Transcription of Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast episode 017 (Dec 2010) – names and characters

The seventeenth episode of the Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast was released on 13^th December 2010 and the content has never been released other than website links (on my website http://www.morgenbailey.com) so I hope you find this information useful. In the first sixteen episodes (see http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/bwt-podcast for earlier blog posts), I covered ‘show not tell’, the five senses, repetition, points of view, tenses, dialogue, characters, crime, poetry, short stories, novels, writing for children, scriptwriting, comedy, romance and chick lit, erotica, ‘writing rules’, historical & the classics. This episode had a focus on names and characters.

What’s in a name? Sometimes it isn’t easy thinking of names for different characters, places, creatures etc but there are plenty of sources of inspiration. Apart from phone books (ideal for surnames), there are baby name books (for first names), news programmes, newspapers, magazines etc., spam emails, just make sure you jumble them up a bit.

Character names: Doing a quick search on the internet, I came across the Thesaurus of British Surnames (http://www.tobs.org.uk) which has a link on it to a Forename Thesaurus (the home page of which is http://www.namethesaurus.com), a source for finding surname and forename variants. It has 348 million variants identified for over 5 million surnames, 22 million variants for over 1 million forenames and gender identification for more than 215,000 forenames. Their search facility lets you type in a name and find the nearest pronunciations. Many more suggestions in the ‘Recommendations – websites’ section below.

Pen names: Many authors have pseudonyms. Charlotte Bronte first wrote ‘Jane Eyre: An Autobiography’ under the pseudonym Currer Bell and many female authors wrote under male names, e.g. George Elliot was Mary Ann Evans and even Joanne Rowling wrote as JK to be taken more seriously for what was seen by her publishers as a boys book. Ian Rankin also writes as ‘Jack Harvey’ and Stephen King as ‘Richard Bachman’. You can write under any name you like but, unless you register a business bank account in that name, you need to ensure that payments received for work sold are made out to your real name.

Place names: Toponymy is the scientific study of place names (more details http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toponymy). Doing a web search on Google website (using keywords of ‘place’ and ‘names’) found over 33 million links!

• One of the first links was http://www.gazetteer.co.uk, a website belonging to the ‘Association of British Counties’! ‘The Gazetteer’ provides an exhaustive Place Name Index to Great Britain, containing over 50,000 entries and lists the historic county and the main administrative areas in which each place lies. The front ‘home’ page has six headings ‘Main feature of the Gazetteer’, ‘Detailed contents’, ‘Keys to abbreviations’, ‘Notes for historians and genealogists’, ‘map of historic counties’ (really useful when writing historical fiction!) and ‘map of administrative counties and unitary authority areas’.
• http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/freefun/didyouknow/placenames Ordnance Survey has links to the English Place-Name Society (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/kepn, now the Institute for Name-Studies, part of Nottingham University and with a very useful county postcode map!), the Scottish Place-Name Society (http://www.spns.org.uk), the Welsh Language Board (http://www.byig-wlb.org.uk/English/Pages/index.aspx) and the Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland, SNSBI (http://www.snsbi.org.uk).
• Queen’s University Belfast established a ‘place name project’ in 1987 which researches the origin and meaning of the place names of Northern Ireland. More details from: http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/SchoolofLanguagesLiteraturesandPerformingArts/SubjectAreas/IrishandCelticStudies/Research/NorthernIrelandPlace-NameProject
• For those writing comedy, there is a site (and probably many more) which lists rude place names dotted around the world including the towns of ‘Bottom’ in the US and the Netherlands, and ‘Thong’ in Essex! Find the full list at http://www.i-r-genius.com/rudeplaces.html. Wikipedia has a list of unusual place names (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_names_considered_unusual) again not for the faint-hearted!
• Country Lovers’ website (http://www.countrylovers.co.uk/places/placnams.htm) has a great list of Anglo Saxon, Old Norse, Old English, Latin, Norman, Gaelic, Welsh and Cornish place name origins.
• There are also Latin place names on http://www.catholic-history.org.uk/latin_names.htm which lists numerous towns (UK and overseas) by Latin name/modern name then vice-versa. So when you go to the Winchester Conference next you’ll actually be in Wintoniensis or should you fancy a trip to Munich try asking for a return flight to Monachium, or Dublin ask for Eblana!
• One of the links on the Toponymy page mentioned above is a link to ‘Etymology’, the study of the history of words (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology). It makes interesting reading.

