Category Archives: Guest Posts

A guest post by Joshua Essoe.

In part one we talked about if you should go all the way, how to decide, creating tension in all the right places, and what position you should take. Tonally speaking.

Today, let’s get into some specifics of when you’re trying to verb the adjective noun.

Your characters should inform everything that takes place between them. Who are they? Are they gregarious and shameless? Well then, yeah, a character like that might just throw their clothes off, give strip teases for the thrill of it, and view kisses as fun but meaningless.

Is your character shy? Well that character is very unlikely to just throw their clothes off or have sex in a changing room. Maybe they want the light turned off first, maybe they kiss tentatively, and slowly, maybe they need their partner to undress first.

And let’s not forget about laying down complications, hiking up tension, and stroking inner conflict. Maybe your character feigns confidence and it gets tested terribly when things heat up. Maybe they’re worried about some perceived physical defect. Maybe the character is married or committed to someone else–what kind of inner conflict would that engender? How would that other relationship inform their choices in the romance with someone else? Are they in love with two people at once?

Let’s get deeper into the question of how far you should push.

Just like any other scene, you focus on what you want your readers to focus on. And that is what your specific character would be focused on. What does your viewpoint character find attractive and sexy about the character they are with? Both physically and in their personality, their movements, their smell, the sounds they make. Maybe that shameless character is turned on by having everything articulated. That character definitely likes the dirty dirty. Maybe that shy character is focused on the eyes and minute facial expressions. Use all the senses. What is going to make it interesting and unique are the specific details you use. The more specific and narrow you make your focus, the sexier the scene will be. And yes, sometimes that means you’ll be writing about what parts go where and what that feels like.

The way you inform your readers of that, what words you use, will depend on your characters, the tone of the story, and how you’ve set it up. There should always be some words on your Do Not Fly list. Let me suggest a few:

Turgid, adj
Purple, adj/noun
Fleshy, adj
Wrinkled, verb (If this is an adjective, then please don’t send me this MS.)
Pert, adj
Moist, adj

These are not sexy words. Even penis. Penis is not a sexy word. They accurately describe something, sure, but analytically relating what a thing is, or what a thing does, does not sexy make. Likewise, be careful with the placement of your sexy words because it will be hard, err, difficult to keep from using them over and over. Keep track of those little buggers or everything is going to end up wet, or hard . . . or turgid.

But, like everything else in writing, it is a careful balancing act. Just like any other action scene, don’t go overboard with your descriptions or you’ll bog down your prose, and kill your pacing and interest. When I say focus in and use specific details I don’t mean that you should describe every single movement or action taking place. You can leave some things to your readers’ imaginations. They’ll fill in the blanks.

Be aware of the tropes. There are a lot out there, but here are some common ones:

The woman or man is unattainably attractive.
She has an apparent willingness to have sex with the male protagonist, usually as a means of manipulating him.
The female character is duplicitous, and either secretly evil or forced to act that way for some reason.
Rape. I can’t tell you how tired women, in particular, are of reading rape used as a tool to garner sympathy, or stoke conflict. But that is a separate article.

One final note. It’s worth talking about the actual, physical writing of these kinds of scenes. I heartily recommend your local Starbucks if you want the dude with the Beats by Dre, the man in the pinstriped shirt, and the cute, spikey-haired girl sneaking stares as your face flushes, your breath quickens, and you start to sweat. Just please keep your hands on your keyboard at all times.

Or maybe you should plan to write these things in private. And then you can let your hands do whatever they gotta do.

Wherever you chose to write your dive in the dark, don’t stop, once you start. Going halfway into the scene, then pulling out for a break kills your own tension and takes you out of the flow. It would be like texting with your buddy while you’re bed-pressing with your partner. Just like in real life you want the process to go smoothly without interruption. Write the whole scene in one ecstatic burst. Do not go back to read what you’ve written. Do not count how many times you’ve used the words “moist,” and “pert.” It doesn’t matter, don’t break your rhythm.

That means do not stop to edit yourself! The scene might suck, but that does not matter, just like any first draft, you’ll have your chance to go back and massage it into splendor later.

If you’ve never written a sex scene, and maybe even if you have, you may feel embarrassed, or even scared enough that you can only manage a tag to yourself, “put the sex stuff here.” For those of you that this applies to, take heart. You don’t have to view writing sex and romance as writing a sex scene or writing erotica. You’re just writing a scene. That’s it. You’ll do great. Let your characters guide you, listen to them, just as you would with any other scene, and write.

