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Wow. Thank you so much, that was legitimately helpful.
To better explain (not defend, I know I need to work on them) the erotic aspects, I'm attempting to carefully slip the reader into the subject matter. The story is only going to get more graphic as it goes on, and by the mid-section will have developed into a cartoonishly grotesque narrative. By allowing some exploitative sex in the first chapter, I'm hoping that those elements, while shocking, won't be so shocking that they become off-putting.
My main influence is probably Georges Bataille. In my early revisions of the concept, I actually had the main character's first case of "love" be just like the center relationship in Story of the Eye, but decided to abandon it as it seemed to take away from the other grotesque moments. I like the depth of Bataille's work, but I find his obvious love for shock to be exceptionally endearing.
Clive Barker, Lovecraft, and to some extent de Sade all bear some influence on my work as well. Specifically, Barker's exploitative writing (The Damnation Game) and use of morally ambiguous characters for both antagonists and protagonists (the former, as well Hellbound Heart) have both made their way into VC. Lovecraft's influence shows up later, and sort of goes hand-in-hand with the ambiguous antagonists (which obviously haven't shown up yet). The way his characters generally go mad from exposure to the supernatural is an integral trope as well. De Sade's influence is pretty obvious.
Bataille, Barker and Sade's exploitative nature, going hand-in-hand with some amount of depth or commentary, are probably the most influential.
Anywho, I'm going to continue working on it. I'm hoping to have refined the first chapter and finished the second this week.
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It's a rare pleasure in this world to get your mind fucked. Usually it's just foreplay.
M.B. Keene
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