Omigosh! It’s Friday and time for the Story Orgy to spill all on our writing habits! What do you think we’re going to say about prompts? Or about our preference for either long or short stories?
Hmm…well…let’s see. The wonderfully smexy Lee Brazil is kicked back on the couch, Havan Fellows is curled into his side, Hank Edwards is scoping out the Windows Scrivener I’ve got open (it’s really not that different than yours, Hank…I swear it!) and my muse, JR Boyd is waiting for me to cozy up on the other side of the sectional.
We’ve decided to get together to chat about us and our work. Have you heard? We have a new release coming up (December 2nd!) with stories from your Story Orgy. We’ll keep you updated, but in the meantime…Why don’t we see what comes up here? *wink*
1. What is your fave smex situation you have put one of your characters in and why?
Havan: Okay – this one is gonna bite me in the assets … roflmao … my fave situation really isn’t a sex scene – but it is sexual … it’s in a WIP of mine and the main character is explored by a non-corporeal being, all I can say is orifices are definitely breached. *wiggles hips and waggles brows*
JR: Oh wow. That’s a difficult question. I think all smex situations are favorites *ahem*. If I have to choose only one, I must say it’s when my boys smexed in a grocery store manager’s office. It was spontaneous and romantic, including role play and mad passionate love between partners.
Hank: Oh man – it would have to be in my novel Vancouver Nights when I had Charlie Heggensford, the fluffer from Idaho, and his friend Billy, tied up in leather slings in the hayloft of a barn and given champagne enemas. LOL! It was a crazy situation and that whole chapter sort of appeared in my head when I came up with the chapter title: “Champagne Enemas and Chug-a-lug Dreams.” Yeah, you kind of have to read it …
Lee: Okay- if we’re starting out the writing section talking about sex, then I’m breaking out the tequila. Drink up, buttercup. Lime? Okay then, so, well, I made one of my characters celibate. That was fun. Why? Because. Another I had fall in love with twins. I think that would be one of my favorite scenarios. Or did you mean sexual positions? Because that would depend on the day of the week that you’re asking. I think that a classic missionary style, face to face, scenario is romantic and sexy. Then again… on every second Tuesday… I don’t think a story benefits from reading like an exotic Gay Sex How To Manual… simple and straightforward…and slightly kinky… or savage and raw, the point is to convey the emotional connection between the characters, not to see how many ways they can have sex in 75 pages. At least, for me it is.
Em: Ooh, I think my favorite is the masturbation scene from Impossible to Resist. It was so intriguing to work out a scene where they don’t actually touch much but you feel like they’ve touched everything!
2. How is prompt writing different than you anticipated?
Havan: It’s a lot more work than I thought it would be. It’s not just writing a few things down and saying here you go … people see your work as you do it – two weeks down the road if I decide that the leads shouldn’t have kissed when they first met … too bad – they’ve done it for the world to see and I better work around that oopsie … and I purposely now try to leave some out of the blog stories so when I publish it everyone can enjoy the surprise of what was added!
JR: Prompt writing is like putting on a blindfold and reaching for the edible body paints. You never know what flavor you’re going to get. I anticipated it to be more like paint by number.
Hank: Wow, so much more work than I thought! I thought a very short story a week wouldn’t be too bad, but, dang, it’s tougher than I thought! And all these other writing demands only add to it. While I wasn’t really surprised that I was drawn to serial stories (I just can’t get away from longer fiction), I am surprised at the number of novellas I’ve written.
Lee: It forces me to travel paths I normally wouldn’t while writing. I think that I didn’t have a lot of expectations for how it would be, it just seemed like a fun concept. Of course, it’s turned into a lot more than that. I didn’t actually expect that I would end up writing serial fiction based on the prompts… but that seems to be the general result. I don’t think I even considered that it would lead to the publication of anthologies.
Em: I’ve done prompt writing for years and love it. The first go I had at it though was on a blog from Writer’s Digest called Promptly and readers were encouraged to submit 500 words or less that tell a story. You wouldn’t believe how hard that is to pull off.
3. You’re building a character for a new story. Which comes first? The name, the description, or a character trait?
Havan: Oh – that depends on the characters … because they listen to me as well as my kiddos do … *heads desk* Lots of times names come to me quick – but I’ve found out I’m a name stealer … roflmao … so I have to check with my muse to make sure I’m not pilfering from him! As for traits and descriptions … usually all my men are whole assets – or darn near close! *face palm* But they all have great aspects that I look forward to exploiting – descriptions are a small part of my writing, I’m working on being more descriptive about my men.
