Pretty in Pink
The NY Post had an article about New York being lit up in pink in support of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The Empire State Building, the Lincoln Center, the Time Warner Center, and the Woolworth Building (Harlequin's NY home) will all be lit up tonight to generate awareness.
What a lot of non-NYers don't realize is that the Empire State Building is lit up differently every not and usually it's for a good cause. The history of the colors is listed here . Anyway, I just wanted to share because I think it's fascinating, which is why you'll find the reference to it in Diva's Guide.
I usually try and write while my kids are in school, but yesterday I wrote several pages in long-hand and had to transcribe them into my computer after the kids were home. So I'm sitting on my bed and typing away while the kids came in every five minutes. "Mom, I'm hungry," "Mom, is it okay if I eat this?," "Mom, she won't share her computer with me." Now, this is normal operating procedure at our household, which I why I try to quit writing when the kids get home. So, if it's normal, then why was yesterday so different? Because I was transcribing a s-e-x scene and the constant, Mohomwails were killing any possible magic that might have occurred. Sigh.
Most romance authors would like you to believe that there is a great altar that they kneel before and the goddess of good writing comes down, and the words magically appear on the page, like in a Harry Potter movie. Ha. Truth is, that's not it. In your first romance novel, if you choose to have a love scene (and not all do), it's relatively easy. If, like me, you've read millions of romance novels, you know the drill (metaphorically speaking). You know the code; you know what's what, and most importantly of all, the earth must move.
But, eventually, usually on the second scene you write, the magic disappears. You can't repeat the same exact scene, so you must go to the well (again, metaphorically only) and figure out what these two characters (please God it's only two) would think, do, and say. Not as easy as people think.
Downright difficult, in fact, because in a romance, the love scenes are not about "Insert Tab B in Slot A," but about the sharp jags in emotional feeling that accompany it. These are the high points and low points in a relationship, and to capture it on paper means walking a very fine line. Some writers go purple, and for some writers it works. Some writers go purple, and for some writers, it doesn't work. I don't like the color purple, and I try to go off-kilter. I think too many people have inhibitions about their own emotional and physical nakedness for the color purple. I've written lots of "awkward sex" scenes, usually it's near the black moment in the book. I've written one "the earth definitely DID NOT move" (Touched By Fire). I've written one seventeen page sex scene (The Longest Night), mainly because I got the title before I wrote the book, and so I knew I needed a scene, (and I was very proud of myself because it fit the characters so well).
Sometimes the goddess of good writing does come down and the words just flow, but often the writer has to play voyeur on the minds and bodies of their characters, and it's a very strange, uncomfortable experience. At least for me, anyway. So, next time you read a love scene, do not mock the writer, do not read it aloud as part of a drinking game, some writer, somewhere went to a lot of work to get those words to fit and sound just right. After all, it's about a lot more than just the sex.
What a lot of non-NYers don't realize is that the Empire State Building is lit up differently every not and usually it's for a good cause. The history of the colors is listed here . Anyway, I just wanted to share because I think it's fascinating, which is why you'll find the reference to it in Diva's Guide.
I usually try and write while my kids are in school, but yesterday I wrote several pages in long-hand and had to transcribe them into my computer after the kids were home. So I'm sitting on my bed and typing away while the kids came in every five minutes. "Mom, I'm hungry," "Mom, is it okay if I eat this?," "Mom, she won't share her computer with me." Now, this is normal operating procedure at our household, which I why I try to quit writing when the kids get home. So, if it's normal, then why was yesterday so different? Because I was transcribing a s-e-x scene and the constant, Mohomwails were killing any possible magic that might have occurred. Sigh.
Most romance authors would like you to believe that there is a great altar that they kneel before and the goddess of good writing comes down, and the words magically appear on the page, like in a Harry Potter movie. Ha. Truth is, that's not it. In your first romance novel, if you choose to have a love scene (and not all do), it's relatively easy. If, like me, you've read millions of romance novels, you know the drill (metaphorically speaking). You know the code; you know what's what, and most importantly of all, the earth must move.
But, eventually, usually on the second scene you write, the magic disappears. You can't repeat the same exact scene, so you must go to the well (again, metaphorically only) and figure out what these two characters (please God it's only two) would think, do, and say. Not as easy as people think.
Downright difficult, in fact, because in a romance, the love scenes are not about "Insert Tab B in Slot A," but about the sharp jags in emotional feeling that accompany it. These are the high points and low points in a relationship, and to capture it on paper means walking a very fine line. Some writers go purple, and for some writers it works. Some writers go purple, and for some writers, it doesn't work. I don't like the color purple, and I try to go off-kilter. I think too many people have inhibitions about their own emotional and physical nakedness for the color purple. I've written lots of "awkward sex" scenes, usually it's near the black moment in the book. I've written one "the earth definitely DID NOT move" (Touched By Fire). I've written one seventeen page sex scene (The Longest Night), mainly because I got the title before I wrote the book, and so I knew I needed a scene, (and I was very proud of myself because it fit the characters so well).
Sometimes the goddess of good writing does come down and the words just flow, but often the writer has to play voyeur on the minds and bodies of their characters, and it's a very strange, uncomfortable experience. At least for me, anyway. So, next time you read a love scene, do not mock the writer, do not read it aloud as part of a drinking game, some writer, somewhere went to a lot of work to get those words to fit and sound just right. After all, it's about a lot more than just the sex.
posted by Kathleen at 8:54 AM
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