Monday, March 31, 2008

 

Susan's Inside Writing: The First Two Drawings

The outtake I posted yesterday is one of my all-time favorites. It's a scene that pre-dates the blog. In many ways, it predates Trevor's Song and my gazillion attempts at Trevor's predecessor (which I still vow to get right!).

It's one of the original scenes I'd envisioned with Mitchell and Kerri, back when I was constructing their relationship in my head. It could even date back to March of 2000, which is when Mitchell and Kerri first came to life. (Yes, you Trevor fans, they came first. Trevor would say I saved the perfection for later.)

My original idea with Mitchell and Kerri was to play with the idea of two people who happened to be each other's muses. And then Trevor entered the picture, I couldn't tell the Kerri-Mitchell story the right way, and ... Trevor took over. For those of you who know him, you're not surprised. For those of you who don't, if you follow the link in his name, you'll come to his bio page. At the bottom of the page (and for all my characters), you'll see a list of blog posts featuring that character. Go have yourself some fun.

Back to the topic at hand: Kerri's First Two Drawings. I swear, some of my favorite moments are these quiet ones. Visit Rain and Hands, Inspiration and, to a bit of a lesser degree, Hearts.

This one trumps them all. Maybe because I've imagined it so many times. Maybe because it fits my definition of romance and I've always wished for such yearning and tenderness in my own life. This isn't to slight the Tour Manager in any way. This is to say that all those romantic movies I watched as a kid and the sappy songs I used to love? They did a number on my head. No wonder I've turned away from them so thoroughly. They set down a bar that simply can't be attained in real life. So, I'll let Mitchell and Kerri attain them in their fictional life, instead.

Part of me thinks that one of the reasons we writers write is to live out our fantasies. I have no desires to be a rock star or be married to one; Hell, when I almost made a career in the music business, it was with aims of working behind the scenes, for a record label.

But part of me knows that I write to create this sort of stuff in my life, and to share it with my readers. To give us all a few minutes in which we DO wish we were people like Mitchell and Kerri, or that we had a Trevor in our lives.

One final note before I'm done babbling: the end here isn't perfect. The scene doesn't end here; it ends with a torrid kiss and then Mitchell sweeping Kerri back to her futon for another round of hot sex. Maybe one day all you eroti-chicks will work some magic on me and I can write that sort of stuff without squirming and blushing. But for now... use your imagination.

And come on back for more.

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Comments:
I think you're spot-on, Susan. We writers write for all kinds of reasons -- to live out fantasies, to explore what-ifs... there's no limit to imagination, and that's what I love best about fiction writing. :)
 
Not to be a putz or anything, and I think you'll take this the right way because I always like what you post, which you probably know... but this is the first thing you've posted since I started coming here that really engaged me. I HAD to read the next line.

It's a funny thing, writing is. Everyone has their own thing. And even though you can try to label people as plotters or pantsters, I don't really believe in those labels. I believe in the genius of creation that lies within a writer's fertile, rarely still, brain. Everyone expresses that genius in their way, whether it's plotting today and pantstering tomorrow, or some other thing.

I always like seeing the backstage area - the whys and whatfors of a writer's genius. Also, I liked discovering that you write things out of order too! LOL If I get a brainstorm, I go with it. If I have to change it later to fit everything else better when the time comes to post... then I tweak it. I did that with the whole scene where Alexandria tells her in-laws and Alaric that she's pregnant. VERY emotionally charged. And I wrote it months before I needed it.

Trevor's cool... but this bit of Mitchell was the shit.
 
I agree that a lot of what we end up writing is either our fantasy or a fun-house mirror version of it.

I started writing dystopian stuff after six or seven years in state higher ed. It a way of coping with an environment where we invent problems just so we can pretend to have something to fix. At least in my dystopias, all problems are very real and relate to actual survival.

We writers are lucky. We get to escape to world of our own making every day. Whether and how we publish is unimportant in light of the fact that we can live these other lives at no risk to our lives in the real world.
 
This is a deep one, SHG, and sadly I have nothing insightful to add because it's too early in the morning ;D

My fave excerpt is HANDS -- accepting each other, warts and all. (ooo, so cliche, but I am tired...)

And you KNOW I clicked the eroti-chick link!! ha ha ha
 
What you say about living our fantasies is interesting. I'm not sure it's exactly true. I think we experiment with placing our minds into other characters and attempt to create a form of fictional reality.
Does that make sense?
 
Oh I'll make them squirm. ;) But it's not all just about hot sex. It's the connection and the tension and the love. That's what us Eroti-chicks write. :D
 
Yeah, escapism is the reason I blog and the reason I watch films and read :) It's so cool that you have shared thois little insight into yourself, the writer.

I also read down at the last post about Kerri's drawings and loved it! :) Hell, what woman wouldn't want a man to feel that way about her. So romantic without being cutesy or mushy. Just the way it should be.
 
Hi Susan - I love to write and when I don't write, I get grumpy. Ask my hubby. :) Why? It's a combination of so many things I don't think I could explain plus a vivid imagination and curiosity about things and life.

another Eroti-Chick
 
I get grumpy, too, Shelley. And a good day writing?

Well, you're smart. You can figure it out.
 
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