JR: The name is what I start with. Once my boys have a name, I can see and taste them. YUM!
Hank: Hmm. Good question. I would have to say a trait comes first. For the character of my hero Josh in “Bounty,” I came up with his trait of being able to raise the dead. Then everything else fell into place after that.
Lee: It’s a three way for me. *rereads* Yeah, okay I’ll leave it at that. Another shot of tequila? Sure thing… A name will trigger a character, or a picture will inspire a story, or a character trait will be necessary to see a story to its end.
Em: The character comes first. Usually…sometimes I get the profession (which can be awkward! LOL). But the name is the last thing I stumble onto.
4. What’s your favorite thing to do after writing a scorching smex scene?
Havan: Edit it? *face palm* Actually I go over it again and play it out in my head – make sure it is believable/doable … which is important for me to do because evidently a person can NOT give a blow job while bandaging a wound … who knew? roflmao
JR: I like to eat. I always feel like I just ran a marathon.
Hank: Try it out with my partner!
Lee: Get a fresh cup of coffee? You don’t understand. Reading a sexy scene is arousing… writing one is damned hard work!
Em: Would you believe sleep? I am always up late writing and that means midnight or 1am.
5. Do you prefer writing short stories or long ones? Why and why not?
Havan: I’m naturally long winded – and evidently really like the sound of my own voice, so I can easily turn a simple dinner that should be 500wds into an epic 4k wd diarrhea of the mouth – or … um … fingertips lol. So yes, long stories are what I like writing – what I’m better at writing is still to be determined – I currently have two novels both over 80k wds that I’m finishing up and I can’t even count the partial shorts I’m working on … fun times baby, fun times!
JR: I like to write short stories because them boys get to the nitty gritty. The boys in my long stories talk too damn much.
Hank: I love the compactness of a short story, it’s harder to write short fiction than anyone thinks! But I’m drawn to a longer story, when I can tease up the suspense or the romantic tension. I love writing tiny scenes that show the interaction between characters to get a glimpse of relationship or hear a snippet of history or the wisps of a dream. And, since the majority of my blog posts this past year have turned into serial stories, I’m going to have to say I prefer longer stories.
Lee: Shorter- Novella seems to be my primary length. I think it ties in with my shortening attention span. I’m easily distracted by pictures, words, nature. LOL. My attention drifts from thing to thing, and if I try to focus on one thing for too long, I get bored with it. If I’m bored with it, then how can I expect the reader to be interested in it?
Em: I prefer the challenge of writing a compact story. Being able to get across the emotion and character in fewer words is challenging and I love that feeling of accomplishment when a reader raves about that. Of course, that said…I would love to write something longer!
***
Whew!! How’s that for getting to know your Story Orgy? But guess what?? It’s not over! We’ll be at Lee’s blog next Friday with questions and answers on smex! I know, I know…you can’t wait. *wink*
~Em
jade baiser
/ November 4, 2011wow!! very interesting post! I can believe I still learn things about you guys!! who would have known!! lol
the thing that surprised me the most, is that, except for Havan, you all prefer short, “compact” stories to write… I don’t know why it surprised me, it just did!
Oh and I love you SO family <3
Em
/ November 4, 2011We love you too, Jade darlin’!! <3
Havan Fellows
/ November 4, 2011Oh wow … I love these interviews we are doing! We are all individuals, but work so well as a team! <3 you all and Jade too!
Thanks Em for hosting us … is there any more coffee though? hehe
Em
/ November 4, 2011*looks around at empty desk* well…no. But I can go get some! LOL
Araya
/ November 4, 2011I love getting to know more. Its interesting seeing how it comes across as the author’s view.
Its like I am sitting there in the living room with you….although some pictures would be nice!!!!!! Hello? Not even on your facebook accounts…*pouts*
Araya
/ November 4, 2011Sorry….you probably know me better as Karen Candido …he he
robincovington
/ November 4, 2011Wonderful! You guys just crack me up! Em – I loved your answer about going to sleep after writing a smex scene – I also write late at night and frequently hit the sack after.
I really admire all of your churning out the short story each week. I really made a foray into writing a short story and it was as hard as writing my usual 60k!!
Christy
/ November 4, 2011It always sounds like y’all are having so much fun…It’s great that you all enjoy what you do so much. Another great interview…Can’t wait to hear even more as the weeks progress
leebrazil
/ November 5, 2011THis was so much fun to do, and to read! Thanks Em!
AkFa Dreamlandpress
/ November 13, 2011WoW, I love to learn from you all. That was fun, but helped me a lot. Thanks for sharing
Best wishes