(originally posted in my journal, someone pointed out that it would be pertinent to this community - especially to anyone interested in writing romance, whether in the genre or as part of a different sort of novel)

Not all Bodice-Rippers are Bad
or : Why I read Romance Novels, a Smart Girl's Guide to a Cliché Genre

I get a lot of flack for liking romance novels. And I do understand that they’re not everyone’s cup of tea. I do have a problem, however, with a few of the reasons usually cited for the dislike. People tend to dislike romance novels for one of three reasons: they simply do not like romance storylines, they think they’re trite/cliché/stupid/cheesy/unrealistic, or they think that anything remotely romantic dehumanizes women and romance novels are going to toss up back to the middle ages, equality-wise. I’m only going to rebut one of these, the second one.

( If you’re interested in a very long, rambling post about this, which I admit to being tentatively proud of, click here. And dissenting opinions, clarifications, and other comments are certainly welcome. All thoughts expressed here should be considered a ‘living draft’ and not a final, subject to change at any time, for any reason. )

The lovely auraesque was kind enough to pimp my winning, and I noticed a lot of y'all responding that you had won, as well! Congrats to everyone, it's an incredibly difficult thing to do.

My own endeavor was a choose-your-own-adventure style novel. That means present tense and second person, an incredibly difficult thing to do (at least for me). It is posted in all its stunning typo-riddled glory at path_of_undeath. I'd put it up for critique here (mostly because I really want to know what people think of the whole present tense/second person aspect - I realize the 'plot' is quite silly in places) but I can't really cut and paste it here. So meander on over and take a look if you're bored!

Also, anyone else have theirs posted and want it listed? Comment here and we'll compile a list of community member's posted NaNos!

Another day, another drabble. Since brevity is the soul of wit, and all that.

---

“Johnson! Johnson!” the captain yelled as he raced up the metal staircase to the bridge. “Don’t you see that storm off to port? Hard to starboard, you fool, hard to starboard!” he bellowed at the skinny man standing at the helm of the tanker.

“Sir, yes, sir!” Johnson said with a snappy salute and began to diligently work the controls of the massive ship. Slowly the tanker began a wide turn in the choppy sea, barely perceptible at first but soon gathering momentum.

“Johnson,” the captain said wearily. He rolled his eyes and heaved a huge sigh. “Your other starboard.”

She found them in the desk. A pair of plane tickets to Switzerland, wrapped up prettily in curling ribbon. A gift, but not for her. They were dated a week from today. A day she would be out of town, when her husband thought he’d be able to sneak off with his mistress. Under the tickets was a Swiss Bank passbook with over ten million dollars in it.

She pocketed the bankbook and swapped out the tickets with those in her bag, which only went as far as Peoria, Illinois. Turning to her lover she said, “Change of plans, darling.”

In honor of TLAPD (I love the little eyepatches on the user symbols!) I bring you a rough Picture Prompt Response (pardon my bad pirate-ese, all of the translators seemed to be a wee bit 'overloaded' today!):

( 'Well shiver me timbers and call me a land-lubber!' Captain Dan frowned as he strode up the beach. )

This is my entry for the final write_away survivor island challenge. If you like my story, respond. You can respond to more than one story, so if you do like it even a little you don't have to wait to see the others, because you'll still be able to vote for them, too!

Warning, there is a bit of... well, not romance exactly. But cheesy descriptors and whatnot. And implied adult activity.

I've also had about 2 hours of sleep in the last 48, so... it may be a little weird. And I finished watching all of the Jack of All Trades episodes, so I'm coming down off my Bruce high. But enough with the warnings. ( read onward )

A six degrees of separation drabble!

If I’d known you could kill someone with a mango, I never would have thrown it at her head. I guess the pits give them just enough heft to pack a wallop; the doctors also said she had a genetic condition that thinned her skull. But she’s to blame, too - she shouldn’t have been flaunting that bus ticket to LegoLand. She knew how badly I wanted to go, and when she held it aloft and started taunting, something snapped and I just grabbed the nearest thing, and, well… here we are. Yes, it was a lovely service, wasn’t it?

If you need a refresher on the characters, their background stories are HERE and the original prompt for those characters is HERE. Apologies tot he Huckleberry Blue Bandits and the Gatsby Green Team for any mutilation of the characters they lovingly created. I did try to incorporate the back story and characters as much as possible!


"This is my response to the Survivor Island sixth challenge. If you like my story, respond. The player with the most responses will win this challenge."

( A short tale in three perspectives )

This is my response to the Survivor Island fifth challenge. My prompt was: "In the 18th century, a man who robs graves to sell for medical research becomes too intimately involved in his work. Soon enough, while he sells most of the cadavers to science, he starts taking a few of the ripest corpses home for personal use..." If you like my story, respond (all hail the hypno-toad...). The player with the most responses will win this challenge!

( Artistic license, I say! Artistic license! That's my story and I'm sticking to it! And mega-kudos to anyone who can tell me WHY I had to take such license, and what the story really means... ;) )

Oh, and if you want to ask questions/crit but don't want to officially comment (yet, I hope! - though it seems like you can comment on more than one entry if you like several, so you can judge each independently as they are posted) you can leave it in this post in my journal. I do love crit, even if it's not that you want to say I did well!

