Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Skirt Up, Knickers Down

Must write a story for DL King's Spank anthology, due January 15th. (scroll down to find the call for submissions) Must fill my thoughts with pert bottoms and reasons for applying a sound spanking. Or just say WTF the don't worry about a deeper story. Just yank a young lady over someone's lap and make her wail. The squirm. And prove she really loves it.

If only.

I suck at writing male Dom/ female sub because nothing about it turns me on. It flatlines my libido. Maybe I've met too many male "Doms." *bites tongue, hard, to stop from going off on a rant*

Kink is hardly a place to try to apply logic, and I'm definitely in the YKIOK camp (Your kink is okay), but if the story doesn't turn me on at some level, I'm doubtful that I can deliver that certain little unidentifiable moment that pushes readers' buttons. So even though I joke about bluffing my way through it, I'm going to have to dig deeper and find something to love (or lust after) before I can write a story. Otherwise, I'll get bored and never finish.

*rummages through brain attic for some scenario that might hold a spark of interest*

*finds dust motes floating through sunbeams infinitely more fascinating*

This is going to be a long two weeks.

Sunday, December 06, 2009

The Rewrite

Someone once said (paraphrased) Even F Scoot Fitzgerald wasn't F Scott Fitzgerald until the rewrite.

I used to hate the idea of rewrites. Everything coming off my fingers the first time was fresh and real and blah,blah,blah - more artsy-fartsy diva ego tripping. Now I know better. Learning to embrace a sucky first draft allowed me to finish the first draft. Learning to embrace the rewrite is what made my work readable.

On a short story, it isn't so bad, but I'm doing a major rewrite on a novel. New chapters, redefined character, huge passages lopped off, and the hardest part, moving stuff around. It's a lot of work. I have to be aware of where I am in the new version timeline versus where passages were in the old timeline. Old and new have to blend. I don't sew, but I feel it's like taking apart a quilt and reconfiguring the patchwork into a different, but related, pattern.

Since there are new passages, it's almost like going back to the first draft. I'm going to have to read it through and rewrite this version when I'm done. At least that will only be polishing runs. I hope. If I have to do this again, I'm going to start typing from scratch.