Is it weird that I come in here to read the responses now and then, all... Lurking and stuff?

I have to say I avoid smut... AT WORK!

Well, and I can get squicked pretty easily, even if it's Mal and Inara and the smut is very romantic in nature. You saw how I can react if I'm not expecting it.

Prude mode. Force myself to keep reading, take breaks now and then when it gets to be too much. After the first read through, when I'm writing my review, then I go back and try to find something that I appreciate in a literary sense without feeling ashamed.

Eventually, I might start to like a smutty fic, but it takes me some time to get used to it. Usually there has to be a reason for me to keep going back and reading it A pretty passage, an interesting bit of character narrative/study, etc.

Your fic when Inara first realizes that she's been with Mal and hasn't had her symptoms reappear was a lot like this for me. It surprised me at first, but it was so well done that even my prude side had to acknowledge how good it was. I think it's one of my favourites, along with the one very early chapter with River.

I miss them.

Weird commenting on such an old post (you has-been) - but I so totally and utterly agree with you that I had to. I totally and utterly agree with you.

Maybe this is me projecting, but I always thought that smut (of which I am a big fan, I do always go for those ones first) is kind of like porn for women/people who don't like porn. It's pretty and sexy and can be downright hot, but there's no... fakeness. Ironically considering they're made up characters. At first I was squicked out because there are real people playing these characters I am envisioning, but then I reasoned: isn't that better than watching real people have (totally orchestrated and not at all interesting and mostly aimed at heterosexual men) sex?

But I have to say, I'm not such a fan of the really dirty ones. There's a fine line to smut, IMO.

I am laughing at your reduction of the entire series of Firefly and the Movie to "Darn Gosh it! When are they going to actually kiss! AAAAAAH!"

It was very entertaining. Actually, in a kind of tenterhooks way, it was really fitting to the series. For one thing, the Kaylee-Simon thing was kind of crowding things up there at the end...maybe Joss felt it would be redundant. But yes a letdown in some other ways. But think about it--you have romantic relationships perpetually in many stages/types, and can therefore explore them.

But yes, I'm still waiting for them. Ha. At least their relationship was very, very, very complicated.

Well Cleesy, my mate, that bit of BSG pseudo-smut is GORGEOUS. But so right about the pay-off! I'm not talking about your fics because the pay-off is there in every para. But this is me watching Firefly. Oh.. Oh he's gorgeous. Oh my God, he's REALLY gorgeous. So much more gorgeous than in Buffy when he had his fringe (US=bangs) all brushed forward. Christ, look at those trousers (US=pants). UUUUUUUUURRRR. And she's so - gorgeous. And - OH MY GOD, they fancy each other so much. Now. Now. He's going to kiss her. No. Maybe next episode. Yes. Here it comes, he's going to kiss her. No. Maybe next episode. Not much Mal and Inara in this one (presses fast forward on DVD player). Now. He's got to kiss her. No? Christ, when's he going to kiss her? Now. Looks promising. What? He's kissing someone else! No, it's okay - they're going to kiss. Yes, yes, yes - she's going to tell him she loves him and then they're going to kiss. NO!! NOOOOOOO!!!! They're not going to kiss in this one, this is the last one and it's all about River. Never mind. There's the movie. Action. Action. Action. Is the kiss coming soon? Action. Action. Action. God, shame about Wash. Never mind, when's the kiss. Surely he'd at least say goodbye when he goes off and leaves her to the Reavers. Never mind, they've got to kiss soon. Right. Here we are. Yes. Go on, kiss now. Kiss! KISS! KISSSSS!!!!! Silence. No kiss. (Reacts in the same way as she did to England going out of the 1987 World Cup to Germany on penalties in extra time. Numb. Numb.)

God, I had no idea people were commenting here. How do I access this? I got to it this time via a notification to my e-mail account. I'd love to write a one-off 'Mal and Inara have realistic sex' fic. Just thinking about it makes me titter.

I find this funny and wonder occasionally if people reading my stories will be disappointed when they reach the end and there has been no smut. Not necessarily no sex, mind you, but no smut.

(e.g., this is the "sex scene" from my BSG WIP and probably about as much as can be expected from me ever:

“Can I come in?” She walked in after him and then – like déjà vu, all this has happened before – with that same look of pain and uncertainty, “Lee –” And he couldn’t help himself, but turned back toward her, swiftly and kissed her, hungrily, like he needed her to breathe. Tears on her cheeks.

Afterward, gasping, reverent, he touched her face in the dark. “What are you?”

“I’m Kara,” she replied simply. And, for tonight, that was enough.)

I wonder at what point people just throw up there hands and stop reading though. "No payoff! 20,000 words and no payoff! Why am I here?"

BTW, I was so amused by your description of your last chapter: the big ship Exposition. Amazing.

I like a balance between out and out smut and erotica I guess. I'm not a fan of the overly flowery descriptions, but neither am I a hard core, every dirty word you could think of, flat out porn reader either. I want plot, I want characterization, and I want realistic depictions of sex - no 30 orgasms per hour for me, thanks.

Fanfic is a venue for exploring those things we don't get to see in our favourite shows, and as sexual tension between our favourite characters is usually long drawn out to sustain viewership throughout a series, fanfic sex is, in most cases, the only opportunity we get to see our OTP's 'do it' :o) so I think that's a big draw.

I read it. I write it. I read other stuff too, but a good NC-17 with my OTP will always catch my eye ;o)

Sex sells...it's why they have it in the movies.

I could never write it...I get to giggly but I do read it...though I prefer R ones cause there is some pretty badly written smut out there which is scary.

Just pretend i said minds without the apostrophe.

What can I say, people have smutty mind's that they'd never admit to offline.

Yeah, I read 'em too.