About Joshua Essoe:

Joshua Essoe is a full-time, freelance editor. He’s done work for best-seller David Farland, including the multi-award winning novel, Nightingale; Dean Lorey, lead writer of Arrested Development; best-seller, James Artimus Owen; and numerous Writers of the Future authors and winners, as well as many top-notch independents. He is currently the copy editor at Urban Fantasy Magazine.

Together with tie-in writer Jordan Ellinger, indie success-story, Michael J. Sullivan, and traditionally published author and NY Times best-seller, Debbie Viguie, he records the weekly writing podcast Hide and Create.

When not editing . . . ha ha, a joke. He was a 2014 finalist in the Writers of the Future contest, and lives with his wife, and three horrible cats near UCLA.

The Monster Mash: Writing Sex Scenes, Part One

February 9, 2015

fictorians

Character Craft & Skills Guest Posts Joshua Essoe Reflection The Writing Life Tropes & Archetypes 1 Comment

A guest post by Joshua Essoe.

This is an intimidating subject, and one I think many authors have a lot of questions about. Should the characters indulge in a little horizontal refreshment? Do they or don’t they? Should I or shouldn’t I?

In loving someone else, we really do discover things about ourselves. The act of sex opens up all kinds of emotional territory for us, and it’s great to show characters discovering themselves through their physical loving of one another.

First, let’s decide if your story needs a love scene. Just like any other scene, ideally, it should do three things–advance the plot, show character progression, and turn you on . . . I mean entertain. If the sex can reveal character, or advance plot, or increase tension, you should consider including a little limb mingling in your story. Especially if the genre encourages it.

I read an awesome quote from Delilah S. Dawson who writes the Blud series:

“Remember in Mallrats, where they were doing the dating show, and the suitors were asked if their kisses were like a soft breeze, a firm handshake, or a jackhammer? Gil answered, “Definitely a jackhammer, I’m in there with some pressure and when I’m done, you’re not the same as before. You’re changed.” And we laughed, because he was a douche. But your sex scene should be like that: it should move the story forward and somehow affect the characters emotionally. Maybe the hero learns to open up, maybe the heroine decides she wants to be more aggressive in her real life, maybe they’re just having what they think is a last fling before a giant orc battle. But it has to mean something, or else it’s just porn.”

So here are some things to consider:

A) Is a character’s personal life necessary to the story?

B) Should the sex be explicit or implied?

C) What genre is it for?

Each genre is going to cook the meat and potatoes a different way, and have different expectations and limitations. Do your research and find out what is required, and what is prohibited. Keep in mind that just because a story has a sex scene in it, it doesn’t make it erotica any more than an action story becomes a romance because there is a romantic relationship in it.

Sex scenes and romances are all about the tension. They’re about building that moment that readers are waiting for. That moment where one thing turns to another. That first kiss after all those “innocent” touches, or all that longing. It’s that slow build to that first moment where the clothes finally come off, or the first time that one character finally admits that they love the other. The buildup is where it’s at. That’s what’s interesting and engaging. The reward of the actual kiss, or the I-love-you, or the sex is nice, but it means little without the buildup of characters and those characters’ desires. Wine and dine your readers before taking them home. Everybody enjoys some foreplay.

Terry Goodkind did a masterful job of creating romantic tension in his first few Sword of Truth books. We really wanted Kahlan and Richard to get together just as much as we were invested in the central conflict being resolved. When they finally kiss and when they finally get together, however briefly, it is immensely satisfying.

Another excellent lesson from that series is that the tension of their love affair decreased exponentially with each new book that kept them apart. With the repetitive pulling apart and coming back together, it became frustrating. You can’t be a one-trick pony, no matter how good that trick is; you have to show your readers new problems, give them new conflicts. There’s only so long readers will be willing to wait, and only so much they’ll be able to stand before getting frustrated or bored and putting your story down.

You have to keep up the cycle of tension, but it has to be fresh tension.

So, okay, the characters really do need to do the pickle tickle. It’s necessary to the story, okay? How do you handle it?

Unless the tone and mood calls for it, unless the characters and the story call for it, don’t be needlessly crass. There are plenty of ways to describe things, and use implied information to inform your readers of exactly what is going on.

In one sci-fi manuscript I read, the writer plunged me into gratuitous sex scene after gratuitous sex scene with no build-up or tonal foreshadowing, and seemingly without purpose besides the writer’s desire to write raunchy sex scenes. It was like having a picnic on a cloudless day that abruptly begins raining frogs on you. It didn’t make sense and was quite jarring.

