I second Raq's general recommendation of joint manipulation, but I'd also add that the blow-by-blow can be handwaved a bit once you have the general outlines of what happens solid in your own mind -- you don't want to get it wrong, because, yes, then the boring military types will come after you, but it's the kind of description where every. single. move. can get really technical and ultimately kill the action in a way that the rest of your audience may be quite happy to skip. So, our hero gets the dude's knife arm bent back and makes him drop the weapon, and then we can cut to the real point of the scene, which is the existential horror of watching the dude's eyes go dead under his very own hands. And that part, I know you can write.

(Think of the difference between a sex scene with lots of breathless suggestion, and one that's got every bit of insert tab A in slot B.)

(Also, if you're a Deadwood fan, there's a terribly brutal hand-to-hand fight in season 3 (hey, DVD's are out, and it's y'all's fault if you highlight!) episode 5 that addresses some of the same questions you're working with. Must be viewed with the commentary from the actors on their own process of getting to the place you're talking about. )

It's usually only in fanfic porn that I have this much trouble imagining a position.

Having tried and failed at both the porn and the fighty-fighty? The porn is easier.

I think my attempt at describing the insert-tab-a-into-slot-b both speaks to askye's point about not detailing it, and to why I'm not a writer.

But, here's a photo, or series of: [link]

Oh, okay, I see. I thought Tab A was sitting on Slot B's chest at the time.

Thanks so much, y'all. The scene is rewritten, with a choreography assist from DH (who helpfully pointed out all the ways I'd left J vulnerable in my first attempt at disarmament).

Well, I had the first installment of The Eclectic Word last night. And I gotta say, I can get used to this Internet radio thing. It was a lot of fun.

Last night's show can be downloaded now, and on Sept. 7th I have Allyson and Jilli. Which may be trouble ... (:

The next step towards publish-on-demand: [link]

For the time being, most of the books on offer appear to be ones in the public domain, including over 200,000 titles from the Open Content Alliance database, which visitors to the library can print off books free of charge, the end result of which is supposedly "indistinguishable from the factory-made title."

Drabble challengers, related, together or separately: "Low" "Deep". (Non-porny).

With 50% of precincts reporting in, my CPs are thus far unanimous in rejecting a scene I was rather proud of.

t cue chorus of self-doubt

Normally the combination of pride over something you've written and CPs/betas disliking it means you need to kill that particular darling...but I'm still stubbornly clinging to this one. This is my Regency romance group, and I'm now writing Regency-era non-romance. The issue in question is whether two of my characters should have sex at this point in the story. So far one CP is saying, basically, that it's not romantic enough for her--she seems to have trouble with sympathetic characters deciding to have comfort sex when both the text and what I've told her of the plot to follow make it clear they'll part soon and end up with other people. The second says it's just a throwaway sex scene like male adventure writers keep throwing in to please their female readers regardless of its relevance to the plot, and I shouldn't follow their bad example. Thing is, I guess I'm one of those pleased female readers, because I like the way the one author on her list I've actually read handles sex scenes. They don't seem throwaway to me.

Sigh. Really can't decide what to think of this. I mean, they're my characters, and their having sex seemed completely inevitable to me. I'd love to be able to chalk this up to my CPs using a romance standard for a non-romance story, but that might be a cop-out.

I'd love to be able to chalk this up to my CPs using a romance standard for a non-romance story, but that might be a cop-out.

Or you might be right!

You know, some people just don't like sex scenes if they're not followed by true love and marriage, and some people just don't like them at all. The curtain should always be tastefully drawn after the passionate kiss.

Me, I like sex scenes. Clearly, you should let me read it and decide.