Bad Sex - It's Really About the Edits

It happens to the best of us.  You read the story too many times and you miss something.  Sometimes you've read that scene so many times that your brain rewrites it to what it wants you to see.  Or maybe that deadline had you rush, you sped read your way through.  Who knows how it happens but we hope that others will catch it, maybe our beta reader or the final catcher, the editor but alas, sometimes they too, are merely human.  As a reader I'm pretty forgiving, I imagine most of us are.  Usually I'll just skim read over the occasional blip.   But in a recent book by an author who never fails to deliver a great story, I stumbled into some pretty big glitches.

The story started out smoothly enough as early on a character goes to another country for an interview.  It was a secondary character so I didn't put much thought into any of it as the character flitted in and out of the story.  I assumed that when she got the job she moved to the country of the interview.  A city was mentioned which is a good sized metropolis in the country of the interview.  However, the city is also in another country and is one of those that can be mentioned without tagging on the country of origin, like Paris and New York.  But why would I assume that it was anything other than the one in the country where the interview occurred?  So when all of a sudden the character is roaming around Europe as a result of the proximity to her job I was stumped.  I had visualized her for half the story in North America in the country she had gone to for the interview.  I had to skim back pages before I realized the problem.  The author assumed there was no city by that name in the country where she was interviewed - wrong.  Okay, one hiccup but the story was still going along great.

And then the characters made love or the sex scene screwup (play on words not intended, really).  If you're going to make an error, I would suggest you make it good - and make your reader laugh.  And this one did just that.  Everyone writes awkward phrases but this topped them all as the hero banged her nub and he kept banging it.

Of course there was more to it but I couldn't get past the phrasing.  t immediately had this image and it wasn't one of pleasure.  After I stopped laughing well, I don't know about you, but that read like something hurtful was going on down there.  If it had been BDSM it might have creaked through, no not even then, the wording was just too awkward.  As it was, I suspect that the heroine wasn't reaching for the bed posts in ecstasy.  In fact, I was surprised that she didn't smack him upside the head and resurrect a tattered copy of The Hite Report or maybe the Joy of Sex or...

So as the result of a lazy afternoon's read, I was reminded of the importance of editing and editing again.  BTW - despite it all, in the end it was still a good story!

Any "interesting" reads in your day?

Ryshia

Going Against Type

Welcome Sharon Black 

with her latest release

A romantic comedy published by Tirearr Publishing, 

Going Against Type

Sharon will be giving away an e-copy of Going Against Type.
Check out the rafflecopter draw below:

Going against Type is set against the backdrop of the Dublin newspapers.  It's the story of two rival newspaper columnists, who write anonymously, meet and fall in love.  They each have an important reason to guard their alter egos from each other.  So, their relationship develops, as they continue to attack each other, week after week, through their columns.

The story came about partly because I worked as a journalist myself, and even wrote a newspaper column for a short while.  So I knew the idea of the newspaper columnist would be fun.  But the real inspiration came from something else.

When I was growing up, I loved the old Hollywood films of the 1930s and 1940s.  They were always showing them on TV.  And two of my favourite stars were Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracey.  They made a number of films together, and they had such a wonderful on-screen chemistry.

One of my favourite films was Woman of the Year.  In it, Tracey plays a stereotypical sports reporter, and Hepburn plays a high-brow pundit, who has no time for sport.  She publicly dismisses sport as a waste of time, and Tracey leaps to its defense and attacks her views.  When they meet, they spar, but then fall in love.  Later in the film, Tracey finds it hard to cope with the fact that Hepburn has won a prize and her career is flourishing, apparently to the detriment of their marriage!  It's of its time, but it's a great film!

What I did for Going Against Type, was to turn the stereotypes on their head.  Charlotte Regan is a sports reporter, and a girl who has always lived for her sport.  Derry Cullinane is a fashion writer and is quick to dismiss sport in his column.  Because the columns are written under pen names, I was able to build up suspense.  And keep it going longer!



Some would say Charlotte "Charlie" Regan has it all.  Beautiful, smart, athletic and a great job working as a journalist - in the almost exclusively male sports department.  But Charlotte is not quite as sure as she seems.  Recently split from her overbearing boyfriend, she escapes for weekends,surfing in the Atlantic, and spends her free nights watching sports, roaring at the TV.

