Food and Fiction…or food for thought…the stickiness of words.
There’s something to this concept of stickiness. Some flavors, dishes, foods stick with me. Wolfgang Puck’s Minneapolis restaurant, 20.21, possesses stickiness. The amazing meal we enjoyed there two weeks ago, along with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, is still in my head and, I swear, on my palate. From the moment I tasted the four different offerings on his dim sum platter and the big family-style bowl of yellow curry noodles, not a day goes by that I don’t ponder the brilliant flavors and textures of Wolfgang Puck’s food. I wish I could eat those dishes again and again. Stickiness.
For the sake of comparison…Our family just spent an evening at Morimoto’s new restaurant. The experience was one of food as art. Eating was colorful, playful and interactive, yet…not a single flavor has stuck with me. I know exactly what we ordered, I remember every single thing I tasted, yet nothing was memorable. Not a single dish repeats in my head. I’m not hearing my brain mumbling the words…God, I wish I could taste that again! No stickiness.
Fiction strikes me as being exactly like food. Some works of fiction are stickier than others. I read them and I think about them. The stories linger in my head like a marvelous meal, and I want to read them again and again. Speaking only of romance, two of Linda Howard’s books are like that for me - Kill and Tell and After the Night. I hear from my readers that a couple of my own books are sticky - Captured and Anytime Darlin’ - readers think about the stories long after they’ve read them and they re-read the books. Katalina Leon’s erotic book, Noblesword, is sticky. Hubby and I are still discussing the story and the characters several weeks after finishing the work. Mia Watt’s m/m, Claimed By Darkness, is another such work. There are other writers and other stories, but my list would be thousands of miles long. Sticky prose.
I would love to hear your sticky food/fiction picks! Have you written a work you consider sticky?
Oh…I really don’t know if it’s coming out, but Daughters of Persephone, Book Three Reborn and Book Four Red Demon are supposed to be released today. Haven’t heard anything official…
