Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
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Writing Questions for Josh
Thank you for the well wishes, everyone! Well I survived my procedure (obviously), but I felt a lot crappier afterwards than I thought I would, so I never made it to my planned evening of guys with cats and JL group postings.I am on the mend and able to partake of such things today though. :-) Hj, it's funny that you should mention listening to an audiobook, because last night I was cursing the fact that I still hadn't downloaded CUTYS as I had planned to do this past weekend. It would have been nice to listen to last night.
Josh, good luck with the taxes. We'll have the gelato waiting.
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There will be a large bowl of all your favorite flavors waiting for your return. (...and 842 spoons.)"
:-D
Josh, what's your secret for not writing a sex scene that sounds like insert A into slot B? How do you get across what's going on without making it sound like you're quoting a sex handbook? I was just reading a story with perfectly enjoyable writing and then the sex scene came along and it just stumbled and lost its emotion and become more of a how to do it moment. Is this question a Man Oh Man spoiler? :-D
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Actually I let KA Mitchell do most of the talking about writing sex scenes in Man Oh Man. ;-)
I don't know that I have any secret other than keeping each scene true to the characters -- and that means having a good grip on who those characters are before we ever get them in bed.
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Glad you're on the mend!
Josh wrote: "Glad you're on the mend! ..."Thank you for this. And also for your answer to my question. I've discovered that sex scenes are really not that easy to write - at least not good ones. And I have more respect than ever for one that is well-written.
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...and that works surprisingly well in real life too... LOL.
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...and that works surprisingly well in real life too... LOL."
True!
Johanna wrote: "Josh wrote: " -- and that means having a good grip on who those characters are before we ever get them in bed."...and that works surprisingly well in real life too... LOL."
:-D Too true!
help me I got turned around...In this thread, I am going back to lurking-- I couldn't write if my life depended on it being here was an accident I swear.
And I've seen some pretty sexy filming of mating slugs. Slow, wet, gooey, slithery with those tender antenna kisses. Oooooh, hot.
Dev wrote: "And I've seen some pretty sexy filming of mating slugs. Slow, wet, gooey, slithery with those tender antenna kisses. Oooooh, hot."They are also hermaphroditic, if I recall. So something for everybody. Essentially they fertilize each other.
Dev wrote: "And I've seen some pretty sexy filming of mating slugs. Slow, wet, gooey, slithery with those tender antenna kisses. Oooooh, hot."Tender antenna kisses... Lol
Forward past the first minute of introduction and then tell me this isn't sexyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtgPAQ...
Dev wrote: "Forward past the first minute of introduction and then tell me this isn't sexyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtgPAQ..."
I must admit, it was quite sexy. Oddly erotic in a way.
That ... double penis flower was... innovative.
I think one of them got a rim job. Or something.
I know - penis flowers, how cool is that?
Johanna wrote: "help me I got turned around...In this thread, I am going back to lurking-- I couldn't write if my life depended on it being here was an accident I swear."
No, don't! Not after your insightful comment about how "having a good grip on who those characters are before we ever get them in bed" works surprisingly well in real life too!
What a fantastic word, Lou! And so apt...
Hj wrote: "What a fantastic word, Lou! And so apt..."Indeed!
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Here is the link for Merriam-Webster's free online calendar:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/word/a...
But that's not nearly as much fun as m/m themed word calendar would be... ;-)
Hey have you ever had one of those moments where you just hear the character and the scene in your head and you just need to find someplace to write it all down?That happened to me last night at work, a scene popped into my head and it tumbled out of my fingers without my realizing it was there.
Joe wrote: "Hey have you ever had one of those moments where you just hear the character and the scene in your head and you just need to find someplace to write it all down?That happened to me last night at ..."
That happens to me. The hard part for me is coming up a story to go with the character and scene... :)
Susinok wrote: "That happens to me. The hard part for me is coming up a story to go with the character and scene... :) "The funny thing is that I have had my story idea flipping in my head, I kept saying I was going to kill this character, then I was going to have him go missing and obviously he told me what happened to him.
I just have to share this first sentence.
He floated in air, his body swirling around like an angel; his wings were clipped and in place were two taut wire cords attached to his shoulder blades.
I mean... come on. Who just thinks that up?
Joe wrote: "I mean... come on. Who just thinks that up? .."You do!
Joe wrote: "Right?"Disneyworld special effects sparking ideas in your mind?
Land, I work in California. Only problem is its saved somewhere on the hard drive I'll have to look for it the next time I work.
It's so quiet here tonight while Josh is off paying The Man. I hope his taxes are only driving him to drink and not to pull his hair out.
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The bad news is, even paying estimated quarterly taxes, I need to come up with quite a bit of spare change before April 15th.
But it's done. The nightmare of taxes is done. Now it's just paying damages resulting from the train wreck. :-D
Given that last year was a sabbatical, that's good!
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Yeah, it really was. The first part of the year in particular when I took back all those rights to the bulk of my backlist.
I think I didn't notice because it was a brutal year financially for my nearest and dearest. So a lot of non-tax deductible money went out the door. This year everyone is doing better, so if I can hold even, it'll be a good year. Fingers crossed.
