Monday 25 August 2008

Here's a nice piccie...

... of Kuffer, posing as only he can! Note the magnificent 90 degree tail, cutely tucked front paw, and classic hind leg drape on the edge of the bed. Eek, I've obviously been watching far too much of the Olympics because I'm grading my cat on his sleeping positions now!

Anyway, now that the Olympiad is over, I'm hoping I'll get more work done. I've found myself getting drawn into watching sports that normally I'm barely aware of, but now that temptation is gone and I need to focus on my writing, on writing related activities and web design stuff when it comes in. I think I'm going to try and cut down some of my web surfing activities too. I love visiting blogs and sites and boards, and being part of communities and making friends, but sometimes, just sometimes, I come across things while I'm surfing that irk me out of all proportion to the degree they should... and that's not good for my temper or my general health. I'm one of these silly old sods who has a tendency to get in a state about nothing, so giving myself slightly less exposure to these 'nothings' has got to be a good thing, eh?

And I need to concentrate on Kiss It Better. This is proving to be quite a challenging book, because there's a lot of character history, character psychology and complexity to get into it... all without compromising the degree of sensuality in it that I know the publisher expects! I love writing super hot, and the characters in KIB are sexy, imaginative people... but there's a part of me that would have loved to write this story as a deeply emotional, character driven *romance* instead. There would have been sex in it, of course, as sex is a crucial key to the story, but I'd like to have had carte blanche to dwell much more on other aspects of the plot and characterisation, making up as much as half or even three quarters of the wordcount. I've always been interested in the bigger picture in my stories, and one of these days, I'd like to be in a position where I'm writing works that allow me this freedom.

4 comments:

Saskia Walker said...

Awww, that's such a yummy piccie, he looks so happy!!! :)

KiB will be an awesome read. I'm sure your concerns will disappear as you get further into it. I have worries about mine and I'm at a similar place to you in the MS writing.

LVLM(Leah) said...

Wow, do you really have to write a certain amount of sex to publish this? I have no idea about such things. It just seems like if it were a great story that would be good enough.

Now I'm so curious about this book because of all the angst you're going through trying to keep it sexed up while not compromising the emotional content it wants to have obviously.

Oh and nice kitty pic. I love cats, really, they can be sooooo cute. Nasty buggers! LOL

Portia Da Costa said...

Hi Saskia

You're right. I'm reworking the first section and I feel as if I'm really getting to grips with it now, and forging a much better mix of the romantic and the erotic. I'm sure you'll conquer your WIP too as you begin to work on it, and become absorbed in it and start loving the characters! :)

Portia Da Costa said...

Hi Madame B

Yes, I think in any erotic romance, or erotic novel there's a certain expectation about how much sexual content should be included. Not just in Black Lace books but in other imprints in the genre. And if there's not perceived to be enough, the reader might be disappointed or feel misled.

The trouble with this particular WIP is that the basic idea sprang from another idea, which *wasn't* erotica or erotic romance. It began life in my head as a sweeter romance, with some love scenes, but not built around the sex, built around the emotion. Now, I still want to keep some of that vibe, but as a Black Lace novel, there needs to be a much higher proportion of sensual content, and sex has to be pretty much centre stage in the character motivation and the story.

Gawd, I do set myself some tasks!