IAMA sidewalk pornographer who was recently photographed writing erotica on the sidewalk. I was top of r/wtf and featured on @midnight. My name is Cameryn Moore. AMA!

I was expecting the worst from the comments on /r/wtf, so it was a pleasant surprise to see how supportive everyone was. What kind of reactions do you get on the street? Has anyone ever given you trouble?

Edit: spelling

On the street, I get a full range of response, everything from parents shielding their children's eyes to laughter to hostility (in-my-face or drive-by) to sudden and explosive enthusiasm followed by someone plunking $20 right down on the table, sitting down on the sidewalk at my feet, and saying "LET'S DO THIS THING."

People have given me trouble, for sure. Once or twice I have been shut down or moved on by the police, and not every shop owner wants me sitting near their storefront, even if I'm not actually blocking their door or store windows. I would say, though, mostly people don't give me trouble. They give me bemused stares. I like to think that, even if people don't buy smut or pick up one of my cards for my shows, I am still injecting a note of surrealism into people's day.

I am still injecting a note of surrealism into people's days

Oh, definitely. If I saw you on the street I'd just think how weird and awesome you are at the same time. :P But really, it's everyone else who's weird for being so afraid to publicly face a natural and important part of their lives.

I don't think people who pass me by and don't stop are weird. Most people are much more private than I am, and talking about personal things with a stranger--even a lady in glasses sitting behind a non-threatening typewriter--is not for everyone. The ones who I think are being chickenshits about my work are the ones who have to publicly and loudly make fun of what I'm doing. If they only knew how little I cared and how thoroughly they are revealing their own insecurities when they behave like that!

Could you link the /r/wtf thread?

http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/2gn0p1/my_friend_found_this_woman_on_the_street_who/

When did you start writing sidewalk pornography? And why?

I started doing this smut in June 2011, because I had gotten to the Montreal Fringe festival two weeks early and didn't have anywhere to promote my show slut (r)evolution, like, there were no other shows happening yet where I could hand out my flyers. So I set up the smut stand, in the hopes of getting people to stop and take a show flyer. It started out as a promotional gimmick, in other words, but after a couple of weeks of doing it, I realized it was worthy of my attention as its own project.

What first made you want to do this? and have you ever had any indecent proposals whilst writing?

See above for how I got started! As for indecent proposals? YES. ALL THE FUCKING TIME. Sometimes they are drive-bys--groups of dude-bros posturing for each other and picking up points by harassing a lone, sitting(-duck!) woman--and sometimes it's guys stopping by and asking, and then, you know, not moving on when the asking is obviously over. I get a lot of commentary about my tits, of course. I don't like it, but I've been dealing with it since I was 11, so, you know...

By the way, "indecent proposals" are what I would call harassment. "decent proposals" usually involve the same things, but the guy has laid the socially appropriate groundwork for asking me out. That has happened a few times, too. :D

Do you have many repeat customers? And how do you deal with writers block? Also, do you make much money as a street side smut peddler?

I do get repeat customers, not a lot, but some. Some of them order more smut online later. A rare few get a piece, and then come back a day later, or even later that night. They want something harder-core, maybe, or something as a gift.

I, uh, I don't have the luxury of writer's block. The customer has put down the money, and I have to have something ready when they get back. It's amazing how motivating fear of failure can be when there's money involved! I think I avoid writer's block by warming up properly, that is, cranking out a few REALLY stream-of-consciousness pieces when I first sit down, just keep typing no matter what comes out.

I don't make that much money doing smut. I don't think I could live off of it, except maybe in New Orleans. But it does help buy my groceries and gas when I'm on the road touring. It's not nothing. You know, I've never sat down and calculated my income from a season of smut ... <adds to to-do list>

Lol. You are so down to earth! Why do you do street side written porno? I work well with a deadline also.
Edit.. I just read your answer down below! :)

That external deadline is intense, and it is part of what gives the sidewalk smut its urgent ... tone, I guess. This is why it ends up feeling a little stream-of-consciousness sometimes, and why the punctuation tends toward commas, if anything. I know how to write correctly, but that's not what smut is necessarily about. Sidewalk smut is about finding something that goes straight into my customer's heart, mind, and pants, and banging that shit out before they come back. GO GO GO GO GO. That's what it is. It's heart-pounding sometimes, it really is an adrenaline rush!

In your opinion what makes a good Story and what makes a bad story?

A good story is one that works for the audience it was written for. It connects in some way. That is totally up to the writer to figure out the best way to do it. I think for erotica, a good story should offer some kind of surprise, a new or unexpected action or emotion or something, so that both the characters and the readers find something new in themselves.

But, you know, I'm a romantic. :D

All right, kids! I feel like we've wrapped it up! I'll be online for a few minutes, but otherwise, thank you for hanging out! Please come find me out there on Facebook or my website, if we aren't already friends. Thanks!

XXXO Cameryn

Neat! Weirdest thing you've written? Favorite work of erotica? Tips for writing erotica?

Mmmmm. I don't like to think of things as "weirdest"; what's weird to you or me could be someone else's sunday brunch in bed with the New York Times. I will say, what has stretched my imagination the farthest have been the science-fiction pieces, you know, zero-gee gay buttsex or oviposition porn. I have REALLY had to blow my mind open for those, mostly because I wanted to weave the sci-fi components in seamlessly. I had to create a universe AND get some hot sex in there, in a half to two-thirds of a page!