Publications: The main source for names would be baby name books but there are also the likes of:

• The Oxford ‘Dictionary of First Names’ is a 443-page paperback book which has over 7,000 world-widely used names (listed A-Z) and their origins. There is an extensive introduction which looks at the importance of a first name, how they’ve changed over the centuries, biblical names, Saints’ and royal names, surnames as first names, and 11 pages on naming practices in different cultures! It also has an interesting section entitled ‘The influence of literature, film and popular culture’.
• Baby name books include ‘2000 girls names’ (a freebie by ‘Parenting’ magazine! – traditional, modern and unusual names plus their meanings), ‘Cool names for babies’ published by Collins (freebie from Prima Baby – hot cool, cool cool, new cool, pre-cool cool and too cool names!). You can also buy gifts (mugs, pens etc) with names and their meanings but that’s an expensive way of researching the ideal name for your characters.
• Penguin’s ‘Dictionary of Surnames’ is an analysis of over 8,000 English, Welsh, Scottish and  Irish surnames, 100 common UK/Commonwealth/US surnames as well as first names created from surnames/place-names/occupations/nicknames. It also provides meanings and derivatives.
• ‘How place-names began’ is a (1979!) Beaver book published by Hamlyn. They also produce (produced?) a surnames equivalent.
• Bloomsbury’s ‘Dictionary of place names’ contains the origins and history of over 4,000 place names.
• Others sources…telephone directories are great for surnames, as are newspapers as almost every news story has a person’s name in it (best to use first or surname of a celebrity rather than both, to avoid a lawsuit!), even company names (e.g. franking machine company Pitney Bowes could make a John Pitney or Rebecca Bowes), some surnames work as first names (e.g. Frasier) or vice versa (e.g. Mr Allison or Mrs George)…or if you get desperate, the names of people you know, as long as they approve! If you’re creating a creature, you could try a mythological dictionary or failing that, pick a few letters out of a hat, rearrange them and see what you get!

Ideas: here I provide a couple of story ideas or ways to get new ideas then list seven sentence starts listed on my http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/sentence-starts page; each one, if you’d like to use them, for a daily writing project.

1. Flick through a magazine or newspaper, pick a picture of someone you don’t know (for example not a celebrity) and give them a name, age, job, height, preferences, family, friends, aspirations and quirks.

2. some time ago I gave my writing group some example characters and here are two (by name / nationality, age / job, hair colour, height, favourite music, favourite food, regular saying, relationship, siblings, aspirations, quirks:

• Fayola (Nigerian for ‘lucky), 7, a child prodigy, mass of black curls (she loves), 3’10½“ (mum’s wall chart), Justin Bieber and Beyoncé, fish fingers (“brain food”), “check mate”, eldest child of stable parents, 6 month old brother, to be world chess champion before her 10^th birthday, currently county chess champion and can count 1000 down to 1 in under 5 minutes.
• Stephen (East London, UK), 24 photocopier salesman, jet black spiky (has 25 types of gel), 5’10, 80’s Heavy metal (favourite: AC/DC), curry (hotter the better), “what?”, single (has feelings for co-worker), one (somewhere; a boy, he thinks), to get drunk this weekend (and snog colleague Andy), has Kylie Minogue as his mobile ringtone but keeps it on silent and vibrate modes.

And this episodes sentence starts were:

1. She’d/he’d never been here before and yet…
2. Nick’s smile grew with each step…
3. “Not all of these are for you, you know.”
4. As Kate pressed the phone to her ear…
5. Morag welcomed her visitors with open arms…
6. Samantha kissed the back of…
7. The machine exploded with deafening force…

Recommendations – websites: some websites on names and characters include http://www.writing-world.com/links/names.shtml. It gives links to other sites including ‘2000 names’ (http://www.20000-names.com/index.htm), dictionary of last names (http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/default.aspx), as well as links to a variety of names by nationality.

http://www.literary-liaisons.com/article002.html – this is an interesting one-page guide to naming your characters (with sub-headings of ‘know your characters’, ‘first names’, ‘surnames’, ‘secondary characters’ and ‘remember the genre’). This page also has links to their bookshop, romance bibliography and their writers’ resource page (http://www.literary-liaisons.com/resources.html) which is packed with links under topics such as the arts, fashion, history, medical, publications, societies & associations, Victoriana and writing resources.

Be The Story is a blog by J Timothy King about ‘writing stories and being a better writer’ and http://bethestory.com/2006/01/25/the-secret-to-naming-characters and http://bethestory.com/2006/02/24/how-to-name-characters are great pages. As is http://www.poewar.com/six-quick-tips-on-character-names a blog by writer John Hewitt. The latter contains six tips which are: 1 Character names should be easy to tell apart from one another; 2 Character names should never be distracting or annoying; 3 Try to avoid stereotypes in your character names; 4 Pick names that reflect the time, region and culture that your character is from; 5 Two excellent sources for names are baby name books and phone books; and 6 Be careful when choosing names that rhyme or are alliterative (where the initial letters or sounds are repeated, e.g. Timmy Thompson http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Alliterative+title). I noticed a link for http://www.booksie.com on the encyclopedia page which is a site where you can “share your poems, short stories, novels and more with the world”!

