A Question That Has Nothing At All To Do With the Scene I Just Wrote

[snurri]

Didja ever write something that made you so uncomfortable with your own brain that you had to physically move away from the manuscript in order to rid yourself of the wiggins?

Comments

[mastadge.livejournal.com]

No.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

You guys are so reassuring.

[mastadge.livejournal.com]

I say things on a regular basis that make other people uncomfortable. I occasionally do so for the sole purpose of making others uncomfortable, or rather for the purpose of seeing how they react to that discomfort. I recognize that I am capable of thinking and coming up with disturbing ideas, images, etc., sometimes intentionally or consciously and other times not, but they don't make me uncomfortable. I'd probably get uncomfortable if I started trying to implement them, but that's a whole different thing.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Makes sense. I guess that, for me, the difference is that when I actually write things down, it means considering them and describing them in more detail than I would if I were just entertaining a random thought or having a provocative conversation. So occasionally I freak myself out a bit.

[sarah-prineas.livejournal.com]

Certainly not!

[snurri.livejournal.com]

You guys are so reassuring.

[sarah-prineas.livejournal.com]

Erm, what I meant by "certainly not!" was "yes, once or twice..."

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Ah, I did wonder.

Glad to know I'm not the only one.

[sarah-prineas.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

I had to write this story on a dare once...

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Published or unpublished?

[sarah-prineas.livejournal.com]

Published. Talebones. There you go!

(It was supposed to come out in Podcastle, too, but I withdrew it because it's pretty disturbing and I'm a children's author now...)

[blackaire.livejournal.com]

Yes. Mine involved a shoot for fake snuff porn and kicking someone in the balls.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Glad to know I'm not the only one. I don't think I can even talk about mine right now. There have been one or two others, but my mind is blocking them out :-)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Ayep.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's a Minnesota thing :-P

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Does that make us nastier-minded than those other folks, or more squeamish about it?

[snurri.livejournal.com]

I really don't know.

[jamiam.livejournal.com]

Surely the correct answer is "no comment."

[snurri.livejournal.com]

That's a yes.

[jennreese.livejournal.com]

Frequently. But even that stuff wasn't as bad as writing an actual sex scene. That still creeps me out. :-)

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Sex scenes are really tricky. There's a reason there's a "Bad Sex" literary award.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

No. Was it dirty?

[snurri.livejournal.com]

No.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

pfffffffffffffffffft.

[megmccarron.livejournal.com]

ditto!

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Dirty doesn't really make me that uncomfortable, is the thing.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

Well, your fans are clamoring for dirty that makes you uncomfortable.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

What, you want porn?

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

No, but I just wanted to say that I haven't heard the word "wiggins" used sinceBuffy was on and you have reminded me I should use it more often. Wiggins wiggins wiggins.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

It's a word that should be used whenever possible.

Yup.

[timalyne.livejournal.com]

Jay Lake took that experience story for TEL: Stories...

Re: Yup.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

I think I have that anthology somewhere . . . yeah, I'm hoping that it will make for a better story, but yeesh.

Re: Yup.

[timalyne.livejournal.com]

I think that one of the reasons I haven't written much for the last two years is that I'm not willing to go "there". It's a strange sensation. Also, I'm having an inner crisis over wanting to write children's books. I think I came up with the compromise today, a pen name for the kids' stuff. I may have a poll later on my ideas in that realm. If you do find my story, don't blame me...

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, once or twice...

Wiggins, there's a great word that doesn't get used enough.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

Umm, that was me, I don't know why I was logged out...

[ninstorage.livejournal.com]

Yes, happens to me all the time, even if I don't know what the wiggins are. But sometimes what I write disturbs me so much, it keeps me up at night.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Wiggins is from Buffy, I believe. Like the willies, except singular.

Glad to know there are others capable of creeping themselves out.

[matthewsrotundo.livejournal.com]

Yes. Recently, in fact. A murder scene that literally nauseated me. And were not talking about gruesome dismemberment or anything like that.

I still get a little echo of that nausea when I reread it.

Others have told me that scene was pretty creepy, so I guess it works.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

That's sort of along the lines of the scene I'm dealing with. I think part of it is my concern over whether the story really required that I go there; I'm proceeding under the conviction that it did, but it's still giving me the creeps.

[matthewsrotundo.livejournal.com]

Trust your instincts.

[scottjanssens.livejournal.com]

Yup. one reader gave it a one word critique: "Ew."

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Ouch! :-) That's the sort of thing that will discourage a person from taking risks.

[matthewsrotundo.livejournal.com]

Are you serious? I'd take that as a compliment!

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Depends on what you're going for, I guess :-)

[matthewsrotundo.livejournal.com]

True dat. If you were hoping for a pink fuzzy bunny moment, you might want to rethink it.