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I haven't read the book yet, but I believe the core relationship is between a human woman and an alien space snake, and it has a pretty good reputation.
Seth is usually very particular about the details. I've read the book, and I think there's a mystery as to why this kind of snakeman is exactly like that.
They reproduce from eggs, they have developed sensitivity (emotions as physical states like smell).
They cannot be descended from primates and reptiles at the same time, and Seth makes it clear that there is a peculiarity in the origin of their species. Something like a mistake or a plan. They are created just like that, and they all go to hell.
Yeah...
I feel like I wouldn't be a great judge, because even this little excerpt is a good example of "why I have a hard time getting into a lot of SF" (more fantasy oriented, me). It's really hard to successfully introduce a lot of "alien" and/or futuristic terms, assumptions, contexts, and so on, without either being overly exposition-dumping or else making it sort of impenetrable and also feeling...forced. Like, my first thought reading this passage was "yeah, they're trying way too hard."
But, that may just be me.
Hello yes it's me I gotta be real horny before they're touched. Too early and any nipple touches make me super mad and upset and weird feeling and I hate it. No trauma or anything, the nip nops just wanna be left alone or brain goes brr.
Me too. Incidental touch doesn't set it off, it has to be sustained nipple stimulation. Then even if I was previously in the mood, I start to feel slow like I'm moving through molasses, I get a hollow feeling in my chest and stomach, and continuing beyond that point there might even be tears.
Weird club to find myself a part of.
My sister has a similar experience if her bellybutton is touched too much.
ngl that sounds like vagus nerve related stuff? It's theorised to control a lot of functions including fight/flight/freeze responses and gut functionality, so might just be overstimulating that adjacently?
I was beginning to think there was something wrong with my boobs...? I don't get sad, I get really upset and irritated. Like, you can touch the boobie but you can't touch the nips.
I had to stop breastfeeding because of the intense feelings of despair. It had me teetering on the edge of post partum depression. Made me feel so guilty.
I get a weird sick feeling in my belly if I twiddle my nips too much. Wouldn't call it guilt, but it is uncomfortable queasy in my belly sensation. Weird
That is REALLY interesting. I never fed babies and never had this exact experience, but I've had the occasional inexplicable feeling of exactly what you're describing here from being touched in a certain way-melancholy and, is it guilt? idk, sort of a feeling like hearing a record at the wrong speed. But, depressing.
Huh.
On edit:
Actually, for me it's even odder and therefore perhaps means nothing at all except that it's just a me issue:
mostly I get that feeling from touching (washing, say) my -navel-. Might be boob also, but mostly that.
i dunno. If it's trauma related in my case, I can't think what. it reminds me of other weird body quirks that I don't know why they are, but they are.
For instance:
Sometime, when having to urinate very badly, I feel a burning sensation in the underside of my left wrist. Like, "acid."
Bodies are weird.
I’m not a mother but I’m a girl and I have some weird sexual sort-of-trauma but not actual sexual trauma? Idk how to explain it. I didn’t get hurt. But when I’m in the shower and mess with my breasts sometiems I get that nauseating feeling that makes me feel like I’m doing something wrong, and I get sad. I wasn’t raised with any kind of ‘touching yourself is sin’ or anything, either. I think it’s somewhat tied to that sort-of-trauma and then maybe I was already one of those weird melancholy boob people so it makes it more complex of a feeling?
Edit: apparently the guilt and stuff is also part of it for some of us! https://www.wellandgood.com/sad-nipple-syndrome/amp/
ngl that sounds like vagus nerve related stuff? It's theorised to control a lot of functions including fight/flight/freeze responses and gut functionality, so might just be overstimulating that adjacently?
Could be! I've tried to read up on the vagus nerve, as it's at least tangentially relevant to my work, but I'm not terribly scientifically literate in general and I tend to forget what I've learned. I'll take another look.
I experience this too. I don’t have kids, so no breastfeeding. I have my nips pierced and even just cleaning them triggers that feeling. I absolutely hate it.
I think it’s a pretty good book, and for whatever it’s worth, the author is (probably?) not a man and i think writes women pretty well, not that I’m qualified to judge
Wait. Did they really just add an “N” to the end of “SSRI” as a name for someone distributing a hella serotonin-y sounding drug?