Hat Rack is a site run by an American writer (of sci-fi, poetry and plays) Orson Scott Card. This particular page (http://www.hatrack.com/writingclass/lessons/2003-03-05-1.shtml) is a question and answer on naming characters. OSC’s site also has many other ‘lessons’ on a variety of topics do worth a look! (http://www.hatrack.com/writingclass/lessons/index.shtml).

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20010208b as you can probably guess by the name, is a fantasy site (mainly promoting the legendary game ‘Dungeons & Dragons’). This page gives you a free name generator which you don’t need to load on to your computer). I tried it and it’s fun. Firstly you put the first and last initials of your first name e.g. JohN then the first letter of your surname e.g. Smith then select male/female or random, character’s race (choices are dwarf, elf, gnome, half-elf, half-orc, halfling or human), class (choice of over 20 inc. bard, druid or monk), profession (25+ choices), status (noble, commoner or random), and how famous the character is (1-10). From J/N/S and random for all options I was given Jamlamin Soulaxe a male dwarf druid!

http://www.babynames.com is a very sweet site. You can search a multitude of names for inspiration from most popular, celebrity and cool names. There’s also a mini-video of latest celebrity baby news and a ‘name of the day’ (which at the time of writing this was Mieko!). There’s also a great section at the bottom for searching for names by origin with over 25 nationalities to choose from…so, if you’re writing a story where your Japanese character meets a Mexican one you’ll have no problems! http://www.babynamescountry.com also lets you search by origin.

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php is also sci-fi/fantasy related but it has ‘evil name’ and ‘evil sounding name’ generators. I like the sound of those! They also give you generators for fantasy, Greek, heroic, quick (random common names taken from the US Census!), lovecraftian (as in writer HP Lovecraft – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft is an interesting biography) and weird name generator. There are also generators for names of locations, species and things (including pirate ships!). Again you don’t have to download anything just go into the relevant section, select the relevant options (e.g. boy/girl etc) and click on ‘generate’. The names are then shown.

http://www.wenspencer.com/blog/archives/000013.html Wen Spencer is a sci-fi/fantasy author who provides advice on how he uses names.

http://www.fmwriters.com/Visionback/Vision21/AdvNamestorming.htm advice is similar to other sites but does provide links to name finding websites such as http://www.cool-baby-names.com, http://www.babynamecenter.com and http://www.zoope.com (a site set-up by a Chicago-based woman nicknamed ‘word girl’ who shares some of the 10,000 names she had when writing her stories).

I have mentioned the ‘suite101’ site before and http://www.suite101.com/content/not-your-average-joe-naming-your-characters-a302699 is a great page. There’s also a link on Suite 101 to ‘creating a character sheet’ which asks the questions: What is your full name? How old are you? Where were you born? When were you born? Where were you raised? What are your parents’ and siblings’ names? What do you eat? What is your favourite food? What is your favourite drink? How do you spend your Saturday nights? Do you read? What kind of books? Do you watch television? What is your favourite show? Do you listen to music? What kind? Are you married? Divorced? Do you have children? What are their names and ages? What is your job? What do you like about it? What do you hate about it? What do you spend your money on? Do you travel? Where and why (or why not)? What does a typical day in your life consist of? Then you create a physical description of your characters with questions about eye and hair colour, height, weight, scars, physical or mental challenges. You probably wouldn’t want to go into so much detail for a short story but you should know your characters in-depth for a novel to the point where they certainly feel, and almost become, real!

Although http://goodcharacters.com is a name site with a Chinese influence it’s definitely worth a visit.

Carolyn Jewel (http://www.carolynjewel.com/craft/names.php) is a Californian who writes historical and paranormal romance! In amongst the advice, Carolyn links to http://www.behindthename.com ‘the etymology and history of first names’. This also has a name generator and you can browse by nationality.

http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/4902-help-naming-characters.html the Chronicles Network is ‘host to the world largest, and friendliest, science fiction & fantasy forums’. The forums (chat rooms) can be viewed by author name, TV series and films as well as general discussion groups. One of the discussions mentions using the names from ‘spam’ (junk) e-mails as character names (either the whole name or part of it) and this is something I’ve heard before when listening to podcasts (radio shows).

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977076908 Gather has been one of the sponsors of the ‘Writer’s Almanac’ podcast hosted by writer Garrison Keillor and, like Facebook, is a site where people “keep up with the people, conversations and moments that matter”. This page suggests that you find character names in “your imagination, phone books, baby name books, family records, company and product names, among your friends, the obituaries and the dictionary”.

As you can see there are a multitude of websites out there which help the writer whether it’s for inspiration or information. The last word on names…some people change their name unofficially but many have legally because they may not like the name they were given or they simply want something more extraordinary or ordinary. In this country this can be done via the UK Deed Poll Service (http://www.ukdps.co.uk/index.html) and costs just over £30. I’ve read of people changing their name to their favourite football team (see http://www.ukdps.co.uk/Media.html)! Despite some restrictions Deed Poll Service has apparently issued deed polls for Jellyfish McSaveloy, Toasted T Cake, Nineteen Sixty-Eight, Hong Kong Phooey, Daddy Fantastic, One-One-Eight Taxi, Ting A Ling, Huggy Bear, Donald Duck, Jojo Magicspacemonkey and James Bond…there are some weird people out there…and the strange make the best stories!

