Writers in the Storm

James Preston

So, What's In It For You? Or, How To Not Quit

I  know what you are thinking, if you have read some of my earlier contributions to this award-winning blog. "Oh, no, he's going to make me get out a calculator and see if the midpoint of my novel is really a watershed, or make a big nasty chart that shows where all of my characters are in every chapter."

Nope. Last time I promised the end of deconstructionism and I will hold to that.

As I write this I'm surrounded by smoke and the sounds of slot machines. I'm in a Vegas casino, writing while my friend and my wife gamble. And I am asking a question that we all have asked at one time or another -- why am I doing this? Why am I here when I could be playing Texas Hold 'Em? I love the game and learned poker literally at my father's knee.

We all face those moments, where the story falls on its face and even you don't care what happens to the characters. You think, "I have to finish Chapter X tomorrow when I could be at the beach, or I could be watching House Hunters International or reading the new James Lee Burke or Eloisa James." (And I want to know why those times are so often at 2:00 am when the house is cold and dark and your characters have suddenly quit talking to you.)

I think the hardest thing about writing is . . . writing. Putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. It's more fun to read blogs, go to conventions, and think about good stories. Way more fun.

However, that road does not lead to The End.

For more than half my life I made my living writing training and documentation. I specialized in large systems, neat stuff like the Army's Tactical Computer System and the Navy's ASROC Loader Crane. I could tell you all about them except a) you would fall asleep and b) if you didn't fall asleep I'd have to kill you.

But I can tell you the single most important thing about training adults. It's the WIIFM -- what's in it for me? To learn something, adults have to see the value in the learning.

So, let's talk about what's in it for you. First, a basic assumption: there is value in writing, in telling a story. With that as a given, all we need to do is shine a light on that value.

To keep writing, you have to see the value of what you are doing. Try these rules, guides, or mantras; use them as stepping stones to identify why you write when the path gets muddy.

1. I write because I have things to say. I think about the world around me and relationships and want to speak out.

In my case, if I am pressed, I will admit that I write to talk about violence in society and a moral individual's response to it and, even more, the difficulty of finding, establishing, and maintaining a loving relationship with another individual. (Yikes! Did I say that? I write thrillers with girls and guns and fast cars.)

2. I want to entertain. Too much of life is unpleasant, or boring and I want to take my readers' minds off that, if even for a little while. 

See parenthetical comment above.

3. I write because I started the novel, story, poem, whatever and I will finish it, come what may.

In poker, if you don't bet, you can't win. In writing, you can't sell/publish/attract an audience if you don't finish your manuscript.

4. I write because I have fallen in love with my characters and their stories demand to be told. 

This one's tricky. I truly care about Heather Rubinsky and Katerina Kohl, two Las Vegas showgirls who showed up in one of my books. I probably hurt their feelings when I had to cut much of their backstory. (And you are the one audience to whom I can say that and who will understand that I think of them as real. When I say things like that on panel discussions, people tend to smile nervously and move away. On the other hand, you get it.)

5. I write because I like it. I like telling stories.

Works for me. I like storytelling.

Did I warn you there would be a quiz? No? Bummer! There's a quiz. Here it is:

6. I write because... (insert YOUR thoughts here, or down in comments.)

The hardest thing about writing is . . . writing.

As Michael Corleone said in The Godfather, “It’s all personal.” You have your own reasons for writing, and your own benefits from doing so.

I believe giving some thought to articulating what you are getting out of all this work, and time spent staring off into space thinking, "What happens next?", will help keep you going. And after you think about it -- or maybe you already have -- share your thoughts and help another writer. Please! Fill in Number Six and tell us about it. We're all in this together.

Think about WIIFM -- What's In It For Me. Articulate that benefit and remember it for those times when your heroine has fallen in love with the hero's wastrel brother and stamps her pretty little foot when you try to tell her otherwise. "I am doing this because . . . Her story deserves to be told, even if she is a foot-stamping little fllibertigibet. And I am the one to tell it."

My father taught me many important things. Once when we were in Vegas I complained (I really wasn't whining, at least not much and anyway he was my Dad and required to listen) that I had lost at blackjack. He said, "James, you're really not here to win. You're here to play!"

