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6006718
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Penstemon, overhearing
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Diana Gabaldon |
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ad28a76
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friend's face that something terrible had happened. The fact that he was seeing Jamie Fraser's face at all was evidence enough of that, never mind the look of the man.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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d881fce
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I leaned back on my elbows and basked in the warming spring sun. There was a curious peace in this day, a sense of things working quietly in their proper courses, nothing minding the upsets and turmoils of human concerns. Perhaps it was the peace that one always finds outdoors, far enough away from buildings and clatter. Maybe it was the result of gardening, that quiet sense of pleasure in touching growing things, the satisfaction of helpin..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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35a435e
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atwixt
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Diana Gabaldon |
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85c9823
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I reached for a pair of my own, intrigued. "Why not? Did the ancient Gaels not wear undergarments?" Frank leered. "You've never heard that old song about what a Scotsman wears beneath his kilts?" "Presumably not gents' knee-length step-ins," I said dryly. "Perhaps I'll go out in search of a local kilt-wearer whilst you're cavorting with vicars and ask him." "Well, do try not to get arrested, Claire. The dean of St. Giles College wouldn't li..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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9621a24
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hand
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Diana Gabaldon |
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2b848b5
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I knew an old lady in the Highlands once, who said the lines in your hand don't predict your life; they reflect it.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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4689b28
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I gledala sam, zarobljena, vezana za njega. Gledala sam, dok je rusio poslednju od svojih maski, pokazivao mi svoje dubine i rane svoje duse. Da sam mogla, plakala bih zbog njegove i zbog svoje povredjenosti. Ali su njegove oci gledale u moje, bez suza i otvorene, beskrajne kao slano more. Njegovi telo me drzalo u zarobljenistvu, terajuci me svojom silinom, kao zapadnjak u jedrima barke. I ja sam putovala u njega, i on u mene, tako da je u ..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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56855cb
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This is why you use imagery when writing about sex; it's a means both of evoking immediacy and of distilling emotion.
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sex
writing
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Diana Gabaldon |
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0b30277
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One of the general patterns of good (i.e., striking and memorable) writing is the effect of repetition. If you use a certain element--a plot device, an image, a noticeable phrase--once, readers may or may not notice it consciously, but it doesn't disturb the flow of their reading. If you use that element twice, they won't notice it consciously--but they will notice it subconsciously, and it will add to the resonance of the writing or to the..
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sex
writing
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Diana Gabaldon |
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cba8fab
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Almost everybody understands that you have to have something at stake for a story to be good.
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sex
writing
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Diana Gabaldon |
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d010541
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Okay. This has to be a credible threat. Ergo, we have to have seen (and heard about) the real damage Randall has done to Jamie thus far; we have to be in no doubt whatever that he'd do real damage to Claire. We can't just say, "Oh, he's such a nasty person, you wouldn't believe..." We have to believe, and therefore appreciate, just what Jamie is doing when he trades what's left of his life for Claire's."
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sex
writing
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Diana Gabaldon |
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862ba49
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Don't you touch me!" I snapped. "Just tell me--do you think, on the evidence of a strange man happening to glance up at my window, that I've had some flaming affair with one of my patients?" Frank got out of bed and wrapped his arms around me. I stayed stiff as Lot's wife, but he persisted, caressing my hair and rubbing my shoulders in the way he knew I liked. "No, I don't think any such thing," he said firmly. He pulled me closer, and I re..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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83defa7
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She and her mother both gave that odd impression of having been outlined somehow, drawn with such vivid strokes and delicate detail that they stood out from their background as though they'd been engraved on it.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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8546f24
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and allowed
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Diana Gabaldon |
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ee4777b
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the wards. They may assist with the distribution
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Diana Gabaldon |
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a5182dc
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But it wouldn't have half the power of a story in which Jamie and Claire truly conquer real evil and thus show what real love is. Real love has real costs--and they're worth it. I've always said all my books have a shape, and Outlander's internal geometry consists of three slightly overlapping triangles. The apex of each triangle is one of the three emotional climaxes of the book: 1) when Claire makes her wrenching choice at the stones and ..
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sex
writing
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Diana Gabaldon |
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896d344
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To some extent, emotions are universal and can be treated that way; no matter what the participants' orientation or preference, they have sex for the same reasons and can experience the same array of emotions in the process. But there are three important distinctions to be made: 1. The logistics of physiology 2. The basics of sexual attraction 3. Cultural impact on character and situation
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sex
writing
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Diana Gabaldon |
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ef9ceb8
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Men have external genitalia, while women have internal genitalia. This simple difference makes a lot of difference in how they write about themselves--and how you might write about your characters. Male writers don't often address internal sensation in a character, because they don't experience it (and probably often don't realize consciously that it's there). This accounts for a lot of Really Terrible sex scenes written by men (if you look..
