This Year's Bad Sex in Fiction Shortlist- 2015...

Yes it's that time of year when the shortlist of the Literary Review's Bad Sex in Fiction shortlist is revealed.

Now I have to admit that I thought Morrissey's 'List of the Lost' was guaranteed to win, as it was so excruciating- and he did make the final cut, so he's in the running.

But now, having read the other shortlisted entries, I don't think he has much to be concerned about...

I do wonder (just for a few mad moments) if editors of literary fiction ever have a conversation with their writers about making a mediocre sex scene awful instead, just in the hope of getting a bad sex nomination.

Many will have heard the saying: There is no such thing as bad publicity.

We all know how difficult it can be to get a book noticed among the myriad of other books. So how better to boost sales than by getting onto this shortlist- and even winning.

(No, of course not,  I was just letting my imagination get the better of my common sense.) :D

So this year's contenders are:

• Morrissey - List of the Lost

• Aleksandar Hemon - The Making of Zombie Wars.

• Richard Bausch - Before, During, After.

• Joshua Cohen - Book of Numbers. 

• Erica Jong - Fear of Dying. 

• Lauren Groff - Fates and Furies.

• George Pelecanos - The Martini Shot. 

• Tomas Espedal - Against Nature.

If you have a strong enough constitution you can read the extracts in this Daily Telegraph (books section) article.

If I had to choose it would be either, Fates and Furies, or Book of Numbers.

The winner is announced early December.

Making Progress...

Though it may not seem like it, I have been making progress on the writing front, amongst all the deadlines- not all of them writing related.

I have found that a few of the organisational changes that I've made over the summer and autumn have been helpful.

There's still a lot to do. I know there's one or two small boxes of writing related materials sitting waiting (in a currently inaccessible position) and in one of those boxes is likely to be the items I'm looking for- early research material for my Nottinghamshire story.

(Think there may be some heavy furniture lifting going on at my place over the Christmas holidays!)

Even without the missing items, I'm finding the second draft much harder than the first draft. There's detail to add, characters to add in or change, and new scenes to be written.

Story #4 in the queue decided to emerge from the mists as I sat waiting to collect a prescription at the pharmacy. I'm not certain what the time period will be. I thought it might be somewhere in the first half of the 20th century, but now I'm not sure...

Fortunately I had a spare lidded A4 box waiting. So I just need half hour to type out my notes from the quick scrawl in my notebook, and it can go to the bottom of the boxes pile.

As long as I can jot down notes on the new ideas I can keep them from interfering with my current work in progress. I'm just grateful the other ones are still dormant.

I have to concentrate on one at a time and not let the others distract me.

Actually I need 36 hours in a day... :(