Writers in the Storm

By Sharla Rae

Put on the sexy music [See Fae Rowan’s blog on Music As Writing Inspiration. ] I’m giving you the sister blog to my Sensual Word Menu, Sexy Phrases For In And Out Of The Bedroom.

Many writers bemoan writing love scenes. I have to admit that they aren’t one of my favorite things to write either. I rewrite them more than any other scenes in my books. It’s not the idea of writing sex that plagues most of us. It’s all the pesky problems both real and perceived that pop up during the writing.

Merely fitting part A into part B turns your characters into stick people. It's not sensual and it's just plain boring.

Okay, so we need to add emotion. Figuring out the right balance of emotion in relation to the physical aspects can be tricky. Too much emotion or internalization interrupts the action and throws cold water on the heat. If the emotion doesn't seem right, the problem could be that the characters aren't ready for sex.

In any story, sex means something. Good or bad, sex alters characters and their relationships. It’s hard enough just to write these scenes, and now as writers we must show character growth, and like all scenes in a book, the love scene must move the plot forward.

Which brings us to the problem of Gratuitous Sex, or sex that happens for no apparent reason. As writers, especially romance writers, we sometimes stop and panic -- “I’m a third of the way through the book. My characters should be having sex by now!” And then we plug in a sex scene whether the characters are ready for it or not! NOT SEXY! And because it’s gratuitous, we usually break the rule of balancing emotion with the physical act. Such a love scene will not move the plot forward. This is a throw-the-book-across-the-room mistake.

And last but not least, is one of the most abused problems. All the love scenes in a book sound alike. To be frank, no matter the where and how it takes place, there is always a part A that is fits into a part B, and every scene should be emotional. But I can’t tell you how many published books I’ve read where the author used the same words and phrases over, and over, and over again until I finally just skipped the love scenes.

My Word Menu and Phrases List might help you with this last problem by offering ideas for changing up the wording.

Yes, some of the following phrases in the list do, by themselves, sound like purple prose. Can’t be helped. It’s the nature of the beast. Keep in mind it’s how you use the list that counts. These phrases are meant to kick up your own creative juices. So study them, then write the love scene in your own words.

Don’t forget --  sex scenes demand your entire repertoire of writing skills: emotions, body language, dialog, plotting etc. I started out with a list I called Sensual Phrases. For this blog, I robbed a few phrases from my other lists: Kisses - All Kinds, Descriptions of Men, Descriptions of Women, and Body Language. I could have included a few from my list of emotions too, but this is already a really really long list. As it is, you will find some emotion phrases too.

I think it’s only fair to admit that I do have a list of names for the male and female private parts. Don’t laugh. I’ve actually seen similar lists on line. Mine got started while I was on the Leisure Ladies list serve. One of the authors mentioned that she was sick to death of reading “manhood” for the male sex organ. We all laughed and offered alternatives. Hence, the Manhood List was born. It was very . . . edifying. <g>

Okay, here are the Sexy Phrases For In and Out Of The Bedroom.

