Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 104

I'd worry if they talked back.

Today I'm in the Author Spotlight at Jessica Freely's blog Friskbiskit, talking about the male/male relationship aspects of The Moonlight Mistress, among other things.#And for today's pondering:How do we visualize (mentalize?) characterization? I've heard people say things like, "My characters refused to do that," or "they said they wanted to do this instead."So, for those of you who use that

Research Books Whee!

I'm in a research flurry, collecting materials that I hope will be helpful in writing my second erotic novel set during World War One.I do the dance of new books!The Belgian Army in World War I is another Osprey book. These are slender but packed, packed I tell you, with detailed information and drawings. Since my heroine is Belgian, I wanted to do a little more work on the army from her

The Trapped Protagonist

Over at the Romance Divas forum for the next three months, I'm serving as mentor to another writer. As a result, I've been thinking about plotting and how to plot and how to teach to plot. And how to teach one to teach one's self how to plot. *whew*To help out my thinking, I've been browsing among various articles, books, saved messages, etc. that I saved thinking I would get to them later,

Wilfrid Wilson Gibson, "The Messages"

The Messages"I cannot quite remember.... There were five Dropt dead beside me in the trench--and three Whispered their dying messages to me...." Back from the trenches, more dead than alive, Stone-deaf and dazed, and with a broken knee, He hobbled slowly, muttering vacantly: "I cannot quite remember.... There were five Dropt dead beside me in the trench--and three Whispered their dying messages

Art has a shape.

"One thing that makes art different from life is that in art things have a shape; they have beginnings, middles, and endings. Whereas in life, things just drift along. In life, somebody has a cold, and you treat it as insignificant, and suddenly they die. Or they have a heart attack, and you are sodden with grief until they recover to live for thirty petulant years, demanding you wait on them.

Maintaining Sexual and Romantic Tension

I think that all Romance plots ultimately involve deferring consummation of the relationship, whether the desired consummation is intercourse, marriage, a marriage proposal, or simple acknowledgement by the couple that they are in love. If a consummation happens at the novel's beginning, then either internal or external circumstances must conspire to prevent a second, deeper consummation until

Kinesics in Fiction

The body language of one's characters of course must have something in common with the readers' experience, or it won't communicate anything to them. But how to make descriptions of body language interesting? And reveal character in the specific as well as in the general sense? And be clear to the reader but at the same time be as invisible as the word said in one's prose?I tend to focus on the

Cell Phones Make Life Difficult (For Writers)

When Tanya Huff's vampire novels were made into a television series, Blood Ties, the original novels were re-released. The first time I read those books, I'd borrowed them from a friend. This time, I bought my own copies, since I was in the mood to reread them.(This post is not about that television show, but I thought a visual of one of the show's leads might interest some of you.)What

Alison's Wonderland Cover

Behold the cover for the 7/1/2010 Spice anthology Alison's Wonderland! Isn't it amazing? Click on the image for a larger version.My contribution is a small (very small!) reprint of one of my Elspeth Potter stories.

Pondering the Mail-Order Bride

I had another thought about Western romances.Does the reason the "mail-order bride" plot is so popular in Western romances have anything to do with the idea that marriage is linked to civilization? In that case, marriage could be civilization, and imposing it upon two people can be likened to imposing a farm onto a wilderness, or law upon a den of outlaws.True, the mail-order bride isn't usually