In the meantime, last call: Rosie and mallie_kite you won ARCs of Bitter Night. I need to hear from you by Friday noon or I’ll have to draw new names. At that time I’ll also draw for winners of the cover flats.

Starting tomorrow, at about 2:00 Mountain time, I’m going to start inhabiting the War Room again. Do you remember what this is? that’s where we go into the chat room, talk a few minutes, then write fast for 1/2 hour or so, then report back on progress, then chat, then do it again. I’ll be in there for a few hours each day, unless I have a meeting. Hopefully more on weekends. I hope to get some good work done, and I hope some of you will join me.

Jim Hines as an incredibly funny slush poem, Seussian style. A quote:

Would you like a hot sex scene?
I wrote it for my online ‘zine!

I do not like your pervy tale.
Your metaphors make readers pale.
Your paragraphs are pages long.
Your bad sex scene is oh so wrong!
Can people do that with their lips???
I do not like your manuscripts.

Go read it. Beverage warning. I bet you did know loo and poo rhyme, didn’t you?

I’ll hopefully see some of you tomorrow in the war room.

Rosie and mallie_kite

Please send me your snail mail addresses to dpf @ dianapfrancis DOT com If I don’t hear from you by Monday midnight, I’ll draw again.

Thanks eveyrone for playing! Oh, and yes, later today after I finish grading (could be tomorrow) I will randomly generate winners for cover flats. So keep your eyes peeled for that because I’ll need more winners’ addresses)

This is your reminder about the contest. Your titles have made me giggle on a few occasions. You people amuse me. Thank you. So anyhow, go to the post and propose a title and you’ll be entered. You have til 9 a.m. Friday Mountain Time. And for you anonymous folks, do include some sort of name for me, would you?

I also have post up on sfnovelists about where novelists get our ideas.

Remember, contest on Monday. And I also have cover flats, so two arcs and coverflats to give away.

Here’s the thing, as flippant as that might sound, it’s very true. And I LOVE words. I love to learn new ones (I get words of the day from dictionary.com) and I pay attention to words in books and look them up. I have dictionaries of very specific kinds of words, like the one called Home Ground for land and water masses. I have a Describer’s Dictionary. And I have a a Visual Dictionary so I can details right. And it goes on. I love to flip through them and read them.

Today, in revisions, I got to use the term: oriel windows. Isn’t oriel a lovely word? And it’s perfect! No, I”m not telling you what it is. Go look.

So anyhow, one of the FAQ questions is this:

What should readers know about your books before they buy them?

And you know, I think you guys are a whole lot better judge of that question than I am. So would you mind giving me your thoughts? That would be very helpful.

So first up: asks: What kinds of books are irresistible to you? Is there a certain type of plot or character or world that you can’t get enough of?

That’s really a terrific question and I’m not sure I know the answer to it. I like books with strong heroes and heroines. I don’t like books with stupid people. I like plots that twist and turn, where there is a point to the things that happen. Smart books make me happy. I like smart dialog and wit to the stories. I like description that is evocative and not just there for ornamentation. i like reasonably happy endings. I like for there to be payoff. I like emotional depth to the characters and between characters. I like some romance in there, as long as it feels real and reasonable.

As for plots and characters I can’t get enough of . . . . Hmmm. I think I really like strong characters who end up in trouble because of strong morals of their own–which is to say, not because they are stupid, but because they won’t let some bad deed go unpunished. I don’t mind people doing stupid things out of some flaw of their character–like they know they shouldn’t run into the burning building but they need to get the dog out or some such. It’s the stupid where s/he goes out alone into the darkness when there is a serial killer hanging about that bothers me.

I don’t care much for tearjerking stories or stories of unredeemed darkness. I like romance because I think that’s natural and normal, but I don’t know that I want it taking over the story. I don’t really care for anti-hero stories, like the Thomas the Covenant stories, though I do like the Elric stories. I’m not sure why.

I like stories of heroism and I don’t like stories where women are idiot wimps. I hate stories where the man is so Alpha that the woman is dragged around by the hair and thinks that’s just the most wonderful thing ever because the man is so very very very handsome and his meanness is only a cover for some deeply hidden scars and angst. Deeply hidden. So far hidden that you just want to kick him in the balls most of the time.

