Peggy Jaeger's Blog, page 289
December 1, 2015
Speak and they will listen..
Since I’ve been on the topic of mannerisms of late, how about we discuss how your characters speak and the idiosyncratic styles they each have? This is a fun topic for me any time of day or night.
I’ve said before that I was born in Brooklyn, NY and lived in NYC for the first 27 years of my life. When I open my mouth and start to speak, you automatically can hear where I’m from. I have a tendency to drop the letter R at the ends of words ( which is why I refer to girls as sistahs), my “Th” sounds come out sounding like the letter “d”, so you’ll hear me say Dat for That. I speak as quickly as a lightning flash and use my hands expressively a great deal. All these verbal tags and mannerisms tell you I’m probably a New York kind of girl.
Last year I was in San Antonio for the RWA conference. Most of the people who originate from that region and the ones I came in contact with at the hotel and in the city said “y’all” and “rightly so” a bunch of times in their adorable Texas twang.
Two weeks ago I was Las Vegas. Many of the employees in the hotel I was staying in were from the Philippines and addressed every person every time they came in contact with them as Ma’am or Sir. In their country this a severe sign of respect for the individual they are addressing.
So, having shared this, some of the ways you can make your characters jump off the page to the reader and make them come alive, is to know how they speak. Can you hear each character in your books speaking in their own style, or does every character sound the same to you? I read my dialogue out loud all the time just so I can be sure one person doesn’t sound exactly like another. Do your characters all use the same words and phrases when they speak? Again, this can get boring and confusing for the reader. For instance, doctors are highly educated people and use a certain vocabulary the average person doesn’t. You wouldn’t want your immigrant, unable-to-read-and-write character who is a patient be able to understand what a doctor is telling him. That just doesn’t ring true. Nor would a scientist and a four year be able to communicate on the same level. Unless of course the kid was a prodigy.talkingmeme
One of my favorite characters that I am currently writing is a ninety-two-year-old Irish immigrant grandmother who continually speaks in malapropisms. It gets her into some funny and outrageous situations, but it rings true when she speaks the words incorrectly, because she thinks they are correct.
So, if your character is smart, does she speak like she’s educated? Did your hero come from the South, because if he did, he’d be polite in his conversations with people, saying “please”, Ma-am, and so forth. Got a Canadian in-law? Make sure you round those vowels.
All these special little touches will make your characters more attractive, honest, appealing, and most importantly to your readers, Real.
So…you know what’s coming. How do you make your characters sound all like individuals and not robots….Let’s discuss.
I’ve said before that I was born in Brooklyn, NY and lived in NYC for the first 27 years of my life. When I open my mouth and start to speak, you automatically can hear where I’m from. I have a tendency to drop the letter R at the ends of words ( which is why I refer to girls as sistahs), my “Th” sounds come out sounding like the letter “d”, so you’ll hear me say Dat for That. I speak as quickly as a lightning flash and use my hands expressively a great deal. All these verbal tags and mannerisms tell you I’m probably a New York kind of girl.
Last year I was in San Antonio for the RWA conference. Most of the people who originate from that region and the ones I came in contact with at the hotel and in the city said “y’all” and “rightly so” a bunch of times in their adorable Texas twang.
Two weeks ago I was Las Vegas. Many of the employees in the hotel I was staying in were from the Philippines and addressed every person every time they came in contact with them as Ma’am or Sir. In their country this a severe sign of respect for the individual they are addressing.
So, having shared this, some of the ways you can make your characters jump off the page to the reader and make them come alive, is to know how they speak. Can you hear each character in your books speaking in their own style, or does every character sound the same to you? I read my dialogue out loud all the time just so I can be sure one person doesn’t sound exactly like another. Do your characters all use the same words and phrases when they speak? Again, this can get boring and confusing for the reader. For instance, doctors are highly educated people and use a certain vocabulary the average person doesn’t. You wouldn’t want your immigrant, unable-to-read-and-write character who is a patient be able to understand what a doctor is telling him. That just doesn’t ring true. Nor would a scientist and a four year be able to communicate on the same level. Unless of course the kid was a prodigy.talkingmeme
One of my favorite characters that I am currently writing is a ninety-two-year-old Irish immigrant grandmother who continually speaks in malapropisms. It gets her into some funny and outrageous situations, but it rings true when she speaks the words incorrectly, because she thinks they are correct.
