Plot Monkeys

That got your attention, didn’t it? At the risk of our blog being spammed, my topic today is all about sex. Well, actually, it’s all about what it takes for me to write a love scene for one of my books. So, yeah, sex is the topic for today.

One of the most difficult parts of a book for me to write is love scenes between the hero and heroine. While I can breeze through scenes with plot or characterization, I come to a writing crawl when it’s time for my hero and heroine to do the deed. It never used to be this way – but after writing 40+ books, those love scenes have become a big, time-consuming process for me.

Why, you ask? Well, for one, I want to make sure that the love scene between these two characters isn’t the same-‘ol, same-‘ol, if you know what I mean. (And that in itself is hard, considering how many love scenes I’ve written in my career! I mean, how many different ways can my hero and heroine DO IT?) And for me, writing a love scene is more than just the physical act of sex - - it’s about my characters connecting on an intimate and emotional level. That’s something that I won’t compromise on. I write romance, not erotica, so a lot of my focus is the character growth that develops during a love scene.

So, what does that entail? A whole lot of layering. At least for me, anyways. I wish I could sit down and write a love scene from beginning to end in a few hours, or even a day, without thinking about that layering process. I wish it all flowed naturally for me, but it doesn’t. Not anymore.

The first thing I do is figure out where the love scene is going to take place (bed, kitchen, up against the wall – you get my drift!) – and thank God I usually know this before I actually get to the scene, so that helps. Then I write the pure physical part of the sex — the position and clinical details. Once that’s done, I go back in and add in layers of sensuality, and that usually comes from describing the act with sensual, evocative words and sentences. It’s all about setting the scene by adding in sense of touch, what the characters are seeing and doing, and what they are feeling physically. It’s about the sexy dialogue and seduction. It’s about how a caress feels, a character’s reaction to a provocative stroke, and all those other sensory things that make a reader feel as if they are a part of the scene.

By now, I definitely have a very sexy love scene. But now comes the tough part – layering in the emotional component of the scene. Usually by the time my characters make love, they are emotionally involved, and those emotions are usually intensified by the fact that they are taking this next step in their relationship. This emotional component can come from one or both characters, but before I even write the love scene I have to decide what character is the most emotionally involved at that moment – and that’s whose point of view the scene will be written from because I want the reader to see and feel what the character is.

Here is an example from the current story I’m writing. The beginning of this love scene is written from the hero’s point of view, so you’ll be getting some insight into what he is thinking and feeling. This paragraph started with the physical action – a kiss. Then came the sensuality, and lastly, the emotion the hero was feeling in that moment:

Her mouth was soft and yielding, a heavenly temptation he couldn’t resist, so he didn’t even try. Her lips parted, and he accepted the invitation to deepen the connection, to slide his tongue inside and curl around hers, dragging her into a hunger so dark and hot he burned with the intensity of it. He kissed her with a fierce urgency borne of knowing that she was truly okay and unharmed. Kissed her with an abundance of relief and gratitude and something else far more profound that echoed in the farthest recesses of his soul — an emotional, intimate bond that rocked the foundation of the solitary man he’d always been.

More. He needed more of Lora. Needed to touch and taste and savor every nuance that was uniquely hers.

I wish I could say that these few paragraphs were as easy and quick to write as it probably was for you to read. But no, it took me a few hours to nail down the action, the hero’s thoughts, the sensuality, the emotional impact of the scene. And this is just a very small part of the love scene as a whole. This is probably why I end up with 10-15 page love scenes, or even longer. Which can be good or bad, depending on what a reader likes.

So, as a reader of romance, what do you prefer? Long, hot, sexy love scenes or short and sweet ones? Is it important to you that the love scene has an emotional element to it, or do you care if it’s just physical sex between the characters?

Okay, I’m not really working on a railroad, but as the hammers pound all around me, that’s the song that keeps playing over and over in my mind.

Guess what we’re doing this week when I have a novella due on Monday?

HOME IMPROVEMENT!

