Please welcome, author, Suz deMello and learn how to write a
romance.
This talented author can give
you a lot of tips if you're a beginning writer, or even a published
author.
About the Author:
Best-selling,
award-winning author Suz deMello,
a.k.a Sue Swift, has written seventeen romance novels in several subgenres,
including erotica, comedy, historical, paranormal, mystery and suspense, plus a
number of short stories and non-fiction articles on writing. A freelance
editor, she’s held the positions of managing editor and senior editor, working
for such firms as Totally Bound and Ai Press. She also takes private clients.
Her books have been favorably
reviewed in Publishers Weekly, Kirkus and Booklist, won a contest or two,
attained the finals of the RITA and hit several bestseller lists.
A former trial attorney, her
passion is world travel. She’s left the US over a dozen times, including
lengthy stints working overseas. She’s now writing a vampire tale and planning
her next trip.
Check out Suzie's site:
http://www.suzdemello.com
And her blog: http://www.TheVelvetLair.com
A few words about writing sex scenes by Suz
deMello (#NaNoWriMo #iamwriting #writingcraft @MFRW_ORG)
My first writing
treatise, Write This, Not That! is free through 2014:
http://tinyurl.com/o8zy7xw kobo
http://tinyurl.com/qewm3ts google
Scenes are the building
blocks of your story, for acts are comprised of scenes. They're nothing more
than events, most often interactions between your characters. Scenes should
fulfill at least one or two of the below purposes—best if you can include all four.
•Advance
plot
•Reveal
or develop character
•Complicate
or resolve conflict
•Express
setting, mood, theme
Everything in your manuscript should have a
function, even every comma or em-dash.
How
does this apply to the writing of erotica?
Too
often, sex scenes are shoehorned into a story to increase the word count or the
heat level, while those scenes don't fulfill any other function. To quote from Plotting and Planning again, Everything in a story should contribute to
it, from the biggest monster to the tiniest comma.
If a
scene doesn't contribute to the story, it doesn't belong there. It doesn't
matter how well-written it is. It doesn't matter how hot it is. It doesn't
matter how much you, the author, may love the beautiful prose or the scorching
hot, kinky sex.
There's
a piece of writerly advice out there: Kill
your darlings.
No
one's quite sure where this phrase originated, but it's been repeated often, by
such notable authors as William Faulkner and Stephen King.
But
it doesn't matter who originated the phrase--it's great advice. We often fall
in love with our prose and are loath to cut it, especially when we may have
slaved over a particularly well-turned clause or exhaustively researched, say,
the eating habits of the lesser lemur of Madagascar.
But
fiction is no place to be a smarty-pants. Leave that for term papers, book
reports and theses.
In
terms of writing sex scenes, what do we leave in and what do we cut?
We
leave in those scenes that fulfill at least one of the above purposes. Ideally,
a well-written, thoughtfully planned encounter will fulfill more than one
purpose.
Here's
a brief example, from a story I wrote called Gypsy Witch. The back story is that the heroine is dating a cop.
Ben propped himself up
on his elbows to better see the naked woman beneath him. Sheened with sweat,
Elena’s lush curves glowed in the reddish half-light of her bedroom, curtained
in exotically patterned swaths of gauze and silk. A curl of smoke from a lit
incense stick scented the air with sandalwood. Otherworldly New Age music
flowed out of a boombox in the corner, irritating the hell out of him.
Though the paragraph is very sensual, there’s quite a bit of
characterization and even a little conflict—and this is only the first
paragraph of the story. We see that Ben is very “feet-on-the-ground” while
Elena, his lover, is exotic and New-Agey. So character is described, setting is
related and the romantic conflict is shown.
As a
romance novelist, I believe firmly that erotic scenes should never be gratuitous.
If a writer keeps the purposes a scene must fulfill in mind while writing, the
sex is never out of place but is a seamless part of a well-written story.
Thank you, Suz, for being here today. I'm sure all of my readers including myself
have learned a lot from you.
Suz, thank you for
visiting my blog today. I've enjoyed
learning from you.
Have a great week, and I'll be back on my blog next Sunday.
Sandra