I also like romping adventure.

What about all of you? What kinds of books do you find irresistable?

So this is where I stand on The Traitor King:

43132 / 120000 words. 36% done!

I’m not actually sure it’s going to be 120K. I actually have taken to shooting for 100K, since I inevitably go longer. And since I usually add a lot in revision.  If ‘m already at 120K and add a bunch, then I have to also cut a bunch. But since the revision process means that I probably already cut all the fat AND added in new stuff, it leaves me with a lean manuscript and little to cut. This is crazy-making. So the long and the short of it is that I’m actually further along than that looks. But most importantly, I’m on track to have a draft by my birthday, which will give me time to revise before the deadline.

On the subject of movie kisses: Six Days, Seven Nights: Blech. Doesn’t work. Charlotte Gray–nope, and all the more disappointing for an earlier, more emotional scene. The kiss was flat as paper.  REviewing movie kisses will be an ongoing fetish for me. So feel free to join in (TV kisses too). Who does good kisses?

And on the subject of the Criminal Minds season finale: WTF? Anybody want to comment on that?

Let’s start with movies/TV (written portrayals in another post later this week). What makes a good video kiss? (We’re talking passion here, not friendship sorts of things). First, I think you have to feel an emotional connection between the two parties. For instance, creepy weird passion kissing between a 90 year old man and 13 year old girl could make you a little squicky. Not that I can recall seeing any of those, but there you go. The next thing is that a good kiss has to have some lip and jaw motion. The old black and white movie kisses where they actors close their eyes and smash together and hold still just doesn’t do it for me. I don’t require tongue, but I think some passionate movement of the face is necessary–it demonstrates the level emotion for me. That these people are truly feeling it.

Next, I think there has to be closed eyes. That they are committed to the moment of feeling and it’s overwhelming. Closed eyes don’t necessarily translate into that, but I think it’s a signifier for that level of passion. Next, they can’t be eating each other. Big wide open mouths with chewing motions are just . . . squicky. So there’s a balance–there must be lip and jaw motion, but not cannibalism. It’s a line folks, and not all that fine.

Next I think you have to have hands. Hands holding the back of the head or the neck or shoulders–like the person can’t bear to let the other get away or fears that s/he will. This always helps me believe in the passion and emotion. I also think you need both people to be using jaws, mouth, hands and their bodies. If one is sort of standing there passive–not a good kiss. Unconconvincing.

Be aware that the clips reveal the end of the movies, and the quality of the second is pretty bad. Also, spoilers.

There are a couple of specific examples of kisses I want to talk about now. First the bad. In Jane Austen’s Persuasion–the one with Rupert Penry-Jones and Sally Hawkins, she runs through Bath searching for him and the crowning moment of finding him is a kiss. Now, first they have a little conversation, then there is a close up of their faces, then hers. For a full 30 seconds, they focus on a closeup of her eyes, nose and lips as she comes closer and closer and closer. She looks . . . sick. Stupid. No passion. It makes me cringe. Bad bad bad kiss.

Now an example of a kiss I find evocative. This one is from Penelope, with Chrstina Ricci and James Mcavoy. At the end, after various tribulations, she visits him wearing a mask. He’s uncertain it is her and finally she let’s the cat out of the bag. As she walks by, he draws a breath to steady himself, then follows her quickly and grabs her and kisses her. She responds instantly. No tongue, but lots of hands, jaw and mouth movement and facial expression. Then he sort of pulls away and there’s some conversation/explanation, then there’s a moment where he reaches out as if he can resist and then he pulls her in for another kiss as if he’s a bit desperate.

The second one works because Mcavoy sells it, frankly. His body language and facial expressions and hands are emotional and desperate and full of passion. Ricci isn’t bad, but she not as good as he is.

Now I ask you. What do you need in a good video kiss? What makes it bad for you? What makes it good? What are some examples of the good and the bad and explain why. Come on, tell me about the kisses.