Let's be honest -- the vast majority of us will not show up in the New York Times Bestseller List. So what? Not all of the books on the list are good, and not all good books are on the list. Figuring out what's in it for you will help at those times when you wonder what on earth possessed you to think you could write. You can do it.

Trust me.

 

About James

 James R. Preston is the author of the award-winning Surf City Mysteries. There are four books in the series so far: Leave a Good-Looking Corpse, Read 'Em And Weep, The Road to Hell, and Pennies For Her Eyes. The new Surf City Mystery is called Correction and will be launched later this year. James' next appearance will be November in Long Beach at Bouchercon, the national mystery convention. His work has been selected for inclusion in UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library Special Collection, California Detective Fiction. In Vegas during the completion of this blog he made the final table in one tournament and took first place in another. His father taught him well.

You all are getting another peek into my magic notebook. This time we're taking a page out of my 17 page section that covers hair, wigs and every description of body hair you can imagine (and probably some of you can't). Now that I've scared you, we're going to talk about the hair on your character's heads - the color, the length, the style . . . We're covering it all. But there are a few very important points we should chat about first.

The #1 thing about hair descriptions is Do Not overuse them. You do not want to be known as "hair girl "or "hair boy!"

#2 on the essential List: Hair descriptions are a part of the character so make them work harder by using them to describe the person “inside,” not just what the person looks like outside.

Examples:

•  A tomboy might have a very short, non-nonsense haircut. Then again, she might hide long tresses under a ball cap, because secretly she’d like to be noticed as the girl she really is.
• A man who works as an executive might conform to a short, and very tailored look. Or, he wears expensive suits but he wears his hair a little too long because on the weekends he caters to his passion and joins his buddies for motorcycle road trips.

Okay, because I have so many descriptions and definitions, I’m going to cut to the chase.

Alternative Generic Names For Head Hair

Coiffure
Curls
Down
Fringe
Fuzz
Locks
Mane
Mop
Ringlets
Shock
Strands
Tresses
Tufts
Wig
Wool

Descriptive Hair Phrases

Bangs obscured her eyes like a sheepdog
Flaked with snowy dandruff
Bleached, bottle baby
Braid like a thick black rope
Bundled at the nape
Bun resembled a cow patty
Cascading down her back
Chemically damaged
Coiled in a top-knot
Crowning glory
Cupie curls
Curls foamed luxuriously
Tendrils danced on the breeze
Disheveled
Downy bond hair sprinkled her arms
Dramatic widow’s peak
Elaborately dressed with ribbons
Electrified
Smelled like burnt chicken feathers
Snow drifts of dandruff
Veiled her expression with
Greased into a ducktail
Flaming locks fluttered to the floor
Fluffy
Frizz job, bad perm
Glossy locks lifted on the wind
Grew like a thatch of straw on a roof
Grizzled, gray hair
Hair drooped around pale cheeks
Hair like Rapunzel
Hairy as a dog
Hung like a dark river
Kinky perm
Knotted
Left unbound to tumble
Like a clown wig, artificial red, plastic shine and fuzzy
Like a thatched roof
Like she put her finger in a light socket
Limp and lifeless
Long, shaggy hippy look
Lustrous as onyx stone
Marcelled into fingerwaves
Matted to the scalp
Perm fried
Prematurely gray
Puffed like a bubble around her head
Ragged bangs
Rat’s nest
Ringlets
Shock of hair stood straight up
Slapped her face like wet worms
Sleek and chic
Smooth honey dripped over her shoulders
Spiky Mohawk style of a punk rocker
Spilled out of the hat
Spread like feathers on a pillow
Standing on end
Stiff in front like a cockatoo
Straight as a wire
Streaked, highlighted
Stuck to her sweaty nape
Tangled mane
Tousled pixie
Two-toned dye job
Unconquered curls sprang loose
Unruly swirl
Old-lady blue rinsed hair
Vibrant color and shine
Wet with sweat
White Pigeon Wings at temples
Wispy ringlets
Wondered what rubble lay beneath that mess
Wreathed her face

Hair Texture Phrases

Baby fuzz
Bleached hair like mushy wet works
Blue feather hair of old lady
Bristle top
Broom chopped
Cat-fur fine
Cotton candy hair, fine
Cottony
Dandelion fuzz
Down
Gummy
Horsetail coarse
Moldy hay
Short-cropped and stiff
Soft and lush
Soft curls and waves
Yellow straw

