How to write a love scene

I started to write an article on "how to write a love scene", but decided before I go too far that I would see what people needed to know.


The mechanics of writing the love scene are important but my impression from listening to a lot of other writers is that the issue in writing the "love scene" is that it is intimidating and scary. Like you as the writer are putting yourself on display.


So I thought I would try to encompass how to not be bashful and write the scene that your characters want. Does anyone have any other things they think should be mentioned in the article?


Oh! I know, like what do you call the body parts? HA! I so love that. Look at it this way. . .what does your boyfriend, spouse, significant other call "it"?


I wrote a love scene the other day that was different than any of the others I have written so far. I know, I know, you're like. . . "How can it be different?"


Well, I called this a slow and lazy love scene because it starts when the heroine is sleeping and the hero just kind of responds to her body pressed close and moving against him. Nature takes its course. Thank goodness!

Inspiration

Where do we get our inspiration?

I was reminded the other day by a friend of mine (who I have known since high school) that I used to leave him notes on his car and now I'm writing fiction novels, in particular, romantic suspense. He thinks it is hysterical and awesome. :-)

That same high school friend is also my inspiration behind the spy side of my stories. I love the intrigue and suspense.

I also incorporate the technology side of my life into the stories as well. Think about all the cool gadgets that intelligence people use nowadays.

Then, I leverage the places I've been and the adventures I've tried, like scuba diving with my ex. My first book's adventures take place around Florida and Hawaii where we did some amazing diving!

So. . .if you're stuck on a story idea take a look around you and at yourself. What have you done, seen, experienced? What have your family and friends done? Know anyone in the military? Get a copy of their resume and then do some research on what all those acronyms mean. :-)

Then figure out how you can take that New Hampshire amusement park worker and turn her into an undercover agent tracking . . .what? HA! You tell me.

Book in Library

Cool note.

Last night my parents gave me a call to tell me that I hit big time. Well, in their minds I have and this is why.

My grandmother went to her local bookstore in a small town in Iowa called Laurens and the book was actually listed as being there, but someone had checked it out.

How cute is that!

I told my parents that I would be sending my grandmother her very own copy so she didn't have to go to the library and wait for it.

Just the fact that it was in a library so soon floored me. Neat!

BOOK COVER!!

Look everyone. . .to the left of this post. . .and you will see. . .my book cover for my very first romantic suspense!!!!!

Okay, can you tell I am just a little excited?! Duh! I am doing the happy dance.

IT HAPPENS IN THREES will be available in about 2. . count them. . .2 weeks!!!

New Website is up!!

Wahoo! My new, suspenseful website is live!!

Check it out at www.deniserobbins.com

Let me know what you think.

Thank you, Jeannie for being such a great designer. Now we're on to the book trailer.

Next Story Idea

After two days of frustration I finally figured out, at least at a high level, my next story. Sometimes it's best to just step away from the computer and everything else and go with old-fashioned paper and pen. I found a quiet place to sit and just let thoughts, questions, and ideas drift around in my head, writing all of them down as I went.

As I did this the story started to unfold. Not in any detail, but enough to keep me motivated on this next story and actually do some research into it. The sad part is, that there isn't much readily available on HUMINT (human intelligence) or the Intelligence Community as a whole. And, oh my gosh, if you read some of the information that is listed on sites it is so convoluted and indirect you can't even figure out what they are actually saying.

No fear. This morning I woke up and had the storyline more clearly outlined in my head. So today my job will be do try and write a rough outline and more than likely write chapter 2. I'm one of those writers who really can't outline more than a couple of steps ahead. Believe me, I've tried.

I think someone should come up with a good outline template for a romantic-suspense novel. Not just the Beginning, Middle, and End stuff you see all over the place.

Anyway, I'm to plan, outline, write, and do more research. If anyone has suggestions on good sites on HUMINT collection, feel free to post a comment here.

New Story Idea

Hello everyone!

As you know, as of yesterday I finished my second manuscript. Yippee for me, right?

Yes, well, now I need to write the next story. And when I say need, I mean "lookout honey, where's the chocolate before I shoot you" kind of need. It's an addiction!

That doesn't mean I didn't get up this morning and write. As a matter of fact, I wrote 1200 words this morning, the start to my new manuscript. The problem is, I don't have a clue where I want to go with this story.

I have 2 great characters and they just met, but what is going to happen? Here's the other thing, I write romantic-suspense. I really like to read and write romantic-suspense so it needs to be one of those kind of ideas. Plus, my hero has already been seen in my two previous books and he works for a secret government agency.

