Fab Comment

Over at the New Voices competition, i've just read an awesome comment about Emma and Matt's first chapter:

Congratulations on posting such an amazing first chapter! This is definitely in my top ten and I'll be shocked if you don't make it to the top 20.

I'm a serial POV changer and yours didn't distract me in the slightest. I like the hints at conflict you are giving and love the way you started. I don't think I've ever read a book where the first line is a proposal of marriage, great hook!

There really isn't anything I can say I disliked about the chapter. My only gripe is that chapter 2 isn't available to read yet :)

I agree with a lot of the comments that have been made on my chapter, but isn't it nice to have someone like your writing, just the way it is!

Thanks Aimee Duffy :)

Busted in Bollywood - cover reveal!

Wow, look at this new fabulous book from Nicola Marsh! Releasing soon, December 6! so be sure to check out her website then to buy a copy! - just click on the street team icon on the right and it will take you straight there!

BUSTED IN BOLLYWOOD

Doesn't it just look awesome!
Here is a blurb:

Shari Jones needs to get a life. Preferably someone else’s.

Single, homeless and jobless, Indo-American Shari agrees to her best friend’s whacky scheme: travel to Mumbai, pose as Amrita, and ditch the fiancé her traditional Indian parents have chosen. Simple. Until she’s mistaken for a famous Bollywood actress, stalked by a Lone Ranger wannabe, courted by an English lord, and busted by the blackmailing fiancé.

Life is less complicated in New York.

Or so she thinks, until the entourage of crazies follows her to the Big Apple and that’s when the fun really begins. Shari deals with a blossoming romance, an addiction to Indian food and her first movie role, while secretly craving another trip to the mystical land responsible for sparking her new lease on life. Returning to her Indian birthplace, she has an epiphany. Maybe the happily-ever-after of her dreams isn’t so far away?

And, a sneak six sentence look at the book that Nicola posted on her blog on the weekend!

Between Anjali’s sniping at the family and Rita’s dossier, I gathered the Ramas were rich, very rich. And by the size of their newly white-washed two-story house, they were loaded. In a country where real estate was at a premium, these guys had a monopoly on space, their house taking up a quarter of the block.

“Nice place,” I said, smoothing the chiffon of my kameez and hoping all the drama training at high school would count for something in the hours ahead.
“All pomp and show.” Anjali’s glare at the house would’ve exploded bricks if she’d had superhuman powers. “A fat cow needs a big barn.”


I love Nicola's voice so i'll be sure to grab a copy! Will you?


(edited: Oops, this isn't a YA! My bad, sorry Nicola!!)

Introspection vs Dialogue

So, over the past few years i have come to realise what my writing style is, which is an essential part of your writing career, in my opinion.
I've also come to realisation that my style is not what i like to read in other books!
Weird huh?!

So, i really enjoy writing the characters internal thoughts and feelings and struggle quite a bit with dialogue.
When i read, i usually skim through this part and get right to the dialogue!

So, slowly i have been trying to write more dialogue and less introspection - which for me is very tricky!
However, i write the introspection first, as this comes naturally for me, then i take a step back and try to write the same stuff through dialogue, through both POV's until i feel it clicks.

Another way, is to write the entire scene using only dialogue - this way you need to try and get emotion and thoughts across through the characters voice first, then you can layer in a bit of introspection and what the character is doing, eg hand gestures, frowning etc.

All the writing advice out there has told me that more action through dialogue is more readable and more liked than the thoughts stuff - which i tend to agree with when i'm reading! It's something like 60% dialogue, 40% introspection.

Do you have difficulty writing dialogue? How do you combat it?

My Entry is up!

Just in case you've missed it - i have a link to the left which will take you straight to my chapter 1! Have a read and please let me know what you think - comments and feedback will make us all better writers ;)

I've entered, have you?

I've just hit submit on my entry to this year's New Voices competition! I just have to wait for them to load it, then i'll put a link to my chapter 1 in the side bar.

This year my entry is a best friends to lovers theme, starring Emma McCarthy and Matthew Jackson Dean.

Emma is inspired by Blake Lively and Matt by Jeff Dean Morgan.

Emma is sick of the status quo - denying her deep passion and love for her best friend, so she proposes! Matt, on the other hand, doesn't want to lose the only solid thing in his life. The only thing that keeps him from going over the edge and succumbing to his tortured past. By demanding he acknowledge the passion between them, brought on by one fatal kiss, will Emma lose her best friend?

Writing Competition is open!

Those of you who entered New Voices last year will be hyped up and already know about the competition that started on the 13th.

For those of you who don't: Mills & Boon have a competition to find new voices. There are mentors, judges and readers even have the chance to comment and vote for their favourites! With 3 rounds to find the winner, and some fantastic prizes, it's a great way to get feedback on your writing and maybe, just maybe get published!