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sex
writing
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Diana Gabaldon |
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f851f94
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Coming back, he saw the dark spots on the back of Jamie's shirt, blotches where fresh blood had seeped through the bandages. The sight filled him with fury, as well as fear. He'd seen such things; the wean had been flogged. Badly, and recently. Who? How? "Come on, then," he said roughly, and, bending, slipped an arm under Jamie's and got him to his feet and away from the fire and the other men. He was alarmed to feel the clamminess of Jamie..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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a1a6555
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The large thumb, now"--she did lean forward then and touch it lightly--"that wouldn't change much. Means you're strong-minded, and have a will not easily crossed." She twinkled at me. "Reckon your husband could have told ye that. Likewise about that one." She pointed to the fleshy mound at the base of the thumb. "What is it?" "The Mount of Venus, it's called." She pursed her thin lips primly together, though the corners turned irrepressibly..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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63bfee8
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Once, traveling at night, I fell asleep in the passenger seat of a moving car, lulled by the noise and motion into an illusion of serene weightlessness. The driver of the car took a bridge too fast and lost control, and I woke from my floating dream straight into the glare of headlights and the sickening sensation of falling at high speed. That abrupt transition is as close as I can come to describing the feeling I experienced, but it falls..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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bfa0353
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And then it came to me, as one of the redcoats, knocked flat by a fleeing Scot, rose and shook his fist theatrically after the horses. Of course. A film! I shook my head at my own slowness. They were shooting a costume drama of some sort, that was all. One of those Bonnie-Prince-in-the-heather sorts of things, no doubt. Well.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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3a5f088
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If either of them stops shouting long enough to hear the other, they'll be hurting each other's feelings.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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06f8cd4
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Cirein Croin!
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Diana Gabaldon |
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f97e765
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But just then, for that fraction of time, it seems as though all things are possible. You can look across the limitations of your own life, and see that they are really nothing. In that moment when time stops, it is as though you know you could undertake any venture, complete it and come back to yourself, to find the world unchanged, and everything just as you left it a moment before. And it's as though..." He hesitated for a moment, carefu..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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1c3fd66
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The sins of the fathers," I murmured to myself. "The sins of the fathers shall not be visited upon the children." --
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Diana Gabaldon |
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ac881f1
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He lounged in the corner like a crouching cat, watching me through eyes narrowed against the sun.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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a23ad09
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you do for shock? Hot liquids, blankets. Brandy.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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9095e7b
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sorrow and despair. All too many
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Diana Gabaldon |
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26c7c9b
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Here we stopped, turning our horses over to the attention of a hostler, who moved so slowly as to seem ossified.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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e524afb
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Do him no harm to keep his breeches on for one night. And they do say that abstinence makes the heart grow firmer, no?" "Absence," I said, dodging the spoon for a moment. "And fonder. If anything's growing firmer from abstinence, it wouldn't be his heart."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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533f32a
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I would have liked to know what Emily Post had to recommend in a situation like this, but as Miss Post wasn't present, I was forced to improvise.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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042dd76
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Man is born to sorrow and whiskers. One of the plagues of Adam.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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bd4ef73
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You know what scholars are like; no conscience at all when it comes to their own field, let alone a sense of social delicacy.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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68d125b
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Good luck, Jamie," he said, voice a little husky. "God go with you."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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231eab4
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Yes," she said. "Jamie's part of me. So are you." ... "But neither of you is all of me," she said softly, back turned. "I am... what I am. Doctor, nurse, healer, witch - whatever folk call it, the name doesn't matter. I was born to be that; I will be that 'til I die. If I should lose you - or Jamie - I wouldn't be quite a whole person any longer, but I would still have that left..."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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efc665e
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Go to hell, Jamie," I said at last, wiping my eyes. "Go directly to hell. Do not pass Go. Do not collect two hundred dollars. There. Do you feel better now?"
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Diana Gabaldon |
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5437cb2
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Tiptoeing silently up behind her in my stockinged feet, I shoved her headfirst into the armoire, and slammed the door on the heaving, shrieking mass beneath the pile of fallen dresses within. Turning the key in the door, I dropped it neatly into my pocket, mentally shaking hands with myself. Neat job, Beauchamp, I thought. All this political intrigue is teaching you things they never dreamt of in nursing school, no doubt about it.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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a7b3e0a
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Not Duncan, but Da's down there
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Diana Gabaldon |
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dbfa811
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I could feel the heat glowing from him, with that sudden rise of temperature which presages falling asleep in very young children.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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b6492ab
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The big white house glowed on the hill above them, tranquil in the afternoon light, the big red spruce behind it a looming but benign presence; not for the first time, he felt that the tree was somehow guarding the house--and in his present fragile mental state, found that notion a comfort.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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758aaf8
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Always, always, I had had to balance compassion with wisdom, love with judgment, humanity with ruthlessness.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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a1e2f39
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stitching, obviously wanting to rub the stinging site, but
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Diana Gabaldon |