Absorbed the feel of him
Aching tension between them built
Acute surge of desire
Admired the full length of his powerful physique
Aflame with
Agile fingers fondled
All thoughts became superfluous but one
All-over kiss of two bodies
Allowing his erection to cushion against
Already plumb and swollen
An opiate, she had no wish to kick
An unfurling of
Anticipation so keen
Apex of her legs
Arched her back to better accept him
Ardent loving
Attraction that became much more
Attractive dishabille
Beautiful landscape of plains, tight abs and
Beckoned him like a siren’s song
Beguiling her with his
Between her thighs
Blood humming in her veins
Blown apart by heat
Body surged into hers
Bold caress of his tongue
Boneless limbs
Brain wouldn’t focus
Brazen hands
Breached her every defense
Breathless urgency
Breathtakingly aware
Brutal strength of his passion
Building of a gripping sensation
Bunched her skirt up her thighs
Burgeoning frenzy
Buried in her sweet heat
Burn, tremble and yearn
Catalogued every curve and dip
Caused women to hyperventilate
Charge of excitement
Chuckled at her goose bumps
Circled his hard length with her hands
Circled his neck with her arms
Clad only in panties
Clever hands
Climax came at her in drugging waves
Closed about her breasts
Clutched fistfuls of his shirt
Coaxing her to abandon
Collapsed, spent
Come hither grin
Complied without thought
Consuming climax
Convulsed with her orgasm
Crumbling barrier of resistance
Cry of release
Cupped her soft blond mons
Cupped him in her hands
Cupped his face between her hands
Curve of her collarbone
Damp quivery thighs
Dazed and mellowed
Deep dips and curves in all the right places
Deep primitive tug that signaled
Deep sense of completion
Deliberately stretching her
Delicate inner face of her thigh
Delighted with her excited anticipation
Devastating her control
Dragged his mouth from hers
Drank freely of him
Draped her arms
Drew her into the maelstrom
Driving force of his kiss
Driving hips
Eager to sample
Engulfing emotion
Entered her slowly
Enthralled her with his touch
Enticing image of her beneath the
Essential speed
Euphoric aftermath
Evocative stroll to the bed
Excellent molecular structure
Explored the texture of his
Eyes narrowed to half mast
Eyes slid shut in ecstasy
Familiar hot longing squeezed his
Fascinated with the soft roundness of
Feathery strokes of her tongue
Feel of him next to her
Feminine portal
Fervor of her response
Fevered skin
Fierce flare of yearning
Filling her
Final surrender
Fingers tangled in the curls at her
Firm curves and slender limbs
Firm male lips that knew what they were about
Flawless skin
Flexing muscles in his back and legs
Flicked open the buttons one by one
Flooded her
Fly apart
Focused on the sensation
Focused totally on her
For his private deletion
French cut panties and lacy bra cupped
Frenzied race to fulfillment
Full lips softened under his
Fused his flesh with hers
Gentle persuasion of his kisses
Going up in smoke
Grasped her knees and eased them apart
Gravelly words uttered against her flesh
Greedy mouth took bold possession
Handsome, hypnotic, and powerful
Hard little kernel of tormented flesh
Hauled in a breath and tensed
Head of his staff nudged
Head twisting frantically as he
Heart-shaped ass begged a squeeze
Heart-stopping tenderness
Heat and power radiated
Her body closed tightly around him
His erection bumped against
His hard thighs crowned her hips
Hormones percolated
Hot flavor of desire
Hot/warm honey
Hunk of sexy brawn
Husky voice whispered want and need
Ignited a hunger
Introduction of delights
It was damn potent
Joined her in the void of
Joined their heated flesh
Keening sound as she threw back her head
Kiss held  promise of fulfillment
Kiss spoke of things left unsaid
Kissed the back of her knees
Kissed the slender column of her throat
Kneaded her bosom
Knees clamped his naked hips
Lean muscles of his belly
Legs entangled with his
Lethargy of spent passion
Licking her
Lips fused and held
Lips grazed the ripe buds
Long, liquid kiss that rushed lust through her
Long, slow ride of delight
Loomed over her
Lost her senses
Loved this swarthy virile man
Loving attack on
Low slung jeans hugged his
Low sultry, incoherent mews
Luscious vessel
Made him more rigid and engorged
Made mincemeat of her will
Mapped her body with his
Matched his rhythm
Molded intimately against
Molding her to him
Molten waves of pleasure
Narcotic power of his voice and eyes
Naughty smile that had him imagining
Nearly maddened
Nearly melted in his Armani loafers
Need that defied reason
Nerves stretched taut
Nibbled her ears
Nipples pebbled
Only he could appease
Onslaught of raw physical desire
Passionate tide overtook
Past her own will
Peeled off her tight blue jeans
Penetrated her
Perceived her every desire
Pert nipple beckoned
Picked up his rhythm
Plea in her eyes
Pleasure licked at
Plucked kisses from
Poised at her entrance
Potency of his presence
Preparing her for him
Pressed her back and took his fill
Pressed two fingers into the silken curls
Pressing her against his arousal
Primitive maleness
Probing in a slow repetitive rhythm
Prolonged the pleasure
Purring beneath his touch
Quiet sensuality brewed in
Quivery awareness shot
Radiated each others heat
Ragged breathing
Rained kisses across her silky shoulder
Rapid, shallow breaths
Reason tumbled into oblivion
Reckless savage lust unlike anything he’d
Reeled in wicked delight
Relentlessly moved her hips against his
Restraint that drove her to distraction
Riding rhythm
Ripples of pleasure
Rose over her
Saucy grin invited his touch
Savored her
Scent rising to torment
Sea of pleasure
Searing need
Seeking all her secrets
Sexy little mole on her
Sexy, tight man buns
Shackled his raging lust
Shaft reared hot and hard against her
Sharp spasm of need
Shattering climax
She was tight
Shocking, possessive gaze climbed
Shock waves of pleasure sizzled
Shuddering with desire
Silken length of her thigh
Sinewy arms holding her captive
Sinuous, leonine strength
Slick heat
Slid another finger inside.
Sliding thrust
Sliding upwards against him
Smelled of Jasmine and sex
Smoldering eyes drew him in
Sneaked into her heart
Soared high
Soft cheeks of her bottom filled
Soft coziness of passion’s aftermath
Spasms of pure unadulterated
Spilled his seed within
Splintered into
Startled by his intimate kiss
Stirring of primal needs
Stoking a fire
Stretching her softness
Stripped away her restraint
Stroking fingers matched that of his tongue
Sucking them into his mouth
Surge of his possession
Swiftly dealt with her clothes
Swirling hotly
Taking him to the hilt
Tampering with her sanity
Tangy taste and male scent
Tasted of heat and honey
Taunting the pink morsels
Taut steely muscles
Teased her lips apart
Teased the tiny bud
Tender assault
Tension built where their bodies
Testosterone was getting a workout
Throbbing inside of her
Tight-ass jeans left no doubt about
Tinder beneath his touch
Tingles ricocheted
Tongue dipped and swirled
Tongue skimmed her trembling lips
Tormented the hidden morsel
Touch provoked a cry of
Transcended physical pleasure
Tremors rose in the wake of his
T-shirt bulged with rock-hard chest and muscle-bound arms
Ultimate surcease
Unbearable heights
Unchaining wild, delicious feelings
Undulating hips
Urgent need flowed/commanded
Urging her on
Voice not entirely steady
Voice quavered with the after effects
Vortex of heady sensations
Wanton striptease
Warm and pliant
Warm, calloused man’s hand enfolded
Warm, wet, recesses
Watched her face
Welcomed with an open-mouth kiss
Wild and fierce possession
Wild ride
Wild, reckless and restless mood
Wildness brewed beneath the gentleness
With consummate skill
Withdrew and slid home again
Wrapped in a web of magic
Wrestled it off
Wrestled with his need