The podcast concluded with News & Feedback, On This Day in History and a 60-word story entitled ‘Home help’:

Fred hated living alone. Having no family and being new to the area, he relied on the television or radio for company. With nothing interesting on either, he flicked through the local telephone directory and spotted the number he wanted. He dialled and listened to the soothing female voice, “at the third stroke, the time according to ‘Timeline’ will be…”

That’s it. Thanks for visiting – a list of the other transcripts and summaries can be found at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/bwt-podcast.

 

Today’s sentence starts at Twitter’s @sentencestarts

I have two writing-related Twitter profiles, the main one being http://twitter.com/morgenwriteruk and the other is http://twitter.com/sentencestarts, the latter of which does what it says ‘on the tin’. Here are the beginnings posted today (to do with as you wish):

1559. I try not to get upset… (first person)

1560. You try and smile… (second person)

1561. Kathy realised too late that the slide was made for a child-size bottom… (third person)

1562. The message looked ominous… (you can use any pov)

1563. As I pick up the… (first person)

1564. He clearly isn’t taking you seriously… (second person)

1565. As Clarence slapped the paint / glue on the… (third person)

1566. It had been a dare but… (you can use any pov)

1567. We’re all here aren’t we (first person plural)

1568. You know it’s a hard life… (second person)

1569. Blake gasped as the… (third person)

1570. Striding past the shop window… (you can use any pov)

Each set of four contains for different points of view so if you are weaker at one than the others, you may like to try these first. One of my favourites is the second-person point of view which is rarely used and not particularly commercially welcomed. It’s where the narrator is talking to the reader (you) rather than talking about him / herself or another person and I’d recommend anyone who’s not tried it before to do so. It may take a bit of getting used to but hopefully it’ll grow on you as much as it did me.

 

Transcription of Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast episode 014 (Nov 2010) – erotica

The fourteenth episode of the Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast was released on 15th November 2010 and the content has never been released other than website links (on my website www.morgenbailey.com) so I hope you find this information useful. In the first thirteen episodes (see earlier blog posts), I covered ‘show not tell’, the five senses, repetition, points of view, tenses, dialogue, characters, crime, poetry, short stories, novels, writing for children, scriptwriting, comedy, romance and chick lit. This episode talked about erotica.

Hints & Tips

Erotic fiction is the name given to fiction that deals with sex or sexual themes, generally in a more literary or serious way than the fiction seen in pornographic magazines and sometimes including elements of satire or social criticism. Such works have frequently been banned by the authorities.

• ‘Black Lace’ has produced 100+ erotic novels, selling over 2 million copies. Virgin and Hodder Headline, publish 9 erotic titles monthly between them; smaller presses usually publish one a month.  There is less competition in this market than romance or crime so more likelihood of having your erotic novel accepted!
• Guild of Erotic Writers’ website www.theguildoferoticartists.com lists just one writer of erotic fiction – Susan Van Scoyoc who is based in Essex but unfortunately clicking on the link to her page says that her website is currently unavailable. Apart from artists, other members include models, life models, photographers, sculptures, bodycasters and jewellers. You can keep up-to-date with their events page (www.theguildoferoticartists.com/index.php?a=la&i=diary).

Pamela Roachford’s ‘Writing Erotic Fiction’ (one of the ‘How to’ series) advises:

