'I want to act out your writings' she said
It came as an email from mindsetg0od. 'My wife is a great fan of your writing. She wants to meet you. We are from Calcutta. We will be in Chennai later this month. If you are willing please reply.' Most authors would agree; but my case is different. I write erotic stories in Literotica where I maintain a fictitious identity. I did not think meeting a fan face to face was advisable. I did not respond. A fortnight later mindsetg0od wrote again. 'I understand your reticence, but I am in a desperate plight. My wife is so mad about your writing that she has printed it all and keeps reading it all the time. I fear that unless she meets you she may lose her mental balance' I had to think again. On the one hand having brought her to this plight I was under some obligation to give her some relief. On the other hand I was not too keen on meeting a woman who seems not too stable mentally. When I took my wife into confidence she was for meeting the couple. I agreed.
I suggested the Taj breakfast buffet room would be a good place to meet. That morning at the specified time we were at the Taj looking for a couple with the woman in a light blue sari and the man in dark blue pants and a white T-shirt. We spotted them straightaway.
"Welcome to Chennai," I said as I shook hands with the man. I greeted the lady with a namaste. Earlier we had agreed to use assumed names. The man was Sumant. He was about forty, of medium height and build, and handsome. His wife Nishi was about thirty-five. She was pleasant looking and pretty, and to first sight perfectly sane. I was Suri and my wife was Rita.
Nishi was looking at me with wide open eyes and lower jaw that needed hitching up. The husband laughed.
"She is such an admirer of your writing that she is not sure that she in seeing you for real," he said. It was a bit embarrassing but I cannot say I was not pleased. "If he has no objection," he said turning to his wife, "you can pinch him to reassure yourself." We all laughed. It was the ice breaker that a meeting of this sort needed.
We settled down in our seats. We spoke a while about the weather and the traffic, both topics that suggests itself to visitors of Chennai. Nishi who was waiting for an opening now spoke.
"I will be asking questions about many events in your stories," she said
"Sounds like viva exam," I said and she laughed. Like most authors once whatever I write comes in print or online I do not read it again. If she starts her questions I was not sure I can remember the scenes. We got up to collect our breakfast.
"Rita and I will be on that poolside table," said Sumant. "Nishi and you can talk undisturbed."
"I am picking whatever you are having," she said as we sallied forth to collect our breakfast.
"I am a light eater," I said.
"So am I," she said. I asked for dosai for both of us. I like them and I know that North Indians like them too. As it takes time to make crisp dosais I took two rice cakes with mutton curry and vadai soaked in curds, another South Indian favourite.
"You approve?" I asked her.
"Just what I would have chosen," she said.
She had a good figure: ample breasts and narrow waist with broad hips. I undressed her in my mind's eye and approved of her shape. She had a smoothly curving rear too. We ate the rice cakes; the dosai arrived. They were crisp and the masala was up to Taj standards. Nishi decided it was time for the questioning to start. She started at a low key.
"Do you have several stories active at any one time?" she asked.
"Yes and no," I said. "It is like this. I do not know how other writers work but I am unable to focus on one story from start to finish at one stretch. In my mind I have the outline of the story. I write till I am stuck at one point. I always get stuck at many points before I finish. Either I do not quite know how to proceed or I am not in the correct mood for creative work. I keep it away and work on another story or may be do something else. I invariably come back to the story may be in a week or may be in a month and at times even after many months. But I am never actively engaged in more than one story at a time though I have three or four on the plate."
"Why don't you work on two or more at one time?"
"I do not find it easy to switch from one to another. Moreover I keep thinking about my story in my spare time. It is easier to come to the same again and again."
"How long does it take to write one?"
"From start to the time it is ready for publication is never less than a month or more. Most of the time is taken in rewriting."
"Rewriting?"
"Yes rewriting. It is more than revising. Reading it again and again and making alterations, often substantial changes, both additions and deletions. You have a sudden thought that one bit of dialogue will be better if done this way and you change it. You try starting the story not at the beginning but at various points on the way including the end. If you feel the story would improve if you change the narrator from one character to another you try it out. Many of my stories go through this process but in one or two I was unable to decide which was best and finally I compromised—each character describing his and her version."