by Laura Drake

My debut book will be out in May, so promo is at the top of my mind lately. When I brought up the idea of doing a book trailer with some of my published friends, I got the equivalent of my nine year old granddaughter’s, ‘Oh, that’s so last season,’ eye roll.

And I get it. I mean, if you’re looking for your next read, do you jump over to YouTube and peruse the book trailers? I don’t either.

BUT. They did say that if a book trailer is funny, cute, or somehow different, it can go viral. Does that correspond to more book sales? I have no idea, but getting my name and book cover in front of all those people can’t be a bad thing, right?

My friend, Tessa Dare, NYT bestselling author and creator of one of the best book trailers of all time (see it here,) even gave me a super idea that could be funny, cute, and very different. No, I’m not going to give away the premise here. Once the trailer is done, I’ll post it in all its (hopeful) glory.

So, what next? When I take a photo, there’s a very good chance I’ll that the subject’s head won’t be in the frame. I’ve never worked with photo or movie editing software. I don’t know anything! Thank God for the internet.

The first thing I needed to know, besides a premise was:

What Makes a Good Book Trailer?

From the Huffington Post (you can read the whole article Here.)

• Hide the author in the attic.
• Pay for a professional voice-over. This doesn't apply to fan videos, but for anything with a budget, it's a must unless the author is famous for something other than writing.
• Could you please not open with a title card? Please?
• No house logo opening. Ever.
• Great music. Faster is better. You're already selling something that people think is a bit dull. Moody tones put it in the category of a movie, and it's not going to compare well.
• Brevity is the soul of wit. Let's define brevity as ninety seconds or less.