So, if your character is smart, does she speak like she’s educated? Did your hero come from the South, because if he did, he’d be polite in his conversations with people, saying “please”, Ma-am, and so forth. Got a Canadian in-law? Make sure you round those vowels.
All these special little touches will make your characters more attractive, honest, appealing, and most importantly to your readers, Real.
So…you know what’s coming. How do you make your characters sound all like individuals and not robots….Let’s discuss.
http://peggyjaeger.com/2015/11/30/nan...
It’s official: another November has come and gone and along with it NaNoWriMo.
nanowrimo
By midnight tonite hundreds of thousands of writers around the globe who have been participating in what is charmingly called “NaNo Word Wars” will stop typing, lay down their pens, surrender their pencils and hit Save, then Submit and verify into the NaNo site to confirm they have at least written 50,000 words of a work in progress.
So, if you participated where did you wind up today? 50,000 words? More? Less? Were you able to write every day, at least a few words, or did you fall into plot holes, POV problems, or just plain writing inertia somewhere along the way? Or did your everyday life and the responsibilities and obligations that go along with it get in the way of your writing? Don’t be upset if you didn’t make the mark for whatever reason. The fact you tried and got something down makes you a winner in my book.
50,000 words is a lot. A. Lot. Figuring that most romance novels fall between 65,000 and 90,000, 50 K could be considered almost done with your next novel. And novellas can top off between 25 and 35,000.
I made my goal during the third week because I was on a role and have no other life but writing. No kids home to disturb me, and a husband who works 90+ hours per week, leaves me with a great deal of time to do this. And luckily, the book I was working on is the fifth in a series so I knew my characters and where I wanted to take them fairly well. Plus, I’m a plotter. Enough said.
Congratulations on the effort, the success, and the blood, sweat and tears for this year’s challenge. Onward to 2016. It’s only 365 days away!
nanowrimo
By midnight tonite hundreds of thousands of writers around the globe who have been participating in what is charmingly called “NaNo Word Wars” will stop typing, lay down their pens, surrender their pencils and hit Save, then Submit and verify into the NaNo site to confirm they have at least written 50,000 words of a work in progress.
So, if you participated where did you wind up today? 50,000 words? More? Less? Were you able to write every day, at least a few words, or did you fall into plot holes, POV problems, or just plain writing inertia somewhere along the way? Or did your everyday life and the responsibilities and obligations that go along with it get in the way of your writing? Don’t be upset if you didn’t make the mark for whatever reason. The fact you tried and got something down makes you a winner in my book.
50,000 words is a lot. A. Lot. Figuring that most romance novels fall between 65,000 and 90,000, 50 K could be considered almost done with your next novel. And novellas can top off between 25 and 35,000.
I made my goal during the third week because I was on a role and have no other life but writing. No kids home to disturb me, and a husband who works 90+ hours per week, leaves me with a great deal of time to do this. And luckily, the book I was working on is the fifth in a series so I knew my characters and where I wanted to take them fairly well. Plus, I’m a plotter. Enough said.
Congratulations on the effort, the success, and the blood, sweat and tears for this year’s challenge. Onward to 2016. It’s only 365 days away!
November 27, 2015
Ticks, Quirks, and Traits..oh my!
I had fun talking about character mannerisms the other day, so today I’m going to go a little more in-depth into the differences in mannerisms ( which has a sort of positive connotation) and ticks, quirks and traits ( which lean more to the negative side of the mannerism scale.)
