Smut is soulless and I can’t believe people pay money for it

Maya Sunderraj, Contributing Writer

If I said to you that authors and publishers need to do better, what would you say? If I said that the authors I’m calling out are mainly women, how would you feel?

I feel conflicted. I used to believe I had a broad taste in reading; I used to judge books by their execution, not their concept, but now I find myself shaking my head just by how they’re advertised — see, BookTok. I feel guilty and disrespectful of authors and their artistry, but I still judge them. 

I used to never judge what others were reading because I lived by the philosophy that the act of reading in itself is beneficial. Lately, I’ve found myself at odds with that sentiment. My conflicts reveal themselves to me the most in these three genres: romance, fantasy and most obtrusively, erotica. 

From a terribly underwhelming erotic retelling of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” which, by the way, stands to be further unpacked, to voyeuristically listening to dragons “do it.” From the overused tall, dark and handsome rogue that makes the overpowered protagonist magically climax for several minutes, to genetically justifying gender roles — Omegaverse — and beyond, I’ve come to the same conclusion:

I cannot believe that people exist who would willingly pay for cliche, forgettable writing when you could get it for free online.

I haven’t read many of these books recently, but I’ve noticed these mounting problems since my teen years when I would obsessively read every A-Noun-of-Noun-and-Another-Noun–esque titled text, or comb through the endless amount of free amateur writing and fanfiction overwhelming my digital experience.

What was once invigorating is now boring. It feels the same in every sense: from plot to character to title to lack of editing. To me, this cringe disappointment is most obvious in smut and romance. 

I truly believe that any idea can turn into good media so long as the author and editors are up to the surprisingly difficult challenge of writing well. Authors’ voices now sound the same, plots and worlds are the same,= and writers feel as though they need to spoon-feed information to the audience. I genuinely believe that people can find the same satisfaction in free, amateur writing online. If you waste money on mid-erotica, consider making a Tumblr account instead.

Still, I am happy that this market is dominated by women on both the supplier and consumer ends. It must be better for us women, reading content made for us, actually being written by us for once. Isn’t this what we wanted? Fiction is fiction, right?

In Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” he wrote, “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well-written, or badly written. That is all.” 

Reading and writing shallow, careless content is a dangerous path to tread. When so many people fantasize and promote the same questionable kinks in a superficial, boring, unoriginal manner, what does that imply about our culture? 

At what point is my gratitude — that erotica written by people other than cis-het men can be pushed to the forefront of publishing — overridden by the truth that with this increase in access to shallow writing, authors and publishers are pushing unhealthy standards to an unaware group? 

What does it mean to live with these standards of writing quality in a time when anti-intellectualism efforts are a looming and active threat to American society? How will today’s markets affect future authorship and future publishing?

I’m not sure. Maybe comparison is the thief of joy. The problem with lack of style and ability is not specific to the genres I mentioned above but is indicative of publishing culture as a whole, where authors and editors are competing with others, underpaid, overworked and directed to focus on cash over caliber of writing. 

Many artists of all mediums are directed by their bosses towards fast output and catering to the market rather than promoting art that will stand the test of time. 

I still think people should enjoy what they want without heckling, but there should also exist a question of how today’s art and entertainment reflects real-life culture and beyond.

Authors, readers, please, let us stop settling for mediocre writing that we’re never going to remember anyway.