Annanan1

is there any reason why i cannot get more 'real' than normal with my charecters and world. by real i mean using the scenerios that other writers tend to leave out, the eating, using the lav, sleeping, making love etc. provided they are kept tactful.

not sure how far i can take things and it still be exceptable.

cheers

Non Serviam

Gimli stopped walking and stood with his eyes crossed for a moment, then let one rip. "By the Valar, that's better out than in!" he said.

"Forsooth, what a stench!" said Aragorn, batting his hands before his nose. "It smelleth like a rat hath crawled between the cheeks of thine arse and died."

... yeah, there could be some mileage in this idea.

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Faith, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.
Law, n. The rule of past over present, the dead over the living, precedent over reason, syntax over sense and absurd fictions over urgent realities.
Patriot, n. A dangerous tool of the powers that be. A herd member who compensates for lack of self-respect by identifying with an abstraction. An enemy of individual freedom. A fancier of the rich, satisfying flavour of boot leather.

WriterDude

Aragorn was tired and fell asleep.

Chapter 2.
Aragon is still sleeping.

Chapter 3
Aragon wakes up... no, wait, he just yawned and went back to sleep.

Chapter 4...

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Annanan1

point taken guys.

but how far and how graphic can i get away with in love scenes for example

Non Serviam

Pretty far and pretty graphic. Clive Barker's stuff is at least technically fantasy, and he certainly doesn't hold back when it comes to the sex scenes.

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Faith, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.
Law, n. The rule of past over present, the dead over the living, precedent over reason, syntax over sense and absurd fictions over urgent realities.
Patriot, n. A dangerous tool of the powers that be. A herd member who compensates for lack of self-respect by identifying with an abstraction. An enemy of individual freedom. A fancier of the rich, satisfying flavour of boot leather.

Annanan1

i have never read him myself, so i'll have to take your word for it.
what i really mean though is is there an exceptable level of realism which one would not excede, without causing offence to people or would that kind of thing make your wirk stand out. do you think that there are taboo things that would be wrong.

you see i got this 16/17 year old prince who is just coming into a period of awakening both in terms of the magical powers he posses, but also it is a time of adolescence and therefore a time of sexual awkening for him and he is learning about how the world works.

what do you think how far can i take it?
thanks

wendy

Mr Sci Fi

Characters eating is fine. That's a good chance for dialogue, and some writers use dinner as symbolism.

The going to the bathroom thing seems a bit too much for a fantasy. Unless of course your main character pisses acid.

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Erik Buchanan

What you put out and what you leave in, is up to you, from the first morning pee to the sad results of too much tacos and beer.

The question to ask yourself is, what do these things add to the story. Are they for humour, are you trying to make your characters more human? Did you succeed?

I would say, write it, then see after your done if what you've done has added anything to the story. If not, cut it, but at least you'll have done the experiment.

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Annanan1

very true

i guess you never know where it is going to take you either.

wmd

you can obviously put sex into a fantasy novel.. I think that is something that would exist there, right?

But remember that you should not put in a sex scene just to put in a sex scene. It should add something to the story or move it along. Most people reading fantasy do not mind a sex scene, but if they wanted explicit sex they would be reading erotica.

But do want you want... It is your novel. If it works keep it if not cut it. My assumption though would be that a scene of the MC droppin a duece would not add anything to the story... but there is always a chance that it could.

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WriterDude

I think what you need to consider is how much of it is part of the story (or otherwise important), and how much is just page-fillers. Trivial, public tasks like eating, going to a public toilet and so on is fine, as long as something actually happens there. As a funny example, there's a deleted scene in the movie Momento where two people open a door and find a woman sitting there on the toilet. It has nothing to do with the movie at all and really stupid. The only dialogue is "I want to hear a beeping sound when you back the hell out of here!" and is only funny the first time as it's quite unexpected. The second time it's just stupid and pointless, so it's easy to see why it was deleted from the finished movie.

And as for how graphical you can get, you need to consider your target audience. If you aim at a younger audience in their teens or younger, graphical sex shouldn't be "graphical" sex. Writing for adults allow you to make it graphic, but is it really necessary? A teacher I had years ago said he prefer scenes like "They kissed passionately, laid down laid down on the bed... (new paragraph) The next morning...". This lets the reader clearly know what was going on, so it's up to the reader if he or she thinks it's interesting. Besides, take a look at horror movies. The scary part isn't what you see, but what you don't see. simply because your mind makes it more scary than your eyes ever can. It's the same with sex. Your dirty mind makes it far more graphical than your brain can type down on a paper. If the reader wants the sex to be graphical, you are only holding him or her back, and thus disappointing them.

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Annanan1

very good advise. i suppose that you need to be careful not to offend people as well sort let them now unmistably what is taking place and then cutting and letting them fill in the rest.

wendy

wmd

It is not about offending people... If you decide not to write something just because you think it will offend someone than your work will start lacking.

It is really about what people are reading your novel for... are you aiming for an erotic fantasy? then by all means make it graphic, because the readers will probably want it, but if you just want sex because you like sex, than you are probably writing in the wrong genre.

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Annanan1

true. all very true.

i just trying to make my novel real, it infuriates me when other writers leave aout all the stuff i want read about and it is want they leave that intrigeues me the most. i don't think that i need really graphic scenes, but i can say what i have to in a very tactful one. one scene for example this kid has aquired a book that he has with him with grahic (naughty) drawings in it. the book itself is intrisically importamt to the story, do i need to explaine why he has this book in his possesion. it is in medieval type society although they are a little more enlightened that they would have been in real life and as i have said he is 16/17. or do i mention the book then leave the rest to reader to fill in.

Enigmus

LOL

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