(Second Skin is still available a while longer for just 99 cents on Amazon, don't miss out!)
I needed a mini-vacation, so I snuck away from Thursday to Sunday. I was able to relax for a bit, eat some good food, read a book, and I even managed to write a reasonable number of words. (It was a "no men allowed" weekend with my mother, and I am not at a point in my life where I can write smutty things on my computer while she is in the room. In fact, I don't think I'll ever reach that point in my life. At least she went to bed earlier than I did.)
I'm writing another novella for the 1Night Stand series, and I'm super excited about this one. I won't give away all the details just yet, but I will say: Damn. I fucking love this fucking story. As of right now, Disintegration has the honor of being referred to as my "masterpiece", but this book might overtake it.
One of the reasons I've been writing up a storm is that I'm trying something new - the book is written in first-person present tense POV. I've done little projects using that technique before (like my story in The Big Book of Orgasm), but this is my first major undertaking in the first person.
It's not without its challenges. Firstly, I need to establish a voice that is not my own (so something other than snark and adverbs, I guess), because I am not the character and vice versa. Secondly, I have to find a way to describe things that sounds natural and doesn't slip into too much of a narration. Finally, I've arrived at the sex scenes. Those first two issues I mentioned? Multiply them by a hundred while writing those.
That said, I've realized while writing that there's no way this story could have been told any other way. It's an emotional, poignant journey for both leads, and really digging around inside their heads is the most effective way to get that across, I think. I'll also admit to torturing my characters a little bit before they find love and their satisfying happy ending. And no matter what point of view is used, we can all breathe a sigh of relief at that point, right?
I hear you on prying your voice away from character voice! Also, I find it difficult to write when anybody is in the room, regardless of their relation to me.
ReplyDeleteI've got some sex scenes in my current WIP (for Camp NaNoWriMo), and they are certainly.....interesting to work on. At one point, I'd left off writing in the middle of one, so it was a bit of a surprise to return to when I sat down again!
That weekend sounds great! I soo need one of those.
ReplyDeleteI started trying my hand in first person last year. It does have some interesting challenges that I wasn't quite expecting. It's super fun though. I've gotten so used to doing multiple POVs, it's actually been kind of freeing to just be in one person's head.
And I can barely even write myself notes if there is someone else in the room. I need to know exactly where they are and what they're doing. I'm quite paranoid of someone sneaking up behind me and reading over my shoulder. Lol!