Love’s New Beginnings
A forced partnership that neither Charlene or Logan wants means facing their trust issues head-on. Can they survive these new beginnings?
A forced partnership that neither Charlene or Logan wants means facing their trust issues head-on. Can they survive these new beginnings?
This month’s question: What personal traits have you written into your character(s)?
My response isn’t about specific traits but rather the one thing that drives the character(s), and which often says a lot about their traits.
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Weekend Writing Warriors / #WeWriWa / #8sunday
Welcome to the Weekend Writing Warrior blog hop where writers share an 8-10 sentence snippet of their writing, published or unpublished.
My snippet this week comes from the first novella in a series of seven, Shattered Dreams. Drafts for #2 and #3 have been written. The last four plotted out. My plan is to start publishing them by the end of the year. What’s fun is that the characters come in and out of each other’s stories, as they should as one or both of the couples went to school together and all remain in the same community. Oh, and there is a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle that is pulled out of the lake in #1 with a mystery surrounding it.
As a waitress, Shelley is in the diner’s freezer, having propped the door open with a brick. She stumbles, exclaiming out loud, and in the next instant, Mason is there beside her asking if she’s alright. She’s startled, bumping into him, which tips over a bucket of pickles that moves the brick, which seals them in darkness.
SNIPPET:
Shelley heard him moving around. “Where are you?”
“Smile so I can see you.”
Shelley chuckled, unable to help herself. So like Mason to joke when there was a problem.
She heard him moving. “What are you doing?”
“Let’s pretend we’re blind, and we’ll talk with our hands.”
“We are blind. It’s dark, remember? Besides, I can’t see your hands.”
“That’s the point. We can use the braille method.”
Welcome to the Weekend Writing Warrior blog hop where writers share an 8-10 sentence snippet of their writing, published or unpublished.
Every weekend, the Weekend Writing Warriors—also known as writers—participate in a weekly hop, sharing an 8-10 sentence snippet of their writing, published or unpublished.
My snippet this week comes from Grendel’s Mother, a fantasy that was a ten-year project, and which was conceived while I was a student studying Beowulf and teaching a Women’s Studies class where we were reading and sharing books where women didn’t have a voice. A light bulb went off for me when I realized Grendel’s mother had no voice, and yet she was an important character in the medieval tale. I saw her at the beginning of the story as a teenager who had no value to her family other than how she could serve her brothers, mother, and father, and who as property being given to a much older farmer in the community to profit her father.
SNIPPET:
Raised in a household of boys, I was curious and eager to learn the other skills that swirled around me in conversation: hunting, trapping, creating goods from leather, weapons, combat, farming, livestock, and more. To my way of thinking, having knowledge was more important than perfecting the skill, especially since that knowledge was forbidden me. I should think a husband would want me to have those skills, allowing me to be a true helpmate. Though, I imagine da would box my ears if he ever heard me expressing that idea aloud. He believes women are only good for three things: rutting, birthing sons, and putting food on the table, and not necessarily in that order.
With the swoop of one devastating event followed by another delivered unexpectedly and swiftly, however, everything changed.
Now, I am the seasons: Nature and I are one.
BLURB ———————————————————————————————-
Late 5th century, early 6th century, Denmark
A 15-year-old girl, the only girl in a large family of boys, dreams of freedom and marrying her secret first love, a young farmer. Up until now, her life has been one of servitude. She cherishes those moments when she’s alone in the woods, those few times she gets to see him in mere moments.
She fights her father in his decision that she wed an older widower with young children. Then, a horrific event changes her life forever. Pregnant and discarded, having brought shame to her family and community, she is sacrificed to the dragon to die. But the dragon saves her, instead. It is their secret.
Taken from the pages of Beowulf, this historical and fantasy medieval tale gives voices to a woman’s journey of societal injustice and her love of Nature that enables her to survive in the wild alone, where she gives birth and raises her child—deemed a monster—entirely on her own. That child is Grendel, and she is Grendel’s mother.
Not only does she battle Grendel to keep him safe, but she must battle Beowulf, the soldier here to kill her son, as well.
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Patty is a good friend and we recently spent a weekend together at a write-in she organized. I was finishing the first draft to the second novella in my Laurel Ridge romance novella series. As a result, because she was looking for a guest for her blog, she liked the idea of my talking about the genesis of the series, which includes already having all seven titles and their covers completed.
Guest Author: Diana Stout and Shattered Dreams
Available now in LARGE PRINT, along with the traditional size, and as an eBook.
Years ago, when the Internet was relatively new, I formed a group of screenwriters, called Scribelink. It was popular with lots of good quality sharing of information. I made a lot of screenwriter friends because of that group. Many who are still friends today.
Because I miss that camaraderie, I’ve formed a Facebook group for all genres, of all levels, called “Writing Secrets, Myths & Truth with Diana Stout.” While there are many writers groups out there today, I find that many are narrowed by genre or writing element, like self-publishing. I want an all-inclusive group, as we can all learn from each other and from different genres. I learned a lot of writing novels using screenwriting techniques.
Writing Secrets… is a closed group, meaning you have to make the request to join and answer a few easy questions, but no one can see the posts unless they are a member.
Come ask your questions, share your expertise, and join this fun group of people, who share your love of writing.
Because I’m repeatedly asked to recommend books for writers, here is the start of my list. Some of these are older books, but they stand the test of time. I can’t get rid of them because I refer back to them from time-to-time. I use them to teach from. Plus, it would take forever to remove all the Post-Its that mark important pages!
More to be added . . .
https://sharpenedpencilsproductions.com/index.php/recommended-books/
Check out my Behind the Scenes blog, “As a Writer Should I Blog? What Should I Write?”
While directed toward writers, the content is applicable to anyone who is thinking about a writing a blog.
Also, did you know that 300 blogs a year are turned into books? According to the book, How to Blog a Book, it’s true!