Now, I did just skim through a bunch of gosh-darn (midwest accent showing through) articles on the net about how to sit down and come up with several ideas. HA! Are they kidding or what? I can't force an idea. Kinda isn't the definition of "idea" if I can PLAN it. Sheesh!

So what I need is inspiration and brainstorming. Any suggestions?

When the end is near

Have you ever gotten close to the end of a WIP and just wanted it over? Or you're so close, but you get writer's block? Or, my favorite, when a character from your next story creeps into your current WIP?

Yup! That's where I'm at now. I had a self-imposed goal of finishing my current WIP by December so it was completed and out the door to an editor before the first one is released in January. I am soo close, I can see the end, and I want to reach the finish line.

I had writer's block on Sunday, but today, thanks to my critique and brainstorming session with Nora I managed to write about 1500 words and get the latest chapter finished in my WIP and the start of the next. Hopefully I'll get the next chapter completed tomorrow morning. Keep fingers crossed.

And yes, I have this one character that I just adore. He's so cool and got this sexy southern drawl, and whenever he makes his way into my stories he manages to take over. Well, Jake has done that a couple of times while I've been trying to wrap up this story. He's become a PITA! :-)

The problem is, Jake wants his own book. Now I'm feeling the pressure to really finish this book so I can write his story. The funny thing is, I started another story with him in it for NaNoWriMo, only its not a romantic-suspense, it's a kid's mystery. I came up with the idea when I took a children's writing course over the summer and it's kind of stuck in my head.

Well, if I actually succeed in finishing my WIP soon (like maybe this week) then maybe Jake will have two stories, the kid's mystery and a romantic-suspense. Greedy guy!

Book in a month update

Well, yesterday was not the greatest writing day. I only wrote about 300 words.

Today, I had very good intentions to do my usual of going to Panera to write. Instead, I prepped for an interview and talked with a friend on the phone. By the time I actually wrote anything I was sitting in the lobby of the company where I had the interview. And of course, I only had my current WIP printed out and with me and not the last part of my NaNoWriMo novel, so I worked on that.

And now what's my excuse? I'm in the zone of writing for my WIP and hate to break it for more than sending a quick "hello" to you all.

Hope you're doing better than I am. But at least I'm writing something.

Writing prompt Hook Sentence

So the last prompt was

The maze stopped being fun . . .

I completed the sentence this way.

The maze stopped being fun when Sari turned the corner, her hand sliding against the mirrored wall coming up wet and sticky with blood.

Thoughts? Thought provoking? Make you want to read more?

Share what you came up with.

How do you write?

In my previous post I mentioned something about being a "seat of the pants" writer. What exactly does that mean? It means I can't outline for the life of me.

With my first book, IT HAPPENS IN THREES, I never even considered outlining the story. It was more of a spewing of thoughts and ideas that came out into a romantic suspense. And when I say, "spew", I mean whatever popped into my head is pretty much what came out on paper.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Most writers would probably agree that writing anything is better than writing nothing. Maybe.

With my second novel, I wrote the first chapter while on a plane flight from New Hampshire to Seattle, Washington. Again, I had nothing written down for the story idea. I simply was inspired and started typing on my little laptop. Seven pages into it I was cracking myself up and the guy sitting next to me thought I was a little whacked. [SHRUG] I probably was. When you're in the zone you can't help yourself. Anyway...

After I started this book I decided to take a stab at writing an outline. And I even saved it on my computer. I outlined about 10 chapters. I thought cool, good for me.

BUT when I got into writing more of the story my characters decided to go their own way so my writing diverged from the original outline.

How do you write? Are there any concepts (like outlines or chapter synopsis) or tools you use to help? Share them with us.

Writer's Block?!

Is there really such a thing as writer's block? Or is it lack of time and dedication to the craft that causes this phenomena?

Most importantly, how do you break it???

My experience has been that sometimes life runs amuck and we have to deal with those things rather than what our hearts passion allows. Other times, maybe it is lack of dedicated time, especially if you write like me, "by the seat of my pants". (Another topic for another day)

So how do I break writer's block?

Hm...various ways. Sometimes it just breaks naturally. Like I said in a previous post, a lot of my story ideas come to me when I'm driving. And that includes ideas on shoving the writer's block aside and moving forward.