"I know. You have done that in three stories 'My wife, her mom, and I' and the story with a similar title 'My wife, my mother and I' and 'Lovers on tap'. I like them all very much."
"Choosing the title is another very interesting task. I make many changes before settling on one."
"How many times do you read the story before you publish?"
"I have not counted; twenty will be a reasonable figure."
"That number of times?"
"Not less, may be more. At every reading I will be making changes, even the last. You spot typos all the time; grammar mistakes that mostly occur when you make one change but fail to make all the related changes that need to be made because of the first one, and so on."
"Till you feel it is perfect?"
"Well I won't use the word perfect. Till I feel it is right. I know even an untrained editor can spot many errors in the stories. Others can see mistakes that the authors are blind to. The story is still not ready for publication. I keep it away and read it again after a fortnight when the story is not fresh in my mind. I often see things that I have missed before. A couple of more readings and it is ready for publication.
"How do you choose the names of your characters?"
"Random choice really. Many have commented that I do not do a good job with names. Do you agree?"
"I have not thought about that. How did you start writing erotic stories?"
"I wrote one. It was so exciting writing all that stuff that I wrote a few more. Then I got to know of Literotica. I sent one story. They published it. I got some comments, mostly favourable. I sent another and then another. When I saw my page I was surprised and pleased to see viewer numbers in ten of thousands. If it gives me pleasure to write and others pleasure to read why not write more. And I am doing that."
"Do you write non-erotic stories?"
"I have written a few. I sent one to Literotica. Readers did not receive it well. If I find a site similar to Literotica for non-erotic stories I will send it there."
"Money?"
"None. I think it was Dr. Johnson who said that anyone who does not write for money is a fool. The doctor is usually correct, but not this time. For someone who keeps his pot boiling by doing something else it does not matter if he makes no money from his writing."
"Do you find it comfortable writing erotic stories?"
"Any writer is very comfortable indeed if he has hundred thousand readers for his stories."
"You said you find it exciting to write. What type of excitement?" I thought I saw a smile of mischief on her face as she said that. Was the lady changing gears? I hesitated to answer. She helped me out. "Sexual?" I nodded. "Erection?" I am not sure she did not wink. This level of boldness I did not expect. I should have from a reader of erotic stories who has sought out the author to discuss the stories with him.
"Yes," I said. If she can be bold so can I. I darted a glance at my wife and Sumant. They were far away at a poolside seat. They were talking very animatedly. "Do you get excited when you read my stories?"
"I read them with the specific purpose of getting excited," she said. "I regularly soak my knickers wet." She was now out in the open. Having said it she looked away. No, she did not blush. Then she turned to me and looking straight into my eyes she said, "I have to change my knickers every time I read your stories." To this challenging statement my response was shamefully tame.
"I am glad that I am able to give you pleasure," said. Then I tried to make up for it. "Anything for follow up?"
"I always retreat to the bathroom to ease the tension."
"Ease the tension? What's that?" It was my turn to be mischievous. If my expectation was to silence her I misjudged. I did not expect her to use the word masturbate. She did not; this is what she said.
"I rub my clitoris till I have an orgasm." She was not looking away. There was such innocence in her expression that my heart went out to her.
The topic had reached a dead end. We went round to collect some more stuff. I was not eating light that day and neither was Nishi. When we were back Nishi changed seats. She slid into a cubicle at one end.
"What excites you most in my writing?"
"Everything. The story line, the description of the erotic scenes, the way the characters react to the situations, everything. I have something else to ask. You like your women clean shaven isn't?"
"I do."
"I used to trim, but after reading your stories I shave regularly.
"You mean every day like men?"
"Not every day." She laughed. "At least twice a week, and on special occasions."
"What are those special occasions?"
"Like today," she said. "You used to say pussy in your earlier stories. Now you call it vulva, why?"
"One reader commented that for my style of writing that word pussy is not suitable. I agreed with him. One should not describe the most important organ in the human body by a slang word. It deserves the correct anatomical term which incidentally is quite musical."
"Yes, it rolls round the tongue."
"Likewise the second most important organ in the human is the penis. One should not use the word one uses to describe the male barnyard fowl." She laughed.