Favorite work of erotica? Mmmm. Doc and Fluff by Patrick Califia.

Tips for writing erotica? Uh. Get lots of practical experience, or find talkative friends who have lots of practical experience? And don't be afraid to put emotions in hardcore scenes.

How much is a story, I think this would be a cool xmas gift? I have a friend semi divorced and pretty depressed, she loves fantasy. (husband refuses to sign the papers, I didn't know you could do that, seems like contempt of court) Anyway, a personal pr0n for her may get a smile.

Hi! In person I ask for £10 or $20 (US or Canadian). When I have to ship, I tack on an extra $5 for postage/handling. You would need to have your friend talk to me, though, or at least do an online interview. I don't write pr0n for people who I haven't talked to. Consensual smut, baby! You can find me over there on Facebook, and let's talk!

What has been your favorite city to write smut in/for, and what city has been your favorite to perform for?

My favorite city for smut is always New Orleans. I set up there for a month or more, so it's decent money, and people are going there for a good time. They are TOTALLY in the mood for smut, and for some reason, smut seems like one of those New Orleans kinda things, like, OBVIOUSLY you can buy smut on the street here! That said, I have had a good time doing Sidewalk Smut just about everywhere. Edinburgh was fun this year. Somerville, MA, is always a good location when I do it.

Favorite city to perform for? Oh, jeez. ... Uh. Montreal, because it is my chosen off-season home. Winnipeg, because it's where I had my first ever sold-out show. Ludlow, UK, because they give me a lotta love and I can really make an impact in that Fringe. I fall in love with lots of cities; the people who come to my shows are usually the people who really want to be there, and that makes the performances special just about everywhere.

You seem like a very unique lady, not in a bad way, i like it when people aren't afraid to be different from the norm, takes courage i think, makes me wish i had that same courage to overcome anxiousness in my own day to day to life.

What drives you to do this? is it the writing, the interaction with others, the cities or all of those things?

Well, the money is actually a not-insignificant factor in my touring income, and when I'm performing shows at a festival, this is one of the top methods that I use to get my cards handed out.

However, the three things that proved to be MOST interesting and important to me are:

1) the writing practice. I already write a lot, but having something where I have to sit down and make writing happen, under very specific time constraints, for other people, that feels like a really astonishing sort of discipline to have developed. It is a lot of pressure, but I have been living with that pressure for over three years now. 2) the writing style. The constraints I'm talking about, they force me to go for turns of phrase or lyrically sense-laden short-hand, or narrow my focus. The results are occasionally amazing. I have also turned this style loose in some of my non-smut writings, and have been very pleased with the results. 3) the conversations. Most people really aren't used to thinking consciously about what they want from sex, what they like, what their favorite sexual positions are, anything. I LOVE having these conversations, and watching the wheels turn behind people's eyes! These conversations don't happen nearly enough, in our society, and I am glad to be a sort of catalyst.

Weirdest kink request you've had?

Again, I don't think of requests as "weird"; they're just uncommon. And I don't really let people make requests, either. I have that interview process at the beginning, and I'm the one asking the questions.

That said, I have had a few uncommon stories emerge because the interviewees were willing to share deep stuff. One couple got a cuckolding story, like it really turned the guy on to watch his wife getting fucked, and it turned her on to do that. Another one was a vampire/blood-play scene. I have done pieces for lovers about age-play. I don't think these are weird, just rare.

What effect do you think your writing has on your own love life?

Not much effect, really! More often my love life has an effect on my writing, in terms of topics that come to mind when I am in between customers and just writing stuff out of my own head. When my mind is occupied with a new lover, that is the shit that comes out of my own pieces, mostly.

Has anyone asked for sexual favors? Or hit on you? Just wondering.

Always. Every time I set out the smut stand. Some places it's worse than others.

What was your first experience of erotica as a child?

I didn't pick up erotica until I was in college. I found lots of stuff that turned me on in other random books, though! Stranger in a Strange Land, and other Heinlein books, were probably the first books that I started bending the pages back; I was 11, maybe? Also in that category of repurposed fiction for me would be: The Women's Room, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, Clan of the Cave Bear, awww yeahhh. Hmmm. Those are what's coming to mind.

How did the @Midnight panelists react?

They were startled, and then laughed. That's kind of the response I get to my signage out on the street, actually. They were asked to come up with the first line of the smut that I would write for them.

What is your favorite genre of porn?

I don't watch a lot of visual porn, but I do enjoy videos of my lovers coming. Gangbangs are good, too. :D

I think that you are amazing!

Why do you think that our country has such a puritanical attitude towards sex? How can we work to change that?

Why puritanical? It's right there in that word: Puritans. That's what the US was founded on, and it's a constant cultural thread still. I personally take it as my task to a) promote seeking authentic pleasure and fulfillment (sexual or otherwise) and b) promote introspection about what gives us pleasure (sexual or otherwise). If we don't value pleasure for its own sake, or if we aren't thinking about it critically, we end up with sex that is shame-ridden and/or dictated by advertising or religion.

What size of dick do you like more ?

The size doesn't matter, it's who it's attached to.