journalist's question

Because *everything* else that *everybody* else says here is absolutely reliable.

Pep (If you want a reality check, Daniel, please feel free to consult me - [email]pserendipitydaniels@gmail.com[/email] - I write for THE Times occasionally. )

I almost posted a series of exclamations of surprise and disbelief until I realized you were being ironic.

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I love your sense of humor.

Sometimes.

(This is one of those times.)

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I get along with Pep, and am Jig's mammy. Someone should interview me to see how I am bearing up.

To everyone willing to help, Thank you.

First, Clarissa, you weren't stood up. Far from it. Like I just said, I've been trying to send you a message but getting blocked.... You're all being extremely generous with offers of tours, so I should explain the book I'm working on in more detail. But before I start, I should say what I fear, that lots of nuance gets lost in this form of communication, so I worry things will get distorted or misunderstood. We're talking about romance and sex, probably the most complicated things on the planet; misunderstanding is almost guaranteed. But here goes: The book I'm working on is about female desire. It grew out of an NYT Magazine story I wrote back in January. That article dealt with a lot of science; my books, by contrast, are about people. The book will include science, but human stories are by far more important to me as a writer. I have this idea (not original, I know) that women are exploring their romantic/passionate/erotic selves in interesting ways through Second Life. Someone joked about boring me with "geriatric" stories -- you don't have to worry about boring me in any way. I'm interested in people; people are not boring. There was also mention of touring me through some of the kinkier areas -- that would be great. But I want to be clear that I'm interested in the entire range of ways that women's desire is being explored through SL, "normal," adventurous, etc. Okay, with that, I'll leave my education up to you. (And Clarissa, you may have written back while I've been typing this message; anyway, I hope you will.) Thank you all again, Daniel

This is one of those "times" when you *should* take me seriously . . .

Pep ( . . . but you won't, and I'm somewhere between not caring less and delighted that you underestimate me )

Another bloody book about shoes then!

Pep (Hoped for better.)

One thing I'd like to point out, Daniel, is something a friend often says: "Second Life is VAST." You can't imagine how big it is, or the variety of cultures and subcultures and little groups it contains. So, writing about sex and love in SL is like writing about sex and love on planet earth. You can't go everywhere and see everything. You can write something like those travel books where the author goes into some strange country, meets a dozen or a hundred people, and tries to make something of his experience.

Even among the people who frequent the Forum Cartel Hangout, the variety of person and approach to all that stuff is incredible. And I don't think we're even representative.

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What? Why didn't you just say that in the first place?

I was just thinking who wd we assgin the noobie to?

Has anyone heard from that Annabel woman recently?

Pep (A perfect match. )

I nominate Jig and Desmond for a balanced perspective

... I should probably add one more thing: an answer to the inevitable question, What makes me think that I, as a man, can write about female desire? It's an excellent question, and I don't have a satisfactory answer. I think that I can ask good questions and listen well and represent women's voices powerfully on the page. I know that the article I refered to, in the NYTM back in January, was read by more people than any article in the magazine's history -- it seems to have stirred a lot of discussion. And I know that my editors, both at the magazine and at my book publisher, are women, and they have faith in this project... Okay, enough of my talking; looking forward to getting educated by you...

Can you post a link to the article to give us a taster of the tone?

Pep (is assuming it is suitable leering and salacious. )

There's a link to the article, other magazine stories, reviews of my books, etc., at danielbergner.com

It's an article Pep, not a round of Camembert

One serious answer too- before we get mired. There is also an interesting concept called 'alts'. This is a second or third or even more account that can be used for many things. Since we are dicussing sex and romance and desire, I'll stick with that.

Some folks live more than one life even within here. Maybe by day the average avie and by night an escort- or a different gender or who knows what. Just thought I would add to your confusion - Truly though- you really, really need to get in-world to understand or at least get a glimpse of our world. It is essential even for a dialogue so you wont be wondering what the other person is saying. "So we cam in and sit, then he rezzed this bed, but the menu wasnt working.." See? Makes no sense with out the frame work. Good luck.

I was assuming the writing was rather cheesy anyway.

Pep (doesn't know the house style of the NYT, but since it hasn't been around that long in relative terms . . . )

I think he already knows what he is looking for.

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/me is hoping that this is not going to result in another portrayal of this place that assumes that "SL" stands for "Sex Life" . . .

Daniel, Second Life is an AWFULLY big place, and there's an enormous amount out there that has nothing to do with online relationships or sex. There's art, literature, music; there are historical reconstructions, and there is political and social activism.

While I appreciate that your main focus is going to be upon the cybersex and relationships angle, I do hope that you are going to experience enough of the REST of SL to place this all within a larger context.

I was referring to, "is assuming it is suitable leering and salacious" as you well know.

For someone from another planet, that might be the best they could do. And in a real sense, Second Life is like an alien world.

Perhaps we need to consider these reporters as the equivalent of Ford Prefect in The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And be happy if their stories are summarized as "Mostly Harmless".

Daniel: you've visited other countries in search of your stories, and spent time learning how to live there. I think, if you're going to learn anything from Second Life, you need to do the same thing here.

No, this is what I expect: It will profile four women.

1. is lonely and never seems to hook up with the right guy, and this echoes her experience in RL.

2. is an experimenter, tries all sorts of things that she would never do in real life. in real life she has a boring , rather conservative job

3. a very stable, well adjusted woman who met her husband in SL, and they both use it as part of their relationship/love life/sex life

4. a wild card. maybe a woman who is into something dark that I can't imagine and the author has a difficult time writing about it and keeping it on a level of public consumption

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Oh, and a final chapter that makes passing mention of furries, Gor and other roleplay environments, child avatars, non-human avatars, women using male alts, ...

hinting that an adequate treatment of the subject would run to several volumes.

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Can I be #4??? Please?