I was talking to my daughter one day about a character that had come up out of nowhere and was acting like an ass. I told her I didn’t know why he was acting that way or what I was going to do with him. Her reply? “You would think your not the one writing the story!”
To a non-writer, it might sound strange, but as a pantser (a writer who doesn’t plot out the whole story beforehand) most of the time I am not the one writing the story. I suppose it’s my muse. Things happen that I have no control over … or not much anyway.
As a shy introvert some things my muse has called on me to write about are, quite frankly, embarrassing and at times uncomfortable.
Like sex scenes
Now, I am an adult with four grown children, so it’s obvious I have experience on the subject but that did not make it any less uncomfortable to write.
It may stem from some childhood trauma we won’t discuss, or maybe I am extremely modest. Who knows, but I don’t see how full-blown romance writers do it … write about them, I mean.
When I had to tackle the issue, I was alone in an empty house. Just me and the dog but I could feel my face flushing, and I kept squirming around trying to write actions without naming actions. I should have got drunk first.
I felt like such a child. All I could think was “My mom is going to read this.”
She did offer not to if it was going to make me uncomfortable, but it doesn’t matter. I still think about my friends reading it. My neighbors. The lady checking my groceries. Former teachers.
I don’t know how actors perform love scenes where they are entirely naked, and then proceed to do interviews and panel discussions in front of hundreds of people. Does it not make them uncomfortable that EVERYONE in that audience has seen them naked and that is possibly all they are thinking about (ahem … Sam Heughan)? Hell, thousands and thousands of people around the world have seen these people naked. I mean if I looked like Caitriona Balfe I may not think twice about it, but I don’t so…
I’m such a ninny, and I know I am overthinking the whole issue.
I mean, where do I get off thinking everyone in my town is going to read it? Where do I get off thinking anyone will read it? There is a possibility that no one will ever read it.
And that is how I need to approach the writing of all my novels.
Write like no one is reading.
All puns contained are intended