We’ve all known someone who had an annoying habit – like chewing gum incessantly while talking, eating, etc – or has a little quirky laugh after every sentence. I personally know someone who purses their lips at the end of every sentence. I always want to ask, “Did you want a kiss for saying that?” But luckily have refrained from doing so. And every one of us has at least one person ( usually a teen or 20-something) in our lives who use the words “like, um, ya know” without end.
These little individual ticks quirks, traits and habits make the people in our world three dimensional and real, because, lets face it, they are! When you read a character like this, you believe them more because you can actually see their behavior coming to life on the page. Where this gets frustrating and absolutely annoying for the reader, is when the habit is mentioned every time the character is on stage.
I read a book recently that everyone who read it said was great. Good characters, great plot, sound ending. I hated it. Why? The main character was so flat and one dimensional I couldn’t get passed it. Plus, she had two character ticks that were mentioned every single time she was on scene – and that was almost in every scene of the book. She bit her bottom lip and opened her eyes wide when she was nervous ( which was the whole damn book!) Mentioning it once or even twice seemed more than enough, but every frickin’ scene? The part that really tans my hide is that this book got published by a major house.
Crazy.
So, enough ranting. The way to make your characters as believable and likable as possible is to make them seem real to the reader. We all agree on that, yes? It’s up to us, the writers, to decide whether to give the characters positive quirks or negative ones.
Examples always work best for me, so here goes: ( and these are just some that I thought of. You could fill a book with all of them, truly.)
Negative habits, ticks, quirks: nail biting, lip pursing, sighing, leg shaking, toe tapping, finger snapping, gum chewing or snapping, frequent eye rolls, smirking, twittering laugh, nervous laugh, whining, poor use of language, frequent cursing, profanity in place of proper English and word use, interrupting others while they are speaking, hair twirling . You get the picture…think up some more of your own.
Positive habits, ticks, quirks: frequent head nodding, intense smiling, frequent touching of the other person ( not in a sexual way), overly compassionate, cries at the drop of a pin, laughs at everything. Again, fill in your own here.
My point with this post was to get writers to recognize the things their characters do while on the page and to find that simple yet oh-so-hard balance of making them come to life for the reader. There is nothing that turns me off a book faster than one-dimensional characters, or those that are so over the top I can’t get vested in them because they are unbelievable to me as actual people.
It’s a fine line we ride as writers to make our characters as real as possible. Adding in individual mannerisms, etc, is a wonderful way to make the character pop to life. Too much of it though, is a reader turn off.
So ( you saw this coming, I know!), what are some positive and negative traits you’ve used for characters that worked, and which ones didn’t. Let’s discuss…..
We’ve all known someone who had an annoying habit – like chewing gum incessantly while talking, eating, etc – or has a little quirky laugh after every sentence. I personally know someone who purses their lips at the end of every sentence. I always want to ask, “Did you want a kiss for saying that?” But luckily have refrained from doing so. And every one of us has at least one person ( usually a teen or 20-something) in our lives who use the words “like, um, ya know” without end.
These little individual ticks quirks, traits and habits make the people in our world three dimensional and real, because, lets face it, they are! When you read a character like this, you believe them more because you can actually see their behavior coming to life on the page. Where this gets frustrating and absolutely annoying for the reader, is when the habit is mentioned every time the character is on stage.
I read a book recently that everyone who read it said was great. Good characters, great plot, sound ending. I hated it. Why? The main character was so flat and one dimensional I couldn’t get passed it. Plus, she had two character ticks that were mentioned every single time she was on scene – and that was almost in every scene of the book. She bit her bottom lip and opened her eyes wide when she was nervous ( which was the whole damn book!) Mentioning it once or even twice seemed more than enough, but every frickin’ scene? The part that really tans my hide is that this book got published by a major house.
Crazy.
So, enough ranting. The way to make your characters as believable and likable as possible is to make them seem real to the reader. We all agree on that, yes? It’s up to us, the writers, to decide whether to give the characters positive quirks or negative ones.
