We have a winner! My readers, tweeps, and FB friends
selected:
The Quick
and The Dedd, the paranormal rom-com Thank you all!
Today I’m sharing some of the prep on this book I am doing for NaNoWriMo as I get ready to enter this marathon. 30 days and 30 nights of unbridled writing! Be still my heart.
Only for me it won’t exactly be 30 continuous days because of travel to Lil’ Bro’s wedding out of state. Way out of state! So, to make up for those interruptions, I gotta be prepared to write like crazy on the days I do write. The average of ~1667 words per day must be adjusted (after all that’s only 11,699 words per week. Quite doable.
Rules are you can develop plot points, write character sketches, do research, stuff like that, but you can’t write a scene or sentence until November 1. Some places are doing a group-gathering to launch, so you begin writing at 12:01 a.m. That sounds like fun. For people who stay up late. Me, I’ll launch when I get up at 4:30. I already know my opening scene--I can see it. Writing it? Piece of cake!
I also read a great blog for NaNoers (those who NaNoWriMo) at www.killzoneauthors.blogspot.com Look for the Sunday post by James Scott Bell. Fantastic suggestions!
So let me share here today and Friday, some of my pre-planning segments. If you have a reaction--good or bad--please leave a comment below. Today: book jacket blurb and the two main characters.
Blurb: Isabella Quick, current owner of I.Q Security (“We take your intelligence seriously.”) misses the company of one of her best agents. Riley Dedd is, well, dead, murdered while on assignment for her. When his spirit turns up in her office, she thinks it might be other spirits--her single malt scotch perhaps--at work. Having convinced her he is real, a real ghost that is, they figure out how to work together to find his murderer and unmask a plot of national security proportions. And can they figure out the mechanics of making ethereal love corporeal? Throw in her petty crook ex-husband, a bimbo ex-sister-in-law who’s her best friend and office receptionist along with assorted other co-workers, and you have a paranormal romance that is not as transparent as it seems.
Is there anything else that should go into this blurb? Would you pick it up to buy from this description? I tried to get the light “spirit” of the book in the blurb. Did it work?
Here are my two MCs: Isabella Quick and Riley Dedd
Isabella Quick is 38 years old, with dyed red hair and brown eyes with gold flecks. Isabella never met a shade of red hair dye she didn’t like. At 5’9” she has a generous body that went from curvaceous to chunky after Riley’s death. A hard-boiled divorcee, Isabella carries a gun, votes Republican, and is a founding member of the local N.F.A. (National Firearms Association). An ex-smoker, she chews gum and sucks hard candies. She favors really bright clothing, at contrast with the low-profile business she runs. She can’t connect with most other women. She’s got a smart mouth but is very vulnerable. She loves a good single malt scotch-neat. She sips her favorite scotch when things get tough. She has a bottle of Johnnie Walker for everyday drinking, but reserves the fruity and woody Macallan 18 year old for special occasions. She had a thing for Riley and there was sexual tension between them, but it was never pursued before he died. She assumes her vision of him is a dream brought on by stress. BFF Trini wants to get her into BBB--Big Beautiful Broads, a dating service since she seems depressed.
Riley Dedd, a widowed hunk, was one of her investigators. He was a liberal on most social issues, but tough on crime. That is, before he was killed at age 41, six months ago, by an unknown assailant. Recently he has been appearing to her in her dreams, she thinks. When he finally convinces her he’s real, but a ghost, they decide to catch his murderer and get him convicted. His gray-streaked dark hair was never well-trimmed nor was his belly that threatened to overflow his belt. At 5’11’’ Isabella in heels was taller, but in death he chose to be taller. He’s now 6’2” and quite hunky. One of the bennies of having to be dead, he tells her. He’s a red wine drinker. He’s stuck here with “unresolved issues”, just like Isabella was always telling him when he was alive. He kept track of his birthday and is upset when she doesn’t want to celebrate it. He tells her she won’t get older than him because he is aging, too, even if not really. When alive, he kept trying to solve his wife’s murder. He joined IQ Security because of link he found with one of its clients and his wife. He and Trini flirted as he did with Cara, the business manager and accountant. He never got along well with Tony.
The pix that I think look like my characters wouldn't transfer here, but Riley looks like a young Sean Connery and Isabella, well, let's just say I found a big and beautiful British porn star that looks just like her!
What do you think of my starring characters? Leave a comment and help me shape this book. Thanks!
15 days and counting!
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