My driveay looks like a bobsled course at the moment. Rio is slip-sliding her way across the glacier in our backyard. I am reminded why I liked living in Florida.
Anyhoo, some cool stuff going on ’round the web:
Megan Crewe discusses how to create tension in your writing, using examples from classic literature and a bunch of newer YA novels. It’s quite a lengthy essay, but worth reading, if you’re looking to inject a little extra tension into your writing. I’m a fan of the Hitchcock approach myself: you put a bomb under the table where the protags are having lunch, and then you show the audience the bomb.
Roxanne St. Claire brings up the condum conundrum. I am very pro-condom when it comes to depictions of contemporary sex scenes. Amy uses condoms, as she mentions on page 47 of Secret Society Girl. When I was in college, there were condoms everywhere — giant bowls of candy-colored ones in the women’s center, dispensers in the bathrooms, people handing them out at every campus event — there was really no excuse for finding yourself without one in a situation where you might need it. However, I understand Roxanne’s conundrum — sometimes there’s no good place to mention that the characters are practicing safer sex, even if you have made it perfectly clear in the past that they are the type of characters that do. (Roxanne’s argument, via her teenaged son, is that you don’t necessarily mention that someone puts on a seatbelt every time they get into the car, which just goes to show you that the next generation is growing up feeling that condoms are a must-have item as well.) There is, in fact, no overt mention of condoms in the scene in the tomb with George in Under the Rose, but rest assured, they use them. George, I believe, is the type of guy who buys in bulk. Amy would never dream of having sex with someone without using a condom, and I sometimes wonder if I adequately established that fact before she sleeps with George. There’s also plenty of condom talk in Tap & Gown, but that’s all I’m going to say about that for the moment. Interestingly enough, the topic of condoms rears its head quite early in Rampant: page 8, though it involves a discussion in a sex-ed class. Astrid is a virgin, perforce.
Carrie Vaughn presents one of the best “Big Idea” pieces to date at John Scalzi’s blog, in discussing the idea behind a supernatural radio talk show. You can also read the first “Kitty” story for free online. I think the reason this “Big Idea” was so interesting to me is that it truly is big. Vaughn took a short story and parlayed it into a long running, bestselling series. Good for her!
I think my neighbors are sledding in my driveway. Must investigate.
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