Examples always work best for me, so here goes: ( and these are just some that I thought of. You could fill a book with all of them, truly.)
Negative habits, ticks, quirks: nail biting, lip pursing, sighing, leg shaking, toe tapping, finger snapping, gum chewing or snapping, frequent eye rolls, smirking, twittering laugh, nervous laugh, whining, poor use of language, frequent cursing, profanity in place of proper English and word use, interrupting others while they are speaking, hair twirling . You get the picture…think up some more of your own.
Positive habits, ticks, quirks: frequent head nodding, intense smiling, frequent touching of the other person ( not in a sexual way), overly compassionate, cries at the drop of a pin, laughs at everything. Again, fill in your own here.
My point with this post was to get writers to recognize the things their characters do while on the page and to find that simple yet oh-so-hard balance of making them come to life for the reader. There is nothing that turns me off a book faster than one-dimensional characters, or those that are so over the top I can’t get vested in them because they are unbelievable to me as actual people.
It’s a fine line we ride as writers to make our characters as real as possible. Adding in individual mannerisms, etc, is a wonderful way to make the character pop to life. Too much of it though, is a reader turn off.
So ( you saw this coming, I know!), what are some positive and negative traits you’ve used for characters that worked, and which ones didn’t. Let’s discuss…..
November 26, 2015
Giving Thanks for so much…
One of the great things about being an Ameican ( and the list really is endless!) is the holiday we celebrate that is uniquley ours: Thanksgiving.
We all have individual reasons to be thankful, and if each person in America were asked, I’m sure each answer would be different. My Wild Rose Press sistah Angela Hayes is celebrating the month by having authors tell why they are thankful. I was one of the lucky ones asked to share my thoughts and I’d like to expound on those here, today.
First and foremost I am thankful to be loved by a remarkable family. I have been in love with the same man since the day I met him thirty-two years ago and that love has only grown stronger and richer every day. I am proud and blessed to have a daughter who is the total embodiment of all that is good in the world. The fact that these two remarkable people love me warms my heart daily.
I am thankful to live in a country where I can be anything or anyone I want to be, say anything I want to say without the threat of prosecution, and worship the God I desire without the fear or threat of persecution. Believe me, if you lived in other countries, you would know these freedoms do not exist.
Lastly, I am thankful God put the dream in me to be a writer. Writing brings joy and gladness to my heart on a daily basis, and again, if I didn’t live in America, I might be ale to write the kinds of stories I do and have them be seen by the populous.
So eat some turkey, have some pie, and visit with friends and families. And always remember to be thankful. It doesn’t have to be only on this day every year. You can and should be thankful every day of your life….just don’t eat pumpkin pie every day!
We all have individual reasons to be thankful, and if each person in America were asked, I’m sure each answer would be different. My Wild Rose Press sistah Angela Hayes is celebrating the month by having authors tell why they are thankful. I was one of the lucky ones asked to share my thoughts and I’d like to expound on those here, today.
First and foremost I am thankful to be loved by a remarkable family. I have been in love with the same man since the day I met him thirty-two years ago and that love has only grown stronger and richer every day. I am proud and blessed to have a daughter who is the total embodiment of all that is good in the world. The fact that these two remarkable people love me warms my heart daily.
I am thankful to live in a country where I can be anything or anyone I want to be, say anything I want to say without the threat of prosecution, and worship the God I desire without the fear or threat of persecution. Believe me, if you lived in other countries, you would know these freedoms do not exist.
Lastly, I am thankful God put the dream in me to be a writer. Writing brings joy and gladness to my heart on a daily basis, and again, if I didn’t live in America, I might be ale to write the kinds of stories I do and have them be seen by the populous.
So eat some turkey, have some pie, and visit with friends and families. And always remember to be thankful. It doesn’t have to be only on this day every year. You can and should be thankful every day of your life….just don’t eat pumpkin pie every day!
