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#126 | ||
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Abnormal Romance Author
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Omahabad, Nebraskastan
Posts: 17,723
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Lori Website * Blog * Twitter AW Library: Lauren Gallagher * L. A. Witt In-Progress: To Know The Enemy - 41,095 / 85,000 The Only One Who Knows (w/Cat Grant) - 51,879 / 55,000 Enjoy the Silence - 1,501 / 30,000 The Princess & The Porn Star - Available Now! |
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#127 |
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Banned
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 48,359
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If y'all need me, I'll be right over here teaching my granny to suck eggs.
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#128 |
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Banned
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 21,681
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I'll be taking pictures
Last edited by Wayne K; 03-01-2010 at 05:38 AM. |
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#129 | |
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practical experience, FTW
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: central NYS
Posts: 518
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Example? The scene I completed last night, in which the recently consecrated squire, Daniel Willoughby, requests that his master, Lord Thanatos, to relieve him of his virginity, as it has become a burden to him and leaves him vulnerable to the mockery of the other Champions and their squires. Thanatos is resistant to the idea, for reasons he will not share. Conflict. The scene -- a sex scene, not a passage -- is quite explicit and, at over 1500 words, fairly long. (It's also full of mood and atmosphere and imagery, but I try to include that in all my scenes.) By the end of it, Daniel's virginity problem is solved (sort of) but now he has another -- he liked it quite a bit more than he thought he would, or (more importantly) should. One conflict resolved, another one introduced. I suppose I could've done it one paragraph. But that would be telling, not showing, and while telling has its place, it doesn't belong in a scene that sets up or resolves or heightens major conflicts for the the protagonist. Yes, I am writing erotic romance. That doesn't mean sex can't make up valid scenes in other forms of fiction. It's another arena for conflict, and conflict makes story.
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Selah March Heart of Perdition available now from Carina Press Come Rain or Come Shine available now from Samhain Publishing |
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#130 | |
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Banned
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 5,114
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Ultimately, every writer has to decide what they'll aspire to and what they'll settle for. Fortunately, authors and readers self-select. Gratuitous imagery certainly isn't confined to sex -- the fantasy, horror and crime shelves are full of it too, and there are no end of punters who'll happily read it. Then there are readers who won't touch it. I'm somewhere in between -- if the story is otherwise strong, I'll read a para or two of sex-imagery, slash-imagery, cadaver-imagery or whatever. But if it gets dull I'll flick some pages and on DVDs I fast-forward. Not everyone may want to roll that way, but I've never heard a reader say that a passage of imagery was ruined for being short, intense and well-written. |
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#131 | ||
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Abnormal Romance Author
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Omahabad, Nebraskastan
Posts: 17,723
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Lengthy, explicit sex scenes are perfectly valid if they serve a purpose. Quote:
__________________
Lori Website * Blog * Twitter AW Library: Lauren Gallagher * L. A. Witt In-Progress: To Know The Enemy - 41,095 / 85,000 The Only One Who Knows (w/Cat Grant) - 51,879 / 55,000 Enjoy the Silence - 1,501 / 30,000 The Princess & The Porn Star - Available Now! |
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#132 |
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Worst song played on ugliest guitar
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: umber and black Humberland
Posts: 5,336
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This thread is going 'round and 'round in circles. You know what we need? A web comic. Start here, and click the right arrow at the top to read more of this story arc. It gets really good.
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Libbie Hawker
Blog | Facebook | Twitter Also writing as Lavender Ironside Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Smashwords Freelance book cover design |
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#133 | |
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Banned
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 5,114
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Which is not to say that the imagery is irrelevant -- sexual imagery can carry themes just as any other imagery can. It can reveal characters (which is part of what anchors a theme) and so on. But if you had to, I bet you could write it with nary a lick of sexual imagery, and still produce exactly the same character insights, relationships and problems at the end. I'm not saying that you should. I'm saying that the drama we associate with sex lies in the relationships, intrigues, the internal conflicts -- the social and psychological stuff. And that stuff exists with or without the sex -- which is why a seduction to murder say, can look so much like a sexual seduction at times. So when we evaluate sexual imagery, I think we can't simply do so by saying 'it creates drama' -- I don't think it does. More likely it contributes to mood, to theme and may enhance the underlying drama or compete with it. So that's how I think we need to evaluate it. But several posters have said that it's not about the sex, and I agree. Several other genres are also strong mood genres -- fantasy, horror, and romance for example. None are known for their authors writing too little imagery. When we have a criticism about their imagery, it's usually that authors are writing too damn much. (If I had to pick a worst offender it'd be Fantasy by a country mile, but that's hardly the point.) So the same criteria that apply to descriptions of squelchy-bits apply equally to shiny swords, mutilated cadavers and Audrey Hepburn's hats. My point being that a paragraph or so on any of these subjects without some intervening drama or some theme to enrich it, is normally plenty.