• Erotic writing has three main attributes: 1. The writing is heavily based around the senses; 2. The aim of the book or story is to make the reader feel turned on; 3. The scenes contain action which is sexually explicit. An erotic book for predominantly female or mixed audience is heavily based around the senses. This means that it should be richly textured in the way that things taste and smell and sound, as well as in descriptions of how things look and feel.  It’s important that your audience feels as though they’re experiencing exactly what your lead characters experience, and can identify with your characters.  Because the whole point of the erotic novel is to make the reader feel turned on, your goal is to contain sexually explicit scenes, written and structured in a way that makes them part of the plot.  The erotic writing steers clear of three things – crudeness, coyness in the sex scenes and overuse of humorous interludes.
• It’s often said that romantic and erotic novels are written to a formula.  Romantic novels: boy meets girl, the attraction is mutual (whether they admit it or not at the start), something comes between them (e.g. another character or their jobs), the conflict is resolved, and they live happily ever after. Erotic novels: boy meets girl, they have lots of sex with each other and different people, and everyone is happy.
• Always use the past tense – he did etc. – and third person narrative (he and she, rather than I or we).
• An erotic novel must be a good read, which arouses the reader through scenes of explicit sexual action. Your editor will expect around 50% of the action in your erotic novel to be sexually explicit, and to the first sex scene to start within the first 10 or so pages, by the end of the first chapter at the latest. That’s not to say that you can’t have plot: just that the plot has to be it inextricably linked to an erotic theme.
• What should you include in a sex scene?  The golden rule is to write about things you enjoy, that way your enjoyment is likely to be transmitted to the reader, who will in turn enjoy reading what you’ve written.
• You’re writing an explicit sex scene. Talk about your characters bodily parts, including their genital areas and erogenous zones. How does the texture and colour of their skin change, depending on which area is being touched and how aroused are your characters? What about body temperature? What is the interplay of muscles under the skin look like? How do they touch each other, and what kind of rhythm and pressure do they use? Unless you’re an expert or gynaecologist, it is advisable to buy a good anatomy book or sex manual. ‘The Joy of Sex’ by Alex Comfort is particularly good for source material and has been around for years, or there’s the Kama Sutra!
• As well as describing the physical actions in the sex scene, describe what one of your characters is thinking and feeling. Again, use only one person’s viewpoint. Don’t forget taste and sense of hearing as well as touch and sight.  What about the feel of clothing or the surface on which your characters are making love? Whether it’s silk sheets, Persian carpets, a lawn, beach, big pile of autumn leaves-what does it feel like?  What does the surface sound like against the character’s skin?  Are there any particular scents in the air?
• What should you avoid in the sex scene?  The golden rule is very similar to that of what to include. Don’t write about anything that you find personally distasteful, because your reader will be turned off. But today the area is common to all the major publishers: under age sex, non consensual sex, libel (by all means say that your character looks like a famous actor, but don’t say that your character is the actor, and enjoys being tied up and ravished in the middle of Harrods!), incest, bestiality etc.
• Sometimes there’s a titillating shock value in having your characters use crude language.  However, if one of your characters continually uses a crude expression, it’s boring, rather than erotic.  Make sure you are (pleasantly) rude, but not crude.
• Read! Notice how other writers describe their characters’ sexual actions/feelings, then use that as a starting point of your own work (without plagiarising; keep to your own style).

Same-sex writing

• Although Jake Arnott (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_Arnott) – who I met at March’s Oundle Literary Festival – writes thrillers, he was ranked one of Britain’s 100 most influential gay and lesbian people in 2005. His first novel ‘The Long Firm’ was published in 1999 and tells of Harry Starks, a homosexual East End gangster in the 1960s based on the Kray twins. A notable feature is that the story is told from five different points of view. It was later serialised on BBC television starring Derek Jacobi, Phil Daniels and Mark Strong, and broadcast in July 2004.
• Gay pulp fiction refers to printed works, primarily fiction, that include references to male homosexuality, specifically male gay sex, and that are cheaply produced, typically in paperback books made of wood pulp paper; lesbian pulp fiction is similar work about women (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesbian_pulp_fiction). People often use the term to refer to the “classic” gay pulps that were produced before about 1970, but it may also be used to refer to more recent gay erotica or pornography in book or magazine form.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesbian_literature – again I make reference to Wikipedia. It’s a great site (updated by the public) which has pretty much everything on everything! This page details the history behind lesbian fiction including such works as ‘Orlando: a biography’ by Virginia Woolf, Patricia Highsmith’s (under the penname of Clare Morgan) ‘Price of salt’ and the 1998 novel ‘Tipping the velvet’ by Sarah Waters (made into a BBC three-episode drama in 2002 starring ‘Ashes to Ashes’ actress Keeley Hawes).