November 23, 2015
Mannerisms mean more…
I’m currently reading an exceptional book titled, Getting Into Character: 7 Secrets a Novelist Can Learn From Actors, by Brandilyn Collins. Collins shows you how using the techniques actors use to “get inside the heads of their characters” can help you flesh out more realistic, memorable characters of your own in your writing. One of the fascinating aspects of this is developing and incorporating character traits or mannerisms.
Each one of us has some individual mannerism that helps define and shape how we present ourselves to others. For example, when I get nervous around people ( which is most of the time!) I have a habit of folding my hands in front of myself because they tend to shake and I don’t want anyone to notice the shaking. In my latest book. First Impressions, I gave that mannerism to my heroine, Clarissa, because she, too, is nervous when she meets new people. The hero notices it and whenever he spots this behavior, he attempts to quell her nerves. I know… le sigh!
nervous
I know someone who, when she gets angry, instead of blustering and bellowing with rage, becomes deathly quiet and speaks so lowly, it forces everyone around her to listen. What a powerful tool that is. I’m incorporating it into my next heroine.
Think of characters you have read or seen on television. What quirks made them memorable? Would Columbo have been as memorable if it hadn’t been for the way he cocked his head, squinted an eye and said, “just one more thing, if I may?” How about Magnum, P.I.? Forget about Tom Selleck’s moustache for a moment and think about the way he lifted his eyebrows and grinned whenever he wanted to be charming. Worked for me. Or how about Arthur Fonzerelli, aka The Fonz? Would he be as cool and remarkable if he hadn’t entered every room saying “Ayyyyyyy?” Or more recently, what about Fox Muldur and all those sunflower seeds he was perpetually eating?Columbo_resize_2
Think of some of your own favorites, because as you can see, these all date me as a 70’s and 80’s chick!
muldur
In an old Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot book, whose title I can’t for the life of me remember, Poirot was able to catch a criminal who was an expert at disguises because whenever the bad guy ate bread, he would pull it apart into little pieces. Poirot spotted the guy doing this at a cafe and voila! Bad guy caught.
I think for the next few posts I’ll be discussing character development this way, and referring to the Collins book.
But first, here’s a sigh worthy photo:
magnum
Le sigh*****
So, what character traits do you find fascinating, in books, or tv, or movies? Let’s discuss….
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Each one of us has some individual mannerism that helps define and shape how we present ourselves to others. For example, when I get nervous around people ( which is most of the time!) I have a habit of folding my hands in front of myself because they tend to shake and I don’t want anyone to notice the shaking. In my latest book. First Impressions, I gave that mannerism to my heroine, Clarissa, because she, too, is nervous when she meets new people. The hero notices it and whenever he spots this behavior, he attempts to quell her nerves. I know… le sigh!
nervous
I know someone who, when she gets angry, instead of blustering and bellowing with rage, becomes deathly quiet and speaks so lowly, it forces everyone around her to listen. What a powerful tool that is. I’m incorporating it into my next heroine.
Think of characters you have read or seen on television. What quirks made them memorable? Would Columbo have been as memorable if it hadn’t been for the way he cocked his head, squinted an eye and said, “just one more thing, if I may?” How about Magnum, P.I.? Forget about Tom Selleck’s moustache for a moment and think about the way he lifted his eyebrows and grinned whenever he wanted to be charming. Worked for me. Or how about Arthur Fonzerelli, aka The Fonz? Would he be as cool and remarkable if he hadn’t entered every room saying “Ayyyyyyy?” Or more recently, what about Fox Muldur and all those sunflower seeds he was perpetually eating?Columbo_resize_2
Think of some of your own favorites, because as you can see, these all date me as a 70’s and 80’s chick!
muldur
In an old Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot book, whose title I can’t for the life of me remember, Poirot was able to catch a criminal who was an expert at disguises because whenever the bad guy ate bread, he would pull it apart into little pieces. Poirot spotted the guy doing this at a cafe and voila! Bad guy caught.
I think for the next few posts I’ll be discussing character development this way, and referring to the Collins book.
