I have a hard time avoiding both sex and violence in a story, which makes it difficult to write a young adult or children's story. They keep slipping in. For instance, in my Alice in Wonderland knockoff series. There, though, it's usually between rabbits. Charlie -- hvysmker.
I haven't been told anything like that by my readers, but when I re-read what I have written, I keep noticing how I tend to write "this is absolutely certain" instead of "this is certain" or "he understood it perfectly well" instead of "he understood it". I mean, sometimes it's appropriate, but often it's quite sufficient to say that someone just knows something or just understands something or just is aware of something. Did you notice it? I just wrote "quite sufficient" where "sufficient" would have been sufficient.
Now, see, I wanted to ask that, but got all embarrassed and chickened out. But fuck it (no pun intended, but...). Who am I to write sex scenes if I can't say this shit in a forum that doesn't even use our real names? So yeah, that sounds much better and a lot less dangerous. Shower, bedroom, check. got it.
whew! I am sure glad we got that cleared up. I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable or embarrassed. Wait. Yes I do!
If you're getting a genuine emotional reaction from your work, you're doing your job. It is a power I had no appreciation of until I caught someone off guard. I was not happy about it, but knowing it happens is an eye opener. You accept the response you get, even if it's not what you like, knowing you can at least touch emotions.
That is good to hear, I get emotional responses to my own work on the time, mostly laughter or crying. Just today as I was working on the first Revision, I bursted out laughing at an exchange between my MC and a Secondary Character who is a mercenary leader and sort of a rival for my MC.
Eyes. I talk about them a bit too much, describing them in detail. Perhaps its due to the whole "Eyes are the window to the soul" thing. I don't like oddly colored eyes either and never use them. Baths are another. Besides the fact that I love to bathe, I tend to use bath time as a way for characters to relax, sort out mental bullshit their going through and plan ahead.
Okay, i'm starting to noticing myself something that I unwittingly put in my books, my Characters have a tendency to smile a lot. "Soft smile, Warm Smile, Amused smile, smirk, Smile Smile, smile, smiled, etc."
I do both of these a lot. Also, it's very rare for me to be able to write any story where there's no sex (which, reading through, it appears I'm not alone in this). I do have a YA story where the characters are all wolves and there's none in that
For me it's nodding. My characters are forever nodding in agreement, assent, confirmation, satisfaction, acknowledgment, etc. etc. etc. I just write it then go back and look for the nods to paint them in a different color.
Laughing as a beat, and giving each other the finger as a response. True in my experience the second is pretty common amongst other ranks as a yeah yeah fuck off response, but I counted thirty eight instances in three chapters of my first book... After editing.
My characters shake their heads, nod their heads. Widen their eyes. Sigh. Even when I'm conscious of it, it slips in. A theme I cover frequently across a lot of my stories are alienation. Demons also make frequent appearances in the stories. Especially lately.
This thread should really be up in the main section. Reading all the things you writers do too much is giving me huge insights into what I do too little of. Body language is almost absent in my work, that's going to change soon though, which will also help with my word count goals.
In many of my scenes, the radio is on in the background. I don't know why. I guess because I often have the radio on in the background.
Well, damn, I suppose there are a few now that I think about it... -characters vomiting -daddy issues -sex in doggy style -martial arts & guns -horses -someone has to be at least slightly French -buzz cuts -eyebrows KNITTING together
I used to write poetry, haven't so much the last few years, but I was always told that my stuff was good for a feels trip. I was really, really good at describing emotions that every teen around me seemed to have--pain, angst, love (mostly unrequited--in my case, entirely so), hope for a future that seems unbearably bleak. It always made me feel good that people could really feel with me like that. That my poems could drag them along after and leave them wanting more, like a Casanova. My high-emotion scenes are always really, really good, too, in my WIP. The main character's family dies, his youngest daughter in his arms, and I've had people tell me that it reduced them to tears. One of my first posts in the forum was in the 'why do you write' thread. It was...probably a bit creepy, ("I think I know why they call it a ribcage--my heart, these stories, beat on it, wanting to be free" or something) but someone said it 'gave them feels'. Mission accomplished.
Vomit used to find its way into a lot of my stories as well -- I infamously ended a fluffy drabble with a character puking one time -- but now that I throw up more in real life it doesn't seem to be as compelling to me I didn't throw up for like fifteen straight years so I guess it was some sort of vicarious experience thing. Now it's mundane. Spoiler: a brief story about vomiting that I think is funny but is also probably gross A couple years ago my brother and I got home after being out drinking with friends -- I had done most of the drinking because he was driving -- and while I can hold my booze no problem, I discovered that whiskey + sweet food = bad. Sweets bother my stomach on the best of days, but as we walked through the kitchen we spotted these dark chocolate brownies with cream cheese icing and sprinkles that our other roommate had made and both went ah, yes. This was before Breath of the Wild came out, so we were hanging out in my room talking about it and eating our brownies, and I suddenly realized that I wasn't feeling well. Without saying anything about it I grabbed my trash can and sat down on the floor, while my brother looked slightly confused. And without missing a beat -- I distinctly remember that I was talking excitedly about the BOTW Rito designs -- I puked up my brownie and went back to being hyped about new Zelda. The last time I'd thrown up I was a small feverish child and the entire experience seemed terribly dramatic, so I think that's where my association with vomiting came from. Now I know that it can just be "bleaurgh so anyway about those candy-colored bird people ..." it just doesn't have that much impact to me. Since then, I've woken myself up puking, and that just annoyed me because man, now I gotta wash my sheets, goddammit.
Puking has become something of a meme in the stories I write with my hubby after our first attempt at a novel where the characters vomited whenever they got bad news, which was more than once. We didn't even notice it until we re-read the whole thing and were like, wtf is wrong with these characters/us? I've found out vomiting after drinking orange juice makes the experience somewhat tolerable. I don't really drink much nowadays, but when I did, the hangovers were infernal. I don't know if OJ works for others, but for me it made the inevitable toilet bowl prayers a little bit less hellish. So you know, some hangover strats for ya folks.
My MC Alexei seems to have an awfully sensitive stomach...He’s needed to vomit twice now after receiving bad news and has been nauseous a couple of other times. He works in a restaurant and eats many of his meals there. I’m thinking the health department should close the place down any day now for food poisoning. Back to editing...
