How comfortable are you writing ahem, 'romance' ?

[Naruzeldamaster]

What is a short list, anyway? Never seen one in real life.

A list of clothing brands that have the best shorts, duh, or a record of how often your electronic devices have shorted, take your pick.
(Ok, I actually apologize for that one but I had to. The god of wind I'm writing has very cringe humor/puns. She's aware of it, the other characters are aware of it, in a few scenes everyone (including her) just cringes at her jokes and moves on.)

Going back to the original topic: I think I'm confident enough to write what is 'needed' for the story (be it sex/violence/erotica etc) but I do my best to keep to my own standards as well. I personally think there's a time and a place for every narrative tool in a writers kit. What determines if it's done well or not is the execution I think. And if there's any significant tonal whiplash from the previous/following scene also.

 

[The Dark One]

All my books have sex in them (even the biography I was commissioned to write).

Mind you - it is NEVER gratuitous - and always has consequences for the story.

I've posted this before - advice for writing excellent bonking scenes.

April 2012 – The Book Hammer

4 posts published by adriandeans during April 2012

adriandeans.wordpress.com

 

[Fyri]

A list of clothing brands that have the best shorts, duh, or a record of how often your electronic devices have shorted, take your pick.
(Ok, I actually apologize for that one but I had to. The god of wind I'm writing has very cringe humor/puns. She's aware of it, the other characters are aware of it, in a few scenes everyone (including her) just cringes at her jokes and moves on.)

Is she, by chance, me irl? XD

 

[Fyri]

All my books have sex in them (even the biography I was commissioned to write).

Mind you - it is NEVER gratuitous - and always has consequences for the story.

I've posted this before - advice for writing excellent bonking scenes.

April 2012 – The Book Hammer

4 posts published by adriandeans during April 2012

adriandeans.wordpress.com

Always consequences, like bad stuff?? D:

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Is she, by chance, me irl? XD

Nah, her puns are so bad that even she gives up on them sometimes lol She does the whole 'woof, tough crowd' bit when she realizes she's being dumb XD
She's quite the chaotic little gremlin too (much more than your average wind spirit. these tend to be mischievous/chaotic as is, so you can imagine something even sillier.) she's more (proper) good than evil though.

Quantum (darkness basically) has similar gremlin energy, and he TRIES to be evil, but his 'evil' actions ultimately wind up being good in the end. One instance being that he caved in a dwarven mine, to scare the shit out of them. (so he could laugh his ass off watching them scurry like ants) That cave in resulted in some gigantic rats burrowing out, thing is, if they had been exposed to the planet cores energy much longer, they'd have become an actual threat to (high level) adventurers. The head god is very sneaky/cunning at orchestrating events like this, so the other gods can be themselves without (ultimately) causing much harm.

Always consequences, like bad stuff?? D:

I took it to mean that it always results in SOMETHING happening, good, bad, or just moving the plot/relationship forward. Consequences doesn't always mean 'bad' thing.

 

[The Dark One]

Always consequences, like bad stuff?? D:

Not necessarily - just stuff that contributes to plot momentum.

 

[mbox]

I may be a bit weird, but I tend to avoid foul language and erotica (I use homebrew explicative and leave early before the romance gets heated). But at the same time, I don't mind excessive violence (not torture porn, but brutal combat and the aftereffects).

 

[Demesnedenoir]

The death of Bond being a sharp-dressed ladies' man is probably part of the reason the franchise is dying a slow death. Half the women he sleeps were are out to kill him, and that was part of the fun. There was the "Oh James" running gag, which comes off a little odd these days if you aren't in on the joke, but even as a kid, I found those moments eye-rolling funny. It was all part of the package, the formula, a male version of the Romance novel that attracted women as well because Sean Connery and the boys were appealing.

No matter what pop culture tries to teach us, sexy sells. Brooding, sulking, wussyboys aren't what women want once you break down psych studies. It's a case of saying one thing and behaving another. Part of H'wood's fizzle right now is the lack of "sexy."

 

[Demesnedenoir]

I'll take classic romance over erotica. Jane Austen. Reading about sex is just lame to me, but boy does it sell, LMAO.

Gimme swords and bullets any day. I write scenes a bit more like a Bond love scene, or classic and classy romance flicks... there's the before or the after and maybe plot-centric pillow talk, but sex? Nah.

I may be a bit weird, but I tend to avoid foul language and erotica (I use homebrew explicative and leave early before the romance gets heated). But at the same time, I don't mind excessive violence (not torture porn, but brutal combat and the aftereffects).

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

Sex-repulsed ace here! Plenty of romance in my stories. All of my characters who are romantic start the story as a couple, or trio, or whatever, except for one couple who do get a 'meet cute' scenario. I find it's a lot more interesting to explore relationships that are already relatively sable, between or among characters who know each other very well, know their quirks and traits and dreams and fears.
Though, in the storyline I'm working on now, I'm also exploring what happens when a romantic villainous [or at least antagonistic] character falls in love with an aromantic character who wants nothing to do with them. Needless to say, the romantic character doesn't handle rejection well at all.
[Out of 22 characters, four of them are aromantic, and two are demiromantic.]

Maybe some day, mainstream society will understand that sex and romance aren't the same thing [and views are definitely changing, just as slow as a snail], and I'm looking forward to that day.

