A Little Light Halloween Reading

There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man.

- Edgar Allan Poe

 

"The Black Cat"

 

 

"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed? - tear up the planks! - here, here - it is the beating of his hideous heart!"

 

- "The Tell-Tale Heart"

 

 

Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace re quiescat!

 

- "The Cask of Amontillado"

Character Collage

I'm by no means a fashion plate in my real life, but I like styling my characters: everything from lipstick to their home decor tastes. I'm going to do several of these collages. This one is for Ellie Grayson - one of the central protagonists of Dream of You, Jordan's love interest, and a new addition to the cast.

Good Morning, Thirty-five Degrees

This morning looked like this.

But yesterday it looked like this.

A Book Meme

Today I'm answering questions from a meme I found over at Writing While the Rice Boils (Debbie Maxwell Allen) and talking about my newest novel Dream of You. I haven't done anything like this before, Blogger scaredy-cat that I am, so this should be fun. Below are her questions, and my answers to them.

1. What is the name of your book?

Dream of You

2. Where did the idea for your book come from?

Dream of You is the sequel to my novel Keep You. Keep You began with a couple – Joanna and Tam – a vision of their story, and that of Jo’s family and the way they’d impacted Tam from childhood to the present. I fell in love with the whole family and decided to give Jo’s brother Jordan his own book.

3. In what genre would you classify your book?

Contemporary fiction. It’s a love story, but not a true genre romance. See also #8.

4. If you had to pick actors to play your characters in a movie rendition, who would you choose?

I wish I could choose! I can never settle on an actor or actress because no one ever quite fits the picture I have in my mind. Sometimes the look is very similar, but the energy just isn’t right. No one “feels” like the characters for me. And I don’t ever want to taint a reader’s imagination by choosing an actor or actress she might not care for. My characters are more everyday beautiful than Hollywood glam anyway.

5. Give us a one-sentence synopsis of your book.

Professor and track coach Jordan Walker stands to lose his job, and all his jaded indifference, when he meets writer Ellie Grayson.

6. Is your book already published? Self-published or traditional?

It is self-published and will be released sometime in the next couple of weeks.

7. How long did it take you to write your book?

I began July of this year, so approximately three months. I’m writing full-time currently, so I was able to devote a lot of time in those three months.

8. What other books within your genre would you compare it to? Or, readers of which books would enjoy yours?

Dream of You is a contemporary love story focused on true, intimate connections and relationship-building. It should appeal to fans of Nicholas Sparks and Marisa de los Santos.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

As a reader, I crave realistic love stories in which I can become truly invested, so I decided to write them myself. The Walker family waltzed into my head one morning and they felt like old friends, so I decided to champion them.

10. Tell us anything that might pique our interest in your book.

More than anything I want my characters to be likeable. I want their romance to feel real and hot-blooded, but I want readers to walk away thinking you know, I really like those kids too.

Editing Sucks

I end up staring out the window, questioning every little decision I made along the way. It's maddening. Bright side: there's nice things to look at outside the window.

Just Because

Because it's almost Halloween, I want to take a moment to appreciate this guy.

Classic horror movies had almost nothing in the way of special effects. I for one love the hokey skeletons on fishing line and melodramatic swoons. The string music and grave expressions. But I love the atmosphere too. The shadows and cigarettes and the magic of imagination.

And no one has a better voice for atmosphere than Vincent Price. His orgininal House on Haunted Hill is my cheesy Halloween favorite.

Fin

There's something about writing the very last sentence of a manuscript that is satisfying and bittersweet. It's followed by a moment of "wow" and a moment of "oh, sad" and a moment of "now I've got another project to begin".

I finished Dream of You this morning, and even though I have lots of tidying to do with it, it's crazy to think that the second installment of the trilogy (it might really be a series instead) is complete. I don't feel like I've created these characters, but like I stumbled upon them somehow and they've been kind enough to share their stories with me. I'm so, so fond of them, and I hope when Dream of You is released, readers will enjoy Jordan's story as much as I have.