Last edited by Ruv Draba; 03-01-2010 at 06:26 AM. |
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#134 | |
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Banned
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 48,359
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#135 | |
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Banned
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 5,114
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I'm bored with this. More cartoons, Libbie! |
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#136 |
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Worst song played on ugliest guitar
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: umber and black Humberland
Posts: 5,336
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You should give a rat's ass. It's "The New Kings of Sapphic Erotica."
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Libbie Hawker
Blog | Facebook | Twitter Also writing as Lavender Ironside Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Smashwords Freelance book cover design |
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#137 |
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Worst song played on ugliest guitar
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: umber and black Humberland
Posts: 5,336
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![]() I think I have officially exceeded my allowed quota of thread derailings. I'm going to get banned if I don't step lively.
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Libbie Hawker
Blog | Facebook | Twitter Also writing as Lavender Ironside Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Smashwords Freelance book cover design |
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#138 | |
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New kid, but no need to be gentle.
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Inside your computer.
Posts: 454
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And this cartoon nearly made me wet my pants from laughing. Thank you for bringing the awesome to this thread.
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My books, with excerpts and reviews, at: http://kathleendienne.com My Twitter. My Facebook page. Now available: Tuscan Heat, a story of vacation flings and happily ever after. |
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#139 | |
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Abnormal Romance Author
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Omahabad, Nebraskastan
Posts: 17,723
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Quote:
__________________
Lori Website * Blog * Twitter AW Library: Lauren Gallagher * L. A. Witt In-Progress: To Know The Enemy - 41,095 / 85,000 The Only One Who Knows (w/Cat Grant) - 51,879 / 55,000 Enjoy the Silence - 1,501 / 30,000 The Princess & The Porn Star - Available Now! |
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#140 |
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kimochi warui
P&CE Ombudsman/Arbiter/Thingamajobbie
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Posts: 26,526
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Oh for fuck's sake.
^^^see what I did thar? If I want to write about boy parts going into girl parts in explicit detail for several thousand words and have character and plot development through the sex (and yes, even through the specific imagery and description of that sex!) and do it well, I'm damn well going to do it. Hey, in fact I have — and it was about sex, too! Oh, and on top of everything else, I'm going to call it literary erotica because it's totally deep. In more ways than one. God help anyone who reads it on a plane.
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#141 |
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Banned
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 5,114
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Last edited by Ruv Draba; 03-01-2010 at 08:17 AM. |
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#142 |
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Worst song played on ugliest guitar
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: umber and black Humberland
Posts: 5,336
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Bringing awesome to threads is what I do. That, and revise my book, apparently.
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Libbie Hawker
Blog | Facebook | Twitter Also writing as Lavender Ironside Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Smashwords Freelance book cover design |
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#143 | |
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an Eric Dolphy fan
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: AW. A very nice place!
Posts: 8,327
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![]() But if not, bear in mind that there are a good number of novels with little to no dialogue. I've read a lot of YA survival novels, of the sort, in which characters are going up against the elements by themselves, like The Island of the Blue Dolphins, which won the Newberry. I'm sure there are adult novels as well, in all genres, which have sparce dialogue. So if you want to avoid it you can. By all means try to improve by practise. But if you're still struggling 2 years from now, maybe give the former tactic a whirl. Just my 2 cents, based on my own, individual experience.
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a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, and z. Now I know my ABCs, next time won't you sing with me. ![]() |
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