Descriptive Hair Color Words & Phrases

Black

Coal
Crows wing
Ebony
Jet
Indian Ink
Midnight
Obsidian
Onyx
Raven

Grays and Whites

Battleship gray, dull gray
Blue dandelion fuzz
Blue rinse gray
Faded glory
Flint
Grizzled (gray)
Gunmetal
Maltese gray (blue gray)
Mineral
Mousy (gray)
Pewter
Salt and Pepper
Shale
Silver cloud
Smoke
Snowy white
Swan’s wing
Steel
Wood ashes

Brown

Amber (reddish)
Ash brown
Auburn (reddish)
Baked Clay
Bison
Brunette
Burnished
Camel
Caramel
Chestnut
Cinnamon
Clove
Dark beer
Dark Earth
Dark toffee
Dirt
Fudge cycle
Glazed ginger
Maple Sugar
Mink
Mousy
Muddy
Nutmeg
Pecan
Rawhide, dark reddish
Root beer
Russet
Tobacco
Tortoise Shell
Walnut

Reds

Auburn
Berry
Brassy
Brightest
Burgundy
Burnished copper
Carrot top
Cinnabar
Clown wig red
Cognac
Dull brick
Flame
Garish brass
Orange
Russet
Scarlet
Strawberry
Wine

Professional Hair Color Descriptions

 Ash blond -- Lacks red or gold highlights (verges on green tones); light mousy blond, medium and dark blond, dishwater, beige

Ash brown -- Browns lacking warm/red tones tones; light mousy brown, medium and dark brown

Black -- Different shades of black vary according to the amount of highlighting or pigmentation shadings present in the hair; black lacking all highlighting will be duller, ash shade; black containing a lot of red may appear as deep burgundy

Red -- Warm shades; berry, russet, strawberry (red-blonde), rusty orange, wine, carrot top, etc.

Towhead -- Whitish blond; usually an ash blond lacking warm tones but not always

Warm blond -- Blond with touch of gold and red; whiskey, wheat, honey, strawberry, brassy, golden etc.

Warm brown -- Brunette, dark or light brown that contains red or gold tones; varies from light to nearly black; reddish brown, chestnut, dark amber, auburn etc.

Hair Styles Modern And Historical

It’s impossible to name all the hairstyles but the selection here should be a good start. Many listed here also are known by other names.

[See of some these hairstyles here.]

Afro -- Unisex style borrowed from the African Americans; short and very curly, forming a bowl shaped profile; a pick is used to pull the hair away from the head and shape it

Asymmetric -- Hair is cut long on side of the head and short on the other.

Bedhead -- Popularized in 1990s by starlet Meg Ryan; short to mid-length shaggy cut worn jelled or moussed in tossed fashion

Beehive  -- A 60’s French twist coiled at the back of the head and rising above it to form a cone shape (see upsweep)

Bob -- Introduced in 1915 this short cropped hair style was popular during the 1920’s; also called the shingle bob, the shingle, the Eaton crop. It is often cropped at the jawline and aligned close to the face.

Bouffant -- Puffy hair style’ hair is backcombed or ratted then barely smoothed, resulting in a bubble affect

Bowl -- Most commonly worn by young boys. The bang area cut straight cross the forehead as if measured by turning a bowl upside down on the head. The top layers are longer and cut along the this bowl line around the head.

Braid -- Plaited hair

Bubble -- 60’s hairstyle, short to mid-length, ratted/backcombed to appear like a football helmet or bubble surrounding the head

Butch/flattop/crewcut -- A man’s style; usually cut with electric shears; very short and stands on end at the front of the head and his shaved close to the head on the sides; sometimes called a GI cut.

Buzz -  Modern slang for a hair shaved close to the head

Chignon -- Bun, usually at the nape or top of head; topknot

Conk -- African American textured hair that is straightened

Cornrows -- Small tightly braided rows of hair that hug the scalp; most often worn by African Americans

Duck tail -- 50’s style worn by girls and boys alike; hair on either side of nape combed toward the center of the head; reminiscent of Elvis Presley, Fabian, Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds etc.

