Fevered Prose

News just broke that Jesse Ventura, our previous governor with a penchant for feather boas, has endorsed Kerry after initially declining to endorse anyone. It was a weird endorsement (Ventura had a proxy speak for him), but whatever. This might be enough to convince a few fence-sitters who voted for Ventura in 1998. Every little bit helps. Another former Minnesota governor, Republican Elmer Anderson, also endorsed Kerry. Then there’s American Conservative magazine, that leftist rag and another Kerry endorser. At this rate, the only people endorsing Bush will be Pat Robertson and Toby Keith.
I’ve concluded that writing sex scenes is hard. It’s hard work. Honestly, I don’t know how people make a living writing romance novels and erotica. I just finished the first sex scene in my book and I can’t tell you how many hours I wasted staring at the screen, trying not to sound like a frequent poster on alt.sex.stories. I kept asking myself “Does this sound real, or am I subconsciously writing Jenna Jameson’s next script?” Maybe that’s the difference. Romance and erotica dwell in a universe where the usual rules of human behavior don’t apply. You can have your characters exploring orifices with little or no set-up. General fiction asks for more believability, for the reader to be able to nod her head and say, “Sure, I can buy that.” I’m not sure if I buy it yet.