Derry Cullinane is a fashion writer, gossip columnist and sophisticated man-about-town.  The go-to-guy for any woman seeking expert advice on what fabulous outfit to wear for any given occasion.  He's also tall, dark, good looking - and straight!  So what's the snag?  He has a track record of dating glamorous, vain and shallow women.

Charlie gets an opportunity to write a new column under the pen name Side Swipe, but is soon drawn into a war of words and wit with a rival paper's columnist The Squire - and their verbal fireworks get readers and editors talking.  Yet neither Charlie nor Derry knows just whom the opponent is.

When Charlotte and Derry meet at the Races, the attraction is instant.  As their relationship develops, so much more proves at stake then protecting their alter egos.  But a blunder puts Charlotte's job in jeopardy just as Derry's past makes front page, and Charlotte begins to doubt her feelings.

When Side Swipe and The Squire are finally forced to reveal themselves, will they revert to type--or confound everyone's expectations?

 

 

Sharon's Bio:

Sharon Black grew up in Dublin.  She studied history and politics at University College Dublin and Then did post-graduate in
journalism at Dublin City University.  She has worked for national newspapers, including The Evening Herald and The Irish Examiner.  She had short stories published in U Magazine and the 2010 Drommineer Library Festival short story competition.

When she is not writing, she reads, walks and sees friends.  She co-founded a local book club 14 years ago.  She loves theatre, old Hollywood films, science fiction and good stand-up comedy.

She lives in Sandymount, Dublin, with her husband and their three children.

Visit Sharon at her author page.
Read more about Going Against Type at
most online bookstores.  Here's a link to Going Against Type on Amazon.com or visit her publisher's page:  Tirgearr Publishing


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Legacy of Fear and Musings and Ramblings

Today I'm over at:  Musings and Ramblings: @GoddessFish Blitz: Legacy of Fear by Ryshia Kennie  on the last leg of the tour for Legacy of Fear.  Come on over - last chance to win a great prize and check out my latest book!



Ryshia

Isabel Roman: #NewRelease Legacy of Fear by Ryshia Kennie

Today I'm over at:  Isabel Roman: #NewRelease Legacy of Fear by Ryshia Kennie



Stop by and visit me there.



Ryshia

A Release and a Giveaway!

My latest romantic suspense, Legacy of Fear is released, and to celebrate I'm giving away a set of 

oh-so-romantic, metal bookends to hold all your literary treasures.  

"A forgotten women's language has Max and Andra in China, blinded by passion and dodging killers shadowing their trail."

Enter now, if you want, enter every day between January 2, 2015 and January 9, 2015.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!

Ryshia

The Vacation is Trickling Away - Now What?

Sometimes in life and in writing you just need a little vacation.  So a trip to Arizona had me thinking that I'd get plenty of writing done by the pool.  Note to self - the pool is not for writing, it's for relaxing, play and yes - even exercise.  It's not for work.  Besides, I heard that laptops and water don't mix.  No - that's just a theory, not a proven experiment.

But speaking of motivation, the trip home is very motivating.  It has me longing for the warm little cocoon of my basement office where temperatures are steady.  And outside they are steady too - below zero and freezing yes but not like the roads on the way home, before we reach the winter hardened ranges and prairie of the last leg of this trek where the snow has more than likely settled for the winter - and that has its own set of issues.  But here, as we head out of Arizona and into, and through, New Mexico, temperatures are hovering at a little above zero with rain and then a slide below that zero mark creating in places, treacherous mountain roads.  Yes, don't like the drive home much for the fear of what weather might be lurking around the corner.  I'm hoping for the upside as that finicky weather man or woman has promised, that the weather for the remainder of the trip might be fine.

Or - like today, it might go from sun and flip flops to mountain roads lined with snow laden trees in less than two hours.  Yes, that picture was today's view as we left the sun behind.  In an odd way, it all reminds me of a romantic suspense.  A couple falling in love and then everything turns upside down - sun to snow, for the characters, they are rough, potentially dangerous patches that they must negotiate in order to have their happy ever after.

Winter travel and characters aside, I'm enjoying my last days of vacation with a few more adventures.  Tonight it was a taste of alligator in Albuquerque, New Mexico.


As vacation days slide away and real life beckons, I'll be celebrating the release of my latest romantic suspense, Legacy of Fear, as 2014 winds down and 2015 begins.  Check out my website, I'll be updating it soon with details.

Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com