On Writing

The only good plot is a delayed fuck.
--Louis B. Mayer

Always looking for more useful resources to add here.

Articles

A Dialog Lesson

A fine little discourse on the art of orgasmic delay and the proper use of quotation marks in fiction. The author suggests that readers who dislike reading gay love scenes can replace the name "Jon" with "Joan". The advice is still good, no matter which you choose.

Chatting About Writing

I belong to the Eros writer's group, a mailing list for people who write erotica. Sometimes I expound on various aspects of writing. Here are a couple of those notes; other names have been removed because I haven't bothered to get permission from those involved.

Writing Erotica

An article by my friend John McMullen. It's slightly modified from the version that was originally posted to alt.sex.stories.d

A Reader's Request

A similar request for improved writing, this one by Stephen Jarjoura.

How To Write Sex Stories Good

More helpful hints for improved writing, this one by Michael Kalen Smith

What Characters Say About Their Author

An essay by me.

Mood, Genre, and Erotica

Another essay by me, written in response to a letter from a reader.

Celestial Grammar

A guide to basic grammar by Celeste801, who in Real Life is a teacher of English.

Advanced Celestial Grammar

Further lessons in grammar by Celeste801. My thanks to Celeste for letting me reproduce these here.

The Celestial FAQ

Put up by Dale Larson, of IAM (who also publish Mary Anne Mohanraj's book).

Books On Writing

One person's meat is another's poison; still, I have found these to contain useful ideas or formative concepts for me.

The Art of Fiction, John Gardner

I disagree with Gardner when he talks about the necessity of a University education. I agree with much of what he says.

Becoming a Writer, Dorothea Brande

More than anything else, this is the book that convinced me that, yes, I could do it.

Characters and Viewpoint, Orson Scott Card

I thought his ideas on the role of characterization in different types of stories were insightful.

Impro, Keith Johnstone

In this book, Johnstone talks about improvising narrative. Really, that's writing. Johnstone is also a playwright, so he does write plays. I've been tremendously influenced by his ideas on status and transitions.

I also find that you can read Writer's Digest magazine for about two years before it starts to repeat. The Writer magazine seems to have better articles (I have the Writer's Handbook 1989) but distribution is spotty in my area.

Other improv books might also be useful to you for thinking about characterization and breathing life into scenes. In particular, you might want to look at Audition, by Michael Shurtieff (I may have spelled that incorrectly, my copy is packed away), and A Practical Handbook for the Actor (also packed away).