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Showing content with the highest reputation on 07/07/2014 in all areas

  1. My writing process is complex and eclectic mix of sometimes this, other times that, occasionally that thing over there. My "magnum opus", the story I spend 95% of my writing time on, is an ever changing thing. I don't have an overarching design with a very specific end in mind. The whole thing started as a challenge from my wife, We enjoyed reading good lesbian erotica together (I'd read aloud to her, a kind of adult bedtime story), but the problem was, "good" and "lesbian erotica" seemed to be mutually exclusive terms. There were just enough good writers to keep us hoping we might find another diamond in the enormous slag heap if we shoveled enough crap. Finally, she dared me to try writing an erotic story. How hard could it be? I thought. Sure, I'll give it a go. How hard can it be indeed. It all depends in how seriously you take it, and once I got started, I found myself taking it very seriously. Coming up with an idea wasn't especially difficult -- I've always had stories/fantasies run through my head in idle moments and long drives. I wrote out out Chapter 1 as a way of introducing the characters, how they knew each other, and how and why they found themselves about to become lovers. Once out of the immediate setting (briefly snowbound after a blizzard), I envisioned a series of erotic vignettes. Three Chapters in, the whole thing suddenly morphed into something I never expected. The logic of the thing demanded I go right when I expected to go left. If I went left, a few more chapters and my writing "career" would end, and I'd be able to say I lived up to my wife's challenge. If I went right, the muse Calliope made it quite clear I was getting myself into something I did not then comprehend. The sign at the right hand fork was very clear: "Warning: Here there be beastes and dragons." Going right would send me headlong into a world of mystery and wonder, teaching me harsh lessons on the Law of Unintended Consequences and other arcana. How hard can it be? I blithely said to myself. Ha! Ask a dumb question... So I went right, and hard as it's been, I've never regretted it for a moment. I found my avocation. I came into the story with no preconceived ideas of how a story "should" be written. I've pretty much made it up as I've gone along, going with whatever works for a given installment. I'm not, nor will I ever be prolific. I admire authors who can maintain a consistent level of excellence within a large oeuvre. My level of "excellence" is not for me to decide; my output is, and it will never be large. That being the case, I have the relative luxury of being able to write a story where the characters are primary, the plot secondary -- not so much secondary as subordinate. Knowing my characters in minute detail is the single most important part of my writing process. If I know them intimately (and I do) and I treat them honestly (I try my damnedest), I have a fair amount of leeway in how the plot progresses. I rarely know more than a chapter or two ahead where things are going, except in the most vague sense, but if I trust my characters, I can trust they will show me where they need to go. I don't believe real life is predestined, so in a story driven by characters, I don't feel the endpoint should be predestined. The story's progression flows naturally from the choices the characters make and how they make them. I tend to use a lot of sub-themes, some more prominent and important than others, but each crucial in its own way. I also like playing around with metaphors large and small. I try not to lock myself into anything. Generally when I end a chapter, I know what's going to happen in the next one. That said, it's not unusual for me to discover what I thought was going to happen just doesn't work, so I have to be flexible enough to throw out 5,000 words of text if it isn't correct. On more than one occasion, I tossed an entire chapter because it turned out to be all wrong, and if you think that didn't hurt! In the process of writing, I try my best to avoid repeating a word unless I have no choice. Given that the story is at least nominally erotic, describing the sexual action is naturally paramount. I always try to do so with resorting to using F*** unless I have no choice, or if it's what one of the characters cries out in the throes of orgasm. I try to avoid the C word even more studiously, though there are times when, used in the correct context, it's simply the best word available. I tend to write very descriptive -- sometimes minutely so -- and explicit descriptions of what a character is seeing, smelling, tasting, feeling, and hearing. I used to have the bad habit of shifting between the two characters views of the action rather than sticking with just one characters POV, unless very clearly delineated. I also have been in the habit of trying to describe what an orgasm feels like, and though I sometimes think I've an OK job, I ultimately believe it's pretty much impossible to do with any justice -- now I'm trying to find ways to break that habit without losing any passion. These are challenges, and for me, the fun of the writing process is in learning to master the various challenges I set for myself. Ultimately, to my mind, the most important part of the writing process is summed up in one word: editing. There are, for me, multiple types of editing, from reworking a paragraph during the course of writing, to working over a series of drafts, fine tuning until I'm reasonably satisfied with the end product, to the reading aloud of that end product to my wife. When she gives her editorial approval, I ship it off to two different editors, one for proofreading, the other for content, stylistic, and grammatical editing. Only when I've made my final decisions on whether to accept or decline an editors suggestions do I finally post a chapter on the various sites I use to get it out there to my small but loyal readership. I will generally do seven editing run-throughs before a chapter reaches the point I think it's ready for my wife's critical ear. She's the one editor who can and will be merciless with me, and tell me if something I've written is crap. In the end, my writing process is whatever works for a given chapter. It rarely flows out of me without effort. I use different tacks whenever needed. Part of the fun -- and writing this story is almost always great fun -- is figuring out exactly what tack works best to achieve my goals. Well now, I guess I took a relatively simple question and way over complicated it. Too late in the day to subject it to editing -- luckily it's the weekend and I don't have to be up at 5 AM to go to work. Good night!
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