Weblog of Romantic Intrigue Novelist Lynde Lakes.

Novel Excerpts

2012-04-25T22:08:00-05:00

To my readers and sister & brother writers Visit Lynde at Face Book or www.lynde.com Twelve NEW releases Available! Enjoy. Excerpts on my website and Here is one that was just released SILENT CYMBALS.

Excerpt:

With Egyptian music blaring from the stage outside René’s dressing- room door, Rusti sat before the mirror, adjusting her black wig with trembling hands. God, it really does make me look exactly like René. Even Mike, the club manager, hadn’t noticed the switch. But will my dancing give me away?

She shook her head at the mocking image in the mirror. How could Rusti Collins, kindergarten teacher, dance half-naked before a roomful of men? She glanced anxiously at the clock. Five minutes more and you’re on, she told herself—and you can do this! For René.

“It’s an emergency,” René had said, “or I wouldn’t ask.”

And how could she refuse? Her twin was everything she’d hoped for in a sister, affectionate, thoughtful, kind. After that first guarded moment at the threshold of Jerry’s office, they had walked so easily into one another’s arms. Into one another’s lives. It was almost as though half of her had been missing. And now she was whole.

She’d worked hard to overlook their different values. She hated to

admit it, even to herself, but she still cringed every time she thought of her

sister weaving her scantily clad way among the club’s clientele. Some of the men even touched her—although it was forbidden. Now here she was taking René’s place. Well, it was just for one night. And she was proud of the way she could undulate her hips and manipulate her little brass finger cymbals, known in the trade as zills.

Still, she had no intensions of teasing the customers the way René did. She wouldn’t even acknowledge their presence.

Rusti took a deep breath; the band played a series of runs that ended with a flourish. That was her cue. With clashing zills and pirouette leaps she charged into room, staring over the heads of the dinner-show crowd, a stage smile frozen on her face. She might be reluctant, but she knew the program and was soon responding to the band’s torrid Egyptian beat, executing the routine with all her practiced agility and grace.

But the crowd wanted more. Mike, the club owner, saw she wasn’t teasing them with the kind of overt come-on her sister, billed as Majai, made them beg for. He gave her a signal she didn’t understand. She darted him a questioning look.

“What’s the matter with you?” he mouthed.

Rusti moved in closer to the tables. She smiled brilliantly and

executed a difficult side-crescent movement, tapping her little brass zills in

rapid-fire repetition. This brought a roar of appreciation, and Mike waved her an okay sign and disappeared. In spite of herself, Rusti felt a thrill surging through her. She added a more complicated quickstep maneuver, and again the applause was deafening. If this was all it took to please them, she could manage just fine. She repeated the routine, weaving her way among the tables—closer than she’d intended. But after all, she didn’t want to tip her hand. She was supposed to be René.

Responding to the fervid rhythms of the band, Rusti approached a center table and did an upward stomach roll. Her silver-sequined bra and hip-hugging belt caught the myriad colors of the room and reflected them back in the flickering candlelight. Wispy red veiling floated around her ankles in a breeze of perpetual motion. The sound of her clashing cymbals pierced the air.

As she retraced her steps with a series of reverse hip-drops, she felt the thing she’d most dreaded. She dared not look down, but the sensation of warm fingers lightly touching her bare midriff sent blood rushing to her face. Before she could react, the groping fingers tucked something hard into her spangled belt. She slapped at the hand with her cymbals, then jerked away and glared down into two of the bluest and most amused eyes she’d ever seen.

“You’re great tonight, Majai,” the blue-eyed man said, grinning up at her.

“And you’re out of line.”

His blue eyes lingered on her. “Been told that before.”

His companion laughed, coarsely.

Rusti retreated a step. There was a sudden pop.

The man who’d touched her winced and grasped his left shoulder. “Majai get down!” he shouted.

A second muted pop followed the first and the man who’d laughed so coarsely slumped over, his head tilting loosely to one side. Blood ran from a hole in his temple. At the sound of a third pop, a rush of cold air whizzed past Rusti’s ear. Stiff with fear and shock, she stood immobile in the middle of the room as everyone around her dashed wildly for cover. Dissonant chords twanged as the musicians dropped their instruments and fled.

Mike and the injured man reached her almost simultaneously and—

1/11/2012 Intrigue-suspense-thriller Author: J Today, I’m sharing excerpts tangled with romance, intrigue and page-turning action. Excerpts follow the blurbs.

Evernight Books: Evernight.com New hot off the press release! MURDER IN THE CLEAR ZONE.