No swearing, either by the way. It'd feel very odd to me, to have swear words in a universe that doesn't include Earth, since pretty much every swear word has specific cultural, biological, and/or religious origins. I suppose I could make some up, but, storms, that might sound a little silly or unintentionally ruin serious scenes. [No, I'm not referencing any famous author here, nope, not a chance. ]

 

[Fyri]

Sex-repulsed ace here! Plenty of romance in my stories. All of my characters who are romantic start the story as a couple, or trio, or whatever, except for one couple who do get a 'meet cute' scenario. I find it's a lot more interesting to explore relationships that are already relatively sable, between or among characters who know each other very well, know their quirks and traits and dreams and fears.
Though, in the storyline I'm working on now, I'm also exploring what happens when a romantic villainous [or at least antagonistic] character falls in love with an aromantic character who wants nothing to do with them. Needless to say, the romantic character doesn't handle rejection well at all.
[Out of 22 characters, four of them are aromantic, and two are demiromantic.]

Maybe some day, mainstream society will understand that sex and romance aren't the same thing [and views are definitely changing, just as slow as a snail], and I'm looking forward to that day.

No swearing, either by the way. It'd feel very odd to me, to have swear words in a universe that doesn't include Earth, since pretty much every swear word has specific cultural, biological, and/or religious origins. I suppose I could make some up, but, storms, that might sound a little silly or unintentionally ruin serious scenes. [No, I'm not referencing any famous author here, nope, not a chance. ]

Stop being similar to me.

 

[Prince of Spires]

The death of Bond being a sharp-dressed ladies' man is probably part of the reason the franchise is dying a slow death. Half the women he sleeps were are out to kill him, and that was part of the fun. There was the "Oh James" running gag, which comes off a little odd these days if you aren't in on the joke, but even as a kid, I found those moments eye-rolling funny. It was all part of the package, the formula, a male version of the Romance novel that attracted women as well because Sean Connery and the boys were appealing.

I agree with this. The appeal of James Bond was that he was pretty much all male fantasies dialed to 11. Walk into a room and have all women fall for you. Get all the cool gadgets and a great looking car (with even more gadgets). Win any casino game you look at. Be an amazing spie and great at shooting. And look sharp while doing so. Of course it's completely unrealistic. But that was exactly the whole point of it.

It's not for everyone, but nothing is. But it was very identifiable. James Bond was a very distinct character. Now, he's just another spy hero, who can just as easily be replaced by Jason Bourne or John Wick or any of another dozen spies.

 

[Finchbearer]

I can’t see you actually reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice Naruzeldemaster, but should you choose to…it’s a near perfect example of how a writer can create sexual tension through dialogue - and she didn’t need to write any explicit scenes at all. She crafted two characters who are attracted to each other - but the conflict is created by the male character having too much pride and the female character having too much prejudice for an instant attraction to work out - it’s basically the OG of enemies to lovers romance.

I suspect that in those days people had a better attention span and would communicate and socialise with people in real life far more often to the point where a conversation between two people really is the key to either a successful or otherwise unsuccessful interaction. Jane wrote that culture into her book and satirised it in places making it witty and clever, and yet still serious in the places where she wanted the romance to play out.

 

[Finchbearer]

Someone mentioned sex and romance not being the same thing? I can see the logic there but are we not forgetting that there is such a thing as romance inducing feelings of sexual desire? I do agree that there is also such a thing as sexless romance, romance-less sex, and who would have thought, romantic sex!

I do have one question though, what is demi-romantic??

 

[The Dark One]

I can’t see you actually reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice Naruzeldemaster, but should you choose to…it’s a near perfect example of how a writer can create sexual tension through dialogue - and she didn’t need to write any explicit scenes at all. She crafted two characters who are attracted to each other - but the conflict is created by the male character having too much pride and the female character having too much prejudice for an instant attraction to work out - it’s basically the OG of enemies to lovers romance.

I suspect that in those days people had a better attention span and would communicate and socialise with people in real life far more often to the point where a conversation between two people really is the key to either a successful or otherwise unsuccessful interaction. Jane wrote that culture into her book and satirised it in places making it witty and clever, and yet still serious in the places where she wanted the romance to play out.

Novels were the movies of those times.

 

[The Dark One]

Someone mentioned sex and romance not being the same thing? I can see the logic there but are we not forgetting that there is such a thing as romance inducing feelings of sexual desire? I do agree that there is also such a thing as sexless romance, romance-less sex, and who would have thought, romantic sex!

I do have one question though, what is demi-romantic??

Sexless romance?

What on Earth is that?

 

[Finchbearer]

Novels were the movies of those times.

Certainly, for women at least. Tangent: novels in regency era England were largely seen as frivolous things only women indulged in, and unfortunately weren’t taken very seriously. They were probably akin to watching ‘Love Island’ nowadays.

 

[The Dark One]

Certainly, for women at least. Tangent: novels in regency era England were largely seen as frivolous things only women indulged in, and unfortunately weren’t taken very seriously. They were probably akin to watching ‘Love Island’ nowadays.

But mostly written by men (for whatever reason).

Men must have had an interest.

 

[Finchbearer]

But mostly written by men (for whatever reason).

Men must have had an interest.

Hmmm, some were definitely written by male authors, but I’m not sure, maybe slightly more were written by women authors.

 

[Gurkhal]

I don't feel very comfortable writing it as I've read to many crappy takes on it, and I don't think that I'm some special snowflake in this regard. I'll just leave it out, allow to take place behind the scenes or fade the screen to black when I get there.