The Prodigal Writer Returns

STAR (Space Coast Authors of Romance) has been a part of my life since 2008.  Being away due to career and personal changes, I've noticed the lack of motivation in my fiction writing.  About a month ago I dusted off my works-in-progress (WIP) and red-inked them until a few bled to death.  Only one or two survived.     

Looking at the lifeless manuscripts I knew it was time to get back to what challenged and motivated me.  I found my muse, but didn't realize it until I started plotting and reinventing characters. Today, I returned to the monthly STAR meetings and just in speaking with a few members about my current WIP I was able to scratch out 2700 words towards another chapter.  

Just like any good relationship, with your family or friends and with God, it takes daily work to keep it strong.  Thanks to my STARs I can build a better relationship with my writing.  The critique groups, Deep Dish reads, guest speakers, online forums, conferences, and contests are a few things that help keep me on track.  

A good romance never hurt any book, so regardless of your writing genre you should attend a STAR meeting as a guest.  Go ahead...I dare you!  

www.authorsofromance.com

 

Punishing a Character

Recent edits to my WIP included big changes to one of the characters. They either had to be killed or wooed to the dark side to make an integral conflict of the story work. Then out of the blue came the brilliant idea to make them alive or good again, but only after a severe loss or punishment.

Just FYI, this is a paranormal romance which makes bringing them back to life much easier. I opted for good guy/bad guy/good guy; mainly to keep the emotions of the heroine towards angry than sad.

Instead of bringing him to the good side with a loss I chose a severe punishment. He's an archangel with an attitude. The hero adjusted this guys attitude (don't want to give away too much) and now believes in him whole-hearted...because they find out they are brothers. The heroine doesn't know this so she remains leery of him up to the final conflict when he proves his loyalty and trust to her. There are BIG twists at the end that will please and tease.

Do you punish your characters? If so, how?

Eye Speye

Overview:

Two women born a world apart find a common ground; each other. The disappearance of a political figure, and dear friend, ties their careers and lives together in a mysterious adventure where they find romance in unlikely places, mystery in the far realms of mankind, murder, mayhem, and the opportunity of a lifetime.

Saskia Devyani lives a quiet life in the bay region of Dublin where she works as a professor and scientist specialized in chemical compounds. Returning from a science conference at the university she finds her home in shambles. The police have no leads, but the one secret Saskia keeps could be the answer.

Zenevieva—also called Zen—Dubvronik is an electronics genius. Running her business, Speye Wear, and working with the U.S. government training and assigning agents; she is called to duty when a team looking for the missing political figure goes MIA themselves. Knowing her designs and their flaws this was not supposed to happen. Under new orders she is sent back to the feild to find them and is thrown into an adventure with a stranger that collides the past with the present and threatens both of their futures.

In The Moment

I'm living in the moment! You know, that moment where your current WIP takes a turn for the better? The kind of moment that fuses two ideas into one. My moment is about to reach the end. No, not the end, but THE END! As in I am one scene away from finishing!!!

It all started on Friday, and short of a brief paintball hiatus yesterday I have been nonstop rearranging, adding to, and deleting. The Romantic suspense with paranormal element has been turned into a Romantic Paradramedy...is there such a genre? It's funnier now, and quicker, more intense on the romance, obvious paranormal element from the first page (problem in my last Deep Dish), and not as long as I had expected originally. It works.

I plan on polishing the last scene then editing the rest of this week. I may reach my goal yet of having a submission and reply by my birthday!

Here's to all of you working "in the moment", whatever moment that may be for you!

Latest WIP

Here's a snippet of one of my Work In Progress: Walk On The Dark Side (not the official title)

The night sky glittered with spirits as they rose from the depths of their resting places. The plane between life and death was open at different moments in time for all spirits to pass through freely. Dead walked among the living. In turn, the living could walk among the dead, though few ever did. Sage was living. She was an empath. She was also a walker. Easily termed such, walkers were able to walk between planes, walk through time—though only present and past, never future—and sometimes walk through hell. Many with this gift did not accept it as a reality, only a dream, which made it harder for Sage to live a normal life in everyone else’s reality.
In her reality witches and warlocks were her neighbors, fairies and gnomes were more than garden accessories, and the boogie man did not live under her bed or in her closet. He lived in the blue house with grey trim just down the street. In her reality she saw things others refused to see.

So what are you working on today/this week?