I try to write with them somewhere between my groin and the pit of my stomach.

Well, that too.

I think ita is one of the most sensuous writers in this thread.

Oh, very much so. I don't think she's ever written a drabble that hasn't hit me right in the gut.

But there's definitely a school of romance writing popular in judging circles that insists that the hero and heroine be in direct conflict with each other, and that the conflict must be spelled out right from the beginning.

I didn't go to that school. And I'm all for sublety. If some of the conflicts in romances played out in real life... Well, life usually doesn't work that way, is all I'm saying.

And that senses thing? You need to write what works for a given scene. Every single sentence on every single page doesn't require the use of all five senses -- just the ones that convey tone and meaning best.

Ignore me. Contest judging made me cranky in the extreme.

offers Amy soothing yummy food to ease crankitude

BTW, you may be getting or may have already got an email from Vortex - she has an urgent situation, concerning an industry question. I forwarded it to my agent but that could take days for Jenn to get to, and I suggested she email you.

you may be getting or may have already got an email from Vortex

No problem. I'll look for it. And thank you for the yummy food. I'm imagining they're peanut butter death bombs, by the way.

Off to keep plugging on the book that's already late...

I love a good adverb and I get really pissed at adverb nazis; used properly, as you just did, they're stone cold gorgeous.

Yep. I know that they're often used improperly by beginning writers, but the adverb nazis are like people who'd take the toepicks off Michelle Kwan's skates because beginning skaters are too prone to use them as brakes.

I didn't go to that school. And I'm all for sublety. If some of the conflicts in romances played out in real life... Well, life usually doesn't work that way, is all I'm saying.

Wrod. And often the conflicts/setups just seem so forced and contrived that I have no patience with them.

And while I know you can't have a story without conflict, and there has to be something keeping the hero and heroine from reaching resolution on page 10 rather than page 350, I always make my protagonists like each other as well want each other. Partly that's because I like reading about friends and allies working together against the story's opposing forces, and partly because I find it a lot easier to believe the happily ever after if the hero and heroine like each other and work well together.

I know that they're often used improperly by beginning writers, but the adverb nazis are like people who'd take the toepicks off Michelle Kwan's skates because beginning skaters are too prone to use them as brakes

HA! Yes, this. I've always tended toward the "I can't use adverbs? Um, bite me continuously, deeply, richly and terminally, yo" type of reply.

My sisters in adverbs! "I decided to come home early," he said could mean so many different things.

Really.

It's weird. I use a shitload of adverbs and the occasional meaty adjective, and yet, I have never once been told by an editor - and I've had some world-class, world-famous editors - to tone back any of them.

I wonder who came up with the "write like Hemingway, but without the poetry! Pretend you've got an iron rod up your ass!" motif? Screw whoever it was, anyway.

I use adverbs. I use adjectives. My seventh novel, all through bigass publishing houses, comes out in October. So, sucks-boo to the adverbsaries.

Or, alternately, pftlypftlypftly.

I've always tended toward the "I can't use adverbs? Um, bite me continuously, deeply, richly and terminally, yo" type of reply.

Bwah!

Thing is, I do overuse adverbs in my rough drafts. So I look at them closely when I'm editing, because I know some of them will be unnecessary. But if it's the best way I can think of to say what I'm trying to say, the adverb stays. Just as passive voice sometimes gets to stay, or any use of a form of "to be" when I'd have to jump through hoops and write something awkward rather than a nice straightforward "He was such-and-such."