Welcome to WIPpet Wednesday! I hope you’re all happy and well. 🙂 I’m OK except my husband has given me a cold – isn’t that nice of him? – and I seem to have it worse than he did. :-S
Anyway I’m not exactly at death’s door and since I’m currently not working – in between jobs, but I am looking for another one, honest! – I’ve had plenty of time to be working on editing Reunion of the Heart.
And all I can say is ‘I get it!’ I finally get what other authors mean when they say they’re so into their stories, it’s all they can think about and the characters are so real to them! I’m rewriting many of the scenes between my two main protagonists, making it more romantic. I’m enjoying it so much! 😀
My characters are really coming alive; it’s a cliche but it’s true. I’m thinking about them a lot, especially the two MCs and imagining exactly what they look like.
As I said I’m rewriting a lot of the scenes between my MC and the guy she ends up with – I’m also cutting scenes and adding them. So it’s not simply editing, it’s rewriting whole passages!! But yes I’m really enjoying it and – because I’m quite slow at all this – I hope to publish Reunion of the Heart by the autumn at the latest.
It partly depends on work; if I get another job soon, if I have time to work on my writing without being too tired etc. So we’ll see. But at the moment I’m making the most of the time I’ve got to spend on my writing.
So on to today’s scene. I may have shared part of this scene in its old version before. For today’s date, I’m giving you 14 lines . To give you an idea of what’s going on: my MC Anna is at a party her two friends from her school days have thrown to celebrate the opening of a new shop of theirs. Anna knows that the guy who bullied her at school, Will, is going to be there, but she’s decided to go anyway. This is when they see each other there:
‘So we meet again,’ a voice said in her ear.
Anna turned around. It was Will. As she looked up at him, she was struck again by how tall he was and his looks were certainly arresting. He was dressed simply yet smartly in black trousers and a deep blue shirt. His clothes accentuated his figure in all the right places. Annoyed with herself for thinking like this, she saw that he was smiling at her.
‘I’m here with Melissa,’ she found herself saying. ‘She said you’d be coming with Cathy.’ She shut her mouth as if to stop it from saying anything else without her volition.
‘So you knew I was coming, but you came anyway?’ Will was looking directly at her, his expression serious but his lips curving upwards slightly in a half smile. Anna didn’t reply for a moment, feeling her stomach fluttering incomprehensibly.
‘Um… well… yes,’ she said finally.
You too can take part in the wonderful weirdness that is WIPpet Wednesday by posting on your blog anything you’ve been working on writing-wise lately. Then put your details here. Oh, I should add that your offering needs to relate in some way to the date.
Thank you K. L. Schwengel, Queen of the Flying Monkeys, for being our gracious hostess. 😉
Elaine Jeremiah 
Hooray for falling in love with your characters, and being consumed by them…hopefully, the between jobs-times will be filled with that feeling!
You’ve captured the emotions beautifully here!
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Hooray indeed! I’m so loving writing this story; it’s making me really happy!! Kind of feeling that I don’t work to take me away from all this, but of course more money would be nice…
Glad you appreciate the scene.
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What a fun time…getting elbows deep in your characters and hammering your tale into something even better and more glorious! 🙂 Have fun.
This is a great excerpt. It really gives a good feel of the emotions Anna is having to deal with. I’m not sure if the “So you knew I was coming, and you came anyway.” is surprise or cockiness…I’m going with a mixture of the two.
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Yes I’m having lots of fun thanks Kathi. Glad you like the excerpt; I guess with Will’s line that you mention, I meant for him to be teasing Anna because he knows that she wants to avoid him… so I guess he is kind of being a bit cocky. But actually thinking about it, there could be a little bit of surprise mixed in. 🙂
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I’m in the midst of the same process! I’m cutting and adding and rearranging and rewriting some sections. It’s brutal, but I’m enjoying it. It is fun to be completely immersed in the story again. 🙂
Great excerpt. I like how Will sounds as though he’s mocking Anna a little. I mean, I don’t like that he’s mocking her, but it’s well-written. LOL!
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Oh it’s definitely brutal but definitely fun! 😉
Will is… mostly teasing Anna at this point really because he knows that she wants to avoid him. But there could be a little bit of mockery in there as well. It’s at this point that she begins to learn that he isn’t quite as much of a bastard as she thought…
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I love that feeling but sometimes it gets annoying–like when trying to work on something else that is necessary for life.
Great excerpt! I love all the emotions going through Anna.
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I know but right now I’m in the throes of ‘I just want to write or blog about writing’!! I was singing my own version of Sheryl Crow’s ‘All I wanna do’ to my husband: ‘All I wanna do is write my book and get some bloggers to take a look…’ Yes, I know it’s VERY UNCOOL… (Hubby’s response? ‘Get on with it then!’)