First, I have to explain that the work being done in my house is a long time coming. Seven years, to be exact. You see, seven years ago, my husband and I hired a highly recommended contractor to remodel our two bathrooms, our hallway (adding a closet to what used to be an air conditioning return) and various and sundry assorted things. All started off well…but well, little by little, the skilled laborers working on our house disappeared, replaced by two non-English speaking (and you all KNOW this isn’t a problem for me, ethnically speaking) tile guys who were mysteriously working on our plumbing. When one of these guys left a LIT blowtorch about seven feet away from my then two-year old daughter, they were fired.

The work wasn’t done. We didn’t care. It was just little stuff left…or so we thought. We were gunshy about having people in our house again and now that the work was small (baseboards, window framing, crown molding, etc.) none of the big boys we’d interviewed before were interested. We even tried to entice them with the promise of being able to remodel our kitchen.

No dice.

About a year ago, we found the perfect guy to work on our house. He was a friend of a neighbor and he’d worked on their house and did high quality work. He came over, gave us an estimate. We were good to go. Then…he never called. We called him. Called and called and called.

This is the curse of the Florida contractor. People in other states are shocked when they move to Florida and the contractors you hire simply don’t show up. Maybe they’re on the beach. Maybe they skipped town to Puerto Rico or somewhere else more tropical than the northern climes from which most of them migrate. I’ve never met a contractor who was actually born and raised in Florida. Weird.

Anyway, a few months ago, a very good friend had her house entirely remodeled. She liked the guy who did her bathrooms, so she recommended him to me. Now he’s pounding out the marble ledges in my windows to replace them with the wood frame. I’m trying to work, even though I jump and hit the ceiling every time the generator that runs his air nail gun powers on. I’m breathing in paint. I’m not happy.

I keep telling myself I’ll love it all when it’s done…I’ll finally have baseboards! My daughter’s bathroom now has a mirror (Janelle! Now when you visit you can actually see yourself!) The unpainted doors that have been hanging in my house for seven years (there are seven doors…if we’d simply done one a year ourselves, life would be much easier…there’s a lesson in that!) now are a glossy white.

Little by little…

And I am writing. It’s a miracle. But sometimes, things just have to get done.

When it’s all finished, I’ll post a few pictures. Right now, I have to write!

And then, there’s still the kitchen. Have I told you about the blank drywall I’ve been staring at for NINE years? No lie…

Busy taking care of sick dog who had surgery yesterday … :cry:

January sucks.

I guess that’s not nice to say and I might hurt its feelings…so I’ll rephrase.

January bites.

I know, I know, this unreasonable prejudice against one of the months is unfair and unjust but I have a right to my opinion and there it is. I have always hated January.

I guess you have to feel sorry for the poor thing. It is, after all, one of the longest, coldest, greyest months in the year. And it falls after Christmas–what lousy luck of the draw that was! But despite our pity for its inherent drawbacks, I would lay money I am not the only one who can’t stand this particular month.

But it isn’t just because it’s cold…frankly, this year, it’s NOT. I am finally living in Maryland, having really truly looked forward to my first northern winter in fifteen years. Got the kids snow boots and sleds for Christmas. And it’s been seventy fricking degrees out right up through New Year’s! I’m in Florida right now, where it’s closer to ninety, so it’s even worse. But man, I wanted some cold air, I wanted some of the white stuff, and I just don’t know if I’m gonna get it this year, especially since my kids tell me they’ve been wearing shorts this weekend. :evil:

But there’s more to my dislike of this particular month. If you ask my husband, he’ll tell you my greatest–okay, only–fault is that I tend to be a planner. I am always looking forward, getting ready for the next “thing” coming up, so much so that I often miss the wonderful little daily things going on along the way. That’s a failing and I do try to work on it. I know that personality flaw is one reason I’ve always hated January. My love of Autumn and Halloween, Thanksgiving and oh, the most fabulous season of all–Christmas–has me anticipating, planning, bouncing on my toes excited from September 1.

Then January 1 comes. I’m one of those: “Crap. It’s over,” kind of people and nothing slams that home harder than poor old New Year’s Day when January oozes onto my calendar.

And as if that’s not bad enough, the Christmas bills start to arrive!

