Character Gesture Crutches

And no i don't mean the crutches that help one to walk!
I mean their gestures, movements that are idiosyncratic to your characters.

Do you have lots of shrugging, huffing, or frowning?

Julie Coulter Bellon has a great post here about this, which she found on Jordan McCollum's blog.

One of the commenters on Julie's blog mentioned a great book "The Emotional Thesaurus" which may prove useful to help explain your character gestures, instead of restricting it to a few. I think i'll get that for my kindle (really, i just love my new kindle so any chance to get a new book for it!).

So, pull out your manuscript, read through a page or two and see if you have repeated gestures or crutches, then 'find' them all and see if you can make them better.

This is a great way for your readers to see what the characters are thinking, even if they don't say it, or say something completely contradictory!

Not the Marrying Kind

Nicola Marsh's newest release - also her first with Entangled Publishing, is out now!
And already gaining rave reviews!!!

Here's a blurb to whet your appetite (but you don't need it do you! You love Nicola Marsh's witty, sassy writing and are going to buy it anyway, right!)

Diva Las Vegas!

When investors tarnish the King of Construction’s reputation he’s forced to prove his respectability…by finding a wife!

Beck Blackwood, desert bad-boy made good, will do whatever it takes to expand his construction company nationwide. Including blackmail a woman guaranteed to drive him crazy, into marriage.

LA party planner Poppy Collins is a woman on a mission: save her sister’s sanity. Determined to keep business afloat, Poppy pitches for the divorce party of the century to Vegas hotshot Beck Blackwood, not expecting a proposal of a different kind.

Beck leaves Poppy no option. Marry him or her Divorce Diva Daily secret is out and her sister’s business implodes. He holds a winning hand. However, Beck hasn’t played the game with a defiant woman who has a few tricks of her own!

In the city of high stakes and high flyers, can the Divorce Diva and the construction king take a gamble on love and beat the odds?

Go buy it now!

Reading...

That is all i have been doing the last month that relates in any way to writing.
I haven't written a thing in a long time and i think this year is a no-writing year. Oh, don't get me wrong i still want to! And i think about it all the time.
I finish my Early Childhood Diploma this year an as it includes a 7 seven week Practicum i am focusing on that.

But, i have been reading up a storm on my brand new Kindle Touch. Thanks to all the free reads out there!
I've come across some great books - yes including Fifty Shades of Grey!
I managed to snap up two of Sally Clements stories and i love them! As soon as the money comes in i'm buying a few of her stories, her writing is fantastic!
Now, i'm glad some were free reads, cos quite frankly they were either badly written, or the stories weren't deep enough of the characterisation and feelings and moved too fast. I think those authors would have benefited from some friendly editing or critique buddies.
All this reading has made me see my own writing more critically - well, when i get back into it that is! I will be on the lookout for shallow characterisation and actions of characters that don't fit the characterisation. You get the idea.

What have you been reading?
I'll do a post on my thoughts of Fifty Shades soon ;)