Tuesday, March 12, 2013

PLAN? REALLY?


 freedigitalphotos.net

 "Pencil On Paper" by digitalart

   'IT WAS ALL A DREAM...'


Hi all, I’m delighted to be back here on the Naughty Nights press blog.
Something l was talking about with my daughter the other day got me thinking about how we authors write and how different that can be from the way we were taught to write.
I still work with teenagers on their written work and l teach them, as do my colleagues, to always plan their stories. This is something that l hardly ever do and sometimes as a consequence l am left wondering how the hell I’m going to end my latest Wip.
So how many of my fellow authors actually sit down like at school, and plan a beginning, a middle and an end before they start? Oh l know it never works according to the plan, but the idea is that you don’t get too side tracked.
However as l was condemning myself for not following my own advice l suddenly realised why we teach children to plan in the first place. If they are writing a narrative for an exam they usually have around 20 minutes to do it. If they do a rough outline of four or five paragraphs then they’re likely to stick to the point and complete it in the given time. It’s different for us isn't it? We have (unless there’s a deadline) as much time as we like to go with our story. We also use a hell of a lot more words. So if we intended our character to be a hard ass, independent person and then can’t resist letting them fall in love, we still have plenty of time and space to think about what to do with them next!
The only problem is l sometimes don’t know what to do with them next because the half idea l had as l was beginning to write has gone off on a tangent, swept away by my emotive mind and now my characters are staring up from the page saying “You put us here, now what?”
Even worse is the completed sex scene, a hot menage where limbs and tongues have been all over the place and l have paused several times to...cool down. Oh yeah it's really hot! My readers have been on the journey with me as every touch and shiver has been explored and revealed. But now the characters are flat out on the bed or somewhere more exotic, spent and panting. What can l do with them now? Will one of them go off and make a cup of tea? Will they all fall asleep? 
For me It's like waking up from a beautiful dream when l reach that part of the story. Like a furtive voyeur, l just want to sneak away whistling.

Please tell me I’m not the only one!

Below is the worse ending l ever wrote:

‘For Tom, Nathan and Alice it was a beautifully exhilarating experience and one that they were to share again and again.’

I promise l rewrote it, but only after my daughter laughed till she cried!

Live, love and write with passion,
until next time,
Gemma Parkes

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