpected things; and be faced with amazing opportunities that a closed mind could never imagine.' That is what I will attempt to provide here; a place for open minds to play, and if you're brave, you might just enjoy some of what you see. If you aren't 18 yet, then it might not be time for your mind to be QUITE this open, though, so feel free to come on back after your birthday. (Not judging... It's a legal thing.)
So, there I am, dreaming about basking in the fame and recognition that comes with being an international Podcasting sensation, when I get a message from Miah.
To paraphrase:
“Shit’s done hit the fan, big time. Our Podcast is canceled.”
Confused, I immediately got in touch, and was treated to a very bizarre and confusing story about internal politics and cyberbullying that I still don’t fully understand. Without going into too much detail: due to some personal disagreements between several parties in the We Are Libertarians network (who will go unmentioned), Creating Miah: Alchemy has been canceled, and the previously published podcast has been removed from their site for the foreseeable future. This is why, when you click on the link I posted below, you are sent to the barren desert that is 404.
(EDIT: I’ve found a surviving copy of our solitary Podcast on Soundcloud! If after all that dissembling you’re still interested in what we had to say, then please click this link and enjoy—> Creating Miah: Alchemy )
Miah and I kicked around the idea of hosting the Podcast on our own, but it seems that those plans have flickered and died, as such things so often do. It’s no one’s fault, sometimes great ideas simply don’t flourish as we hope they will. I’ve been waiting to make this post on the off chance that the winds would change, but it appears that this particular artistic endeavor has reached the end of its natural lifespan, and Creating Miah: Alchemy is forever ended with its one-episode run.
I still have a copy of the one finished cast we posted and hope to repost it at some point— assuming I manage to find a place to host it, sort out any internal grievances, and address any lingering legal issues that may be floating around. Until then, well… Anyone with a Google Drive mailbox that wants to message me, is welcome to a copy of their very own. (I’d say I’d sign it for you, but I haven’t figured out how to autograph a Podcast. Maybe I can lick my monitor or something? It certainly wouldn’t be the weirdest fetish I’ve come across recently…)
In the meantime, however, I’m going back to editing the next book, as well as finishing the four others that are currently in limbo. If all goes to plan (Narrator: it didn’t) my next novel will be published in the next month or so (Narrator: it wasn’t) along with an omnibus edition of all three chapters of the Sudymna Editor. (Nope yet again. Best guess, the omnibus will hit the shelves either when I publish my next book, or if/when a ravenous public appears and demands it. I expect the former, but… Is it wrong that the idea of the latter makes me just a little bit tingly?)
Until then, however, nothing but good thoughts, high hopes, and much love to my readers, along with everyone else in this great wide world who could use a little general non-specific good-will.
There I am, wrestling with the new book and foolishly trying to justify not killing a few darlings, when my new friend Miah messages me:
“Hey…” Her message whispers. “I’m thinking about maybe doing a new podcast… I’m not sure what it’s going to be about, but you wouldn’t by any chance be interested in…” That was about as far as I got before I jumped in the car and sped to her apartment, screaming my joy out the window loudly enough that people in front of me pulled over, thinking I was a fire engine.
Long story short, Miah and I are doing a podcast for the We Are Libertarians network, called Creating Miah: Alchemy. While the original Creating Miah podcast is focused on the life journey that is Miah’s Transition, Creating Miah: Alchemy is going to be more about the nature of transformation itself; not just as it relates to gender, but about the mental requirements for when one moves from one state of being to another.
Basically, it’s going to be a couple of professional non-binary opinionists, discoursing on everything from gender, mental health, society, religion, communication, erotica, politics, and anything else that comes to mind. From personal growth to educating society, if it occurs to us and the microphone is hot, we’re podcasting about it. (Also, odds are approaching 100% that we’ll be discussing my books at some point, including the unpublished/upcoming works, so if you’re looking for an inside scoop on my dirty little ditties, it might be worth a listen.)
If this type of conversation interests you, or even if you’re bored and have forty-five minutes to kill, then please click the link, and check us out. Also, I would consider it a personal favor if you would leave us a review, and if you enjoy it, then please, help get the word out. Digital society is all about active participation, so if we said something that made you laugh, made you mad, made you think, made you hungry, anything; please share the podcast so that the digital Gods can take notice, and increase our reach.
In the meantime, keep an eye out on this page, as I’m about done with my social media hiatus, and am planning to return to this digital wonderland very soon. Plus, I’ve got at least one new book coming out in the next few months, as well as some free stories that I’ll be throwing out on Deviant Art, and probably at TGStorytime as well.