From my publisher:

• Have a SEO-friendly title and robust book description on the YouTube page and in the clip itself
• A title card featuring the book and clear call to action (visit www.authorwebsite.com.)
• Don't link to retailers as you want the clip to be universal; make it evergreen
• Avoid pre-order language or anything that will date it.
• Keep it short—2:30-3:00 max
• If you’re using music, make sure it's rights-free or author has rights to use
• Use title card for any endorsements
• Use clean/simple voiceover or read a very short excerpt.

From Lisa Gottfried (you can read the entire post Here.)

• Economic – 30-90 seconds
• Edited – balance and blend text, images, audio
• Authentic – be real. People know when they are being “sold” to and there is less tolerance on-line for the tactics used on TV commercials. Your message needs to be more down-to-earth, user friendly.
• Emotional – look for teasers
• Entertainment – make ‘em laugh; then make ‘em cry

Okay, some of that info is conflicting, but I think I get the basic idea. I now have a premise, and some guidelines to follow.

Now I need to know:

How To Do  This

Once more, the internet is a savior. I found a bunch of articles:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4491963_make-book-trailer.html

http://kingdomelectlady.hubpages.com/hub/Create-Your-Own-Book-Trailer-Free

http://suite101.com/article/how-to-make-a-book-trailer-a170770

http://www.squidoo.com/booktrailers

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/01/guest-blog-week-how-to-make-book.html

http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2011/01/07/how-to-create-a-book-trailer/

SOFTWARE:

But the above describe different software to use. More internet research ensued.

Animoto

Windows Movie Maker

PhotoStory

Stupeflix

PhotoShow

MUSIC:

Most trailers I’ve seen use music. But where do you get royalty-free music?

I found one site, but if anyone knows of others, I sure could use more.

Brandgrades

Now all I needed was inspiration -- some book trailers to get storyboard ideas from. I found some great ones

BOOK TRAILER EXAMPLES:

http://www.thepassivevoice.com/12/2012/poems-by-cats/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter   If you’re a cat lover, you’d HAVE to buy this book, after seeing this/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCfYrwGD9MI  Like Water for Elephants. Watch this and not want to read it. Dare ya.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4DzoNkomQ0 Stud Club Trilogy by Tessa Dare – clever use of humor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEsElsHrvC0&feature=player_embedded Crazy Love. Gripping and emotional.

Sites to Display Your Trailer:

Once my trailer is ready, where can I display it, besides my website, YouTube, Facebook and Good Reads?

1. BookTrailers.net
2. Bookscreening.com
3. Blazing Trailers
4. The Red Room
5. Book trailers for Readers
6. Book trailers for All

So what do you think? Are book trailers dead? Do you have any links or knowledge you can share with us?

Writers In The Storm welcomes back double RITA finalist, Kara Lennox, a.k.a. Karen Leabo with her Plot Fixer blog series. Don’t miss Kara’s writing tips the first Friday of every month.

Here are the links for Parts 1-8:

Part 1 – Your Premise Isn’t Compelling
Part 2 – How To Fix a Weak Opening
Part 3 – A Lack of Goals
Part 4 – Is Your Conflict Strong Enough?
Part 5 – Raising The Stakes
Part 6 – 5 Tips To Help Improve Your Story’s Pacing
Part 7 – Pick Up the Pace
Part 8 -  Is Your Plot Predictable

By Kara Lennox

In my critique group, I am known as the Coincidence Nazi. I cannot stand when an author uses a coincidence to further the plot, because it's easy. That's just lazy writing.

Here is Kara's Rule of Coincidences: One per book. That's all.

Coincidences do occur in real life. And if you're writing, say, a paranormal, where you have a curse or a spell or some object that keeps landing in the possession of brides left at the altar, that is one thing. The coincidences are part of your world-building.

But if you need to have a scene between the hero and heroine, so you have them run into each other at the grocery store, and then at the post office, and then in an elevator, and then at a ballgame ... ugh, ugh, ugh. If your character is trying to solve a mystery, and she keeps stumbling on clues by total dumb luck, another triple ugh.