Farraha Fawcett -- Long layered hair flipped or feathered back off the face with a bang that feathers or rolls off the face as well; made popular by the TV star of the same name; late 70’s and early 80’s

Finger waved -- Usually short haircut in which a stylist uses lotion and her fingers to create deep waves that circle the head. Popular in the 1920s and 30s.

Flip -- Feminine hair style of the 50’s and 60’s; long hair usually shoulder length turned up at the ends, sometimes in a roll.

Fontange -- Worn 1690’s to 1710; a towering fountain of frills and complex, lacy intertwining shaped around a wire frame and considered the height of fashion; nicknamed by disdaining men, the “tower and the comet”

French twist/seam -- Hair swept back from both sides the head (front to back) and rolled down the center of the head into a roll or tucked to make a seam

Fringe -- Curly bangs worn in the 1880’s; in 1900’s worn straight; alternate name for bangs

Kiss curls -- Seen immediately after Civil War; ringlets of curls on the cheeks or forehead

London Cut -- Short female cut popular during the 1960s and early 70s. The hair was cut over the ears, leaving a fringe in front of the ears, often brushed toward the face or straight down. The nape hair was cut along the hairline like a boys but more rounded instead of squared off like a man’s neckline.

Mohawk -- Shaved head with a strip of hair growth down the center of the head from forehead to the nape

Pads -- Late 1830’s long coiled curls over the ears (looked like ear muffs); at the back of the head they were called a Grecian knot or psyche knot

Pageboy -- Introduced in late 1930s early 40’s; long, hair turned under, usually just touching the shoulders

Pigtails -- Same as pony tail only the hair is parted down middle and each section is cinched into its own tail above or below the ear

Pixie -- Female short cut; feathered around profile of face and onto cheek, short at the nape line; usually with full bang and combed forward onto face; also called an Italian cut; permed version called a poodle cut

Pompadour -- Style of wearing the hair high over the forehead usually in some type of rolled affect; in 1940’s women used rats (nylon mash) to roll the hair off the forehead and puff it; a version of this also worn during the 1700’s and early 1800’s by most and women; name comes from a lady of this era called Madame
Pompadour

Ponytail -- Hair gathered together and cinched with a rubber band or barrette to make a tail at the back of the head; worn high or low; worn low it’s sometimes called a George (referring to George Washington) or a Paul Revere

Poodle cut -- Short, curly haircut

Powdered hair/wigs -- Unisex style worn from about 1760’s to 1820; after 1740 men were wearing shorter, simpler wigs and began to powder their own hair

Punk -- Usually short on top and styled with lotion to stand up off the head; often a mohawk fashion from forehead to nape; sometimes dyed bright neon colors of pink, purple, blue, orange etc.

Queue -- Pigtail, esp. that of a Chinese. (Chinese queue was braided) Men of Colonial America wore these as well, usually tied back with a ribbon and in some cases men wore a periwig styled with a queue

Roach -- Hair brushed into a roll

Sausage curl -- Long tube-like coils of hair; popular in early 1800’s; in the early 1970’s these were piled on top of the head in a cluster, esp. for formal dress for teens.

Shag -- Like a pixie, only long at the nape. Lengths vary from short to long layered cut; popular during the early 70’s

Skin heads -- Group of radical racist youths, men and women alike, who shaved their heads

Spaniel’s curls -- Late 1840’s into the 50’s; long thick curls worn by the ear (as worn by Elizabeth Barrette Browning)

Spit curls -- First seen in 1831; flat curls on women in front of the ear

Tonsure -- Shaven part of a monk or cleric’s head

Updo/upsweep -- Generic term for long hair styled high on top of head; hair might petaled (layered curls), barrel curled, arranged in a chignon, backcombed into a beehive or styled in French roll etc.

Wedge cut -- Also called Dorothy Hamill cut; short cut worn mostly by women; sides feathered off the face, back cut longer from the drown to the occipital bone, where its layered into a wedge; nape is trimmed close the head and short; a late ‘70’s and early 80’s style.

Sharla has published three historical romances and her fourth, How to Fell a Timberman, is impatiently waiting to be formatted for Kindle.

When she’s not writing and researching ways to bedevil her book characters, Sharla enjoys collecting authentically costumed dolls from all over the world, traveling (to seek more dolls!), and reading tons of books. You can find Sharla here at Writers In The Storm, on Twitter at @SharlaWrites or on Facebook.

