Laurell K. Hamilton explains how to write a sex scene.
By putting it in the bathroom, you know some of the props available, and some that are not. No nice roomy bed, no sheets. You get water, smaller spaces to use, so mostly none standard positions. You have soap, but you have to be careful on the soap, someo of it is simply not meant for internal use. Lubricant and soap are not always interchangeable. I know that we’re going to include a second man, and most of the men are on the tall side, so I think only two in the tub at the same time. Hmm. Okay. I think I’m ready to go make pages now.
From Neil Gaiman's blog, he's answering a question:
********
Long time reader, first time writer. I'm sure you've been asked this before, but as I can't find it discussed on the message boards:
"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel." - William Gibson, Neuromancer
"The sky was the perfect untroubled blue of a television screen, tuned to a dead channel." - You, Neverwhere
You're either paying homage to Gibson, which is weird because the two books are in different genres and he isn't mentioned in the acknowledgements, or perhaps there's some manner of Jungian collective unconscious phenomenon at work here, in which you have unwittingly mimicked Gibson, or..?
Or it was a very small joke, essentially pointing out that since what is arguably the most famous opening sentence in SF was published in 1984, the nature of what a "dead channel" looked like had completely changed, from grey static fuzz to a pure dead blue. Well, I thought it was funny, anyway.
Heh. Which neatly addresses my perpetual cognitive dissonance on re-reading
Neuromancer
and getting stuck on that very point.
The terrible thing? It's the spelling in that entry that makes me cry.
Neil, I'm a long time reader, first time writer. I met you at a book signing and addressed you as Mr. Gaiman, to which you responded, "Call me Neil." You're probably aware that the first line of Moby Dick is "Call me Ishmael." Were you paying homage to Melville, or were you just tuned into the mid-19th century's collective unconscious? I know it's a hundred and fifty years old, and it's in the public domain, but is an acknowledgment too much to ask? Other than that I love your stuff -- keep up the good work!
joe mocks, but he mocks with love.
checks contents of joe's post
I'm sorry, as my previous comment seems to be inaccurate. There was no love in that mockery. It was a full-on mock, filled to the brim with cold, frothy snark.
Which neatly addresses my perpetual cognitive dissonance on re-reading Neuromancer and getting stuck on that very point.
When did you read it? I'm pretty sure that when I did it was either during or close enough to the time where static was really static that it never pinged. During, I feel sure.
A sky the colour of that blue, though, would freak my shit out.
For me it definitely predated the blue screen.
When did you read it?
1986. It's only bugged me on re-reading.
Does the lack of submachine guns in the Iliad bother you too, Mr. Picky?