But first, here’s a sigh worthy photo:
magnum
Le sigh*****
So, what character traits do you find fascinating, in books, or tv, or movies? Let’s discuss….
Tweet Me Read Me Visit Me
Friend Me Pin Me Picture Me
Google+ Me
November 20, 2015
Winner, winner, Chicken dinner?
So two days ago I WON NaNoWriMo. And by won I mean I got to the minimum 50,000 words for the month. And I still have two weeks to go in the month of November. That doesn’t mean I’m stopping; no. I’m not done with the story yet. In fact, I may need another 25-30 k to finish it to my satisfaction.
So, what exactly, did I win?
Well, first and foremost I’ve got the guts of a really good storyline down on the laptop. Yes, it will need editing, and yes, it will probably wind up being a total of between 60 and 70,ooo words when all is done. And yes, I’m sure there are plot holes, character problems, and even very bad grammar ( hey, this is me, after all!), but the fact that I have the major guts of the story down is a win in my book.
I also think it’s a win that I worked on the story every day for multiple hours a day. I didn’t get distracted, or work on something else, or go shopping. The last one really hurt, too.
It’s also a win that I participated in something so worthwhile, and in so doing, encouraged other writers in the same boat as me. Misery loves company, it’s said, but I think camaraderie and sharing a similar goal is much more descriptive of our November endeavor.
So, have you won yet? If not, how many words to go? Remember, even 100 words a day is 100 more than you had yesterday.
So, what exactly, did I win?
Well, first and foremost I’ve got the guts of a really good storyline down on the laptop. Yes, it will need editing, and yes, it will probably wind up being a total of between 60 and 70,ooo words when all is done. And yes, I’m sure there are plot holes, character problems, and even very bad grammar ( hey, this is me, after all!), but the fact that I have the major guts of the story down is a win in my book.
I also think it’s a win that I worked on the story every day for multiple hours a day. I didn’t get distracted, or work on something else, or go shopping. The last one really hurt, too.
It’s also a win that I participated in something so worthwhile, and in so doing, encouraged other writers in the same boat as me. Misery loves company, it’s said, but I think camaraderie and sharing a similar goal is much more descriptive of our November endeavor.
So, have you won yet? If not, how many words to go? Remember, even 100 words a day is 100 more than you had yesterday.
November 19, 2015
Commitment…
This past weekend I was in Las Vegas with my husband and our daughter. They were both registered to run 13.1 miles ( 1/2 marathon) of the Las Vegas Marathon. To anyone who has every attempted even a 5k race, you know the most important part of the marathon is the preparation for it.
My husband is a lifelong runner, my daughter relatively new to the sport, so they prepared in different ways. Both finished exceptionally well, especially for the horrendous weather conditions at the start and end of the race, and both were fine the following day – a little tired, a tad stiff, but no major problems. Their dedication to finishing the race upright and in a certain time frame made me very proud as a wife and mother, and it re-instilled in me my own dedication to writing.
Why writing, you ask? What’s one got to do with the other? Well, I’ll tell you.
Training for the race required a daily commitment to running. A training schedule of increasing miles per day, and then a rest day thrown in, helped with the endurance needed for the long haul. Eating well, at certain times, and foods high in protein and nourishment, allowed their bodies to be at peak performance to withstand the grueling conditions and the long time length the run required. This was no sprint. Muscle training with weights strengthened them to endure the pounding their bodies would take with each stride and sprint. All of this took time, dedication, commitment, and mental focus.
Much the same way writing a novel takes.
You don’t sit down at the laptop and write 75,000 words in one day. Even NaNoWriMo allows you 30 days to write 50,000. No, you write a certain number of words every day, all adding to the gist of the storyline. I once heard Nora Roberts describe why she writes every single day ( like I do.) She said, and I’m paraphrasing, writing is like using a muscle. When you don’t exercise it, it atrophies or weakens and it takes much longer to get it back in shape. To write every day keeps the brain fresh and the storyline clear. Setting out to write a novel takes focus and dedication even when you fall into a plot hole or don’t know where you’re going next. You keep moving forward toward the end. Your brain needs to be nourished and healthy just as your body does, to be able to form coherent sentences and remember where you’re going with the plot.
