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Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Deb Dixon...the Queen of GMC
On
Saturday, I had the opportunity to take a road trip to Naples, Florida to attend Deb Dixon’s “Book in a Day” Conference. It was all about GMC or "Goal, Motivation and Conflict", which is the bedrock of genre fiction writing.
I
ended up getting one of the best writer tips I’ve ever heard. It's a tool to use when you’re
stuck or struggling with how to start a scene. The lesson has you answer
specific questions in the point of view of the character.
1.
What do I see before me?
2.
What do I feel?
3.
What do I hear?
4.
What do I smell?
5.
What do I taste?
6.
What’s the light like? (sunny, cloudy, fluorescent light, dark)
7.
What is it that I want?
8.
What do I think?
9.
What happens next?
10.
What do I do?
HOLY
COW!!! It’s so simple, but so effective. I’ve been struggling with the opening
of Book 2 in my Heiress Games series for a long time. I even skipped ahead and
started working on Book 3. Well, I finally got an idea and applied the
questions. And IT WORKED.
Here
are the questions with my answers.
Q: What
do I see before me?
Killian: Sexy red thong on the floor just inside the front door.
Q: What
do I feel?
Killian: Confusion
Q: What
do I hear?
Killian: One of Jackson’s “making love” songs is playing on the surround
sounds speakers. (Jackson is his best friend, a singer)
Q: What
do I smell?
Killian: Rain coming in on the breeze with the storm clouds
Q: What’s
the light like?
Killian: Dark, swirling clouds behind me. Bright artificial light in
front.
Q: What
is it that I want?
Killian: To find out where the panties came from.
Q: What
do I think?
Killian: I think my teenage son hasn’t learned a lesson yet.
Q: What
do you do?
Killian: I set out to teach the lesson, once and for all.
AND
here is the opening scene...
Killian
Rafael de los Santos O’Connor spotted the panties the moment he walked in the
door. How could he not? The bright red thong lay against the gleaming marble
tile in the foyer like a tiny cape meant to entice a bull.
He stared
down at skimpy piece of fabric, as a thousand questions racing through his mind.
Where had
it come from? Why had some woman dropped her panties by the door? How had the
fool women managed to get past, not only the massive gates that guarded his
property, but inside the house? Where was she now? And even more
important…where was his 'son' now?
A roiling
bank of dark clouds was approaching at Killian’s back, bringing the humid scent
of a summer storm. The clouds were already obscuring the sun, turning the sky
from a glorious blue to furious grey ready to unleash a downpour.
Which
seemed pretty fitting since Killian was about to
unleash holy terror on the most likely culprit of today’s crime…his fifteen-year-old
son, Rafe.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Setting Goals for 2015
So
it’s 2015 and time for a fresh start. It’s a time two make new goals.
For me it's writing goals. Whether I success in those goals...well that's
another matter. Last year, I had the grand idea that I would write FOUR books
in 2014.
Confession…I
did not come close.
I
finished one book BY CHRISTMAS, which I ended up self-publishing as part of a holiday box set with 13 other authors. Then I put it out as a single book. It was my
first foray into the world of indie publishing so there was a big learning
curve, meaning everything took longer to accomplish. I did have the benefit of
working with 13 other fantastic authors from this group on the box set and
learned SO MUCH.
So
what about those other three books I was supposed to complete? Book two was
supposed to be the fifth installment in my Covington Falls Chronicles series.
However, somewhere along the line it became not Book 5 in that series, but Book
1 in a WHOLE NEW SERIES. It’s set in another fictional town, only this one is
in Florida. It centers on a prized pig named Matilda
who inherits a fortune from her eccentric owner. Oh yes, there are also three
women competing for custody of the pig (and control of the money, of course) as well as a trio of sexy men who might win their hearts.
The
other two books are part of another series. This one is a contemporary
romance/women’s fiction. It’s also set in Florida (different town) and it
follows three former childhood friends who return to their hometown and become
involved in rehabilitating an old dinner theatre called The Paradise. I
finished the first book a couple years ago, but book 2 and 3 still need to be
put down on paper.
The
third idea is another series that is perhaps the craziest concept I’ve ever
come up with. My heroine is a spoiled heiress who dies and then gets recruited
as a celestial matchmaker, helping soul mates find their One True Love before
it's too late. It’s crazy and weird and hilariously funny…It is also so far
away from anything else I’ve ever written. A little scary.
So…yeah…that’s
a lot of books. And I have a demanding full time job. I don’t know how I will
possibly do them. I need a plan. I need help. I need to find that impossibly
rich tycoon so I can quit the day job and write full time.
Hmmm…okay...writing
all those books might happen first.
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