Language is important. The specific words you use are important. Don’t write a book that has a little flirtation, and then jump into a chapter where one character is practically raping another. Don’t abstain from using any harsh language, and then use all the filthiest words you can come up with when you get to your sex scene. Your story needs consistency and everything must be set up so that you are appropriately managing your readers’ expectations.

Tone is important, but don’t be afraid to have a funny sex scene either. Coming-of-age sex scenes, for example, could be just as much about the humor in the awkwardness as it is about that life-changing event for the characters. You can still do funny, and tender, and sexy all in one scene if you want. Life is nuanced, and so should your sex scenes be.

In part two, we’ll take a deeper poke at how far to go, tropes, and character penetration. Until then, don’t write anything you’ll regret in the morning.

About Joshua Essoe:

When not editing . . . ha ha, a joke. He was a 2014 finalist in the Writers of the Future contest, and lives with his wife, and three horrible cats near UCLA.

Threads in a Tapestry

February 4, 2015

fictorians

Character Craft & Skills Guest Posts Reflection The Writing Life 1 Comment

A guest post by Victoria Morris.

When I think about characters and the relationships between them, I see a vast colorful representation of the story I’m trying to create. People, emotions, gifts, and flaws all trying to balance together on the edge of something amazing, if I can weave them all together.

It’s all very much like a tapestry for me, only I use words, character traits, and behaviors to weave my story instead of threads. Relationships and each character’s strengths, weaknesses, reactions and experiences creating the story’s overall tone and feel, are like the color and types of thread weavers use to bring a tapestry to life on a loom. Every connection is important. And all of them have different markers, and identities.

Each of these — characters, and single threads of my woven picture — can be defined symbolically the same: color, thickness, strength, positioning within the pattern. Whether it has corse, or fine build. What it is that connects them to their surroundings, the place in the image on the tapestry, and setting in a story.

Every thread has its own story, very like a character in a novel. A character’s backstory — the sum total of his experiences and how he reacts or is forced to react — are the shades of those colors that create the same feel as the words an author chooses to illustrate with. The shades of color can equal the genre or tone of the writing. If the character’s been jaded, the colors are stormy or dark. Grays are prevalent. But if the story is an upbeat, happy one, those shades become much whiter, much brighter.

On the loom, the heart of the picture or tapestry, joins the single thread to other single threads. At first, nothing much is visible in the weaving. A bland line not connected to the wall, that seems shapeless as well as mundane. But then something happens. Forms start to emerge. “Nothing” begins to look like something. By sprinkling in some love, adding a dash of creativity, and a sudden burst of magic, the resulting mixture forms something fantastic.

I almost always have feeling first, when I come to the loom of my writing tapestry. That feeling is represented in different ways, but usually first by color. Light or dark permeate my thoughts, as the character builds him or herself into my mind’s eye. From that color, I extrapolate other important data, the relationships with other characters — new or as yet unknown — begin to show themselves. It’s here in this step I sense a lot of who my characters are as people. What do they care about? What would they give everything for? Whom do they love… and why?

I interview them, and as they answer these questions and others, their shape appears. And with color and shape, I begin to see what it is that is unique to them, what it is that only they can bring to the story.

At the loom, separate threads soon expand to thick sections. Patterns emerge that can help an onlooker begin to understand what’s happening. Perhaps the sky has now appeared, or a rushing waterfall can be seen in the forming image. Huge chunks are missing, the perspective is not yet clear, but some of it is there, and it’s enough to know that each piece is special.

Here is where the reader is going to see me become animated, and excited. I know the players now. I see them, and I care deeply for them. Sometimes I care so much that they begin to haunt my dreams, sending me stories inside the story. I always write them down, because almost always they lead to more of the magic. Dream tales are the clues I need to know that my heart is truly vested in these people. And in their greater project. Now, I need to know where they’re going to take me.

And to do that, each character has to bring something of value to the table. Something important that will move this work forward on its projected path. The job of prominent main characters, or even the seldom seen ones, is to make sure the scenes move — expertly woven in, so they can bring a zap of inspiration when least expected.

It’s in secondary and tertiary characters that I like to deepen the imagery with. They fill in the blanks, and liven up the view. The story perspective widens, and everyone coming along for the ride, can see what I see. Together with the main character, be it their best friend, their spouse — however the story is being told — each character combines their colors, differences, strengths, loves, and weaknesses, to make the grand picture stand out. Just like when the weaver adds in the next sections of color, building up the scene with each new thread.

