Romy Sommer's Blog, page 3

And then the magic happens

When you're writing in addition to a day job and a ton of other commitments, writing becomes a chore to do at the end of the day when you're at your most tired and unenthused. The joy of doing Nanowrimo is that you drag yourself through it, no matter how you feel. You put those words down on paper (or screen) when, on any other day, you'd simply say "sod it" and go to sleep.

And then something magical happens. One day as you're writing you get swept up in the words. You feel what your character feels. Your heart beats a little faster. You want to cry, or laugh.

That happened to me today. I'm excited again. Tired, but excited.

Tortuga - the cursed island of 'The Trouble with Mojitos'

In The Trouble with Mojitos, my heroine Kenzie is a film location scout desperate to photograph the island of Tortuga in the fictional island group of Los Pajaros - but no-one has stepped foot on the island in several centuries. Something about a curse...

From the day I conceived this island, I knew it had to be named for the sea turtles (read the book and you'll understand why). Since Los Pajaros is owned by my fictional Germanic kingdom of Westerwald, a German or Dutch name seemed a good idea. But Schildkröte or Zeeschildpad don't exactly roll off the tongue.

Enter Google Translate. 

The moment I saw the Spanish translation of 'Turtle' I knew I had my island's name. But Tortuga is already a  popular name in the Caribbean (Mexico, Venezuela, Costa Rica and Ecuador all have islands with this name) and there's also Isle de la Tortue off Haiti. Not to mention that fans of Pirates of the Caribbean are sure to recognise the name...

But as my hero Rik would say, "sod them all!" I like the name, so I'm keeping it.

Englishman's Bay, Tobago by Denni SchnappMy Isla Tortuga is a large island, uninhabited except by parrots and monkeys, densely forested, with pristine white beaches, waterfalls and rivers, and almost completely encircled by a protective coral reef.
Paradise, right? Kenzie thinks so, but Rik's not so sure. He wonders if the famous curse might be the real reason for his exile.

What is the curse, I hear you ask?
Read the prologue of The Trouble with Mojitos to find out.

Can the curse be broken?
It can, but you'll have to wait for Book 3 to find out how...

El Limon Waterfall in the Dominican Republic from www.paradise-islands.org
The Trouble with Mojitos

Turquoise blue waters. Sandy white beaches. Mojitos...
Film location scout Kenzie Cole has found herself in paradise. Working in the Caribbean for a week is just what she needs to escape the long line of exes in her closet. Though the last thing she expects is to be picked up at the resort bar by a disgraced former Prince!

Luckily for Kenzie, exile is suiting the man formerly known as Prince Fredrik very well. And it’s not long before his rugged, pirate charm is proving hard to resist.

But Rik’s been spending his time in paradise exorcising demons of his own and he has danger written all over him. If Kenzie was sensible she’d run a mile instead of lose herself to lust - although, they do say sometimes you have to get lost before you can be found...


Available now from the following online retailers: Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iTunes and All Romance eBooks.

Let's play a game...

The possibilities are endless. This could be anywhere in the world - where do you think it could be? And what lies waiting at the top of the stairs?
Let's have a little fun, exercise our imaginations and throw out some possibilities...

Bonaire photo by Greg Johnston available from www.AllPosters.com

Written Fireside - Part 10

We're back again! Luckily, someone flipped the switch in South Africa last week, ushering winter out the door and the most beautiful summery heat in ... the perfect weather to sit around a campfire telling scary stories as the flames leap up and make eery shadows all around.

If you need to catch up on the story so far:

Part 1 - Lori Connelly
Part 2 - Teresa F Morgan
Part 3 - Carmel Harrington
Part 4 - that was me!
Part 5 - AJ Nuest
Part 6 - Charlotte Phillips
Part 7 - Lori Connelly
Part 8 - Carmel Harrington
Part 9 - Teresa F Morgan

And for Part 10 read on...

Clara slid a shaking hand beneath her sweater and shirt. The burden was too great to carry alone. With Barbara gone, she needed a friend more than ever, and there was no one else but Mark.

She pulled out the cloth-wrapped bundle. After an entire night strapped against her skin, she'd grown so used to the weight that without it she felt naked.

As she slowly unwrapped it, Mark took his eyes off the road just long enough to look at what lay in her lap. His eyes rounded. "Great Almighty, Clara! That's not the answer!"

"Keep your eyes on the road." She lifted the small silver hand gun. "I don't think it's loaded. It belonged to Barbara's grandfather. I guess you could say he left it to her along with the summer house."

Carefully she untwisted the sparkling cord wound around the barrel and held it up for Mark to see without having to look away from the road. "Derek paid us each $20,000 to keep our mouths shut. When we were persuaded to testify against him, neither of us could bring ourselves to spend a cent of the money. But we sure as hell weren't going to give it back either. $40,000 is a lot of money."

"No kidding." Mark swallowed and glanced again at the diamond bracelet she held up. Then his gaze shifted to the rear view mirror. Clara didn't need to look to know what he saw. She could only pray Mark's car could outrun Derek's battered Ford.

She clutched the seat as Mark suddenly swung the car onto an offramp. A moment later she heard the squeal of brakes as Derek corrected his trajectory. But she couldn't bear to look back. Not with her heart in her throat as Mark set his foot flat on the gas. The road ahead was narrow, with trees pressing in on either side, and so twisty she couldn't see more than a couple of car lengths ahead. She had no idea where they were.

She gripped the diamond bracelet even tighter as Mark swung the car again, off the road and onto a barely visible dirt track. The forest swallowed them.

