In my contemporary romance, Someday In Dublin, Amy and Michael share a whirlwind romance in Ireland, only to have events from their past collide and tear them apart.
In this scene, Amy has returned home to Philadelphia, but Michael isn’t quite ready to let go yet… Continue reading
His eyes darkened and a smile slowly spread across his face.
“You’re beginning to sound like a challenge.”
1 Line Wednesday
Topic: Dark
“The firefly suited her memory; a light that glows
brilliant and captivating, but only for a short time.”
1 Line Wednesday
Topic: Memory
Her lips twitched. “Your dream girl?”
“That girl’s face could drive rats from a barn,” he snorted.
1 Line Wednesday
Topic: Humor
Image
“Took you long enough, luv.”
Michael’s voice, cloudy with sleep, reached her as she stepped quietly back into the bedroom.
“Sorry to wake you,” she said. “I guess I’ve finally adjusted to the time change. I was wide awake so I figured I’d get a shower.”
He gestured to the cat sitting on his chest. “You left me here with no one but a cat for company and now she’s taken over.” Continue reading
Michael was dreaming he was wearing a large, heated hat.
There was a cat on his head. She wasn’t budging.
1 Line Wednesday
Topic: Hot
“Now where do we go on a day that’s colder than a witch’s tit –”
“In a brass bra,” Amy added.
“Right. Where do we go on a day such as this?”
“I haven’t made up my mind about you yet,” she said.
“Well, Amy from America,” he said. “I think you have. And now it’s up to me to prove you right.”
1LineWednesday
When I attended my first writing conference, I received an amazing piece of advice that has stood me in good stead.
“Write the movie they’ll make from your book.”
This helps with not only positive reinforcement (This book is going to be so good, they’ll make a movie out of it!) but it also keeps you focused on striking the right balance between showing and telling.
If you’ve got a ton of backstory to fill in, your first inclination might be to write five pages of it, but if your reader becomes your movie viewer, you know that watching that on screen would probably be deadly dull. Writing like you’re watching it helps you find where to use narrative vs dialogue, and it can be a really useful tool.
Here’s my for instance: in my book, Someday In Dublin, Michael and Amy meet in a Dublin bar, then strike up a romance. Somewhere along the way, Michael ends up visiting Amy in Pennsylvania and they spend a whirlwind day in Philly. In a movie, this would be a montage of them running up the steps of the art museum like Rocky and shoveling down cheesesteaks and pointing at the Liberty Bell. On paper, it needed a little more fun and heart to paint the picture: Continue reading
Britt DeLaney 