Hot, Hard-bodied Relocation Agent Bard Nichols is merely

tryng to do his job. But once he clashes with the fiery-haired Bird Lady, a mysterious young widow and orphan with a questionable past, he is irrevocably drawn into the deadliest skirmish of his life--a world of intrigue and undeniable steamy passion—a world of Janus-faced enemies. And now that his life in on the line, the Bird Lady seems to have switched sides, changed personalities and joined his rival.

MURDER IN THE CLEAR ZONE (excerpt) Lynde Lakes

PROLOGUE

California 1986

Charlie’s heart pounded wildly as he ran through the darkness. The sounds of labored breathing and thunder of half a dozen booted feet pursued close behind. The bastards had silencers on their guns. When a bullet tore into his thigh, he bit his lip to keep from crying out. Blood trickled down his leg, draining his strength. The gang of thieving, murderous scum wouldn’t stop until he was dead. Dying, he could handle. But not abandoning Paula to face these killers alone

Less than half a mile to the north, across the stretch of vacant land, twinkled the scattered dim glow of streetlights in the South Tippecanoe housing tract where she slept. Gravel crunched behind him. Breath burned in his lungs. He stumbled over tumbleweeds and large stones. His left foot felt numb. Instinct, self-preservation, and the need to protect Paula urged him on. As an orphan, he learned to think on his feet. If he couldn’t fight his way out of a tight spot, he’d deal his way out. But he wouldn’t deal with these evil bastards.

He ran parallel to the dry riverbed and left behind the housing area and the blue blinking lights of the Norton runway. He swallowed cool night air in agonizing gulps. A bullet whizzed past his head.

He leap

Excerpts and you.

2012-08-22T22:13:00-05:00

Excerpts:To my readers and sister & brother writers Visit Lynde at Face Book or www.lynde.com Twelve new releases since the end of December through July 2012 and more coming soon. Enjoy.

1/11/2012 Intrigue-suspense-thriller Author: Today, I’m sharing excerpts tangled with romance, intrigue and page-turning action. Excerpts follow the blurbs.

Evernight Books: Evernight.com New hot off the press release! MURDER IN THE CLEAR ZONE

Hot, Hard-bodied Relocation Agent Bard Nichols is merely

tryng to do his job. But once he clashes with the fiery-haired Bird Lady, a mysterious young widow and orphan with a questionable past, he is irrevocably drawn into the deadliest skirmish of his life--a world of intrigue and undeniable steamy passion—a world of Janus-faced enemies. And now that his life in on the line, the Bird Lady seems to have switched sides, changed personalities and joined his rival.

MURDER IN THE CLEAR ZONE (excerpt) Lynde Lakes

PROLOGUE

California 1986

Charlie’s heart pounded wildly as he ran through the darkness. The sounds of labored breathing and thunder of half a dozen booted feet pursued close behind. The bastards had silencers on their guns. When a bullet tore into his thigh, he bit his lip to keep from crying out. Blood trickled down his leg, draining his strength. The gang of thieving, murderous scum wouldn’t stop until he was dead. Dying, he could handle. But not abandoning Paula to face these killers alone

Less than half a mile to the north, across the stretch of vacant land, twinkled the scattered dim glow of streetlights in the South Tippecanoe housing tract where she slept. Gravel crunched behind him. Breath burned in his lungs. He stumbled over tumbleweeds and large stones. His left foot felt numb. Instinct, self-preservation, and the need to protect Paula urged him on. As an orphan, he learned to think on his feet. If he couldn’t fight his way out of a tight spot, he’d deal his way out. But he wouldn’t deal with these evil bastards.

He ran parallel to the dry riverbed and left behind the housing area and the blue blinking lights of the Norton runway. He swallowed cool night air in agonizing gulps. A bullet whizzed past his head.

He leapt into the dry wash, about a six-foot drop, and came down hard. The crunch echoed through the night. His bleeding, torn leg gave way and propelled him forward. His temple smashed against a rock. Pain seared through him. He clamped his jaw tight to avoid crying out. He staggered to his feet. Ignoring the blood streaming down the side of his face, he scrambled on.

He couldn’t focus his eyes. The silvery moon blurred and eclipsed. He staggered on squinting, blinking.

Shouted curses and heavy thuds of boots landing on rocks echoed behind him. Damn. They’d followed him into the wash.

He kept going. The dry riverbed, roughened by more scrub brush and boulders the size of a VW bug, snaked along, cut aimlessly by past floods. Something small scurried across in front of him.

Ahead, the wash curved and split.

Blood ran from his temple into his eyes. He lurched forward. Keep going. Keep going. I have to get to Paula…have to warn her. At the divide, he veered left—the “boots” went right.