For those who don’t know, this is Miah Akston, of Creating Miahfame; Libertarian, deep thinker, and Podcaster extraordinaire, among many, many other things. If you haven’t heard of her, click the link and spend some time, it’s worth it. Seventeen episodes (so far) of intelligent, thought-provoking, and insightful exploration into the human condition, as well as a first-hand perspective of the joyous experience that is being Trans in the midwestern United States.
Bring your thinker and open your mind, as no matter what life experience, gender identity, political affiliation, or reading level you bring to the game, there will be things in this podcast to enlighten you, make you laugh, and challenge your assumptions.
Which is worthwhile, all by itself. Having your assumptions challenged is where awesomeness lives.
You know… I’ve had a lot of wonderful ‘Author Moments’ on this journey. I honestly thought the act of writing the words ‘The End’ topped the cake, as far as beautiful experiences in the world of putting words on paper.
Then, this happened.
There is something so incredibly amazing about seeing all four of my published works in one place, bought and paid for by someone who is not me, and who is excited about getting lost in worlds I created. That was a surprisingly awesome experience for me, and in ways I’m not sure I can describe.
Not too shabby, for someone who started out just looking to write a little smut.
Well, here we are. Six long months after my first book was published, (A Weekend with the Boys if you haven’t read it yet…) and I have finally finished The Sudyumna Editor trilogy. (Cue fanfare, dancing turtles, bears on unicycles, and confetti if we can find any.)
Doo do do doo doo dooooo! <–real imitation fanfare, cause I’m on a budget.
For those who find blurbs to be insufficient and want a larger taste before they commit to a story, please allow me to present a more in-depth synopsis:
Our story begins with one Gary Preston, a thirty-eight year old photographer with a great house, thriving business, beautiful wife, and what most men would call the perfect life. If only someone could explain to him how lucky he is before he loses it all.
His marriage has been on the rocks for a while now, and thanks to his tendency to miss the obvious Simone’s old grievances are quickly coming to a boil. It is around this time that an old friend comes into town, and begs/tricks him into beta-testing the latest version of a photo-editor he created, which, as it turns out, not only edits photos, but is also capable of making changes in the real world.
Once Gary realizes what kind of power he has his hands on, he immediately begins making poorly-thought-out decisions; specifically, giving his wife’s body a tune-up without asking her permission. Drunk with power, he molds her physical attributes to suit his own whims, while (accidentally) pushing her sensitivity to touch through the roof. The upside is, the increased sensitivity makes sex unbelievable for Simone, but the downside is…
Thanks to one of the program’s features, Simone has no idea she has been changed, and is completely unaware she has a new body until Gary decides to let her in on the secret.
Upon finding out that the most incredible sex of her life was thanks to Gary’s violation, Simone blows a gasket. They have a massive fight, which ends with Simone locking herself in the bathroom, and Gary leaving the house to cool off. While he’s gone, Simone gets her hands on the magical photo editor, and… Well… Hilarity Ensues.
Since this is one of my stories we’re talking about, the ‘hilarity’ in question involves Gary receiving the unique opportunity to discover what living in a woman’s body is like; specifically, a delightfully curvy body, stunningly beautiful face, and a libido that is turned up to eleven, while contending with a wife who is in the mood to teach some ‘lessons’.
*EDIT* As of now the entire book is finished and all three parts are published! (Don’t believe me? Check it out! —> Part 2 - To Be Danielle, and Part 3 - A New Kind of Life.) The plot points are in place, tragedies and victories primed, sex scenes spiced to taste, and we now have a completed story, published and ready for your enjoyment.
As for myself, I am in that strange position of happy/terrified once again, having carefully extracted my heart from my chest and sewn it onto my sleeve for the second time. This story is a lot closer to being a full novel than any of the others I have written. The total length is around 230,000 words, give or take a couple of adverbs, which makes it way above the average publication length for the genre I have chosen to write in.
As I’m sure you’ve noticed, that’s… Kinda long. This leaves me with a question:
Do Gender-Swap-Erotica readers even want full novel-size books? Worse, this isn’t just a sexy-story; this novel has some rather serious points to make, and tackles a few difficult subjects in between the sex-breaks.
Now, speaking for myself, I prefer my books to be long enough for the world and characters to come alive, but after careful research and doing a few quick phone surveys, it turns out that there are people out there who do not live their lives exactly as I do. (I know, right? I’m shocked!)