They sat in silence for a heart stopping moment before the roar of Derek's truck disappeared into the distance. "Hopefully it'll be a few miles before he realises he's lost us."

He stretched his arm across the back of her seat and this time Clara's heart began to race in a very familiar and not at all unpleasant way.

"So you spent Derek's pay-off on a piece of jewellery?"

"This isn't just any piece of jewellery." She carefully wound the string of diamonds back onto the gun's barrel and folded the cloth closed around it. "And it was worth every bit of the $40,000 Barbara and I had to pay to get our hands on it. This is the famous Duval bracelet. And it's the reason Derek killed Etienne Duval ten years ago."

Are you hooked yet? If so, check out the next instalment on AJ Nuest's blog on September 24th. Just two more instalments to go!!

Remember

Yet still, in almost every corner of our world, people are killing people. Let's remember the innocents who suffer and put an end to war and violence. And no, it's not impossible. Just watch Star Trek and you can see a future in which the people of Earth stand together. Let's make it so.

Fellow Harper Impulse author Nic Tatano has suggested we honour those who lost their lives 12 years ago by remembering one victim.

I have chosen firefighter Kevin Smith. You can read about him here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/09/national/portraits/POG-09SMITH2.html

Written Fireside - Part 4

Here's the story so far:

Part 1 - Lori Connelly
Part 2 - Teresa F Morgan
Part 3 - Carmel Harrington

We're seated around the camp fire, marshmallows toasting, wine and warmth making us rosy... now here's my contribution to the story:

Clara cruised down Main Street, her eyes scanning for a parking outside the Lucky Number Café. A car pulled out into the street ahead of her, leaving a space right out front of the café.
But what she saw through the front window made her put her foot on the gas and keep on going. The summer house it was.

Only when she hit the freeway did her heartbeat slow down enough to enable her to think. What was Derek doing back in town? And what business did he and Mark have together?

Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the steering wheel. Had Mark’s invitation to talk been a trap? She didn’t want to believe it of him...not him of all people...but what other explanation could there be for the two of them sitting together like old friends in the café?

The sun was already going down when she pulled into the long, overgrown drive leading to the summer house. She hid her car in the garage and walked to the house. Her hands still shook so badly she dropped the key twice before she managed to get the front door open.

Inside, the house was full of creepy shadows and smelled musty. But Clara didn’t turn on any lights or open any windows. Better not to advertise her presence. She shut the front door behind her and double locked it.

Barbara had told her she’d sold the house years ago. She’d said she couldn’t face returning here, where the memories of that fateful night cast a pall over everything, obliterating every happy memory they’d ever made here. So why had she kept it, after all?

Clara found the flashlight in its usual spot on the shelf behind the door. She flicked it on. The beam was weak, but it was enough.

There was only one reason Barbara would have kept the house, and only one reason she would have lied to Clara. She’d hidden It in the house. And Clara needed to find it.

The next installment of this story will be from Charlotte Phillips. 

* * *

Don't forget to check out Lori Connelly's new release The Outlaw of Cedar Ridge , available now from Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and all other good eBook stores.

Behind the Scenes: the punishing hours of a movie set

I'm dishing out a lot of reading today (but it's worth it, I promise!) so you don't notice that I'm not really here. I'm in my writing cave, adding the finishing touches to my Westerwald Book 2 (Rik's story) which is now due.

If you're interested in how the film business really works, then this article on The Unglamorous, Punishing Hours of Working on a Hollywood Set should be fascinating. (Thanks to Elle Matthews for the link!)

Another interesting Behind the Scenes post, this time from a Visual Effects artist who has worked on some big name films, is this one from the Stage 32 blog.


Writing Cave

You rock!

Film-making might seem glamorous to outsiders, but you wouldn't believe how much abuse we film-makers take. To most people we're an unwelcome intrusion rather than an exotic novelty. Our trucks are big and noisy, we have lots of cables and clutter, and we start work at ungodly hours of the day  (and often shoot until ungodly hours of the night).

A lot of my day job is spent dealing with angry residents and local business owners, fending off rude traffic officers (even when we have permits and a right to be where we are) and grumpy crew who are just trying to do their jobs in often challenging circumstances.

So when I come online and see the overwhelming support that writers give each other, it restores my faith in humankind. The generosity, support and friendliness I find among my fellow writers is inspiring.

I want to thank every romance writer I know, and especially my fellow Harper Impulse authors and my Minxy sisters. You rock and I love you all!

Thank you.

Summer Loving for only 99c

Check out the Minxes blog today for a special promotion running Mon 15th to Thurs 18th July only: 6 romances priced at only 99c each (77p in the UK).

10 Screenwriting Tips from Billy Wilder

These tips come courtesy of the film and theatre industry forum blog, Stage 32. These apply just as well to witing novels as they do to writing movies.

SCREENWRITING – 10 Tips From The Great Billy Wilder

The audience is fickle.Grab ‘em by the throat and never let ‘em go.Develop a clean line of action for your leading character.Know where you’re going.The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer.If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.A tip from Lubitsch: Let the audience add up two plus two. They’ll love you forever.In doing voice-overs [introspection], be careful not to describe what the audience already sees. Add to what they’re seeing.The event that occurs at the second act curtain triggers the end of the movie.The third act must build, build, build in tempo and action until the last event, and then—that’s it. Don’t hang around.And a final tip from the Raindance Film Festival:

Nothing glues you to the screen more than a good story. If the story is there, does one really care about the budget of the film?

If the story is there, the reader will hardly notice the writing!