I have a chance!

His head swam. Blood soaked his jeans. His legs buckled. He dropped to his knees onto the rugged stones. With the last of his diminishing strength, he crawled behind a boulder. The rock bed cut into his back. He’d ditched the men who wanted to kill him. But they’d get the last laugh. He could only lie here under the fuzzy glow of moonlight while his blood seeped away like water from a punctured canteen.

He took in a gulp of air pungent with blood and stinking scrub brush.

Paula...what have I done?

He heard a crunch and looked up. The man standing over him blocked out the blurry moon. He heard the pop of the silencer. An instant later the bullet tore into his chest and exploded in his heart.

****

Note: VIRGIN WOLF III. VW III Is being reviewed by a publisher. It investigates the turmoil and chilling danger when too many lusting werewolves get into the action. Especially when the evil one wants bloody revenge.

VIRGIN WOLF I. Happy reading!

ISBN: 978-1-936279-41-8 Available in Print & E-book format. VIRGIN WOLF I—Mt. Baldy, California. Angela Ward, a Gemini virgin, hates controlling men, especially in their wolfish form. When she meets the gorgeous Alpha werewolf Damon Lamont III, she fights falling under his spell. Her equally controlling wolf-counterpart, however, sees this handsome Alpha’s attempt at control and fiery passion as a delicious challenge, forcing Angela to make an exception. Angela knows she’s courting danger by falling prey to her feral desires with a man who may be the hairy beast tearing out the throats of innocent young women in her community.

See OTHER excepts at: www.lyndelakes.com

Evernight Publisher Intrigue novel to be released later this month.

POINTING Leaf-by Lynde Lakes.

In her wildest dreams, Toni, city-girl detective, never imagined she would seriously consider the proposal of a muscled, tattooed sheep rancher, with a rope of hair to his waist, dressed in a loin cloth and feathers. Rad knew the moment he spied this knockout petite trespasser and she pointed the tip of the ritual-leaf at his heart, that she came in war. The war turns deadly when an old enemy vows to destroy then kill Rad.

Also Check out AMIRA PRESS for new release!

VIRGIN WOLF II, MELLIZO WOLVES. DOUBLE THE PASSION DOUBLE THE DANGER. ISBN: 978-1-936279-1

By Lynde Lakes

Victoria wondered if Rick knew she was a werewolf, would he still calmly sit there on his Harley Road King, revving his motor. And would he still insist that she climb nude onto his bike and wrap her chilled flesh around his hot bod?

Rick never imagined that being a knight on a shiny Harley with a natural tendency to help anyone in distress would turn his life upside down, make him believe the unbelievable, all while fighting a fiery desire that, in spite of the gorgeous she-wolf constantly thrusting herself at him, he must repeatedly reject—in spite of the fact that her passion is like none he’d ever even dared to dream of. When lust turns to love, the balance tips, but will his Indian sense of honor and his promise to her father keep them apart? Or can he play the waiting game and have it all? He fears with all that burning passion and raging hormones she might not wait. He was taking a big chance...

Angela, now a protective mother, trembled. If she accepted the wily psychic’s prophesy, her fear wasn’t merely the haunting dregs from the past, but a new and more indestructible evil.

Excerpt: Afternoon darkness wrapped a malevolent mist around the towers of the historic mansion nestled below Mt. Baldy. Angela Ward-L

EXCERPTS & NEWS

2012-03-25T01:35:00-05:00

Hello All: Visit Lynde at Face Book or www.lynde.com

EVERNIGHT CONTRACTS: STATUS
1. MURDER IN THE CLEAR ZONE 1-978-1-927368-28-2 RELEASED 12-21-2011
2. POINTING LEAF ISBN 1-978-927368-55-8 RELEASED. 2-20-2012
3. PRIMITIVE FLAME 1-978-927368-67-1 RELEASED 3-8-2012
4. STAR FALLEN LOVER RELEASE Date: 3-29-2012
5. SILENT CYMBALS EDITING & cover done. RELEASE DATE 4-23-2012
6. SET UP FOR LOVE. Projected Release. June 2012
7. DEADLY REUNION Projected Release June 2012
9. MIDNIGHT DESTINY (novella) Projected Release June 2012

NOW FOR THE EXCERPTS!!!

? Today, I’m sharing excerpts tangled with romance, intrigue and page-turning action. See excerpt of COWBOY LIES for sure. Check-out the following Amira Press Books. Excerpts follow the blurbs.

12/13/2011 Check out AMIRA PRESS for new release!

