I’m at a juncture in my current WIP with a problem that has never arisen before now.
Now that I’m published with two novels, you’d think "these" scenes would be easier for me. They’re not. They’re harder.
When I wrote my two novels, I was unpublished, so I never thought about who might read them. Now that I'm published and I know certain family members do read my books, I feel like I'm bringing them into the bedroom with my characters. Okay, maybe not that bad, but all I can think about is... 'what will "they" think'?'
I know the proper thing to do with a love scene is not to think about who may be reading it, but that's easier said than done. I also have to wonder if it just shouldn't be happening now. I wrote a pretty sizzling one a few months ago for this novel that occurs later in the book, so maybe it's just not time yet. (Yes, I write my scenes like a filmmaker would film their movies, and piece them together later).
Still, I wrote that "scorcher" when I was still newly published, and hadn't talked to family yet. Now that I know they're reading them...
LOL.
I've written and rewritten drafts where the movements are stilted, and the breathy sighs get old. My verbs seemed to have stopped at "pull, push, stepped back and smoothed."
You ever have this problem? How do you get over it?
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2 comments:
Among other things, I write erotic romance. My mother read my first erotic romance novella and asked me if I wrote the love scenes from experience. I said, "Mother, I've been with the same man for 16 years, there's very little we haven't done." That pretty much shut her up on the subject. Of course you could always take the approach if someone asks you about the love scene and they seem shocked in its explicitness that..."doesn't everyone have wild sex?" If they say no, pat them on the arm and say.."oh, I'm so sorry for you." Hehehehhehehee... But I wonder if readers of mysteries ask the authors if they ever murdered anyone and write from experience? They don't ask sci-fi authors if they've ever been abducted by aliens. It seems a little unfair that readers want to know if we write love scenes from experience.
-Kat
Knowing that friends and loved ones would read your love scenes does make it easy to feel self conscience. But family and frinds may not be the audience you are writing for, and ultimately it has to be about the characters and the story you want to tell, not the story that would please the relatives.
It's fiction, an author doesn't have to live it to write it.
Writing rituals, or some focus techniques might be worth the exploration. Or a glass of wine!
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