Publications

• ‘The Burning Pen’ by M. Christian is a book about sex writers on sex writing.  It says that from the beginning of time, erotic art has played an enormous role in how history views cultures and societies.  Unfortunately, scant attention has been paid to the artists themselves, leaving a hole in the study of how erotica reflects the society on which it is created.  In this groundbreaking work, contemporary writers of erotica, reflect on how their work originates, how their sexuality shaped their words, and how their words have affected their sexuality. ‘The burning pen’ is an exploration of writers’ souls, sexuality, and sensual creativity. The book includes a dozen essays on the art of erotic writing by renowned authors. Each essay is accompanied by the writer’s favourite erotic story – used to highlight his or her unique style and voice as well as demonstrated wildly diverse approaches to sexuality and language.
• ‘The joy of writing sex – a guide fiction writers’ by Elizabeth Benedict is a guide to writing convincing sex scenes and its lessons teach the craft of writing fiction as a whole. Elizabeth Benedict explores issues of the first time, married sex, adultery and more. This book takes into account the changes in sexual attitude in recent years and there are examples of the best contemporary fiction and interviews with some of the most acclaimed young writers including Jeanette Winterson!
• Melcher Media publish a series of waterproof books including their ‘Aqua erotica’ range, usually containing a dozen or so stories, designed to be read whilst in the bath, on the beach or by the pool. I have three.
• There is also a section on erotica in Sue Moorcroft’s how-to-guide ‘Love writing’ – I interviewed Sue recently (released as a 2-part special episode podcast) and again links to her website are on mine.
• Another series of books is the ‘how-to’ books.  I have a few, including ‘Writing erotic fiction’ by Pamela Roachford. The book includes topics such as ‘getting started’, ‘putting it into words’, ‘structuring the novel’, ‘developing your characters’, ‘developing your setting’, ‘writing the sex scene’, ‘finding sources for ideas’, ‘submitting your manuscript’, ‘learning from experience’, ‘after acceptance – what now?’.
• The Observer newspaper has published a few thin non-fiction books on topics including Space, Art and the one I’m going to mention, ‘The Body’! Needless to say it’s useful when writing romance, and especially erotica, to know your way round the human body. I’ve heard a few podcast comments where someone has praised the story but highlighted inaccuracies with detail. In theory this is where your Editor would come in but really you’d want be professional and do as much of the groundwork yourself as you could or if you’re self-publishing you’re your own editor! I digress. The Observer Book of the Body is just 112 pages long but packed with fascinating information from the dissection (not literally!) of a sneeze, hiccup, yawn, laugh (apparently we laugh an average of 15 times per day and we use more facial muscles to frown than we do to smile or laugh so that’s a good excuse to be happy J) and blush (which was considered an attractive trait in the 18^th and 19^th centuries), old wives’ tales, major skeletal bone names and even how much a limb can be insured for! Ken Dodd’s teeth are insured for £4M while David Beckham’s legs and feet, at the time of publication, were worth a cool £33.6M! Appropriate sections from a writing point of view include:
• The Erotic Print Society (0207 736 5800, e-mail eros@eroticprints.org publish erotic literature and accept unsolicited manuscripts (synopsis and first chapter). See their website www.eroticprints.org for details.
• There are also plenty of same-sex novels (some mentioned above) and collections of short stories. These include ‘Penguin book of Lesbian Short Stories’ and ‘New Penguin Book of Gay Short Stories’. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LGBT_publications lists gay mags available.
• Finally, I couldn’t cover erotica handout without mentioning Ann Summers. Apart from underwear, toys etc. Ann Summers sell books and I have one (bought from a car boot sale last month!) called ‘Uncovered – erotic confessions’ (picture on final page). Sub-headings include ‘tools of the trade’, ‘close encounters’, ‘les-be-friends’, ‘sex on the beach’ and ‘obey me’…not a book for the faint-hearted!

• ‘Body of evidence – a brief history of sex guides’ details ‘Ars Amatoria’ by Ovide (dated 2BC-2AD), the ‘Karma Sutra’ by Vatsyayana (c.100-199AD), ‘On sex’ and ‘On Unnatural sex’ by Thomas Aquinas from his Summa Theologica (1265-1274), ‘Sammy Tubbs the Boy Doctor, and Sponsie the Troublesome Monkey’ by Dr EB Foote (1874) – a children’s book which features detailed line drawings of the genitals and semi-explicit guide to sex and one of the first positive representations of an interracial kiss in literature! The next book mentioned is the famous ‘The Joy of Sex’ by Alex Comfort (1972). Although it was originally released as a parody on the existing ‘Joy of Cooking’ with its contents reading like a menu of positions, it was a no-holds-barred guide which paved the way for the proliferation of sex manuals produced thereafter.
• Body language expert Peter Collett explains the five telltale signs of flirting – expressive facial movements (men love women with an animated face; it sends two clear signals – she understands my feelings and she can manipulate her face with great skill and therefore she will skilfully look after the children!), spherical contours (men like a woman’s chest, backside, shoulders…no surprises there!), vulnerability (men like women who expose their neck and wrists – vulnerable parts where the blood flows!), childishness (men also need to be childish to show that they have some variability, that brings out the mother in the girl!) and smiling/joking (smiling men show they’re not threatening but tell jokes to show they are dominant)!
• The ‘Sense and sensitivity’ pages explain how the five senses work. As mentioned in previous notes, try and consider all five senses when writing a story. By describing places and what someone looks like (just having the colour of something helps with the imagery) etc. you capture sight, what someone is eating and how it tastes (depending on whether the story is written from their first person or third person/omniscient viewpoints…I’ll be covering viewpoints in August) is obviously the sense of taste. Touch is vital for writing a romantic story. It is unlikely that two characters would be intimate without touching. For a good story to work, the reader must be able to imagine what is happening and describing how your character feels when they have their first kiss with a new partner is magic! Interesting fact from this section include…every cm² of skin has c. 200 pain receptors, 15 pressure receptors and 6 for cold and one for warmth. The least sensitive part of the body is the middle of the back and the most sensitive are the hands (17,000 receptors in each hand!), lips (not surprisingly), face, neck, tongue, fingertips and feet. The tongue is very receptive to pain (which is why biting your tongue hurts) but not so good at sensing hot or cold. Human’s thermal pain threshold is 45^oC. Smell is often described by fresh bread/coffee (popular with house viewings!), cut grass etc. but try and make the smell in your story unusual. Humans can detect seven primary odours – camphoric (mothballs), musky (perfume), roses (flowers), minty (chewing gum), ethereal (cleaning fluid), pungent (vinegar) and putrid (rotting eggs). All other smells are a combination of these and the average nose can distinguish up to 10,000 variations (wine experts’ noses may have more!). Our noses contain 40 million receptor cells, dogs have 1 billion (which is why they say that dogs prefer to smell you before hearing you…which is certainly true for mine…especially if I’ve been shopping!). Hearing is the final sense and is where dialogue comes in. Obviously there are other sounds such as the screeching of car brakes or slamming of doors. Again, be original where you can.

