30 days on writing: Entry #16: On sex and love
Sex!
Writing love, writing sex
More memeage: In this edition, Young Geoffrey talks about the ins and outs (as it were) of sex and love and fiction and the dangers that arise (as it were) from combining even two of those three things.
16. Do you write romantic relationships? How do you do with those, and how "far" are you willing to go in your writing? ;)
There are times when I want to punch those who write these god damned memes - what's up with the fershlugginer smiley, for instance?
Presumably, the originator is an American and so vaguelly embarrassed even by brushing past the very concept of sex.
Well, I'm a Canuck of half-Finn descent, and so
Yes, I've written quite a few romantic relationships. Or, more to the point, those of my stories that dealt primarily with romantic relationships were mostly about failed or aborted romantic relationships, the agony of love from afar.
And there's little mystery to me why I did so.
As some of you know, my adolescences was blessed by much in the way of love or sex. More often than not, I kept my crushes to myself, to frightened of rejection to risk it in the first place.
Small wonder than, that early stories like "One Long Night Along the 401" or "Love Considered as a Four-Letter Word" in which the character who would later be called "Orson" meets and shares a tent with a girl much cooler than he is before she goes on her way the next morning, featured (male) characters unable or unwilling to express their attraction or desire.
When I did write of succesful relationships back then, I don't think they rang especially true, which is little surprise considering that I hadn't had any real Relationship until I was in my early 20s.
The other reason is simpler and less fraught with psychoanalysis. It is easier to make dramatic a tragedy - even a personal tragedy - than bliss. There is a good reason a wedding usually signals the end of a novel or the end of the good part of a television series. Getting trip to the altar is much easier to make interesting than is the daily grind of making coffee in the morning.
As for how far I'll go, I've written completely explicit smut, so I guess I'll go pretty far. And the relatively recent tried to marry both smut and story, if you're interested.
0. Explain yourself! In which Young Geoffrey explains the meme and his reasons for exploring it.
1. Tell us about your favorite writing project/universe that you've worked with and why.
2. How many characters do you have? Do you prefer males or females
3. How do you come up with names, for characters (and for places if you're writing about fictional places)?
4. Tell us about one of your first stories/characters!
5. By age, who is your youngest character? Oldest? How about "youngest" and "oldest" in terms of when you created them?
6. Where are you most comfortable writing? At what time of day? Computer or good ol' pen and paper?
7. Do you listen to music while you write? What kind? Are there any songs you like to relate/apply to your characters?
8. What's your favorite genre to write? To read?
9. How do you get ideas for your characters? Describe the process of creating them.
10. What are some really weird situations your characters have been in? Everything from serious canon scenes to meme questions counts!
11. Who is your favorite character to write? Least favorite?
12. In what story did you feel you did the best job of worldbuilding? Any side-notes on it you'd like to share?
13. What's your favorite culture to write, fictional or not?
14. How do you map out locations, if needed? Do you have any to show us?
15. Midway question! Tell us about a writer you admire, whether professional or not!
17. Favorite protagonist and why!
18. Favorite antagonist and why!
19. Favorite minor that decided to shove himself into the spotlight and why!
20. What are your favorite character interactions to write?
21. Do any of your characters have children? How well do you write them?
22. Tell us about one scene between your characters that you've never written or told anyone about before! Serious or not.
23. How long does it usually take you to complete an entire story - from planning to writing to posting (if you post your work)?
24. How willing are you to kill your characters if the plot so demands it? What's the most interesting way you've killed someone?
25. Do any of your characters have pets? Tell us about them.
26. Let's talk art! Do you draw your characters? Do others draw them? Pick one of your OCs and post your favorite picture of him!
27. Along similar lines, do appearances play a big role in your stories? Tell us about them, or if not, how you go about designing your characters.
28. Have you ever written a character with physical or mental disabilities? Describe them, and if there's nothing major to speak of, tell us a few smaller ones.
29. How often do you think about writing? Ever come across something IRL that reminds you of your story/characters?
30. Final question! Tag someone! And tell us what you like about that person as a writer and/or about one of his/her characters!
This entry was originally posted at http://ed-rex.dreamwidth.org/14722.html. Comment there using OpenID, or here as per normal.
