Sit down, let's write the love scene.
Arguably, for some people, it's the most important scene(s) in the book. Truthfully, they used to make me blush.
I can remember when I first started to write them. I would get red faced. It would take me a week or more to write them. My critique partner would laugh. 'They're just words,' she told me. Of course she was right but it didn't get to the crux of what my issue was.
Here's the deal--the reason it took me a very long time to make my own personal blog is because, ready for this?, in real life...I am shy.
That's right. Although I may come across online like I'm confident and easy going, the truth is that I'm not. You should see me in my REAL LIFE (RL on Twitter, right?) I second guess every decision I make. Should I get dressed in black or white? Should I send the kids to camp or not? I bite my nails, stay up late worrying, and I never, ever, ever speak in public. I'm shy and worrisome and even though in most of my writing I am not this way at all, when it came to the love scenes I was bringing all kinds of real life worry into the scenes.
Then something sort of spectacular happened. I had written a lot of love scenes, including a full fledged erotica called Behind the Scenes for Eirelander Publishing and I was still biting my nails over the scenes every time they would show up in the books. I loved how they turned out but still..
One day my husband was sitting in his office and a friend of the family who is also a work colleague of his came in. They chatted for a while and she mentioned that she had read one of my books. I think it was Love Beyond Time. He asked her how she enjoyed it and her response to him was: "She used the word cock."
That was all she could say about it. I guess it had really offended/___fill in your verb here. This kind of surprised me because most people who have read Love Beyond Time, the first book I ever wrote, have loved it.
Anyhow, instead of being horrified I cracked up laughing because the thing I had worried the most about had happened. Someone in my RL..the place where I worry and I'm shy...had read the book, made a morality call about its language and I had not perished where I stood of humiliation.
Ever since then I've had no problems writing them. None. In fact, I have fun.
How about any of you out there? Ever had trouble getting through your first love scenes, either written or read?
I really stressed out about them when I first started writing, too. What would my mother think? Would anyone find them believable? What if I'm no good at writing them?
ReplyDeleteBut then one day, I realized that they weren't about me--the writer--but instead were about my characters. I found a way to make them true to who my characters were, and then none of my worries mattered any more.
P.S. I'm super shy, like you. It's part of why I write. I can live vicariously through my characters, LOL. Plus, I don't have to be around people in order to do it.
LOL they are just words. When I first started writing them, I hated every moment. Now, I enjoy it and find them fun. Every scene has personality, just like the participants. And of course, with me, some of mine have the trademark humor. :-)
ReplyDelete