So marathon running and novel writing are more alike than you’d think. And in the end, one will earn you a medal, and both with give you the satisfaction of a job well done.
My husband is a lifelong runner, my daughter relatively new to the sport, so they prepared in different ways. Both finished exceptionally well, especially for the horrendous weather conditions at the start and end of the race, and both were fine the following day – a little tired, a tad stiff, but no major problems. Their dedication to finishing the race upright and in a certain time frame made me very proud as a wife and mother, and it re-instilled in me my own dedication to writing.
Why writing, you ask? What’s one got to do with the other? Well, I’ll tell you.
Training for the race required a daily commitment to running. A training schedule of increasing miles per day, and then a rest day thrown in, helped with the endurance needed for the long haul. Eating well, at certain times, and foods high in protein and nourishment, allowed their bodies to be at peak performance to withstand the grueling conditions and the long time length the run required. This was no sprint. Muscle training with weights strengthened them to endure the pounding their bodies would take with each stride and sprint. All of this took time, dedication, commitment, and mental focus.
Much the same way writing a novel takes.
You don’t sit down at the laptop and write 75,000 words in one day. Even NaNoWriMo allows you 30 days to write 50,000. No, you write a certain number of words every day, all adding to the gist of the storyline. I once heard Nora Roberts describe why she writes every single day ( like I do.) She said, and I’m paraphrasing, writing is like using a muscle. When you don’t exercise it, it atrophies or weakens and it takes much longer to get it back in shape. To write every day keeps the brain fresh and the storyline clear. Setting out to write a novel takes focus and dedication even when you fall into a plot hole or don’t know where you’re going next. You keep moving forward toward the end. Your brain needs to be nourished and healthy just as your body does, to be able to form coherent sentences and remember where you’re going with the plot.
So marathon running and novel writing are more alike than you’d think. And in the end, one will earn you a medal, and both with give you the satisfaction of a job well done.
November 18, 2015
MFRW Book Hooks Wednesday
It’s Wednesday and besides being Prince Spaghetti day, it’s MFRW Book Hooks. Click on this link to see the other MFRW authors participating, read their blogs and maybe you’ll find your new favorite author.
Here’s a little snippet from my debut romance novel SKATER’S WALTZ.
When Tiffany declares her feelings for Cole, he’s anything but receptive…
Heat oozed from her body as she glowered at him. “And to think,” she said, glaring hard at his laughing face, her voice quiet and tight, “I fell hopelessly, endlessly in love with you that day. I should have known you’d turn out to be such a creep. What a waste my life has been, pining after you, waiting for you to notice me, longing after you with every breath. God, what a moron …”
Tiffany stopped. Mouth agape, eyes wide and clear, she stopped tugging on the towel and opened her hand in surrender.
Cole didn’t let go of her wrist. He couldn’t, not after what she’d just confessed. Her face had gone pale again, her lips turning to chalk. He dropped the ring back to its chain and saw it glinting in the light, lying over the small upsweep of her breasts made bare by their struggle. Breasts he suddenly felt an intense need to cup, kiss, and nuzzle.
He didn’t know how to respond. Her words were true; there was no doubt about it. No explanation necessary.
“Tiffany, I…don’t know what to say.”
With a jagged breath, she threw back her head. Choking on a sob, she told him, “You don’t have to say anything, Cole. Really.”
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Here’s a little snippet from my debut romance novel SKATER’S WALTZ.
When Tiffany declares her feelings for Cole, he’s anything but receptive…
Heat oozed from her body as she glowered at him. “And to think,” she said, glaring hard at his laughing face, her voice quiet and tight, “I fell hopelessly, endlessly in love with you that day. I should have known you’d turn out to be such a creep. What a waste my life has been, pining after you, waiting for you to notice me, longing after you with every breath. God, what a moron …”
Tiffany stopped. Mouth agape, eyes wide and clear, she stopped tugging on the towel and opened her hand in surrender.
