I want her to grow to really love this type of work and go on a journey of self-discovery away from the stresses of the dance world, but I also want to expose the dangers of the industry in equal measure.
In response to the bits in bold, this is stigma that is driving you. I've been part of the cam industry for coming on ten years and I have never felt in danger, my life has never collapsed, nothing particularly bad has ever happened. I have known many models during this time and I have only heard of a few cases of genuine issues. The idea that someone would come on cam and within a few months find danger is completely unrealistic. Yes you might get someone who were a bit more naive at first and maybe weren't great at hiding their real name or got too close to members, but the risks of that ever amounting to anything are still very low. You're far more at risk working in a bar than working over webcam, but you never see people feeling the need to "expose" the dangers of bar work.
The other reality is, if a model were really to be "discovered" that quickly by someone spending that much, the way the algorithms of these sites work means she would almost certainly gain more exposure on the site she were working due to higher placement. Tips also bring tips, so if she were being supported by someone so early on it's likely others would be spending too. I've seen models working for years and then one wealthy regular comes along and suddenly they become really successful because other people join in on the hype. I've even experienced this myself. Unless she were spending literally all of her time "in private" with that one guy, it's unlikely she'd be completely reliant on him. A young, attractive ballet dancer with a sob story and a genuine desire to earn is unlikely to do badly on a camsite, even if she's not a great cam model. Due to this, high spending members who become obsessive generally do get banned in the end and the model continues.
I've known models who pretty much rely on one rich regular and it's really not that interesting a dynamic. To be honest, not much of camming as an outside (non-member) viewer is that interesting, because it's just a job you do from home, from your laptop. It's not particularly glamorous, it's not that exciting, and it's not particularly sexy. Even the chats had between models and members are pretty standard conversations and friendships. The trick as a cam model is trying to make what is a pretty dull scenario with very little feedback look interesting to the webcam. I think this is why everyone who tries to portray camming in TV/Film tries to go on the angle of it being dangerous or sordid, because the reality of a girl dancing in a room on her own in her PJs to no backing music while talking to a screen, and some guys either typing friendly responses or masturbating with headphones on doesn't really make a great story unless it's just something a character does for work without it being the main focus.
I think if you are really serious about writing something about webcam models then have a go at camming yourself, see what it's like, see what the interactions with members are like, how the algorithms work, what it's like to be behind a screen trying to be entertaining etc. You keep saying you want to write something about this without bringing stigma into it, but your knowledge of the cam industry
is stigma. Your entire plotline is based around stigma because that is all you know.
I do think this particular storyline would work a lot better in a strip club scenario where there's limited traffic coming in, someone could become reliant on one regular, or a sugar daddy/sugar babe situation. It's still pretty stigmatised, but it's more realistic, although not so much during the pandemic. The whole premise of camming is that you're getting bits of income off lot's of different people and then have a few "top spenders", and it's rare you get that close to your regulars unless they've been around for a long time (and even then there are loads of boundaries).
And finally, sorry to bring another plothole up, but in the UK during the pandemic we had a furlough scheme, so if this girl had been working then she would have been getting that furlough. If she hadn't been working then we can assume she'd been dependent on her mother or something else and wouldn't have needed that income. This suggests that all of her camming money is going directly to treatment for her mother and therefore this girl wouldn't be "reliant" on any money she's receiving in order to survive. The NHS would have treated any immediate stroke issues, and there are waiting lists for other treatments, so I'm going to assume we're talking about her wanting to avoid waiting lists for post-stroke care and rehabilitation. This means she'd have an "amount" that she'd be aiming for. It's the pandemic and the UK is pretty locked down so it's unlikely she'd be going out and spending money on a high flying lifestyle. I don't want to add to the stigma of cam models earning a lot, but as I've said before, an attractive british ballet dancer is likely to do well on a camsite, she might not be earning huge amounts, but she could easily earn a few grand each month, if not more, particularly if she had a high spending regular. It would likely be enough to help fund stroke treatments in the UK. By the time this regular were obsessed enough with her to cause any issues, she'd have her money.
To be honest, just hearing this story I'm just not "buying it". Have you got any other ideas?
maybe in the future haha