Response to the Sunday Picture Prompt. Also a challenge response at muses_stewpot. And a voice post. Yay for the trifecta! Two birds with one stone... pfff. I knocked off three!

( The Ghost in the Castle )

Well, I can't very well complain about the lack of posts if I'm not posting myself - Mr. Pot, there's a Mr. Kettle on line two that would like to speak to you... (yes, it's old but it makes me chuckle!) So here's a two for one, the last two Friday Prose Prompts rolled into one.

I know there's a lot wrong with it, so flex your critiquing muscles!

( Read more... )

Okay, so it's a little odd to respond to my own prompt. But what the hay. And, it did take me closer to 30 minutes, but it was still in the 'free writing' spirit.

This is what the picture brought to my mind:

( Read onward, brave write-awayians! )

Um, don't have much to say about this piece. It's off the top of my head, since we've had so few prompt responses lately I wanted to contribute. Also, we're getting a little poetry heavy, so I just had to slip in a prose piece!

And thanks to 'you-know-who-you-are' for the idea about the juggling bit.

( read it here! )

I haven't been ignoring the word prompts, I've been... storing them up. Yeah, that's it. And since my TV show isn't on again I thought I'd stretch my creativity and bundle them up in one piece. It's shallow. It's stereotypical. It's silly. Enjoy!

( The Seven Deadly Sins Have Lunch at the Food Court )

But can I actually write a mystery? Am I capable of creating suspense and interest from the beginning? I really don't know. I started out thinking I could write a mini-mystery for misc_contests a cool contest community that currently has a fun movie trivia contest up and lots of other fun stuff periodically (yeah, smoooooth pimp there - seriously, you should join), but I don't think I can distill a story to its core while still making it flow. So, instead, my idea has turned into just writing a mystery. I've written about 800 words of the beginning (it still needs more description, I think) and I'd be most grateful if you could tell me if it's even interesting enough to pursue, and how I could make it more "grabby." Thanks!

( Read Me! )

EDIT: As this has decided there is no way in Hades that this is going to be a 'short' story, I have re-written the beginning, or rather, written a preface to this, which will then be re-written. If you're interested, it's here, so you can compare and contrast.

Continuing on a_l_p_h_a_b_e_t's "Coffee with God" theme and with a doffing of the cap to the Mythbusters, I present:

( Thanks a latte, god! )

Oh, man, I just re-read the prompt and I guess I didn't have to do them in order, did I?  Well, at any rate, I did, and used each number exactly once.  I didn't realize how often I use the word "one."  It may seem a little awkward in spots because I had to find alternate wording...   And I'm not entirely happy with the ending.  It feels... unresolved, and I think I should at least have referenced the beginning topic again.  Or maybe it's just that it needs more - that the ending is just far too abrupt.  I'm not entirely sure.

( Scrapbooks, sports, and verbal sparing )

Oddly, it warmed up here the last few days and we're enjoying quite balmy temperatures.  Comparatively speaking, of course.  It's still December, but I'll certainly take a high in the 50s over the sub-zero temperatures we had for awhile.  Though I'm sure it won't last.

( My response )

But I have one more to smooth out.  I've decided to include them in my e-Book Newsletter, though, so I promise to stop once I send it out tomorrow... at least until next year!

( Last-minute shopping )

Here's a scenerio I wrote from the perspective of both a male and female, using the rather androgenous name "Chris" for the other in each case (so it's written from opposing viewpoints, but in each case the partner's name is the same to avoid any bias).  Though I think it's really easy to tell which is which...

I showed it to my husband who agreed that the male perspective would be quite like him, though I don't know if that's "normal."  Goodness knows after 12 years of living with me he's bound to be a little warped! 

( Battle of the Sexes... )

You guys were such a help last time!  Can I pick your brain one more time, please?  This is another Christmas parody, inspired by the need for invitations to a pot-luck holiday party.  Of course, I can't just send out a card that says, "Hey, bring some food" because that would be too ordinary...

( It's the most wonderful time of the year... )

Edits: Thanks to kailita for the grammar rescue and the ever-creative a_l_p_h_a_b_e_t for help with the troublesome verse!

I will, as usual, end up giving out cards this holiday season to my co-workers.  I strive for the unusual, and funny, so this year I think I will celebrate the season... of colds.  This all developed on a whim the other day when I wrote the first stanza in an e-mail, quite off-the-cuff.  The second took a bit more work, but I think it's okay...  but I'm not really happy with the last stanza.  Any suggestions?  I'm trying to balance the original rhyming scheme with the "plot" as it were.  The cadence MUST stay the same (liberty already taken stuffing "least" in there, I know), unfortunately, and that's really limiting what I can do.  If I can lose the 2/4 line rhyme in the last stanza, I could make it better, but... would that be okay?

( My least favorite things... )

EDIT: Someone pointed out that the song should have 3 verses before the stanza, so I put my thinking cap back on and came up with another one. Also, that same person really helped with that last stanza. I think it's much better now. Thanks a_l_p_h_a_b_e_t!

It's really silly.  You were warned.

( That's a fine pickle! )

This was a tough one, but since it will be my last picture prompt response (it seems silly to respond to my own pictures) I figured I should really give it a go. 

That's right, starting next Sunday I'll be bringing you the weekly picture prompts.  I hope you enjoy my selections and challenges, and at any time suggestions and comments are, of course, welcome.

And now I bring you:

( The ritual )