Tuesday 11 June 2013

A Visit from Annalisa Crawford - That Sadie Thing on Tour!

Including the typo on my name
- one 'n' instead of two!
Thank you for having me over today, Linda, and as I know your alter-ego has been published by Xcite Books, I'm going to talk about sex!

I debated including Rain Dancing in the collection because it has such a different tone to the rest of the book. But then I thought, well my mum's read it, why not? Although, my mum did wrap it in cling film straight after finishing it, so I'm not quite sure what that means...

Rain Dancing was another one of my experiments. "I want to write a sex scene," I thought to myself one day. I was about 17 or 18 at the time, so it was a strange experiment.

The voice came to me straight away, along with the first paragraph. Although, by the end of that paragraph it became apparent to me that the voice was male. So, to recap, there I was writing my very first sex scene ever (until then I'd stopped at the bedroom door, much easier) and I was writing it as a man!

At 18, I wasn't much of a expert, but I had a feeling that the experience would be rather different for men. It was very difficult to get it right, but for some reason I didn't give up. And not only that, I submitted it to a couple of places before it got published.

Afterwards I realised a couple of things:
  • There was a typo that made Helen sound needy, when actually she was very much the opposite
  • The argument that sparked the end of the relationship was lame, very lame, almost non-existent.
It was a story ripe for rewriting, which bizarrely I did almost immediately. This is the story that sparked the idea for the whole collection - it's been waiting for its moment to shine for a very long time.



About Annalisa
I live in Cornwall, with a good supply of beaches and moorland right on my doorstep. I live with my husband, two boys, a dog and a cat. Despite my location. I neither surf nor sail, and have never had any inclination to try. I much prefer walking along the beach and listening to the waves crashing over rocks. For this reason, I really love the beach in the winter!

Buy That Sadie Thing here (this link should take you direct to your local Amazon)
Follow Annalisa here, or Like her here
Read her blog here

13 comments:

Annalisa Crawford said...

Good morning, Linda. Thank so for having me on your blog today :-)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

If it sparked the idea, then you had to include it!
You might've been clueless at the time you wrote it, but believe me, most men at that age don't know what they are doing either.

Sarah Foster said...

Sex scenes can be difficult to write. I used to be so awkward about it that I couldn't even look at the computer screen as I wrote them. But I found the more I tried, the easier it became.

Joanne said...

you are braver than me. I have yet to write a sex scene (I blush now) and grew up in a home of cling wrap. But it's a good story and worthy of your collection.

Patsy said...

I've tried writing sex scenes. It didn't go well.

Karen Jones Gowen said...

Cute story! I tried writing a few sex scenes in my early 20's and found the experience very...um...interesting. That's all I'll say. Best wishes on your short story collection!

Melissa Ann Goodwin said...

Fun!

Charlie N. Holmberg said...

How interesting for it to come out that way!

Annalisa Crawford said...

Alex - lol!!

Sarah - I'm not sure I've written very many over the years, but I don't blush anymore :-)

Joanne - thanks Joanne.

Patsy - sex scenes need a lot more rewriting than other scenes, I think.

Karen - lol, interesting is an intriguing description :-)

Melissa - thanks :-)

Charlie - you can't choose your characters... well, I can't anyway!

Christine Rains said...

Sex scenes can be tricky, especially making them something different. More tricky when you're writing from the opposite sex's POV. Yet very cool it came to you as male. I thought it was well done.

Anonymous said...

Sex scenes are not easy...I've tried a few and I always have to do major fixing afterwards:)

Annalisa Crawford said...

Christine - thanks! I don't write them often enough to need to worry about making them different, but I know what you mean. That was part of the criticism I read about 50 Shades - they were all the same. In that case, why bother with the detail?

TF - I write them, then delete them and rewrite the scene so I don't need them!

Jacqueline Howett said...

Writing them is one thing, publishing them is another!l