Of course that sort of depends on, um, WRITING SOMETHING.
;-D
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Same here. If I see a picture I want, I snag it and save it to the computer for future inspirational use. I don't need one more account to keep track of.
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That makes perfect sense.
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Lou, that's a good point about the artist/photographer. If I can, I sometimes retitle the picture with a title and name. Depending on where I find them, if there is a title and a name to go along with it. Often there isn't either one!
I like flickr creative commons for blog photos. And I always give attribution, although sometimes it ends up looking a little weird since the photographer doesn't always have a real name associated with their account. But it's still important to make a note saying that the photo is by xxeiit72 or whatever at flickr.
However, stock photo sites simply don't have the images I use for inspiration. I participated, last minute, in a cover contest Josh ran sometime back. I found I was unable to bring one idea to conception because of the lack of available legal art. I used a couple of Shutterstock images, but there wasn't anything that worked well although I could have Photoshoped the heck out of them, but the issue would have been the same. Just not what I had in my mind. My non-writing question: Do you commission photography or artwork for your covers? If you use stock photo sites, are there particular sites you favor? Thanks for your time.
Thank you so much. You right about the art photography. Those are lovely.
Josh and friends, I was reading about some of Stephen King's work habits and two things mentioned were that he writes every single day (even when he's away on vacation) and his wife is the first person he shows his MS to. I was wondering how common both of these are. I can imagine in a lot of cases that showing your MS to your husband/wife/BF/GF/Pet rock could cause some issues if the other person doesn't handle their criticism delicately. And writing while on vacation - well, that certainly is dedication.
I always write on vacation - it's a joy to be able to write from somewhere else. In my normal life I write most days, every day when I'm in the middle of a project and I tend to take a few days off after I finish something, which seems to help clear the decks. I'm thinking of taking the summer off this year so I can relax a little and enjoy our short warm season.When I've finished my first edit of a story, I read it aloud to my sweetie. It takes a couple days since I only read while he's cooking lunch and dinner. He often has really bad suggestions which I ignore, sometimes has good ones and it's always useful to read the piece aloud - I catch all sorts of errors I'd otherwise miss.
The only thing I've shown my partner was "Skybound" and he liked it and wanted me to cut the sex scene. He's also a big fan of the unyhappy ending, so his advice on Incursion would have meant... a very unhappy readership. So, I sometimes ask my guy to help me fix a plot problem, but it's risky - in 50% of all instances, he rips the plot apart and we have a bit of a good-natured shouting match. :) Sometimes, he's genius though.
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As for vacation, I don't go anywhere, ANYWHERE, without taking a notebook with me at least. One never knows when one might get stuck in an elevator for a couple of hours! Or when you're waiting for your plane to arrive. Or, the best time, when you're on the beach, or in a comfy chair in the hotel room. Even when I'm on vacation with family, I usually bring a laptop for writing. Of course, even with my family I like spending time alone, so it works out that way. btw, not only do I always carry a notebook, if not a laptop, I always carry a book with me too. Just in case I get bored stuck in that elevator or on the train.
And I've never been stuck in an elevator, and I'm not claustrophobic, but I always wonder what I would do when stuck there, if it should ever happen.
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That being said, one of my friends who's trying to get published in the YA area has read one of my books and given me great feedback. I've also read her work and given her feedback. I was recently explaining my pacing issues with my second book and she said she would take a look at it. I laughed. She doesn't read M/M and I thought it was pretty great she read my first novel which was part police proceedural/romance with two guys. I looked at her and I said "you're going to read my threesome BDSM novel?" She then laughed and said "You take me to some strange places."
So, I've got a friend who will read it, and give good feedback, seeing as she's a writer who's serious about her own work.
I would never share my work with my parents. I learned that lesson years ago when I was a kid. I had my mom wondering if there was something I needed to tell her. Yep, never again. So, would I have an SO read it? I don't know. It depends on the person and how open they can be to the darkness I like to write sometimes.
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My husband has read my YA stories, but he doesn't read my M/M stories. He's happy to talk about plot, character, etc. but the actual reading of the story he shies away from. It's fine with me, it's not like M/M erotic romance is the genre he reads anyway. ;-) (Not that YA is either, but he's at least read some of the more famous ones...)I share my work with friends/critique partners I've met online. I'm part of a local critique group too, and I've shared a few chapters of my GLBT YA there, but not an adult M/M erotic romance...
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I participated, last minute, in a cover contest Josh ran sometime back. I found I was unable to bring one idea to co..."
I commission my cover art. I use Lou and LC Chase a lot. I've used Kanaxa and a couple of others. Lou usually has me buy whatever photos she's going to use from Shutterstock, which is easy because I've already got a subscription there.
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Probably mainstream publishers..."
When LC was doing the covers for the Dangerous Ground series, she was working with a cover model and a photographer. But it's tricky because so much depends on getting the exact right model.
There's that one guy -- the model used on some of the AE books -- who gets used everywhere. I guess he's everyone's idea of the perfect book hero man. ;-)
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Q&A with Josh Lanyon
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ETA: I have to have a bit of a medical procedure today. I can't wait until it's all done and I'm home looking at guys..."
Good luck :)