Write Campaign

Hi all!
I've joined the write campaign set up again by Rach Harrie!
I've joined the Romance/Sweet/Contemporary/historical group, and the Romantic Suspense group.
I look forward to visiting your blogs, adding you to my blog roll so i'm kept up to date with you all, and perhaps one day sharing some writing and helping with criticing (if that's what you'd like!).

Writing Tips: Climatic scene mirroring the Opening scene?

Nicola Marsh went to the Romance Writers of Australia Conference and she has shared some of the things she learnt or heard.

During her blog post on writing style, ie, linear or scene writer, she gave this little gem:

In Bob Mayer's "POV & VOICE" session, he mentioned this:

"don't worry about the opening scene. Write the book. The climactic scene should mirror the opening scene therefore you can come back and write/rewrite the opening scene."

What do you think of that? Have you written the closing scene of any of your stories that mirrors the opening? 

I guess it's a way of showing closure, or that the characters have gone through a change from the beginning to that final scene. 

It is intriguing and i kind of like it! May have to try this for my Princess story as i can see a great conversation for that one ;)

Romantic Friday Writers: Confused

The latest RFW topic. (Sorry i've been absent - have had many readings and an assignment for my diploma!)
From my Princess story, in chapter 1. Enjoy!

“Mum? What’s wrong?” Quickly she sat on the bed beside her, pulling her into a hug as her mother had always done for her. Tori was so worried when she saw her mother’s face sad and twinkling in the afternoon sunshine from shed tears. She’d never seen her mum cry, she was so private with emotions like that.

            Elizabeth laughed self-consciously, wiping her elegant hands across her daughter’s cheeks. “Oh, nothing. Just being sentimental.”

            Tori followed her mum’s gesture to the small box beside them on the bed. She hadn’t seen it as she’d rushed to give comfort.

            Vaguely she recognised it. Tracing her fingers over the rose pictures torn from magazines and pasted onto the box, she realised it was the box she’d once found while playing hide and seek when about seven or eight. Looking at it caused a faint buzzing in her mind, as well as the flash of photos.

            “This has old photos in it, right?” Mum wasn’t paying attention.

            “Your feet were so tiny, we’d had to have these made several times before they fit.”

            Her mum picked up the yellow booties and cradled them gently in her hands, but Tori was pulled towards the box, the buzzing growing louder, the lid half covering the contents. She wanted to see the inside. Needed to.

            The photo she’d remembered was near the top, the people in it sitting stiffly on a large couch with thin legs and covered in a flower patterned upholstery. Tori automatically straightened her hunched shoulders to copy the pose of the woman, central on the seat. There was a hint of a smile on the woman’s lips, despite the stiffness of her pose, and Tori knew this lady was kind, softly spoken. It wasn’t mum though. Mum’s hair was mahogany. The lady’s hair was clearly blonde. Tori had a flash of sudden clarity that threw the picture into complete colour rather than the antique orange tinge. The lady’s hair was so pale it was nearly silver, and her vision knew it glinted brilliantly in the morning sun.

            “Who is this?”

Word count: 348!
Code for critique: MPA (Minor Points acceptable)

Book Review: Gaelen Foley

I have just finished the last book in Gaelen Foley's Knight Miscellany series, and it is fantastic! Set in the Regency period these seven stories are by no means the run of the mill Regency stories! Each one is so different. 

Each has such an interesting plot and delightful characters i couldn't put any of the books down until they were finished!

Check out Gaelen's website for more information, and you MUST read this series if you love Regency novels! 

On her website she ask:

Who's your favourite Knight Brother?


Is it the mysterious and coolly controlled head of the clan, Robert, the Duke of Hawkscliffe from The Duke? Or one of the irresistible twins—sly and sexy Lucien, the ex-spy in the Lord of Fire, or deadly Damien, the soldier from Lord of Ice?

Their spunky sister Jacinda Knight brings another bad boy into the family in Lady of Desire, while her best friend, lady’s companion, and honorary Knight “sister” is a bookish bluestocking hotly pursued by a decadent, aristocratic adventurer in Devil Takes a Bride

Rakehell Alec lives on the edge in One Knight of Sin, while wild Jack, the black sheep of the family, is running guns for South America freedom fighters in His Wicked Kiss.

I cannot chose my favourite - i love them all!