For all those people out there with January birthdays, please don’t take offense. Because I AM ONE OF YOU. My birthday is coming up on the 24th. You’d think that would make January a stellar month but I always felt gypped. Like my parents probably bought a whole bunch of stuff for me for Christmas, then remembered I had a birthday in a month so they stuck a few bagfuls of it in a closet to give to me then. I spent many an hour fantasizing about the fabulous gifts I would have received for Christmas AND my birthday if only my parents had gotten amorous in September of 1964 rather than April. (For those math geniuses among you, feel free to figure out my age..lolol!)

Anyway, for the past few years, there has been a silver lining in the dark January cloud. If you think about it, I bet you can guess….it has eleven letters, four people, three of the best friends in the world, fabulous food, amazing hotels, tons of laughter, a lot of room service and wonderfully creative brainstorming.

Got it?

Yep, I get you do! The Plotmonkeys Retreat! It’s coming up and I, for one, am SO excited!

Spending a few days with Julie, Janelle and Carly always has me raring to go with my writing–full of energy and excitement…and, okay, chocolate. My face will hurt from laughing, my feet will hurt from having to trudge all over town to find Carly some tea or Julie some Diet Rite or me some Diet Coke or Janelle a protein bar. But it’s okay. It’s so totally worth it. It’ll give me just the creative shot in the arm I need during my darkest month of the year. (Hmmm…I feel a Plotmonkeys contest coming on. Maybe after we get back we can post some pictures and have our visitors guess where we went this year! Whaddya think???)

And heck, maybe I’ll get lucky and my plane will touch down in Baltimore on a crisp, snowy day and I’ll spend my birthday having snowball fights with my hubby and my girlies before we curl up in front of the fireplace to warm up with hot cocoa.

Hey, I can dream, can’t I?

Until then…I’ll just keep tearing off the pages of that calendar waiting for the Valentine pleasures of February before settling in for a long, windy March.

Anybody else have any suggestions for making January a little more bearable? Please feel free to share!

The winner of Leslie’s Jungle Madness prize is…

TERESA WARNER comment # 22!! CONGRATULATIONS!

As usual, winner was drawn by random # pick. Teresa, drop me a note and give me your snail mail addy so I can get your prizes out to you. My addy is: author@lesliekelly.com. Thanks so much for visiting and congrats again!!

And a few little bits of Resolution humor…

What is the New Year’s Resolution made by the hero or heroine of your work in progress?

LK: My heroine is resolving to demand more time to be herself–to indulge the bad girl within rather than being the good girl “baker” her family needs her to be for the family business. So she’s going to work really hard to make a success of her new career as a stripper!

JEL: Wow…great question. I would think the heroine of the book I’m writing, Regina, a high-powered witch who has lost her powers because she’s denying what is in her heart–love for the man who tried to kill her–would resolve to be a better judge of character and not let her libido get in the way of her good judgment…although, the way the story is progressing, her libido is going to lead her to better judgment. Isn’t that the way it should work?

CP: My heroine is starting a new career at the Hot Zone PR firm and she’s resolving to make her uncle and the Jordan sisters who hired her proud. She doesn’t want her bad behavior/family tendencies to get in the way, so she’s resolved to steer clear of the one man who can cause her trouble. John Roper isn’t a guy to be denied what he wants however and he wants Amy. And inside her heart, Amy wants him too. And her character really is more like her quirky mother and aunt (who always get into trouble at their retirement home by indulging in whims like skinny dipping). So really, does Amy have a shot at being the good girl? Naah …

JD: I’m finishing up TOO WILDE TO TAME (out September 2007), and my hero, Joel, has more of a resolution than my heroine. For Joel, he’s resolving to believe in himself and the possibility of a future with the heroine. To allow himself to feel needed, to accept and embrace the feeling, when he’s always been the one on the outside looking in. In other words, he’s a guy and he needs to get in touch with his emotions!

Hi everyone and Happy New Year!

I’m visiting my house in Florida this week, which is why I’ve been a little quiet. But Carly reminded me that this is my week for our contest, so I have been wracking my brain trying to think of something fun. Hmm…what’s fun…chocolate is fun! And books are fun!