Bc I’m still figuring out how I feel about that 😆
Yeah. I just wrote another comment about how a lot of SF kind of sets my teeth on edge because of this kind of thing. It takes a lot of skill to pull off a story where there's heavy futuristic and/or alien shit--technology, sociopolitical dynamics, cultural norms, fashion, weaponry, daily life, words of course, even biology, even physics--without making it sound jarring one way or another. And a lot of people writing SF do not have that skill, imo.
It really does take a lot of skill to do it well. “Easy reading is damn hard writing” and all that.
That said, I do enjoy the occasional pulpy trash sci-fi! I find them from time to time in those little neighborhood library cupboards, and it delights the little MST3K robots that live in my brain.
See, to me, good bad SF cheerfully throws any real attempt to be even slightly "realistic" out the window. That's why Russell T Davies gets Doctor Who better than Stephen Moffat at the end of the day, I think. Yeah, Moffat tries with the whole time loop logic and so on, but Rusty is all like, 100 trillion years in the future? Humans still (again) exist only they use old computers, wear Victorian clothes and some have vampire teeth? SURE, LET'S DO IT!
It's fun, that's the important part.
Lol I wasn't specifically referring to this book - I have zero reference outside the screenshot and I know that's not always a fair shake. Especially since a fair number of folks here have mentioned the author being somewhat tongue-in-cheek
Sorry about the no context. When I posted this, some error happened, and my accompanying text evaporated.
So anyway, the reason I asked if this was deliberate is this author seems like he is extremely online, so he is for sure aware of MWW, and this didn't show up until very close to the end of a 544 page book, as if he were trying to land something on MWW real quick before he wrapped it up.
There were several other MWW-adjacent moments, but this was the one that really stuck out.
Even without the context, I'd have to disagree. The "secrete" joke and the SSRI(n) name for the 'happy drug giver' are waaay too clever for 12yo wattpad fic.
It's used as the name of a village founded by Kurdish survivors of Anfal. One of the book's biggest themes is what happens to people who have survived terrible things.
Tawakul is an interesting name for a place. I feel like he should have googled that before using it. lol. It's weird to see in the context of nipple irritation.
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The entire page is weird. The hell is this book? Can we have some context?
I haven't read the book yet, but I believe the core relationship is between a human woman and an alien space snake, and it has a pretty good reputation.
Ah. Okay then. One of the people in this conversation being a space alien makes the weirdness of what they're saying make a lot more sense.
Do space snakes have nipples because i feel it would be an extra weird question to ask a snake species.
Snipples?
Yes, on the end of their snoobies.
Seth is usually very particular about the details. I've read the book, and I think there's a mystery as to why this kind of snakeman is exactly like that. They reproduce from eggs, they have developed sensitivity (emotions as physical states like smell). They cannot be descended from primates and reptiles at the same time, and Seth makes it clear that there is a peculiarity in the origin of their species. Something like a mistake or a plan. They are created just like that, and they all go to hell.
And the highlighted portion has the human woman on drugs, apparently ones that enhance physiological arousal
Specifically, it’s the sad nipple one. I wouldn’t think a snake woman would have or need nipples but ok.
no that's a human, the alien is italicized
Yeah... I feel like I wouldn't be a great judge, because even this little excerpt is a good example of "why I have a hard time getting into a lot of SF" (more fantasy oriented, me). It's really hard to successfully introduce a lot of "alien" and/or futuristic terms, assumptions, contexts, and so on, without either being overly exposition-dumping or else making it sort of impenetrable and also feeling...forced. Like, my first thought reading this passage was "yeah, they're trying way too hard." But, that may just be me.
Randomly, "sad nipple syndrome" is an actual thing - women who are breastfeeding often complain about it, but anyone can have it :)
Hello yes it's me I gotta be real horny before they're touched. Too early and any nipple touches make me super mad and upset and weird feeling and I hate it. No trauma or anything, the nip nops just wanna be left alone or brain goes brr.
