Steamy vs not so much

I love steamy scenes. A well written (and graphic) sex scene can move the story ahead as well as the black moment, the beginning hook, or even the moment they realize how they feel about each other. The level of graphic-ness in said scene describes the level of trust between your H/H more intimately than merely saying it ever could.

However, I've been debating the placement of such a scene in my latest story set in Germany. Too soon, and I feel as if they've jumped into bed for no real reason. Too late and I'm deep into the middle of the story and there's no real place for them to have sex.

I think that them having sex before marriage is valid since the time is 1934, and even in Germany mores about such things were in flux. Though I'd love to read anything anyone had on that, even if it contradicts my aforementioned hypothesis. That isn't the problem. The plot hits the ground running and doesn't stop. Having the couple intimate early on shows certain things I want to include - their level of trust and a fairly major taboo that's broken by the hero. Two actually, now that I think about it. (Well that 2nd depends on the direction of a tidbit I haven't decided on yet.)

But I still have that placement problem. Early on works on several levels. But would it turn a reader off? Would it skew the plot in a direction I don't want to go in? I don't want to write the scene, finish the story or even 1/3 of the story and then discover I need to seriously rework things. That's why I plot ahead. To avoid just this kind of headache.

I guess I'll write it, see how it gels, and hope my weekend isn't so booked I can't rework anything I don't like.

New resource

ABE Books. A librarian told me about it, and it's wonderful. OK, so I have yet to refine my search words to narrow it to Austria early 1800s, but I haven't played with it much this morning. Booksellers from across the world have listings here, with basically the same ratings as Ebay, but all books and nothing but books.

I intend to take my time with this site, you never know what's going to pop up!

Week 2

Week 1 consisted of about 5 pages, not too bad since I also spent part of last week refining the plot to better represent what I wanted the theme to be, and realizing a plot to another story needed...work.

So 5 pages of chapter 1. Pretty excited about that. I need a little more research into Germany, the landscape, the people, the feel of it but I finally think that it’s going the way I want it to.

And it’s so nice to have a story in the works! I’ve been hemming and hawing over a few different ones, but couldn’t really sink my teeth into them. This one is coming along (and ever so nicely) and I think will flow better now that I’ve got those issues (mostly) ironed out.

Back to work

I've been out of commission with the flu. Haven't managed to write much, but did plot a bit. I'm pretty sure it makes sense, but one never knows when one is delusional with illness, does one. OK, so there might be a niggling point or 2 I need to clarify.

That said, I plan on writing at least 5 pages a day. Considering I edit as I go, this might not work out, but I have a small obsession with editing as I go. I can't leave it until the end, mostly because I don't want to have to change everything after page 6 when I could've saved myself all that trouble at page 7.

Clarity

Would you looky there. It's the light at the end of the tunnel. It does exist! Coolness.

Brownies really do help, though it could've also been the fact that I let everything slide Saturday afternoon and only worked that night. Same goes for Sunday.

I’ve managed to remember to look at everything calmly and rationally and realize that yelling at one’s computer does little but aggravate you further. That said, it was kinda therapeutic.

So it’s back to both Vienna 1810 (or whatever, I can’t even remember this morning, so so sad) and Germany 1934 with a new, fresh outlook and determination.

On a side note, why isn’t my blogger spell checker working? Don’t they know how much I rely on that?

That's it!

My characters have deserted me.
My new WIP is nowhere near finished researching let alone plotting
My Valentine's is shaping up to be as one-sided as last year.

I'm making myself some brownies and I dare you to stop me from eating all of them!

Confessions of...

I've come to the conclusion I'm a research junkie.

I'm not the only one out there, I know who you are! I read your blogs and your books; I know you jump from century to country to idea to plot with very little in between. And it's fun!

I'm the same way. I love coming up with new ideas, researching the locale, the people, the class and history. I love plotting and weaving angst with romance, sex with action. I love the thrill of the story, the adrenaline of the newness. Oh, sure, I love writing it, too, but it's this initial-ness that's so exciting.

What about you?

Writer's ADD

I don't mean to make light of people who do have ADD or ADHD, but I have to say, recently I've been all over with the concentration.

Between continued research for Austria during Napoleon and finishing that story, I've plotted out 2 more. I'm really into this newest one, set to take place during the early stages of Hitler's rise to power. (Research on that is easier than anything Austria related!) But it's just amazing what the average person did, felt, and experienced during that time. It was mass chaos. Wonderful to write about, terrible to experience.

So I flip between the two - Austria 1814 and Germany 1934 - and hope that some weekend I can sit and finish one.

What's in a name?

Everything. I'm terrible at naming characters. It always seems as if I should be able to use one set of names; change the appearance, location, plot, etc., but keep the names. There are a gazillion names out there, old, new, the old ones that are new again. How many different countries and nationalities are there in this world? How many different variations on a name?

I can't pick one. Or well several for all the characters but you get the gist. I suppose I could use Jane and Mark, Amy and Jeff all the time, but someone might catch on sooner or later.

I heard Victoria Alexander speak once (I think it was her) about how she always has a character named Charlie in her stories. One character isn’t bad…