Other times I get together with other writers and we brainstorm. This is my preferred method. It's kind of like reading your work aloud. When you verbalize it, you hear things that are good and bad and then you go back and write.

This happened to me this past month. It was torture because I wanted to get my second book "Killer Bunny Hill" moving and haven't been able to figure out how to do it. Thanks to my critique group that I met with yesterday, I was able to figure out the next part of the story, came home and wrote 4 pages. Yeehaw!! Big weight lifted off my shoulders.

What do you suggest?

Research for your book?

You're in the middle of writing a story and you realize your character has to shoot a pistol, but you've never shot one. You don't own a gun.

You have to describe the weapon, the weight and feel of it, the recoil, how to site with it, etc. What do you do?

Easy...you do research. In my case, I didn't just search the internet or look up information at the library/bookstore, I did the hands-on approach. I have a friend that owns several weapons and he showed me them and let me try a few out. We went to his house where he owns 10 acres of land, he set up a paper target, then he told me to pick a gun and try it.

After almost falling on my butt, and he got a good laugh, my friend then showed me all the proper ways to hold a pistol, load it, aim it, and then pull the trigger. Through the course of this "research" I tried various weapons he had at his disposal.

To top off the at home research we went to a gun shop. The owner was very friendly and informative. He was very willing to answer any questions about all the guns in his shop, like what situation would you use one versus another, what do average police shoot, military, etc. He also was helpful in explaining the local gun laws. To my surprise, the gun shop owner offered to let me try a gun. He took me out in the back of the shop, handed me a Walther PPK, and had me aim for his big sand pile. Wow! What a racket. Then, the owner added a silencer to the weapon and I shot it again. Not quite silent, but it wasn't deafening.

I took my research further and went to an actual firing range. A great experience. You walk in and have to show ID, select a weapon (unless you have your own), buy the bullets, and the number of targets you want to shoot at. You take all that and hearing protection into another room where you do the actual target shooting. This would be the firing range. It kinda reminds me of a driving ranges where each person has their own slot of space.

Anyway, I did took the lessons learned from my friend and the gun shop owner and applied them as I shot 50 rounds into several paper targets.

Although the internet makes doing research easy, the best research is going that extra step and checking things out for yourself. And when you write your various scenes, like I did in IT HAPPENS IN THREES, the reader will feel like they're right there because they're experiencing what you did through your words.

What research have you had to do?

What's in a name?

What does a romantic suspense writer name her cats?

Mischief and Mayhem, of course. See photos on the left. :-)

When you name your cats or dog or characters do the names have to fit?

In the case of my characters...I think yes. Look at it this way. When you hear or read the name "Ralph", what do you immediately envision? Me, I envision a Beagle with big floppy ears who just kinda does things at his own pace. Why? Because when I was younger a neighbor had a Beagle named Ralph.

Now, try the name "Jake". What do you envision? I envision a taller than average guy, who likes to be outdoors and work with his hands. Jake describes the kind of guy when he walks down the street us ladies do a double-take.

Would I ever name one of my female characters "Charlotte"? Maybe, if I shortened it to Charley. I like strong female characters, and calling an intelligent, spirited, and independent character Charley comes across in the name.

What about you? What names do you like for a hero, heroine, or villain? Why?

When do you get your story ideas?

I thought this would be a liitle different twist on the question of where do story ideas come from.

Mine usually just pop into my head. IT HAPPENS IN THREES story idea came to me after a long weekend of reading. I was sitting at home in one of my favorite chairs waiting for the phone to ring for a job offer and the plot started to draw itself in my mind. :-)

Most the time my story ideas occur to me when I'm driving. You're mind is totally clear, okay not totally, because that would be scary if I was behind the wheel with an empty mind. Anyway, just the other morning I was driving to breakfast (great little place not far from me), and it hit me.

Luckily, I always carry paper and pen or my laptop with me. That morning I had my laptop so as soon as I sat down, I booted it up and drafted the first page. Now it's put away until I finish my current work-in-progress.

When do your story ideas hit? And do they compel you to write them down right away? Or do you let the plot and characters gel and when you get it all worked out you write?

Life imitates art?

"Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life." ~ Oscar Wilde

Do you really think this is true? Or is it the other way around?

How has your life imitated a book you've read?

In IT HAPPENS IN THREES, my soon to be released book (January 2009) the book imitates life. Well, not in the specific events that take place, but in the fact that three unplanned, unexpected, and maybe unwanted events happen before life turns for the better.