V is for Visual… I’m a very visual person. Considering how visual I am, I’m surprised I’m not an artist. I didn’t have the patience… or something like that. At a young age I started drawing. I had Garfield down to perfection. One accusation of tracing later, I gave up drawing. Every time I tried to go back, it seemed like too much work to start from scratch and train myself. It would take me forever to get to a level that would satisfy me.
My visual tendency is one of the main reasons I love anime and manga as much as I do. The art style of both catches my attention every time. The old adage “you can’t judge a book by its cover” isn’t totally true with manga. Nine times out of ten, if I like the cover art (usually done by the interior artist unlike American comics), I like the story in the manga. There have been a handful of instances where I found the art style less than enticing but still enjoyed the story but that hasn’t happened often. Or the opposite where the art is nice but the story left much to be desired.
I find a lot of times, in my writing, I have to see something acted out for me to be able to describe it accurately. Getting up and acting something out, finding clips online, people watching — all of it helps. I rely a lot on porn for most of my sex scenes to add variety and so I can get the movements and reactions correct. Not just Tab A in Slot B but hand positioning, body positioning, breathing, sounds, speaking, interaction with their surroundings — all of that helps me craft the scene so my readers can experience it to the utmost.
I’m also drawn to a lot of anime; my husband got me started watching it. Netflix has a ton of shows. I started watching a few Korean dramas on Netflix, a lot of the premises seem similar to lighter storylines in anime/manga.
Nice to meet you through the A to Z Challenge! Here’s mine for today: A Girl and her Diary
Netflix has some stuff but also try Crunchyroll and Funimation. They have tons of different anime shows (all legal) and some of them airing simultaneously with Japan. Hulu and Anime News Network also have a great selection. Some of the shows can be watched on a free account but the paid account isn’t that much — less than $10 a month per venue for all the anime you can cram.
I didn’t think of it this way, it’s one thing to see a scene in your head, but actual visual research would greatly help with authenticity. Nice tip!
Glad to be of help. That’s the first thing I say to people who are stumped about describing something (especially sex scenes). Go find it. With the internet the way it is, I almost guarantee there’s a video somewhere of someone doing what you want to describe. It’s just a matter of finding it.