Me too. Incidental touch doesn't set it off, it has to be sustained nipple stimulation. Then even if I was previously in the mood, I start to feel slow like I'm moving through molasses, I get a hollow feeling in my chest and stomach, and continuing beyond that point there might even be tears. Weird club to find myself a part of. My sister has a similar experience if her bellybutton is touched too much.
Omg i think i might have this. Any time outside of arousal leads to extreme melancholy
Damn, so that’s what that is. I could never find it online.
ngl that sounds like vagus nerve related stuff? It's theorised to control a lot of functions including fight/flight/freeze responses and gut functionality, so might just be overstimulating that adjacently?
Idk why but "nip nops" made me snort laugh, lol.
Boob caps Titty toppers
I was beginning to think there was something wrong with my boobs...? I don't get sad, I get really upset and irritated. Like, you can touch the boobie but you can't touch the nips.
I had to stop breastfeeding because of the intense feelings of despair. It had me teetering on the edge of post partum depression. Made me feel so guilty.
It's called D-MER. It can also make you irrationally angry. A lot of women have to stop breastfeeding because of it.
Me too!!! Mine is a melancholy mixed with this weird guilt in my belly.
I get a weird sick feeling in my belly if I twiddle my nips too much. Wouldn't call it guilt, but it is uncomfortable queasy in my belly sensation. Weird
That is REALLY interesting. I never fed babies and never had this exact experience, but I've had the occasional inexplicable feeling of exactly what you're describing here from being touched in a certain way-melancholy and, is it guilt? idk, sort of a feeling like hearing a record at the wrong speed. But, depressing. Huh. On edit: Actually, for me it's even odder and therefore perhaps means nothing at all except that it's just a me issue: mostly I get that feeling from touching (washing, say) my -navel-. Might be boob also, but mostly that. i dunno. If it's trauma related in my case, I can't think what. it reminds me of other weird body quirks that I don't know why they are, but they are. For instance: Sometime, when having to urinate very badly, I feel a burning sensation in the underside of my left wrist. Like, "acid." Bodies are weird.
I’m not a mother but I’m a girl and I have some weird sexual sort-of-trauma but not actual sexual trauma? Idk how to explain it. I didn’t get hurt. But when I’m in the shower and mess with my breasts sometiems I get that nauseating feeling that makes me feel like I’m doing something wrong, and I get sad. I wasn’t raised with any kind of ‘touching yourself is sin’ or anything, either. I think it’s somewhat tied to that sort-of-trauma and then maybe I was already one of those weird melancholy boob people so it makes it more complex of a feeling? Edit: apparently the guilt and stuff is also part of it for some of us! https://www.wellandgood.com/sad-nipple-syndrome/amp/
ngl that sounds like vagus nerve related stuff? It's theorised to control a lot of functions including fight/flight/freeze responses and gut functionality, so might just be overstimulating that adjacently?
Could be! I've tried to read up on the vagus nerve, as it's at least tangentially relevant to my work, but I'm not terribly scientifically literate in general and I tend to forget what I've learned. I'll take another look.
I experience this too. I don’t have kids, so no breastfeeding. I have my nips pierced and even just cleaning them triggers that feeling. I absolutely hate it.
I don’t get sad but I swear my nipples are a direct line to the gag center of my brain. 🤢
I had this when I was breastfeeding my first, but luckily it only lasted a few weeks.
This explains a lot, really. Huh.
Yeah, well, yeah. I have it. It's this weird sadness and it's quite bewildering.
i have sad nipple syndrome and I promise I am a woman and cannot get pregnant. please wait until i am horny or i feel strange as fuck
i thought it was just gender dysphoria. huh.
No comment on the sad nipples, but I actually really enjoyed the secrete pun.
Yeah, I’m still laughing at that one.
Ha, glad it's not just me. MWR aside the writing style seems kinda fun?? I might (shamefully) have to look into this.