In my limited experience, I’ve found that Amazon’s top-100 is probably the best yardstick I’m going to find when it comes to my audience’s preferences, and —not counting the multi-story compilations— the books that tend to make the top ten average between nineteen and sixty pages in length. (Between 12,000 and 70,000 words) For comparison: Gary and Simone alone published at 157 pages. (Just under 88,000 words)
Which brings me back to my question:
Are there people out there who have been pining for something beyond the usual nineteen-page transform-and-fuck-fests? (Not that I’m taking anything away from those stories, not at all; in fact, there are quite a number of absolute diamonds-in-the-rough out there, on Kindle and elsewhere, with less than a fifteen-thousand-word count)
I really want to believe that there are, but I honestly don’t know. So, after lots of hair-pulling and clothes-rending angst, I chose to split my novel into three bite-sized chunks, and see how it goes.
I watched the trends, I paid attention to how the larger gender-swap books sold, and tried very hard to gauge what it is that my Beloved Reader (that’s you) wants from me. Once the information was in, I decided that unleashing this behemoth onto the world all at once might scare off some potential readers, which would be sad, because then they wouldn’t get to read the strange-yet-salacious antics of Gary and Simone Preston, and their adventures in gender-swapping.
Maybe I did the right thing, maybe not, I suppose time will tell.
(That said… If you have an opinion on the subject, please believe me when I say I’m all ears. Statistics alone are only useful for making vague assumptions, and if you are aware of a larger point that I am missing, please, don’t hesitate to let me know. After all, I wrote this for you. Tell me what you like.)
The funny thing is, I’m starting this test with a pre-shot foot, as even these bite-sized books are well above the average length.
I swear, it was an accident! I started out writing a fun little erotic short-story, and ended up with a novel-length book complete with character arcs, real challenges to overcome, and life-lessons for all. I tried to force the word count to behave, but eventually, I had to quit arguing with myself and write the story like my characters told me to.
As I am acting as my own editor here, I think I’ve cut it about as far down as I can without an editor to pull out the Red Pen of Doom™. As such, there are certain to be a few leftover darlings that should have been put out of their misery, for which I humbly ask your forgiveness. If it helps, I fully expect to find every last one of them now that I’ve pushed the publish button. In my experience that’s part of being an author: The gremlins only show their faces after the thing has shipped.
The good news is, properly edited or not there are plenty of detailed sex scenes, along with some coerced feminization, a rich internal fantasy life, and several extended transformation sequences; everything a healthy pervert needs for a balanced meal. Beyond that, this story is an in-depth examination of the ‘estrogen-perspective’, so to speak, as well as diving into the nature of relationships, self-awareness, perception, and what it means to be a true partner to a spouse.
Here’s hoping I told the story right. Again, I suppose time will tell.
In any case, here she is, my second published novel, and first in my Sudyumna Editor series, Gary and Simone. (<–click the link to see the Amazon page, or read the first ten pages here. Books Two and Three can be found here, and here.)
Read, enjoy, discuss, leave reviews, ask questions; interact with my story however you like, and if you want to discuss it with me personally, I am, now and forever, at your disposal. Please feel free to Message me here on Tumblr, over on Twitter, or email me at AJLanae@gmail.com, and I will be happy to hear whatever you have to say.
Okay… Looking back at the length of this post, I think I am starting to understand why the book ended up so long…
The Morris worm or Internet worm of November 2, 1988 was one of the first computer worms distributed via the Internet. It was written by a student at Cornell University, Robert Tappan Morris, and launched on November 2, 1988 from MIT.
pyronoid-d
It’s trapped on a floppy tho this is some dark shit it has been denied its purpose forever bound to this obsolete storage
people reading fantasy novels ask “why did the ancient ones seal the evil away for ten thousand years instead of just killing it” but then we go ahead and do this shit
The best part, from the wiki article: “According to its creator, the Morris worm was not written to cause damage, but to gauge the size of the Internet.”
It was intended to do good, but the programmer made a mistake and it got out of hand, becoming viral.
Hello! I absolutely love all your characters and how real they feel. What advice do you have for developing realistic characters, especially when some feel underdeveloped compared to others?
I got this ask a few days ago, and I’ve been thinking about it on and off ever since, because even though I’ve talked a lot about my writing process and how I build characters from real-life people, I’ve never really talked about how my writing, art, and music are all the same in my head. There is an overlying filter/ principle/ law that directs the way I write characters and the way I compose songs and the way I decide what to put in the background of an art piece, and I knew that if I could explain that, I could explain why building a character doesn’t feel like a different skillset than building a world for a new novel or deciding what color blue to use in a portrait of a horse or whether to put hand-claps in the background of a piece of music. The issue is that I’ve never really figured out how to practically describe it. And I’ve never been sure it would be useful to anyone else even if I did.
