Pat Bertram's Blog, page 325
July 14, 2009
Sex SCENE not SEX Scene
One problem new writers have when they approach a sex scene is that they think of it as a SEX scene rather than a sex SCENE. Any effective scene — sex or not – serves multiple purposes. This is especially true of a sex scene, otherwise it will seem unconnected to the story, as if you just threw sex in the mix because you felt it was time to titillate your readers.
One good use of a sex scene is to show character. One of my favorite scenes in my novel A Spark of Heavenly Fire is when Jeremy King,
July 12, 2009
Sex Scenes: Self-Concept and Sex Concept
I just finished reading a book about how to get anyone to do anything, and the basic premise is that you figure out what a person's self-concept is, and you play up to that. For example, if the person thinks of himself as a good father, you appeal to his father image: "If you help me, it will make a better world for your children." If you go against a person's self-concept, he will resist you and may end up disliking you. For example, asking the father to work on a night when he promised to be a
July 9, 2009
Sex With Sister Tips — Writing Tips, That Is
Who am I to sneer at a gift from the google gods? If writing about sister sex will boost my blog ranking, then what the heck, I'll write about sister sex. Or rather, write about writing sister sex.
We have such a strong taboo against incest that if you want to write about sibling sex in a mainstream novel, the incest must be motivated. In other words, there has to be a strong reason for it. Perhaps the children were shut away in an attic most of their lives and had only themselves to rely on. (If
July 6, 2009
Sex With Sister Tips. Um…Yeah
One of my favorite aspects of wordpress is the list of search engine terms people used to find my blog, and I often refer to the list to give me ideas for blog posts. The terms used to be pretty straightforward — short story tips, describe a scene, meaning of car color — but ever since I posted an interview with my sister called "Was It Bizarre Reading a Sex Scene Written By Your Sister?" I've been finding the strangest terms on the list. I had no idea so many people wanted to have sex with thei
July 1, 2009
Twits and Tweets
I've been sitting here for about thirty minutes trying to come up with a topic for my online live chat tomorrow night at No Whine, Just Champagne on gather.com, trying to think of a bloggery for the Second Wind blog tomorrow, trying to think of something to write for my blog tonight. While I've been waiting for my brain to kick into gear, I've been doing the online equivalent of channel surfing — checking my emails, checking Facebook to see if anything is going on, checking Twitter.
Ah, Twitter.
June 22, 2009
Pat Bertram and Malcolm R. Campbell Discuss the Writer’s Journey
Malcolm: I’ve always liked the concept of life as a journey in which each of us walks as a seeker and/or a hero on a winding route to places we don’t yet know or understand. So, I appreciate the invitation to stop by your blog and talk about the writer’s journey.
Bertram: The mythic journey concept has infinite possibilities, both as a story structure and a metaphor for one’s life as an author. Do you make use of the mythic journey structure in your writing?
Malcolm: There are mythic qualities in
The Writer’s Journey
Malcolm R. Campbell, my guest today, worked as a college journalism instructor, corporate communications director, technical writer and grant writer before publishing The Sun Singer in 2004. Malcolm says:
Writers’ journeys are filled with highs, lows and limbos, and down at the what’s-my-next-word level the path often looks like a mess. Joseph Campbell suggested that our lives often appear disorganized when viewed close up. Yet when the point of view is pulled back far enough, the route from her
June 15, 2009
Call In and Talk to Me! I’m On Blogtalk Radio
On June 16, 2009 I’m going to be interviewed on Rita Schiano’s blogtalk radio show: Talk To Me…Conversations With Creative, Unconventional People. I would love to have you call in with a question. After all, it’s only fair — you get to hear my voice, so I should get to hear yours.
The call-in number is (347) 327-9158
The show is being aired (is blogtalk aired?) at 8:30pm ET at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/rita/2009/06/17/Talk-To-MeConversations-With-Creative-Unconventional-People-with-host-Rita-Sc
June 13, 2009
Self-Editing — The List From Hell
Some people have asked for the list of words that I check during my final edit, so here it is. I don’t eliminate all the words, but I do go through the manuscript and check the usage of each instance of these words to see if I can delete them or rewrite the sentence to get rid of them (particularly in the case of was, were, and had). The problem with some of these words, though otherwise acceptable, is that if you use too many of them, it gives your book a wishy-washy feel. Words like quite, rat
June 12, 2009
Waiting For an April Time
My bloggery of yesterday about where to go from here generated a few emails, with people telling me not to give up writing. No fear of that. Writing is a part of my life, and I still have many books in me, but I am at a crossroads, on a plateau, standing still . . . choose your cliché. (I haven’t yet told you about my love affair with Microsoft OneNote, but I just found another use for it! The WordPress article editor doesn’t add the accent mark on cliche, so I wrote the word on OneNote which do