Writing love, writing sex
More memeage: In this edition, Young Geoffrey talks about the ins and outs (as it were) of sex and love and fiction and the dangers that arise (as it were) from combining even two of those three things.
16. Do you write romantic relationships? How do you do with those, and how "far" are you willing to go in your writing? ;)
There are times when I want to punch those who write these god damned memes - what's up with the fershlugginer smiley, for instance?
Presumably, the originator is an American and so vaguelly embarrassed even by brushing past the very concept of sex.
Well, I'm a Canuck of half-Finn descent, and so
Yes, I've written quite a few romantic relationships. Or, more to the point, those of my stories that dealt primarily with romantic relationships were mostly about failed or aborted romantic relationships, the agony of love from afar.
And there's little mystery to me why I did so.
As some of you know, my adolescences was blessed by much in the way of love or sex. More often than not, I kept my crushes to myself, to frightened of rejection to risk it in the first place.
Small wonder than, that early stories like "One Long Night Along the 401" or "Love Considered as a Four-Letter Word" in which the character who would later be called "Orson" meets and shares a tent with a girl much cooler than he is before she goes on her way the next morning, featured (male) characters unable or unwilling to express their attraction or desire.
When I did write of succesful relationships back then, I don't think they rang especially true, which is little surprise considering that I hadn't had any real Relationship until I was in my early 20s.
The other reason is simpler and less fraught with psychoanalysis. It is easier to make dramatic a tragedy - even a personal tragedy - than bliss. There is a good reason a wedding usually signals the end of a novel or the end of the good part of a television series. Getting trip to the altar is much easier to make interesting than is the daily grind of making coffee in the morning.
As for how far I'll go, I've written completely explicit smut, so I guess I'll go pretty far. And the relatively recent tried to marry both smut and story, if you're interested.
0. Explain yourself! In which Young Geoffrey explains the meme and his reasons for exploring it.
1. Tell us about your favorite writing project/universe that you've worked with and why.
2. How many characters do you have? Do you prefer males or females
3. How do you come up with names, for characters (and for places if you're writing about fictional places)?
4. Tell us about one of your first stories/characters!
5. By age, who is your youngest character? Oldest? How about "youngest" and "oldest" in terms of when you created them?
6. Where are you most comfortable writing? At what time of day? Computer or good ol' pen and paper?
7. Do you listen to music while you write? What kind? Are there any songs you like to relate/apply to your characters?
8. What's your favorite genre to write? To read?
9. How do you get ideas for your characters? Describe the process of creating them.
10. What are some really weird situations your characters have been in? Everything from serious canon scenes to meme questions counts!
11. Who is your favorite character to write? Least favorite?
12. In what story did you feel you did the best job of worldbuilding? Any side-notes on it you'd like to share?
13. What's your favorite culture to write, fictional or not?
14. How do you map out locations, if needed? Do you have any to show us?
15. Midway question! Tell us about a writer you admire, whether professional or not!
17. Favorite protagonist and why!
18. Favorite antagonist and why!
19. Favorite minor that decided to shove himself into the spotlight and why!
20. What are your favorite character interactions to write?
21. Do any of your characters have children? How well do you write them?
22. Tell us about one scene between your characters that you've never written or told anyone about before! Serious or not.
23. How long does it usually take you to complete an entire story - from planning to writing to posting (if you post your work)?
24. How willing are you to kill your characters if the plot so demands it? What's the most interesting way you've killed someone?
25. Do any of your characters have pets? Tell us about them.
26. Let's talk art! Do you draw your characters? Do others draw them? Pick one of your OCs and post your favorite picture of him!
27. Along similar lines, do appearances play a big role in your stories? Tell us about them, or if not, how you go about designing your characters.
28. Have you ever written a character with physical or mental disabilities? Describe them, and if there's nothing major to speak of, tell us a few smaller ones.
29. How often do you think about writing? Ever come across something IRL that reminds you of your story/characters?
30. Final question! Tag someone! And tell us what you like about that person as a writer and/or about one of his/her characters!
This entry was originally posted at http://ed-rex.dreamwidth.org/14722.html. Comment there using OpenID, or here as per normal.