Susan Squires

 Recently, I wrote a blog here at WITS about how to put sexual tension in your romance novel. But it felt like only half the story. Sexual tension often leads to…you guessed it…sex. Not all romances have sex in them, but many do. I’ve been teaching a class on writing romance and in talking to my students I found many were intimidated by writing sex scenes. The funny thing is, sex scenes don’t have to be scary at all. Here are nine simple tips for painless sex scenes.

Sex scenes are an extension of sexual tension. While erotic romance may have frequent sex scenes that start right away (more about that later), and sweet romances may put the sex scene off until after the book concludes, most romances fall somewhere in the middle. Funny, because that’s often around where most sex scenes actually occur. While there’s no rule about this (I’m not much for rules about anything) what I often see in books that I enjoy, is that you want to stretch out the question about whether or when the hero and heroine will have sex as long as possible. By the time you get to sex (except in erotic romance, where you can really get there FAST) you want the reader to know the characters, understand that they’re right for each other, and really be rooting for them to have wonderful, mind-blasting sex.

Of course, if everything is perfect, and their relationship is “solved” by the sex in the middle of the book, you’ve just released all tension and the story is over. So sex in the middle of the book can’t be perfect. It can be good sex initiated for the wrong reason, bad sex, or good sex that brings up other problems in the relationship. The plot or other characters can also intervene to keep the couple apart. But there have to be big unresolved issues. Save the good sex that resolves the relationship, or that results from a resolved relationship, for later.

 2. It isn’t only about body parts. If you happened to read my blog here at WITS on sexual tension, the title was “It’s all in your head.” The same can be said for sex scenes. There are only so many ways to have sex. What keeps it from getting boring is the emotional content of the scene, not just the physical sensations. When two people have sex, they are at their most vulnerable. Their most intimate parts are exposed. They’re concerned about their body, or their performance, or their skill level. They bring all their previous history with sex and all their sexual issues right into the encounter you’re describing. If they’ve had bad sex, or poor relationships, or they’re a virgin, or their father abused their mother, it’s all in the bedroom (or the kitchen or the barn) with them. Which makes sex scenes often the most revealing scenes you write about your characters. Preparation is key. Know what your character’s sexual history has been. Know how your character feels about sex and about their body. Then project the consequences of how both your participants feel about sex and about themselves into the sex scene. What would happen? What could be good for them in this scene? What could be bad?

3. Point of View. Which brings us to POV. If you are going to show the emotional consequence of sex, then sticking to a POV like glue is very important. Be that character. What would the character notice? What would he or she feel emotionally? Physically? (A little used sense in most writing is the sense of touch. Here’s your chance!)

That doesn’t mean you can’t use both participant’s points of view, even in a single scene. The scene is richer when the reader shares the experience of both parties, and it’s easier for the writer to show how the act of having sex is affecting them by using both points of view. Many books head-hop in sex scenes going from the heroine’s POV to the hero’s and back again frequently and with very little notice. I’m not a fan of head-hopping. I think the reader needs to feel anchored in the POV to stay firmly engaged in the scene. They need to be very clear who’s eyes they are seeing the scene through at any given moment. Personally, I prefer a drop down before changing to another POV. But just make sure the change is crystal clear. Writing a sex scene from the POV of your opposite sex can be quite liberating, by the way.

4. Body Parts and Point of View. While body parts aren’t the main attraction, you have to get the mechanics right. Arms and legs can’t go where only a member of Cirque du Soleil could put them. I recently read a book where a guy made love to a woman who was sitting on top of a kitchen counter. He was six feet tall. Nope. Not unless he was standing on a couple of phone books. You don’t want your reader worrying about whether the stunt you are describing is physically possible.

I think the thing that makes writers most nervous about sex scenes is what to call the body parts. No one wants to name a crucial body part something laughable. Remember all those descriptions, “his pillar of strength?” or “her nub of pleasure?” We’re afraid to sound silly. But we aren’t always comfortable using graphic colloquial language either.