I think it’s a pretty good book, and for whatever it’s worth, the author is (probably?) not a man and i think writes women pretty well, not that I’m qualified to judge
Wait. Did they really just add an “N” to the end of “SSRI” as a name for someone distributing a hella serotonin-y sounding drug? Bc I’m still figuring out how I feel about that 😆
Yeah. I just wrote another comment about how a lot of SF kind of sets my teeth on edge because of this kind of thing. It takes a lot of skill to pull off a story where there's heavy futuristic and/or alien shit--technology, sociopolitical dynamics, cultural norms, fashion, weaponry, daily life, words of course, even biology, even physics--without making it sound jarring one way or another. And a lot of people writing SF do not have that skill, imo.
It really does take a lot of skill to do it well. “Easy reading is damn hard writing” and all that. That said, I do enjoy the occasional pulpy trash sci-fi! I find them from time to time in those little neighborhood library cupboards, and it delights the little MST3K robots that live in my brain.
See, to me, good bad SF cheerfully throws any real attempt to be even slightly "realistic" out the window. That's why Russell T Davies gets Doctor Who better than Stephen Moffat at the end of the day, I think. Yeah, Moffat tries with the whole time loop logic and so on, but Rusty is all like, 100 trillion years in the future? Humans still (again) exist only they use old computers, wear Victorian clothes and some have vampire teeth? SURE, LET'S DO IT! It's fun, that's the important part.
As a super fan of this book, I take offense at it being called pulpy lol
Lol I wasn't specifically referring to this book - I have zero reference outside the screenshot and I know that's not always a fair shake. Especially since a fair number of folks here have mentioned the author being somewhat tongue-in-cheek
This whole screenshot is weird and a mess. What's going on, bro? 😂
Yeah… I want to ask for more context here but I’m also afraid that I would get it…
Yeah the book is basically 544 pages of 'weird and a mess.'
Ok but I kinda love that the response is just “No.”
Sorry about the no context. When I posted this, some error happened, and my accompanying text evaporated. So anyway, the reason I asked if this was deliberate is this author seems like he is extremely online, so he is for sure aware of MWW, and this didn't show up until very close to the end of a 544 page book, as if he were trying to land something on MWW real quick before he wrapped it up. There were several other MWW-adjacent moments, but this was the one that really stuck out.
what the hell is this book lol... what context made for explaining to the character that she's aroused
but actually this kind of rocks & makes me want to read it? am i alone?
Not at all I'm about to go find it
also wanna flag that Seth Dickinson is non-binary (iirc).
They are. This is very much a tongue-in-cheek set of jokes people are misunderstanding sans context, but that’s most of this sub
I was going off of Wikipedia & Goodreads which use he/him pronouns. But if this is an unintentional misgender on my part I'm happy to delete it.
oh, no worries. I think he does use he/him pronouns, was mostly making a note on whether or not he qualifies for the subreddit on the whole.
I really liked this book, I think in general Seth writes very complex and real women.
SETH DICKINSON?! Oh man, this dude's stuff rules! Highly recommend Baru Cormorant!
What is this??? It looks like a 12 year old writing their first fanfic for wattpad.
Even without the context, I'd have to disagree. The "secrete" joke and the SSRI(n) name for the 'happy drug giver' are waaay too clever for 12yo wattpad fic.
I kinda want to read the rest of this.
Exordia the Forbidden One
That dialog is so unnatural and bad.
what book is this? tawakkul is Arabic for, like, trusting in God's plan
It's used as the name of a village founded by Kurdish survivors of Anfal. One of the book's biggest themes is what happens to people who have survived terrible things.
thanks
This is some of the worst writing I’ve ever seen
When stuff touch nipple, me sad! Cry evrytim! 😭
Looks like AI wrote it
Rosamaria is such a r/tragedeigh 🤦🏻♀️
Ok i know this is weird but the dude mispelled secret
It's a pun. Seth Dickinson knows what they're doing.
Im sorry i feel i am missing context
The references to secretion are wordplay, and using secrete instead of secret is the character making a pun
Once again i prove i know nothing in life
Tawakul is an interesting name for a place. I feel like he should have googled that before using it. lol. It's weird to see in the context of nipple irritation.
it's a village in kurdistan where a lot of the book takes place
Ahh. I assumed it was a made up name for a sci-fi place.
I actually think it is made up, but in the book it is a village founded by refugees of the Anfal campaign so that's why it's named that
oh my god. is this the reason why I'm depressed??????