The Fondue

I came across this free story site the other day and thought I'd add a little sensual flash fiction to the mix.  The fall weather makes me crave rich desserts like chocolate fondue. Time to pull out the sweaters and indulge a little.

Desire in Long Term Relationships

Esther Perel gets it. This TED talk is really worth a watch, whether you are in a long term relationship or not. Can we want what we already have? Oh, yes. I believe we can.

"Sometimes I sits and thinks...

Sometimes I just sits."

Remember that poster? My guidance counselor had it in her office nice to one with a kitten clutching onto a laundry line that read 'Hang in there'.

Lately I've had my head down. I'm working a lot. I'm hanging in. Sometimes it feels like all I do is 'sits and thinks', which is a big part of the writing process, but it's also an annoying part. (Where are my dang pages? Why aren't they piling up like they used to?)

Last night I hung out with my friend who is a screen writer. She is all about structure and we had a great debate about plot structure and romance/erotica. (She has written four screenplays in that genre.) Personally, I'm not one for following the set formula, but it was hard to justify myself to her. Our conversation really got me thinking.

Do love interests really have to have a 'cute meeting'? It makes me think of all the Meg Ryan movies I watched growing up. Goofy lady spills coffee on handsome guy. Their eyes meet. She's so cute, he doesn't care that his shirt is ruined. Maybe it's just me being a bad writer, but it seems a bit trite to follow these rules. But then I wonder how far a writer can veer out of the convention before the story totally falls apart and doesn't belong in the romance genre at all anymore.

I guess that's what I like about erotic fiction as opposed to romance. My understanding of erotic fiction is that encompasses anything that involves overtly sexual scenes that are intended to arouse. Plot structure is a bonus, but the story doesn't have to follow any kind of predictable unfolding.

The challenge for me as a writer is that the formulas seem boring and trite and my impulse to write is at least partly motivated by a desire to step out of the mould. But to a certain extent you have to give the reader what the reader wants, especially in genre fiction. That's my understanding anyway. But doesn't the reader also want to step out of the tired old patterns?

Must there always be that beat where the main character sees her love interest with a beautiful woman and huffs off ready to break up only to discover later that her boyfriend has a sister?

I guess the real issue is this. I was happy writing erotic fiction for the past couple of years, but recently I have started to want to write romance. Erotic romance, of course. And with romance comes formulas and cliches. I guess it's like any other type of genre writing. It's best to work within the genre's form, but to find a way to tell a fresh story. That's the challenge.

I've got a couple of awesome characters on my hands these days. I'm a little bit in love with both of them, so that helps. They don't seem to want to behave the way characters in romance novels often behave. They struggle with grieving and ambitions and societal pressures and they're kind of quiet. (I wonder where they get that from - heh heh.) And there's a scene with a dying dog that I really don't want to take out, but any 'expert' on romance would tell me it doesn't belong in a romance. Nobody wants to think about dying pets. Not hot. Not appropriate. But the way my characters bond over the incident is pretty telling.

So I return to the poster wisdom from the counselor's office at my old high school. I am a chimpanzee scratching my chin. Hmmm. Sometimes I sits and thinks. Sometimes I just sits.

The Importance of Patience and Nice Guys

Just turned my latest novel into my editor. My fingers are crossed. I hope she likes it. The waiting part is the worst, but I understand that she is legitimately busy. I will be patient. I'm also waiting to hear back from another publisher about a short story I submitted. This is a waiting game, for sure.

Meanwhile, as a distraction, I'm focusing on another story I've neglected for a while. It's fun to get back to it. My main character's love interest is totally my type. He's a really nice guy. I tend to write nice guys, I guess because I like them the most.

It's funny how the stereotype is that the jerk gets the girl. I've dated jerks, too. I used to like them when I was considerably younger, but I'm all about nice people now. This guy, David, is incredibly sweet, and I love letting my heroine discover the layers of his kindness. He keeps it on the down low, so as not to seem like one of those 'nice guys' (who doesn't get the girl). It's a fine balance in the story, as I'm sure it is for a lot of guys in real life.

I have so much love for nice guys, the unsung heroes of our time. When I think of the guys I know in real life who inspire the character David, I'm filled with hope. I know a lot of really great men who are caring and compassionate and feminist in their politics and all around awesome. It baffles me that jerks get any attention at all. It really does.