But we’re all doing good resolutions and stuff, right?

So…healthy chocolate…I’VE GOT IT! How about a tin of Hershey’s chocolate covered pretzels?!?

(I know, I know, not exactly healthy…but it’s better than triple chocolate caramel fudge stuff, right?

Winner gets these delivered to your door.

And to give you something to do while you’re munching, I’ll send you my next book, which isn’t even in stores yet!! (But, to be technical, it isn’t exactly new since it is a reprint of my very first book published in 1999.)

How about, just for fun, I send you an autographed copy of the NEW version AND an autographed copy of the OLD version for a friend.
Sound good?

As usual, just say hi and you’re entered!

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.

My last cover (SECRET SANTA) was all about props. A red shoe. A santa hat. The cover art left a lot to the imagination. My next release, a novella in the “BAD BOYS WITH RED ROSES” Anthology is pure HUNK! The cover isn’t posted anywhere yet, so I thought I’d give you all a sneak peek of this drool-worthy cover. The bad news is . . . you have to wait until May to read the book.

So now, my question to you all is, do you enjoy reading anthologies (books that feature 3 stories in 1 volume), or do you prefer longer, full-length stories? Have you discovered new authors you now enjoy by reading an anthology? And when you buy anthologies, do you do so depending on the author names on the cover, or because the title or cover art grabbed your attention? My inquiring mind wants to know!

I have probably mentioned here before that I am a huge Star Wars fan. And by Star Wars, I mean the first three movies. And by first three movies, I mean Episodes IV, V, and VI. And by Episodes IV, V and VI, I mean Star Wars (A New Hope), The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. I know this sounds confusing, but I’ve learned over the last week in trying to explain the chronology of the series to my now 9-year-old daughter that understanding how this works isn’t so easy.

I’ll spare you the entire convoluted explanation since most of you already understand and those of you who don’t understand likely don’t care.

I think that all of us have defining moments in our lives–instants where our lives change forever. I can honestly say that one of my most vivid memories of my childhood was sitting in the tiny theatre at the now razed Tampa Bay Center (mall) with my father and hearing that score by John Williams pulse through my body. I remember the stars flickering across the screen, the camera panning down and the first shot of two starships, one tiny, one immense, sliding across the screen.

I think I held my breath.

I was 11 years old. Maybe twelve. I can’t remember much more than the way the movie changed my life.

My imagination was struck open like…well, like a blaster to a cargo bay door. From that moment on, most of my stories took place in space, on weird planets, amid strange and fantastical magic. As I was just a child, I had no idea what fan fiction was, but I’d written it and showed it to no one.

I saw STAR WARS over 100 times. In the theatre. I’m not exaggerating. Back then, they didn’t care if you paid admission once and stayed all day. The movie remained in theatres for over a year–there was no imminent DVD release to kick it out. So long as people were willing to pay admission, the movie stayed. So I went. Over and over and over, committing every word, every scene to memory.

Oh, and I was completely and totally in love with Mark Hamill.

I know, I know. I should have loved Harrison Ford. Everyone else did. Not me. He was cute, but he was old! I was only 12! I wanted the handsome, brave farm boy with the melt-into-you blue eyes. The one who wasn’t “simple tricks and nonsense,” (should I admit here that at one time, I could quote the entire film verbatim?) but real magic and courage and an intense desire to do the right thing? By the time I was a senior in high school, skipping out to camp out at the opening of RETURN OF THE JEDI (11th in line for the first showing), Luke had matured and so had I. By the time I met Mark Hamill after a Broadway performance of his in THE NERD (great show!) I would have willingly had his child. Unfortunately, he was married (still is to the same woman…I mean, can you not love this man?) and was a perfect gentleman and very gracious to his fans.

But he shaped many of the first heroes I ever wrote in the beginning of my career. They come in all shapes, sizes and occupations–and none of them fly in space–but all of them have at their heart that Luke Skywalker determination to change the world.

I could go on and on about how Princess Leia shaped my heroines, but I think it’s pretty obvious!

