Thursday, February 14, 2013

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Rewriting Valentines Day
By Leslie Lehr

Every Valentines Day is a love story, from the year you received three bouquets of roses (including the one from your dad), to the year you made pink oatmeal and drew hearts on your children’s cheeks, to the year your husband called cross country only to find out if his phone was working while you watched The Vagina Monologues alone in bed.

The story is the part that matters. So why not write your own? You can set the scene with sparkling champagne, fancy appetizers and a roaring fire to create page-turning suspense about what will happen next. Internal conflict may arise from nerves about your new lingerie; external conflict from kids opening school valentines in the next room. When you take control (even if that means buying your own damn flowers), the celebration can reveal your character and move your life forward, by answering a question about today and raising a larger one about the future.

Writing fiction works the same way.

Romance novels often follow a pattern: the first kiss, the first dance, then the proposal. Heaving bosoms and modern sex scenes can develop characters and add conflict by raising immediate questions of what will happen next. We know the lovers will unite at the end, so your love scenes serve to add spice to the larger question: how?

With dramatic fiction, the love story is a subplot that must serve the main story. Writing love scenes can slow down the narrative drive, so sex is often used as shorthand. But don’t shorthand your sex scenes. Just as you don’t want gratuitous sex on Valentines Day - okay, sometimes you do - in a novel, gratuitous sex tends to do little more than reveal character. If the scene doesn’t add new information, then it won’t move the story forward. If your reader can skip it, so should you. Worse, you are missing a great storytelling opportunity. Determine what needs to happen, then add the sex.

In my new novel, What A Mother Knows, there is plenty of romance and two actual sex scenes. One shows how far apart the couple has grown and inspires the protagonist to make a plan. The other is a surprise, and shows how she is literally taking control of her life. The seduction is descriptive enough that I’ll be embarrassed if my daughters read it, but it has every important story element: it strengthens character, adds new information, answers an immediate question, and raises a new one, driving the narrative forward.

Last night, I planned Valentines Day with my new husband (see the story here?) like a proper romantic scene: sparkling champagne, fancy appetizers, and a roaring fire. As luck would have it, there were some last minute revisions. I was too sick to drink, the appetizers burned, and we ran out of logs. But it still made a good love story, especially as a subplot of life. It answered the question of how we endure when romance eludes us, and raised the question of what happens next.

Are you ready to rewrite Valentines Day?  On paper or in real life, you have all the elements for a great story.




What A Mother Knows is available for preorder at your favorite bookstore and at www.leslielehr.com.

Check out Bachelor Sean wishing me well on my chemo journey at www.facebook.com/authorleslielehr (and to paraphrase Sally Field, please Like me).   Are you on Twitter?  I’m @leslielehr1      
xoxo

9 comments:

  1. What I like about the way kids celebrate Valentine's Day is that it can be about love--usually for family members--or about crushes or just about friendship. And ultimately it's about candy. It can be tough for teens, young adults, and other single adults. I've never cared much about the holiday myself, but do recall in high school that girls would ask each other what their boyfriends gave them. My husband gave me nothing today because he was too busy cutting out and decorating valentines for our kids--and that is exactly the gift I want.

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  2. Pink oatmeal! Now why didn't I think of that 25 years ago when my kids were little? It would be lovely if we could rewrite Valentine's Day banning flowers, candy and greeting cards bought in stores. Let's show the love in other ways. . .

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  3. Ohhh…I want to read those two sex scenes!

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  4. Love this post, Leslie. And I, too, have gotta try that pink oatmeal! Too cute!!

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  5. There is more information for a student about understanding all those importance. This's so positive for them. And I hope so. Thank you very much for help them.

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  6. Leslie Lehr is just talking about the rewriting valentines. And may be after that if they found any noun check positions then may be this topic is not good for the others. And may be after that you can easily get the help and solve your all problems.

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  7. If we look around and feel the love so we understand that every day is a Valentine day and we have chance and hope to love the world because we get strength of writing a personal philosophy statement to express ourselves and notice the world our own existence.

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