And it is absolutely killing me.
Maybe if I pretend like I'm writing about each piece of news, it will make me feel a little better:
1. Exciting thing number one:
This is the best thing that could've happened, in my opinion. I was like- YES! Opportunities! And new ferenz. I think I even have the ability to grow my mustache a little longer.
2. Exciting thing number two:
She was all like, "Can we move it to the fourth?" And I was like, "No" because I REALLY want to go this Saturday. So I'm going this Saturday. And I get to put together a great playlist to remind me of the time I hung out with myself.
3. Exciting thing number three:
I've got this HUGE project I'm working on. Like, I'll come home. Eat. Work on it from 6-11, then go to bed, wake up, work, repeat. It's that good/terrible artist's cycle of "omg i wish i could just stay home all day and do this one thing".
I'm so incredibly focused and driven it makes me think I really could've done this for a living when I was 17.
Especially when I was 17. That's when my love life was tumultuous.
Let's all pretend I didn't just say that.
So in working on this HUGE project, I came across some writing I did back in high school. Most of it was, dare I say it, not bad? A long short story that I thought I didn't finish, I actually did, so I have even more to work with!
By the way, this is one that you've never read before, which means it is neither The Specificity of My Phenomenal Maneuver or I'm Dating the Drum Major (which I didn't really finish anyway).
Yesterday, I was able to turn all my handwritten scribbles to processed words. I just have to make the last few chapters make sense and tie together, which will be kind of hard.
But not as hard as what I've been working on the past two days: l'amour.
Do you know how surprisingly DIFFICULT it is to write love scenes?
Now I'm not talking about the erotica-50-shades-of-poop kind of scenes, alright?
I'm talking about the ones like in the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants.
PG-13, as it were.
Where there are feelings, with a little physicality, but it's mostly a mental wave of emotion.
My problem with such scenes is not that I don't know what to do. My problem is that all the words that are typically used to describe such hot action are inherently disgusting words to use, in my opinion.
Let's review the list, shall we?
tender (this word is acceptable only if you're talking about chicken nuggets)
caress
desire (this one is atrocious and should never be used. Not even if you're talking about how bad you want chicken nuggets.)
touch
soft (this word is just highly offensive to everyone)
I could think of more believe me, e.g. stroke, tease, etc., but then we will start wondering where are heads are.
The problem, then, is that I have to delicately construct this love scene out of not a lot of words.
Here's what happened: He kissed her. She liked it.
So here's what I want to convey:
But without being gross, juvenile, or trite.
I tried putting myself in both pairs of shoes. I got the girl part, but I only sort of know what guys think but I don't know how guys feel (or if they even do), so I kind of went through a small gender crisis while wearing those shoes.
Then, I tried to recreate the scene with Mike, but he was being uncooperative.
Then, I went to my library and tried to find other scenes with words I didn't hate the sound of, and that sort of helped. I think I got, like, one.
So, it's been quite a challenge.
"Maybe you should just leave those scenes out of your book." - A Puritan
Sigh.
Is it bad when you start to fall in like with one of your own characters?
YES.
There were a lot of Amish people, but they never raised a barn,
TWS
No comments:
Post a Comment