For Christmas, my daughter received the Star Wars II Lego game for her X-box. This got her interested in the movies, though I’ve been trying for years to get her interested. So this week, in my refilling the well quest, we snuggled up in bed and watched all three movies and rediscovered the magic together. She woke up tonight an hour after going to sleep and had to get up and tell me that in her dream, she’d figured out why they’d titled the first movie “A New Hope.” (Because Anakin was the hope, but he turned to the dark side, so then Luke was the new hope. She’s brilliant, this kid.)

So for the love of Luke Skywalker, I get back to work today on my own stories…not set in space, but with a bold heroine and a hero, frankly, who’s more Han than Luke…at first. But he learns from his mistakes and in the end, he saves the galaxy. Metaphorically speaking. Well, a little figuratively, too. It is my final story in my witch series.

What movies or books or popular culture (music, perhaps?) made a difference in your life?

Since I have January 2’s blog, it seemed appropriate to discuss NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS. (But first I have to remind you that SIMPLY SEXY is in stores now along with re-reprints of the first three SIMPLY books and BRAZEN - those four are $4.99 each!) with gorgeous new covers. Check ‘em out at carlyphillips.com and I hope you can find them in bookstores or online.

And now back to today’s topic. New Year’s Resolutions - or lack of them. I thought I’d start with a joke and Googled “New Years Resolution Joke” and the first entire page had different links but all listed this same LAME joke so why not perpetuate it some more? Then we’ll get on to my actual blog.
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Are you sick of making the same resolutions year after year and yet you never keep them? Here are some resolutions that you can actually keep.

10. Read less.

9. I want to gain weight. Put on at least 30 pounds.

8. Stop exercising. Waste of time.

7. Watch more TV. I’ve been missing some good stuff.

6. Procrastinate more.

5. Drink. :cocktail: Drink some more. :cocktail::cocktail:

4. Start being superstitious.

3. Spend more time at work.

2. Stop bringing lunch from home: I should eat out more. :thumbsup2:

and last but not least…

1. Take up a new habit: maybe smoking!
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This lame joke does actually prove my point about resolutions. Love ‘em :thumbsup2:or hate ‘em, :thumbsdown: they are always a topic for the beginning of a new year. I fall on the side of people who stopped making new year’s resolutions because it it is just too easy to give up. If I say I’m going to exercise and a few days pass, I’ve broken my resolution so why bother?

So this year instead of making a resolution to lose weight or exercise or some other thing I just won’t do, I am going to promise myself that I will implement some LIFESTYLE changes instead.

What is the difference you ask? The changes I want to make are the kind that should eventually become a part of my every day life. Some already are a part of my life, like writing, but I’ve gotten off of a schedule.

1. I intend to schedule in writing time like I schedule a doctor’s appointment or carpooling day.

2. I also intend to continue the low cholesterol changes I started about a month ago. I always thought I was on a low cholesterol diet and in a sense I was, but now I’m big on soluble fiber and oatmeal for breakfast, and less crap in my diet. Less to no white carbs (which is HARD when there is bread on the table every meal you eat out!) I lost 5 pounds thanks to things my brother pointed out, so now I am resolving to make these changes more permanent.

3. The dreaded E word. Exercise. Because I have a hard time taking cholesterol meds and I have a horrible family history, I must exercise. I’ve been doing it for a year and I recently took a month off (how easy it was to do that!) and now I have to go back to it and make sure it is scheduled in a certain amount of days a week! (please note I wouldn’t find the exercise as tough if I didn’t need the hour to shower and pull myself together afterwards. It cuts into my whole day!). But I want to live another day, so I have to exercise as a part of my life, not as something I dread doing.

4. Spend less. OK I hear everyone who knows me well laughing at this. But I am resolved to do this in various areas of my life, starting with my professional life and working on down because I am probably, seriously, a shopaholic.

5. Enjoy more - Because if I am going to implement the lifestyle changes above, I damn well am going to have to reward myself for doing it. Which I am guessing will mean more shopping and the dissolution of lifestyle change # 4.

But I won’t go down without a fight.

So there you have it, my FOUR LIFESTYLE CHANGES. What about you? Are you a believer in resolutions and if so what are yours for the year? Do tell!