What's something you find yourself repeating in the writing you do?

[Deadman]

I just finished another story and I noticed something weird about my writing.

This story involved a character who is played by the same actor who was in another story that I wrote.

In both cases, I wrote a scene involving the character doing a dance. It completely wasn’t planned but it just felt like something I should do.

So, what have you noticed you do over and over again, or at least more than once, with a character or just writing content that happens to feature similar themes or things the characters are doing?

 

 

[BronxWench]

I tend to do it more within a single story. I had one editor tell me that if my MC drank one more cup of tea, she was going to explode.

Other than that, I find it’s very easy to fall into the same way of describing sexual acts. There really are a finite number of ways most normal humans fit together, but it irks me when I find myself falling back on the same tired descriptions, you know? I’m actually experimenting with a fade-to-black approach in one f my WIPs just to avoid the whole bother.

[Desiderius Price]

Non-sexual nudity tends to feature in my stories, characters seem to have that urge to become nudists  

[Deadman]

51 minutes ago, BronxWench said:

I tend to do it more within a single story. I had one editor tell me that if my MC drank one more cup of tea, she was going to explode.

Other than that, I find it’s very easy to fall into the same way of describing sexual acts. There really are a finite number of ways most normal humans fit together, but it irks me when I find myself falling back on the same tired descriptions, you know? I’m actually experimenting with a fade-to-black approach in one f my WIPs just to avoid the whole bother.

Yes, that’s definitely a problem with writing. There’s only a certain number of ways people can physically touch each other. I had this problem with a recent story. I wasn’t sure whether a way they were getting sexual with each other is physically possible. I figured out that it probably was but I don’t think I’d ever seen people do it.

[Deadman]

46 minutes ago, Desiderius Price said:

Non-sexual nudity tends to feature in my stories, characters seem to have that urge to become nudists  

Non-sexual nudity? So just hanging out being naked? I’ve had one or two scenes involving this. Although in my examples it was unintentional. I had one scene where a character was changing and another person walks in unexpectedly. They are interested in each other though. Would that be non-sexual?

[Desiderius Price]

1 minute ago, Deadman said:

Non-sexual nudity? So just hanging out being naked? I’ve had one or two scenes involving this. Although in my examples it was unintentional. I had one scene where a character was changing and another person walks in unexpectedly. They are interested in each other though. Would that be non-sexual?

Jeff’s in a nudist camp/retreat.  I’ve got the teen boys hiking in the buff in Alaska due to not having enough clothes (and not wanting to scuttle the trek).  In my potter fanfic, got Ash (a first year) wanting to lodge a protest so he strips in frustration at Hogwarts.  Mostly, yeah, hanging out naked… though sometimes the sexual stuff comes through, it’s not nude for the sake of being sexual, rather a flirtation of sexuality while otherwise simply being stark naked.

[Desiderius Price]

6 minutes ago, Deadman said:

Yes, that’s definitely a problem with writing. There’s only a certain number of ways people can physically touch each other. I had this problem with a recent story. I wasn’t sure whether a way they were getting sexual with each other is physically possible. I figured out that it probably was but I don’t think I’d ever seen people do it.

I shake it up… most of my scenes tend to be quick.  Vary the location, the technique, the pairing, & don’t forget props, along with the main thread of the story too.  My Harry in my Potter fanfic has a new wrinkle… so he’s gotta be careful to not be too overt with it.

[GeorgeGlass]

There are lots of recurring themes and devices in my stories, chiefly because there are only so many ways to plausibly get characters to engage in taboo sexual acts.  One device I use a lot is ritual: The characters following some pattern of behavior that puts them in a mental space where they do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do. Like when the sister and brother in my story “Excuses” say and do the same things they’ve done on previous nights when they’ve had sex so as to talk themselves and each other into believing that they HAVE to do it.

[InvidiaRed]

21 hours ago, BronxWench said:

I tend to do it more within a single story. I had one editor tell me that if my MC drank one more cup of tea, she was going to explode.

Other than that, I find it’s very easy to fall into the same way of describing sexual acts. There really are a finite number of ways most normal humans fit together, but it irks me when I find myself falling back on the same tired descriptions, you know? I’m actually experimenting with a fade-to-black approach in one f my WIPs just to avoid the whole bother.

Hahaha! There’s nothing wrong with tea. I’m glad I didn’t get an editor like that or I’d would have researched tea ceremony’s from around the world. Enjoy the pages worth of tea preparation out of spite. lol I’m only half joking.

[Desiderius Price]

21 hours ago, BronxWench said:

I’m actually experimenting with a fade-to-black approach in one f my WIPs just to avoid the whole bother.

Fade-to-black is typically how I do it in my CLEANER version of my potter fanfic.  Meant there was one scene where Hermione (&Ron) woke up on the kitchen floor the morning after to her Mother hovering over them skipping all the selacious details.  Whereas the explicit version had them

[Desiderius Price]

26 minutes ago, InvidiaRed said:

Hahaha! There’s nothing wrong with tea. I’m glad I didn’t get an editor like that or I’d would have researched tea ceremony’s from around the world. Enjoy the pages worth of tea preparation out of spite. lol I’m only half joking.

Never quite got the knack for tea taste… In a pinch, Earl Gray, black & hot, however, there’s something to be said about Raspberry tea.

[BronxWench]

1 hour ago, InvidiaRed said:

Hahaha! There’s nothing wrong with tea. I’m glad I didn’t get an editor like that or I’d would have researched tea ceremony’s from around the world. Enjoy the pages worth of tea preparation out of spite. lol I’m only half joking.

When I re-read my manuscript, I could actually see the point she was trying to make. It was almost laughable how often my poor MC made himself a cup of tea.  

And I’m really good at the traditional British method of making tea, from loose leaf and not sachets. I’m slightly conversant with chanoyu, although I would never dare to actually try to perform the tea ceremony myself without proper training. 

I like a good strong Yorkshire blend in the morning, PG Tips in the afternoon if I’m having tea, and Earl Grey before bed, if I decide to throw over my beloved coffee for a day.

 

[Desiderius Price]

5 minutes ago, BronxWench said:

When I re-read my manuscript, I could actually see the point she was trying to make. It was almost laughable how often my poor MC made himself a cup of tea.

Hmmm…. could be a half chapter on the brewing process twice a chapter….Or “they fixed themselves another cup of tea”… down to “she sipped her tea” and presume the MC simply had an auto-refilling cup.

Gets me thinking, that with some lithium batteries.  As tea leaves can be used more or less indefinitely, need a vape pen like device, with condensation coils to convert the humidity into water, boils that water, seeping it through those tea leaves, and make it ready for sipping.  Then your MC never has to brew another cup, simply replace those leaves and batteries every so often!

[Desiderius Price]

59 minutes ago, Desiderius Price said:

Hmmm…. could be a half chapter on the brewing process twice a chapter….Or “they fixed themselves another cup of tea”… down to “she sipped her tea” and presume the MC simply had an auto-refilling cup.

I know… call it “Fifty Shades of Earl Gray!”  A complete treatise on brewing tea.

[GeorgeGlass]

2 hours ago, Desiderius Price said:

I know… call it “Fifty Shades of Earl Gray!”  A complete treatise on brewing tea.

Making him an earl will really draw the romance-novel crowd.

Wait, what were we talking about?

[Wilde_Guess]

Hi, GeorgeGlass and all.

55 minutes ago, GeorgeGlass said:

Making him an earl will really draw the romance-novel crowd.

Wait, what were we talking about?

Is that supposed to be some Appalachian kink transferred back to the UK Aristocracy?  “Make him Earl like a pig!” perhaps?