Anyway glad you enjoyed the excerpt. There are a lot of emotions going through Anna at this point. In fact she’s full of conflicting emotions right through most of the book. 🙂
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So glad you love your characters!!!
Oh Anna! I’m sure you’re wondering as I wonder whether to punch Will in the throat or be intrigued by him.
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I do love them, that’s for sure!! Punch him in the throat? Not quite but she’s not pleased to see him, although she obviously knew he’d be there. Will gets better as the evening progresses…
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Hmm… I’m not sure whether to tsk-tsk at Anna or Will, here. Isn’t Will the ex? (If I’m remembering incorrectly, please forgive me.) If so, is Anna there to see him again, or just because she wanted to be there and decided not to think overmuch of Will’s potential presence?
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No Will’s not the ex. Though he did bully her when they were at school, so he’s not exactly high on her list of people she wants to be with!!
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Oh, I must really have gotten mixed up, then. Sorry. 😦
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No worries, you could be forgiven for thinking that. There is a bit of a love triangle going on, although not with Anna’s ex. 🙂
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Elaine! I love the emotion in this scene. I was hooked with the first line. I like the way Will comes across, kind of sexy and over-confident. Nice work! 🙂
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HI Chloe! So glad you like what I’ve written. Yes, Will is sexy and over-confident; you’ve described him perfectly!
It’s always interesting to get people’s different views on what I’ve written. Everyone always says something different, even if only slightly. 🙂
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I like it! You do flirty so well. 🙂 I’m glad rewriting is enjoyable to you. It can be a daunting task!
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Aw thanks Alana, glad you think so. 🙂 Yes rewriting can be a daunting task, but having read what my beta readers had to say about my novel, I felt it was necessary in some parts to just rewrite them. How’s your writing coming along?
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I can sense a bit of the change in your perception of your characters here, Elaine. They feel more real to you, and thus, they feel more real to us too.
Anna and Will are going to have a very complex relationship throughout this book, aren’t they? Good thing… It keeps the story interesting. 😀
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Ah thank you Eden, it means a lot to hear you say that. They are a lot more real to me since I started going back and altering scenes.
You’re very perceptive about Anna and Will. And that’s all I’ll say! 😉
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Sometimes not having a job is an advantage, isn’t it? *g* Just can’t go on too long …
Nice excerpt. You do a great job of getting the interpersonal complications across here
Hope your characters continue to invade your days and your nights! 🙂
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Yes there are definite advantages to not having a job lol! Glad you appreciated the excerpt. Yes, my characters are letting me know they’re there (in my head!!). 🙂
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So glad you are enjoying your time with your characters. Big props to Anna for going to this event. If it had been me… Nope! But, choices like that are what make her a MC of a novel! 🙂
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Yeah I don’t get on very well in large gatherings either. But like you say it does make for an interesting experience for my MC. 🙂
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Take your time creating your piece of art ! I have just finished my first Urban Erotica Novel and it took me over 4 years to complete it. Although it is published, I am still working on more revisions and mastering the format of getting it published as an e – book. With that being said, being an author is such an exhilarating feeling and it is indeed fun. It’s not cliche at all to be wrapped up in your characters it just means that your story is so good that you have began to believe it! Everything that you have expressed about how you feel, is exactly how I felt from the moment that I reached the middle of my book all the way until the end. Now that I am done with the first one, I am ready to write a sequel. Ride what I like to call the ‘Writers Wave’ and enjoy it! I will be following you my dear, looking forward to reading more posts about your journey. Please return the follow ♡! Maybe you will like my ghetto murder love story, as you truly understand the strength and the consistency that it takes to start and complete a book.
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Hi there! Thanks for your lovely comment. I will certainly follow you back! I think you’re so right about my story – I need to take my time with it. Yesterday I finished my initial edit. Now I’m going back through the story from the beginning… and I’m seeing lots of ways I need to improve it, particularly paying attention to the things that the beta readers flagged up that I didn’t get around to amending!
Thanks as well for telling me about your book – seems like we’re on the same wavelength. 🙂
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I am glad that I can help Eliane. Everyone needs a bit of encouragement, sometime. Writing is definitely a process. Hopefully we can lean on each other for encouragement when we need it. With that being said, I will be starting on the sequel pretty soon, and and once again I will be right back where I began. Page 1. Lol
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Absolutely! Best of luck with your book. 🙂
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Getting to know our characters and falling in love with them is one of the best bits of writing! 😀 Brilliant WIPpet.
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Ah thank you very much. Yes, I’m definitely falling for Anna and Will! 😀
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