I entered last year with my story about Billie and Cooper.
This year? I'm trying to polish the first chapter of Matt and Emma's story. But this will have to wait until next week. I have an assignment due on Monday and my daughter is having her 4th birthday party this Saturday!

Go here for more info and to enter!

First Campaign Challenge

Firstly, welcome to all my new followers! I hope i get to visit your blogs/sites in return soon, if i haven't already :)

On to the first challenge:

Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, “The door swung open” These four words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), use the same beginning words and end with the words: "the door swung shut." (also included in the word count)

The door swung open and Tori held her breath. Heart in her throat she slowly let her breath out and watched it ruffle the lone spider web in the otherwise clean interior cavity.

Obviously this passage was well used. Or at least kept in an inhabitable condition.

Her footsteps echoed on the flagstones under foot as she carefully started through. At a junction she stopped and chewed her lip while she considered. Straight ahead got darker, and to the left there were little lights recessed into the wall close to the floor. Decision made, Tori head for the lights.

Passing ten lights she came to another door, wider than the one leading from the portrait hall. Placing her hand on the door she had a sudden shiver as the damp air in the tunnel blew towards her. Voices behind the door bolstered her courage. The housekeeper must be here.

The door opened with only a slight effort, without a groan of hinges as she’d expected. Stepping onto the plush carpet and facing the full window drenched in morning sun, she glanced to the right.

“Welcome, child. I’ve been expecting you.”

With a distant thud she heard the door shut behind her.

201 words! A snippet from my Princess story, this part hasn't been written yet, but has got the juices flowing :) My entry is 334 Go here and like it!

RFW Heart Stopper!

Great opportunity with this theme for Romance. 

So come on all you RFWers, let's dance to the rhythm of romantic music. Let's see that setting sun and feel those heroic arms about us. Maybe you've got a holiday romance going down, or perhaps it's a beach party and there's a heart stopper of a guy there and, you're drooling! 

Whomever sets your heart pulsing let's hear about him.  ;)

So, from my Princess story, meet Maxwell Rosenthall:

Instinctively she inched closer to her mother and glanced at the fourth man.

Compared to the other three he stood relaxed, his weight balanced slightly on his left leg. His suit was a darker grey that somehow exuded unrestrained power. Tori wondered why he would need bodyguards. The fabric of his pants, though not fitted, showed clearly the strength in his long muscled legs. His jacket, wide at very broad shoulders tapered to a narrow waist that just showed the strength in his torso more clearly. It was clear to her he would be able to handle himself.

Her perusal and musings were stopped in their tracks when he spoke. A rich rumbling British accent, tinged slightly with the lilt of Ireland. It flowed through her so quickly, warming her suddenly cold body, settled the spinning in her tummy to that of a calm lap against a sandy beach. She felt safe and absent of fear.

Why would a man’s voice affect her so much, especially one she’d never heard?

“Ma’am. It’s a pleasure to see you again.”

Her mother stepped forward and accepted his greeting with a little smile, a slight flush tinting her pale cheeks as she curtsied. Curtsied!

Kissing her cheek, the man held her close and said something in her ear that made her mother break out in a proper smile. He released her and when Tori tore her fascinated gaze from her suddenly happy mother being enfolded in her husband’s bracing arm, she was arrested by the deepest pair of blue eyes. The gentle lapping in her tummy, stilled and lay quiet as she drowned in their depths. The dark blue with hints of gold, as his strength had done had her at peace, safe and protected, like she was home.

Why then was her heart hammering so hard she was sure everyone could hear it, or at least see it trying it’s darndest to explode from her chest. Drowned as she was in his bottomless eyes, she vaguely saw a curtain of soft dark waves framing a strong face, a long straight nose and thin lips. 

Book Review: Nicola Marsh

Buy it now!

I bought this story yesterday after i noticed on Nicola's blog (Romance, Rumours and Rogues) that this story was out for 0.99c on amazon kindle! She'd given a teaser to this on her blog either earlier in the year or end of last year, and i've wanted to read the whole thing ever since!

You all know that i LOVE Nicola Marsh's work. It's fresh, lively and i would so love to be able to capture her magic in my own writing (i'll just have to keep practicing and find my own!).

Fox and Lee are two very strong characters. You only have 7,200 words to get to know them, but on the last sentence i felt that i did know them. At least enough to anticipate what could possibly happen next!

Fast, hot and sizzling, with nowhere-to-run desire, this is a story you will devour in a few minutes. I only wanted more!

Here is the description from Amazon: 

A Victorian Police Special Ops team leader joins forces with an Australian Defence Force Tactical Assault Group expert who specializes in biological warfare to stop an imminent chemical threat.

When the threat becomes personal and the body count mounts, they find themselves locked in a safe room, where they discover their sizzling history takes little to ignite.

(Previously published in The Mammoth Book of Special Ops)

Don't you just love how strong they both are!
Go, on buy it! It will certainly not disappoint!