However, in some ways, it isn’t about us as authors. What words would your characters use to describe body parts? If your POV character is an innocent, maybe the only words she knows are the clinical ones (like “penis” or “clitoris”.) But a sexually experienced guy is going to use colloquial language, rarely clinical. Not sure what guys would call their equipment, or their partner’s? Husbands and boyfriends are great resources.. Or ask girlfriends in a long-term relationship. They know. Stay away from purple prose euphemisms UNLESS, your heroine is an unrealistic romantic who reads a lot of purple prose. Then she’s going to think and talk like that. And it won’t be silly, because it will go with her character and tell the reader something about her.

Want to test your description for silliness? Read it aloud. Would anyone you know ever say that? If no, then it’s the author talking, not your character, so rethink the words you’re using.

Be aware of which words are negatively “loaded” for many readers, though. They are usually colloquial names for female genitalia. Know your audience to understand whether they are ready for those words.

5. How many ways can you describe an orgasm? Because an orgasm is such a unique feeling, it can be described in a lot of ways. But here’s where originality counts. It’s important to stay away from clichés. For instance, “seeing stars” and “breaking apart” have been done to death. You’ll be able to think of your own over-used descriptions. So it’s worth it to think about this description a little bit and stay away from the obvious. This is definitely an area where purple prose can creep in.

6. How much do you describe? Think of your audience. Erotic romance readers? Readers who like some heat? Just west of sweet? Then think of you. What do you like to read? That will probably tell you what level of heat you are comfortable with. If a book is “hot” there’s really not much you can’t or don’t describe. That doesn’t mean you devote twenty pages to a single sex scene. Like any other description, you’re going to describe only the important parts. If you’d rather, you can take readers right up to the act itself and close the bedroom door. The important part is not to write what you aren’t comfortable with. Readers can spot that a mile away.

7. What emotions are appropriate in a sex scene? All of them. Because when we are at our most vulnerable, sometimes our deepest or our most hidden emotions just pop out. Women often cry after sexual release. Laughing is frequent. Sex can be a power play for one or both partners. Anger? Oh, yeah.

The important thing is that you stay in the POV of the character, and describe what that person is feeling, and that you know what about that character makes them feel that way. I guarantee your sex scenes won’t seem silly at all.

8. A word about research. Okay, let’s get this out on the table. Do you have to have done everything you put in a sex scene? Nope. Imagination counts. You can get a lot from other books. There are only so many sexual situations, and so there’s no copyright on sex in a boat, or sexual position number 53 from the Kama Sutra, page 76, Diagram 2. Don’t worry, by the time you put it through your story and your character’s point of view, it will seem fresh and new. There are lots of great research materials online, including sex-positive sex education sites covering just about any act you can imagine. There’s a difference between sex-positive sites and pornography sites, by the way. Dipping too far into pornography may give you unrealistic ideas about what real people experience when they have sex. I think it helps to have had some sex sometime, just to so you understand the feelings involved. But writing sex scenes including things you’ve never done is a great way to experience vicariously things you can’t talk your partner into doing!

9. Does any of this apply to erotic romance? In erotic romance sex often occurs right out of the gate and frequently thereafter. But the most satisfying erotic romance has an emotional arc for the sex scenes as well. They are still about what that incident of sexual activity means to the characters engaged in it, so POV is still very important. And the relationship behind the sex isn’t resolved until the end. The description of sex may be more graphic and will use colloquial and even highly charged words. But all the elements of description, use of body parts, etc. still goes.

So don’t dread the sex scene. It offers wonderful opportunities to reveal your characters and have some fun too.

Want to share a story about writing a sex scene? If you have a question, now is the time to ask!

 Susan Squires is New York Times bestselling author known for breaking the rules of romance writing. She has won multiple contests for published novels and reviewer’s choice awards. Publisher’s Weekly named Body Electric one of the most influential mass market books of 2003 and One with the Shadows, the fifth in her vampire Companion Series, a Best book of 2007.

A novella called Your Magic Touch (part of the Children of Merlin series which begins with Do You Believe in Magic?), released last month. All of her books are available at Amazon and other booksellers. Susan’s latest book, Night Magic, arrives in August.

 Susan has a Masters in English literature from UCLA and once toiled as an executive for a Fortune 500 company. Now she lives at the beach in Southern California with her husband, Harry, a writer of supernatural thrillers, and three very active Belgian Sheepdogs, who like to help by putting their chins on the keyboarddddddddddddddddd.