Thursday 18 June 2009

More on why it’s tough to write about happy-​​sex:

Every scene is a cell containing all the information needed to build a story, and must have all of the most important elements of story making:

  • Action — a stylized and sexier simulacrum of real time
  • New information that moves the plot forward
  • Compelling, unique leap-​​off-​​the-​​page characters
  • An emotional experience (absolutely linked to character)
  • Vivid, plot-​​relevant setting
  • Dramatic tension, suspense or conflict

If you’re missing one of those ingredients, chances are your scene won’t work.

(by Jordan E. Rosenfeld on Editor Unleashed)

I think the “New information that moves the plot forward” and the “Dramatic tension, suspense or conflict” are tough to muster up if it’s just two happy people happily happying in bed. Unless they don’t stop talking the entire time, which is kind of a violation of the “stylized and sexier simulacrum of real time” :-D

Not to say that any of that “proves my point”… it can be done, obviously. I just need to keep my eye out for opportunities. *MAGOG!*

I am intrigued by that gal’s book:

Make A Scene is a guide for writers on how to write a strong narrative — story or novel — one scene at a time.

With this story I am totally forced into writing “one scene at a time” — tidied up, polished off, shrink-​​wrapped and sent off before I type the first word of the next. Maybe I will give it a look. I thought Stephan King’s On Writing was so sublimely superior to the 3 or 4 books on writing I’d read before it that I figured it would be OK to stop reading about writing and just read good writing for a while. But I am intrigued… She probably won’t pester me about “hissed” either.