So, you don’t have to look far for inspiration!

Ideas

Here I give you a couple of story ideas or ways to get new ideas then list seven sentence starts each one, if you’d like to use them, for a daily writing project.

• Write a romantic or scene between a woman and her new boss; and/or
• a romantic short story between two people of the same gender (or species!)
• then continue each story by writing an erotic scene as the characters get to know each other better.

And today’s sentence starts…

1.    The mist enveloped Sophia like…

2.    “Please, just stop crying.” Miss Denton pleaded…

3.    Jill hadn’t accounted for gravity…

4.    With only two days to go, Brian…

5.    Jason felt for the gun in his pocket…

6.    Boston had never looked so beautiful…

7.    Lewis reeled from the paper cut…

On this day in history

This episode came out on 22^nd November so I won’t list all the related events but one was:

• 1953 – John F Kennedy was shot in Dallas Texas. I’ve often heard of similaries between him and Abraham Lincoln and found a wonderful table on www.school-for-champions.com/history/lincolnjfk.htm.

Lincoln	Kennedy
Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846	Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946
He was elected President in 1860	He was elected President in 1960
His wife lost a child while living in the White House	His wife lost a child while living in the White House
He was directly concerned with Civil Rights	He was directly concerned with Civil Rights
Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy who told him not to go to the theater	Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln who told him not to go to Dallas
Lincoln was shot in the back of the head in the presence of his wife	Kennedy was shot in the back of the head in the presence of his wife
Lincoln shot in the Ford Theatre	Kennedy shot in a Lincoln, made by Ford
He was shot on a Friday	He was shot on a Friday
The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was known by three names, comprised of fifteen letters	The assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was known by three names, comprised of fifteen letters
Booth shot Lincoln in a theater and fled to a warehouse	Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and fled to a theater
Booth was killed before being brought to trial	Oswald was killed before being brought to trial
There were theories that Booth was part of a greater conspiracy	There were theories that Oswald was part of a greater conspiracy
Lincoln’s successor was Andrew Johnson, born in 1808	Kennedy’s successor was Lyndon Johnson, born in 1908

Flash Fiction

The last item of each podcast is a piece of fiction – either flash or poetry and episode 14’s was a not exactly erotic 60-worder called ‘Jack of all trades’: Jack was a local superstar. He could do anything anyone wanted; plumbing, electrics, carpentry; you name it, he could turn his hand to it. But one day Ethel Miller caught him out. He’d worked for her often… before her mind started to go. Answering the door naked, there was nothing he was going to do for her that day!

I hope you enjoyed this episode and that some of the links will be useful for you. You can find other transcriptions of my podcast here.

 

Today’s sentence starts

Here are today’s beginnings to do with as you wish:

1539. I can’t get a signal… (first person)

1540.  It looks blurred but you can’t be sure…. (second person)

1541. As he tapped out the message… (third person)

1542. It was the best meal… (you can use any pov)

1543. I recognise him from the plane… (first person)

1544. You’re dying for a cigarette… (second person)

1545. Damien really did like to cut a short story long… (third person)

1546. Digging into the bowl of… (you can use any pov)

1547. I’m surprised at how many people… (first person)

1548. You try to be careful… (second person)

1549. As Tyson dashed across the squash court… (third person)

1550. The workforce laid down their tools… (you can use any pov)

1551. I try and make small talk… (first person)

1552. You know it’s the right thing… (second person)

1553. Chloe looked at the yellowed walls and ceiling… (third person)

1554. There was a cold draught… (you can use any pov)

1555. It’s the squeaking I can’t stand… (first person)

1556. You look bored but… (second person)

1557. Stefan stuck his tongue out like a three year old… (third person)

1558. It wasn’t going to make a millionaire out of… (you can use any pov)

Each set of four contains for different points of view so if you are weaker at one than the others, you may like to try these first. One of my favourites is the second-person point of view which is rarely used and not particularly commercially welcomed. It’s where the narrator is talking to the reader (you) rather than talking about him / herself or another person and I’d recommend anyone who’s not tried it before to do so. It may take a bit of getting used to but hopefully it’ll grow on you as much as it did me.  You can read more starts here.

