Man, Oh, Man contains such market insights as:
     “While it’s important to familiarize yourself with what’s been done within any genre in which you hope to write, it’s equally important to anticipate what need has not yet been filled by those of us already working in the field. Remember, when you check out what’s available at your bookstore, you’re seeing what editors and publishers were buying one to two years ago,”
    and,
    “You do need to understand and appreciate your audience, however. Essentially what we’re doing here—and I apologize in advance for wiping the fairy dust off—is creating a product.”
    In Man, Oh, Man, Lanyon gives lots of advice about structuring stories, explains how to tell the difference between plot and theme and plumbs the mysterious depths of the ever-popular hurt/comfort scenario.
    Lanyon’s book also talks a lot about sex scenes:  effective versus ineffective.  I liked what I read in the book, but I kind of wanted to see Lanyon in action as a manuscript advisor.
    To that end, I’ve written what I feel is a pretty darn ineffective sexual scene and sent it over to Dr. Lanyon to get some advice about how I can make it better.
    Here is the piece of prose I sent:   
    Roger knew that they were going to have sex now.  The question was: where?  Dick was calling the shots, so Roger asked him.
    “Do you want to go to the bedroom?” Roger indicated the bedroom door with his left hand.
    “I think I’ll just stay here.” Dick was patting the sofa cushion beside him.  The sofa was leather and hand been a hand-me-down from Roger’s grandpa.  When Roger sat down next to Dick, the cushions squeaked and smelled like Old Spice aftershave.
Dick put his arms around Roger and then stroked Roger’s back longingly through his t-shirt. Roger’s heart was racing. They were really going to do it now.
    They kissed and Dick pushed his tongue into Roger’s mouth probingly. Roger groaned in pleasure and his hands sought out Dick’s hard, taut abdomen.
    Dick sure works out, Roger thought.
Dick’s mouth tasted like the jagerbomb that he’d just had at the bar before they’d come home.  They finished kissing and Roger found the top button of Dick’s jeans.  He pulled them open and Dick’s cock boinged up from within the nest-like folds of stone-washed denim.
Eminem was playing on the radio as Roger bend down and started to suck on Dick’s cock, which tasted good, like Dick.  There was some precum dripping out the top of it and that tasted like soap, but the rest of it was good.
    “Yeah,” Dick growled throatily, “yeah.”
Roger felt himself getting a chub inside his green basketball shorts.  He wanted Dick to fuck him but how could he tell Dick that?
Dick seemed to read his mind, because he pulled his cock out of Roger’s mouth and with his thumb wiped away the saliva from Roger’s chin.  He dragged Roger up beside him and then was yanking down Roger’s shiny basketball shorts before Roger could even protest. Roger blushed because Dick could see his nakedness and that make him shy.
    “Don’t be shy,” Dick rumbled. “Leave it to me.”

    Tomorrow we’ll hear Dr. Lanyon’s diagnosis and the day after that you’ll see me take a stab at complying with his remedies.