Cole didn’t let go of her wrist. He couldn’t, not after what she’d just confessed. Her face had gone pale again, her lips turning to chalk. He dropped the ring back to its chain and saw it glinting in the light, lying over the small upsweep of her breasts made bare by their struggle. Breasts he suddenly felt an intense need to cup, kiss, and nuzzle.
He didn’t know how to respond. Her words were true; there was no doubt about it. No explanation necessary.
“Tiffany, I…don’t know what to say.”
With a jagged breath, she threw back her head. Choking on a sob, she told him, “You don’t have to say anything, Cole. Really.”
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November 13, 2015
Almost 2 weeks into NaNoWriMo…
and I’m still plugging away.
By the halfway mark, many writers fall into a plot hole abyss, wrestle with a character who wants to take over the story, or they come to the realization the story line isn’t really keeping their attention. And just for clarity’s sake, this happens to all writers whether they are doing the NaNo challenge or not. The difference in November is that you only have two weeks left in the challenge to fulfill that 50,000-word minimum and declare a win.
Pressure, much? Stress, maybe?
No worries.
The best thing about the NaNoWriMo challenge is the only person you are competing against is YOU. Now is not the time to start editing or switching POV, or changing the rudimentary goals, motivations and conflicts of your hero and heroine. Now is the time to freestyle and just write it all out. December ( and the rest of the new year )is for editing and refining. Tweaking and changing.
Now, the goal is to write – albeit you want it to be good writing, that goes without saying. But as long as you are pounding forward, getting those fingers on the laptop keys, or writing out long hand, you are winning.
The tagline for my website is Writing is my Oxygen, because I need to write in order to exist, just like I need to breathe in order to live. A day without writing something, anything, to me, is a wasted day. I approach NaNo the same way. As long as I am pushing forward on the story, I am in the positive column. And even if I get to 11:30 pm November 30 and still need 500 more words to get over the finish line, at least I know I got that far.
To me, partaking in the NaNoWriMo challenge IS the win. The 50k words are just the cherries on top.
By the halfway mark, many writers fall into a plot hole abyss, wrestle with a character who wants to take over the story, or they come to the realization the story line isn’t really keeping their attention. And just for clarity’s sake, this happens to all writers whether they are doing the NaNo challenge or not. The difference in November is that you only have two weeks left in the challenge to fulfill that 50,000-word minimum and declare a win.
Pressure, much? Stress, maybe?
No worries.
The best thing about the NaNoWriMo challenge is the only person you are competing against is YOU. Now is not the time to start editing or switching POV, or changing the rudimentary goals, motivations and conflicts of your hero and heroine. Now is the time to freestyle and just write it all out. December ( and the rest of the new year )is for editing and refining. Tweaking and changing.
Now, the goal is to write – albeit you want it to be good writing, that goes without saying. But as long as you are pounding forward, getting those fingers on the laptop keys, or writing out long hand, you are winning.
The tagline for my website is Writing is my Oxygen, because I need to write in order to exist, just like I need to breathe in order to live. A day without writing something, anything, to me, is a wasted day. I approach NaNo the same way. As long as I am pushing forward on the story, I am in the positive column. And even if I get to 11:30 pm November 30 and still need 500 more words to get over the finish line, at least I know I got that far.
To me, partaking in the NaNoWriMo challenge IS the win. The 50k words are just the cherries on top.
November 10, 2015
A really good interview with Jacquie Biggar
http://jacqbiggar.com/2015/11/10/firs...
This was a goodie. She asked me about my favorite first date - it happened to be a destination date and I wound up marrying the guy. Read the interview and you'll learn why!
This was a goodie. She asked me about my favorite first date - it happened to be a destination date and I wound up marrying the guy. Read the interview and you'll learn why!