When our weaver sits back from their work, having spent many hours staring at single threads, small sections, grafting in a bigger picture. They’ll notice the image as a whole. Our weaver will see their mistakes. Smile at their favorite sections. Maybe they’ll nod at the parts they like the best. They may even tear sections out to reweave, retouching in places to make sure the colors blend well, so the scene comes to life.

Putting all of our hearts into our own work really shows here. Every weaver has a personal story that carries into the piece. Each of us have things that excite us… inspire us. People whom we love that enter our works be it by thoughtful intention or subconscious message. I truly believe every part of us comes to bear when we sit down and tell our story.

Creating good character composition and interaction is a specialized art, very much like a weaver at their loom. Making people come alive on paper, capable of eliciting emotion from a reader by that character’s actions and reactions is a true gift, and a tough job all-in-one.

We as writers weave our darlings every single day, one sentence — one thread — at a time. We take all the things we know, all the emotions we have, all the colors in our rainbow, and we push them through a loom of chapters, page breaks, and revisions to let the Tapestry in our mind’s eye come to life.

As an artist, I love being able to see my characters in living color, and I can create them visually in simple pencil sketches to surround and inspire me as the hard weaving work of actual writing progresses. I think we All have something special in our tool box that helps us do this.

When the loom lies quiet this last time, the onlooker sees the image of a woman with her hand outstretched pulling a drowning man to safety from the raging waterfall that had been visible near the beginning. Within that first perspective, and very little emotion invested, a viewer would see only water. But now, looking down, they see a life-saving gesture. And they are filled with the emotion that the weaver brought to their work. They are thrilled. They are relieved. They are happy, or sad. They hold onto their child’s hand tighter, feeling a rush of intensity that the water alone would not have given. The story in this work, couldn’t tell itself without those first threads, just as it couldn’t without the middle or the last ones. It takes time, love, patience, and more time, for the final vision to emerge. Just as it takes to give each written character and story, life and breath with words.

Each of our stories will grow, form, and find their way. Some of the greatest tools a writer or a weaver possesses, are patience and tenacity. And greater still, a love so strong and compelling in each of our hearts to work creatively at all. All of us here are word-weavers. And as such, we all have threads of imagination, and stretches of story on our own personal looms. I love seeing each character and story start with beginning perspectives of single thread ideas, get woven into the intricate Tapestries we each can and will create.

About Victoria Morris:

Victoria lives on the edge of a mysty magical forest in the Pacific Northwest with one husband, two daughters, a big white dog and one huge resident bald eagle that likes to circle over her house when she brings in the groceries. A lifelong artist and not quite as long writer, Victoria is building a universe inside her head that has taken form in a six book fantasy series, with a middle grade trilogy on the side. While illustrating the world and all its characters is always on her mind, she draws portraits in her spare time to relax. Find out more here.

Do You Wanna Know What Love Is? Do You Want Me To Show You?

February 2, 2015

Kristin Luna

Author's Perspective Character Craft & Skills Doing Good in the World Goals Guest Posts Kristin Luna Motivation Narrative Voice POV Reflection Self-Awareness The Writing Life Tropes & Archetypes Writing Tools 2 Comments

Some like it hot. Others just plain don’t like it, hot or cold. I could either be talking about oatmeal or love. Unfortunately, we couldn’t figure out a month’s worth of posts about oatmeal, so we opted for love.

But not just any old love. Complicated love. Confusing love. Forbidden love. Exhausting love. Unique love. Carnie love. Maybe not carnie love, but maybe someone should start talking about it, gosh darn it, because love is love! And while we have our individual experiences, we share one thing: we’ve all been touched by it. How we’ve been touched by it is a whole ‘nuther conversation.

But we’re about to have that conversation. How can you make love between two characters unique? Should you or should you not marry your cat? How do you reach outside your own experience to create unique, surprising love between characters? How can you get that guy to stop stalking you? We hope to answer most of these questions this month.

You can look forward to posts from all of your favorite bloggers, along with special guest posts by author Lisa Mangum, her talented filmmaker husband Tracy Mangum, Cthulhu convert and author Stephan McLeroy, aspiring author and illustrator Victoria Morris, and editor/hair god Joshua Essoe. Join us as we celebrate love and relentlessly pound the crap out of it this month!