VIRGIN WOLF II, MELLIZO WOLVES. DOUBLE THE PASSION DOUBLE THE DANGER. ISBN: 978-1-936279-1

By Lynde Lakes

Victoria wondered if Rick knew she was a werewolf, would he still calmly sit there on his Harley Road King, revving his motor. And would he still insist that she climb nude onto his bike and wrap her chilled flesh around his hot bod?

Rick never imagined that being a knight on a shiny Harley with a natural tendency to help anyone in distress would turn his life upside down, make him believe the unbelievable, all while fighting a fiery desire that, in spite of the gorgeous she-wolf constantly thrusting herself at him, he must repeatedly reject—in spite of the fact that her passion is like none he’d ever even dared to dream of. When lust turns to love, the balance tips, but will his Indian sense of honor and his promise to her father keep them apart? Or can he play the waiting game and have it all? He fears with all that burning passion and raging hormones she might not wait. He was taking a big chance...

Angela, now a protective mother, trembled. If she accepted the wily psychic’s prophesy, her fear wasn’t merely the haunting dregs from the past, but a new and more indestructible evil.

Excerpt: Afternoon darkness wrapped a malevolent mist around the towers of the historic mansion nestled below Mt. Baldy. Angela Ward-Lamont had barely stepped into the foyer and heard the latch click before the December storm broke. Thunder echoed around her and reverberated through the drafty rooms, sending tremors through her. She looked around the unsettling sanctuary she now shared with her new husband, Damon. Another tremor slid down her back as an icy essence drifted over her. She felt like Little Red Riding Hood who, after escaping a fierce storm, found herself in the wolf’s den. Yet, more frightening than her daunting surroundings were the Lamont family’s undying secrets. What if within this mansion, with its soaring towers, there were dark, undiscovered rooms and twisting tunnels? The prickling hairs at the back of her neck warned that lurking within the darkness behind the walls were dusty dregs of evil. Although Reeves was dead and his ashes scattered behind the mansion, she had an eerie sense of his presence. A log shifted in the fireplace. She jumped and looked around, expecting someone or something to be there, but she was alone. A shadow shifted…

Note: VIRGIN WOLF III. VW III Is be reviewed by publisher. It investigates the turmoil and chilling danger when too many lusting werewolves get into the action.

Especially when the evil one wants bloody revenge.

VIRGIN WOLF I. Happy reading!

ISBN: 978-1-936279-41-8 Available in Print & E-book format. VIRGIN WOLF I—Mt. Baldy, California. Angela Ward, a Gemini virgin, hates controlling men, especially in their wolfish form. When she meets the gorgeous Alpha werewolf Damon Lamont III, she fights falling under his spell. Her equally controlling wolf-counterpart, however, sees this handsome Alpha’s attempt at control and fiery passion as a delicious challenge, forcing Angela to make an exception. Angela knows she’s courting danger by falling prey to her feral desires with a man who may be the hairy beast tearing out the throats of innocent young women in her community.

VIRGIN WOLF I By Lynde Lakes (Book I of a trilogy)

Excerpt, VIRGIN WOLF--The outside stormy weather’s was like sandpaper on Angela Ward’s nerves. Usually adept at keeping her emotions in check, she paced the bedroom, lit only by dim, shadow-inducing evening lamplight, and fought the edginess that gripped her. Was more bad news brewing in the storm? She paused at the window and stared out through the pelting raindrops toward the imposing mansion nestled below Mt. Baldy. Although she saw little more than a foggy grayness and a hint of a hazy light, its fascination had never been stronger than now. A clap of thunder broke nearby. She shivered and rubbed her arms as a bolt of lightning arced and illuminated the stone fortress and its magnificent towers. She suspected that those towers, soaring skyward, contributed heavily to the eerie

quality that provided the locals with a vivid, intriguing mysterious citadel to stir

their wild conjectures.

Few, if any, had ever seen the original owner or his grandson, but longtime community residents claimed both were quite mad. Some speculated that the grandson had killed a sister and the grandfather and now lived there alone with a gimpy, hunchback servant. In her youth, Angela had fanned the flames among her friends with her ghost stories about the evil-looking place and its enigmatic occupants. Although strangely drawn to the place, she had never ventured up there. Folks in the rumor-mill claimed that those who did vanished.

***

Please don’t forget DEADLY INFLUENCE set in Redlands, California. Print & E-book. E-book ISBN 978-1-936-279-05-0

Print Book ISBN 978-1-936-279-06-7

Sparks fly when Air Force Intelligence Lieutenant Jay Corning, is tackled by Lisa Dixson, the female version of “The Bodyguard.” As they spar, the escalating danger closes in from the dark corners of the small community, stirring fears & steamy emotions.

