Up For the Task?

Since I am one of the newer members here, I don't have any entries with PR to pull from and display once again here. However. I've been a blogger for a long time. Longer than for most people knew even what the heck blogging was. Plus, I've kept journals since I was a pre-teen. So, here's an entry from one of those defunct journals - dated Aug 1, 2002.

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I heard someone once say that writing sex is easy. Not writing about sex, that’s easy – describe the natural sexual act between two people - simple mechanics that everyone is familiar with. No, I mean writing sex. All the emotions, entanglements, blood, sweat and tears.

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember.

I’ve been writing sex for close to 10 years.

But this one person asked "How hard can it be to write sex? It’s something that everyone does. Just slap a few paragraphs together and WHAM! BAM! THANK-YOU MA’AM!"

*snicker*

If it were that easy, everyone would do it perfectly out of the gate. If you really think it's that easy, that simple and you don't already writer it - try it.

I dare you.

Write a story that captures the reader’s imagination, makes them understand every emotion, every thrust – without going into such detail that you lose their interest. Without having to spell everything out so that it’s all on the line for them and they have no ‘interaction’ with the characters.

After all, half the fun of reading is getting to use your imagination.

Write a story that finds that perfect balance where your reader is so captivated that they get to the end and scream for more.

Better yet, write a story with a plot.

*gasp*

Sex stories have plots?

Say it ain't so!!

Writing sex was one of the harder storytelling I started. I used to just write fantasy, sci-fi, and just plain fiction. But I wasn’t growing as a writer, I wasn't learning anything. I was throwing away more than I was keeping. In order to grow as a writer, you have to expand.

Bottom line, I’m not the best writer in the world. Shit, I personally think I suck, but I write for myself. For my own creativity. Writing about something everyone does and making it interesting is one hell of a task.

~*~

So, if you made it through that, you deserve a little reward. I worked something different out with the winner's name I drew last week - so I'll toss up a download of my first published novel, Flash of Dark, to one lucky commenter again. Be sure to leave me a way to contact you and the contest is open until midnight EST.

Good luck!