Salon ran an article about polyamory, spining its interest in the topic of marriage equality issues. I’m unconvinced that most polyamorists care that much about extended marriage rights, but I am keenly attune to polyamory itself. In a limited way, I’ve practiced it for over a decade now as the apex of a separate het triad and sometimes, I feel more akin to poly people than I do to S/M folk. Of course, that reflects the ebb and flow of my own internal personal awareness at work. Subtle identity shifts come and go with me.
Regardless, I appreciated the article. It did a more than decent job describing how polymorphous polyamory can be. It’s never all things to all people but only because it can’t be finely defined by any one majority of people. While my separate het triad works for me, it could easily be too confining or too straight or even too traditional for any number of other polyamorists. But so what. It works for me and I’m sure I’d be accorded “live and let live” respect. Essentially, that’s what I like about polyfolk.
Polyamory is, in fact, central to the erotic novel I’m now writing. In it, I explore the nature of relationships within a poly context — how some relationships come and go while others endure; how some grow and require redefinition and whether others can withstand life’s devastations. It’s not so much about the mechaninations of polyamory, but about its heart and soul.
With a fair amount of explicit sex.
Unfortunately, it’s a hard-to-categorize work. It’s too explicit to fall into general fiction yet lacks the formulaic bent of current erotic novels. Worse, it lacks any cross-over factors to move it towards any particular genre. That’s made it difficult to place with an agent, despite a number of them (including one particular “industry-hot” agent) asking to see it.
So I’ll just keep plugging away, writing the book and pitching its merits. I love the story and where it will go too much to give up on it, and I know there’s an entire segment of society out there (bisexuals, polyamorists) waiting for a novel like this. I just need to find it the right home.
All while continuing on my own polyamorist’s way.