Many romances are fueled by a hero and heroine who are initially antagonistic toward one another, but because they are forced to interact, they eventually learn things about each other and come to understand each other's motivations, so they can work out their conflict. But simply throwing them together haphazardly is not the way to do it. You have to craft a plot that forces them together--naturally, logically. The best stories move along due to the characters' decisions and actions--not by stuff simply happening to them.

Sometimes a coincidence, or bad luck, or an accident can be the inciting incident that gets the ball rolling in a book, so to speak. Say, a woman is getting a manicure, and she overhears the conversation at the next station involving the manicurist's boyfriend. And the woman realizes that the manicurist's boyfriend and her boyfriend are the same person. This is a coincidence. But it could happen, and it could work as a first scene, the inciting incident that causes our heroine to cancel her wedding and go on to do ... whatever.

But you can't have that same woman continue to overhear conversations to further the plot, That would qualify as a contrivance, when the author manipulates the plot for her own convenience. Now, what you could do is have the heroine deliberately eavesdropping for the purpose of collecting information she needs. Do you see the difference? In one case, she overhears crucial information by dumb luck. In the other, she is deliberately pursuing the information. The first case is contrivance; the second is a legitimate, character-driven event.

Some luck plays a role in every life, and can be included in your book. (I confess, I’ve thrown a tornado or two into my books.) But having the character drive the story, rather than the author, is much preferred.

Paranormal authors are particularly guilty of manipulating the plot for convenience's sake. They take liberties with their magical world. If the heroine has telekinetic abilities, then suddenly in the middle of the book she develops telepathic abilities because the author needs her to learn something from the villain that the villain would never tell her, but those telepathic abilities are never explained and never occur again ... that is a contrivance.

But even in romantic suspense, or straight romances, authors sometimes have their story people behave irrationally or against character, because they need something to happen.

Here is what I do. If, as I'm writing, I discover that my character needs a particular skill that has never been mentioned before, I go back to the beginning and plant that skill. As an example, at the climax of a screenplay I wrote, the heroine swings from a chandelier and catches a flying gun with her feet. (Okay, this was a comedy, remember!) This woman was a former stripper, and I already had a short scene at the beginning where she was doing her act onstage. So I added a trapeze and had her catch a flower between her feet as part of her act. Later I revealed that she was a former child gymnast with Olympic hopes whose career ended with an injury. It all fed into her character beautifully.

Now I will tell a story on myself. I wanted to write a book about a tough guy who was stuck taking care of a baby. I wanted it to take place in a remote area of the Ozarks, and when the baby gets sick, I wanted the heroine to be the one who could step in and help him take care of the baby. So I needed the hero isolated. Where he couldn't just drive to a hospital.

So here is what I came up with. He was a secret service agent, charged with protecting a Chinese diplomat's baby who had been threatened during some sensitive negotiations. I had him and the baby delivered to this remote cabin by helicopter. Then I had him LOSE his satellite phone, his only means of communicating with the outside world. The heroine found him when she trespassed on his property hunting for a medicinal herb, which was fine. But then I had him hike off the mountain with her so he could get to a phone, and then I just have him hanging out in this tiny hill-country community so he and the heroine can be together and fall in love.

How can I begin to list the problems with this story? I just read the rejection letter from my editor (and looking back, she was incredibly kind, she should have blasted me out of the water for this one). Really, it makes no sense. Why would a man who knows nothing about babies be assigned to do this, without any help? Why would he be left in a remote area, with no possible means of back-up should something go wrong? Why wasn't he just taken to a normal safe house? Why did he incompetently drop his phone down a crevasse? Is he a bad agent or what? Once he hikes to a place where he can make a phone call, why does he stay there? Why doesn't he return to his cabin or request a different safe house?

I had this picture in my mind of all these hill folk coming to the aid of our hero when the bad guy descends, defending him and the baby Ewok-style, with homemade booby traps and what not. This, in fact, was the ONLY thing my editor liked about the story! But to get there ... surely I can come up with something that makes more sense.

I mean, we are writing fiction, and fantasy, but logic must still prevail.

Look at your story now with fresh eyes. Do you have any coincidences? Do you manipulate events to further the plot? Are things happening to the character, or is the character making things happen? Are your characters' actions properly motivated? Report back, if you make any key discoveries.