But today I was sitting down to work and I looked out of my office to where the morning light was illuminating a piece of furniture in the entry, and a way to lay out my thought process hit me. The jury’s out on whether or not it’ll be useful to anyone else. But I’m going to give it a go.
I’m sorry, this is gonna be abstract.
Here’s a picture of what I just saw:
Let this image serve as an extended visual metaphor. I very much like the view from my office. I think it’s interesting and attractive. If you don’t, this might not make sense.
Ok, let’s make a metaphor.
All of my creative pursuits begin with a real-life thing that piques my interest. The crudest form of my art will involve me directly copying this object. I’m not an artist at this stage. I’m a forger. I’m merely trying to objectively copy a simple, truthful likeness.
This part is difficult: fraught with technical skill. I spent years teaching myself how to draw things exactly as I saw them:
Years teaching myself to write a person exactly as I thought they were. To copy the precise style another musician achieved with their harp or bagpipes or whatever I was playing at the time. Because of subjectivity, it’s a tricky thing, this artless forgery. Everything I saw, heard, and experienced came through the corrupting lens of my mind. I’d forge a new verse of a traditional song for our band, but the style would be affected by my modern understanding of scale. I’d draw glass, but I’d get it wrong because my brain kept shouting that it was supposed to be invisible even though my eyes knew better. I’d steal siblings for my characters and get them wrong because I’d misunderstand and simplify motivations.
Teaching myself objectivity — basic forgery, the elimination of bias, the non-negotiable skill of using pigments and words — that involved learning the technical tools of each trade.
Back to the bench outside my office.
Once I became a forger of all sorts, I had the skills to recreate the bench in whatever media I was working in. Thievery. Technically impressive. Technically correct. Technically objective.
This is not art: this is fact.
Now, we all remember that we’re in MetaphorLand, right? Do I need to explain that the bench does not really mean “a bench”? It is the subject of whatever I’m creating.
This is where salient noise comes in.
From that objective seed, that tiny bit of forged reality, I start to complicate. Every time I add something to my creation that is not exactly like real life, I’m making an intentional subjective decision: that’s the art of it. Every time I choose a color that the original subject didn’t feature (a blue horse), or a hobby the person didn’t have (hunting for Welsh kings), an instrument that wasn’t available at the time of a traditional tune’s original composition, I’m building a new and subjective thing.
Artful forgery means not merely copying but creating something that seems like it could be real, even though it’s not. That means adding in as much detail as you need to convince your viewer that the thing they’re looking at could exist somewhere else. Adding in salient noise. The right amount of backstory and surface detail to suggest reality.
Here’s that photo again.
A technical copy of that bench would be a skillful wonder. But that’s not what makes the view out of my office appealing to me. The bench is clearly the center stage, but the noise around it is what makes the photo interesting. The light across the bench is a complicating factor — an aspect of reality that suggests a sunny world outside the room. The violin case beneath the bench holds the promise of a backstory. The painting above it sets the mood and tells you what sort of person might sit on that bench. In the corner of the photo we see a hint of a complicated life: is that a music room? Maybe so — look, there’s a piano, a guitar rack. A set of bagpipes in a case behind the piano, but out of focus, not the point of the photograph. Photos on the wall, telling us that there is more to this life than we can easily see in one glimpse. All of those things are interesting on their own, but they are put off to the edge, put out of focus, so that they don’t overwhelm the bench’s role. So we don’t forget who the story is about.
Here’s that painting I did this weekend:
The people are the focus. But there’s all kinds of noise in this picture. Hanging flowers, a crock by a fireplace, two people sitting in the background, stairs, Rustic Architecture™. Even the light across the table is noise, an artful forgery.
This isn’t really as immersive:
I need the noise to make it feel real. I don’t want someone’s first gut impression to be wow, that looks like it must have been hard. I want their first impression to be an emotion. Noise.
That’s how I make characters. I start with a very tiny seed of a real person, carefully and artlessly forged, and then I begin to complicate it until I’ve made someone as noisy as a real person. But unlike a real person, I select every element to manipulate how the reader feels about the character. A slash of light across the bench to immediately ground it in our real world and show that it follows our physical rules. A violin beneath to provoke interest. A complicated and cohesive backstory that is barely visible at first glance.
Have you ever had someone dig into your brain, pull out a concept, and then magically put it into completely different words? This idea she talks about here is precisely what I’ve been concentrating on for the last few weeks. The only real difference is that I kept telling myself to ‘play the silence, not the notes’.”
Maggie Stiefvater puts it much better… Now I’m off to buy some of her books, and see about the worlds she’s created. I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy them.