 

Today’s sentence starts

Here are today’s beginnings to do with as you wish:

1527. It seems to me as if… (first person)

1528. You know you’ll be banned… (second person)

1529. Eric had got away with it so far… (third person)

1530. Typing carefully on the keyboard… (you can use any pov)

1531. It drives me mad when… (first person)

1532. You tug and tug…  (second person)

1533. OK, so Geoff had lied on CV…  (third person)

1534. The light flicked on, then off… (you can use any pov)

1535. I flick through the paper… (first person)

1536. You smile as the icon appears… (second person)

1537. Lindsey hoped he was a ‘lights off’ man… (third person)

1538. The material was frayed at the edges… (you can use any pov)

Each set contains for different points of view so if you are weaker at one than the others, you may like to try these first. One of my favourites is the second-person point of view which is rarely used and not particularly commercially welcomed. It’s where the narrator is talking to the reader (you) rather than talking about him / herself and I’d recommend anyone who’s not tried it before to do so. It may take a bit of getting used to but hopefully it’ll grow on you as much as it did me.  You can read more starts here.

 

Today’s sentence starts

Here are today’s beginnings posted today to do with as you wish:

1515. As it falls down my top… (first person)

1516. You look down at my feet… (second person)

1517. Florrie looked at his odd shoes… (third person)

1518. The television swivelled… (you can use any pov)

1519. I’m willing him to fall… (first person)

1520. You apologise as the door hits… (second person)

1521. Nigel pulled but it just wouldn’t budge… (third person)

1522. Spotting the man at the front of the… (you can use any pov)

1523. “I’ll put it in my handbag…” (first person)

1524. You apologise to the…  (second person)

1525. His nickname suited him… (third person)

1526. The figure on the ledge seemed to be… (you can use any pov)

Each set contains for different points of view so if you are weaker at one than the others, you may like to try these first. One of my favourites is the second-person point of view which is rarely used and not particularly commercially welcomed. It’s where the narrator is talking to the reader (you) rather than talking about him / herself and I’d recommend anyone who’s not tried it before to do so. It may take a bit of getting used to but hopefully it’ll grow on you as much as it did me.  You can read more starts here.

 

Today’s sentence starts

Here are today’s beginnings to do with as you wish:

1503. I breathe in until my lungs hurt… (first person)

1504. You prefer one but… (second person)

1505. Hugo didn’t feel that he really knew himself/her until… (third person)

1506. The sports day was a huge… (you can use any pov)

1507. I find the music soothing… (first person)

1508. “It’s ice cream soup,” you say (second person)

1509. She’d never been so wet… (third person)

1510. The people queued patiently… (you can use any pov)

1511. I ask if I can have another… (first person)

1512. You know it’s going to be the last… (second person)

1513. Trudie didn’t have the heart to tell him… (third person)

1514. As the huge man lunged… (you can use any pov)

Each set contains for different points of view so if you are weaker at one than the others, you may like to try these first. One of my favourites is the second-person point of view which is rarely used and not particularly commercially welcomed. It’s where the narrator is talking to the reader (you) rather than talking about him / herself and I’d recommend anyone who’s not tried it before to do so. It may take a bit of getting used to but hopefully it’ll grow on you as much as it did me.  You can read more starts here.

 

Today’s sentence starts at Twitter’s @sentencestarts

I have two writing-related Twitter profiles, the main one being @morgenwriteruk and the other is @sentencestarts, the latter of which does what it says ‘on the tin’. Here are the beginnings posted today (to do with as you wish):

1491. It seems alien to me and yet… (first person)

1492. You kick at the wooden post… (second person)

1493. She’d kept it in her pocket for years… (third person)

1494. Simple enough a plan… (you can use any pov)

1495. I can feel my face paling… (first person)

1496. You’re enjoying it but… (second person)

1497. He was certainly going to have a go… (third person)

1498. The card wobbled… (you can use any pov)

1499. I try to keep quiet as he… (first person)

1500. You’re willing her to leave… (second person)

1501. Millie wondered what the male equivalent to mutton dressed as lamb was… (third person)

1502. The scroll had been written in… (you can use any pov)

Each set contains for different points of view so if you are weaker at one than the others, you may like to try these first. Second-person point of view is rarely used and is where the narrator is talking to the reader (you) rather than talking about him / herself. It’s one of my favourite points of view to write although not commercially popular which I think is a real shame, although having started reading Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights Big City (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bright_Lights,_Big_City_%28novel%29) I do agree that it’s a viewpoint that gets tiring relatively quickly.

If you would like to follow either (or both would be lovely) of my Twitter profiles, the direct links are http://twitter.com/morgenwriteruk and http://twitter.com/sentencestarts respectively. The new posts from this blog appear as shortcuts in morgenwriteruk (and on my Facebook page – http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001560589385) and I post new sets of beginnings at sentencestarts on a semi-regular basis.