Excerpt, DEADLY INFLUENCE

By LYNDE LAKES

PROLOGUE

California. The leisurely lunch and shopping trip to Los Angeles with her nephew’s wife, Shirley, had failed to ward off Meta Corning’s uneasiness about the frightening after midnight phone calls. The eighty-year-old matriarch of the Corning Estate clung tighter to Shirley’s arm as they approached the crowded Broadway crosswalk. When the pedestrian sign clicked to halt, Shirley pulled away and dug in her purse for something. Meta shivered at the loss of contact. Last night the caller had said, “Death would come swiftly.”

Meta closed her eyes, searching for a calm place. Although Shirley’s

Blog News-April 2012 Releases

2012-03-25T22:26:00-05:00

MAY 2012 UPDATE ON NEW RELEASES:

EVERNIGHT CONTRACTS: STATUS
1. MURDER IN THE CLEAR ZONE 1-978-1-927368-28-2 RELEASED 12/21/2011
2. POINTING LEAF ISBN 1-978-927368-55-8 RELEASED. 2/20/2012
3. PRIMITIVE FLAME 1-978-927368-67-1 RELEASED 3/8/2012
4. STAR FALLEN LOVER 978-1-927368-86-2 RELEASED 3/29/2012
5. SILENT CYMBALS ISBN: 978-1-77130-006-3 RELEASED 4/23/2012
6. RUSSIAN CONNECTION 978-1-927368-86-2 Will be RELEASED 5-09-2012
7. SET UP FOR LOVE. Release Date May 23-2012
8. DEADLY REUNION Projected Release June 2012
9. MIDNIGHT DESTINY (novella) Projected Release June 2012

10. WILD ROSE PRESS
BILLBOARD COP. NO RELEASE DATE.

SOTICE PUBLISHING VIRGIN WOLF III NO RELEASE DATE.

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AFTER TYPING THE END

2011-08-18T05:31:00-05:00

After Typing “The End”

By Lynde Lakes

Start with careful “read through” of your hard copy with pen in hand. Break the manuscript down and evaluate its parts one at a time, using a fresh and critical eye.

First read--Examine structure. Does your first line and first scene sweep the reader into the story. Is every scene necessary? Exciting? Each scene must move the tale along, building progressively from beginning to the end. Eliminate any scenes, actions or information that could be eliminated or combined with out damaging continuity. This is the time to catch it. Check the action and pacing for a logical flow from scene to scene. Weed out awkward scene transitions or confusing flashbacks. Ground the time element and establish a consistent viewpoint. Lastly for this step, evaluate the conclusion for believability and make certain all loose ends are resolved.

Second read through is for character evaluation. Check each character for believability and motivation for actions. Review names, voices, grammar and knowledge suitable for the time and place of the story. Confirm viewpoints for consistency and voice. Aseure actions, words, habits, and abilities portray their each characters background. Search for characters to eliminate or combine to keep story free of “extras” who aren’t necessary.

Third read through is for grammar and punctuation. Watch out for common problems such as: spelling that the spell-check missed, typos, quotation marks, commas, colons, semicolons, dashes, and ellipses. Read dialogue out loud. Improve awkward or uncharacteristic speech. Look for long paragraphs and sentences that need further breaking up. Watch for brevity, clarity and energy. Alternate sentence patterns to keep the readers attention. Stay in the active voice as much as possible.

The fourth read through is to evaluate your writing style and question every word you’ve written. Look for dull word choices, clichés, common phrasing, missed opportunities for sensory appeals (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch), awkward or too unusual word choices or phrases, lackluster description, over description (purple prose), wordiness, redundancies, qualifiers, weak verbs, and improperly used or too much jargon.

The final read through comes after you’ve set the story aside for a week or so to put distance between you and the work. Don’t rush. Examine everything. Check for flow, consistency, tone and vitality. A thorough job makes a stronger story. If you are happy with your manuscript at this point, find a publisher who will love it as much as you do. Good Luck. Lynde Lakes

Author of VIRGIN WOLF I & II

CHECK WEBSITE FOR OTHER NOVELS

INCLUDING COWBOY LIES

www.lyndelakes.com

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HEART OF YOUR CHARACTER

2011-01-09T05:31:00-05:00

Getting To The Heart of Your Characters

Before beginning writing I need to explore my main characters’ personality and why they deserve to have a book written about them. Perhaps they’re struggling to find themselves and how they fit into their complicated world. Since I believe that love is the energy that makes the world spin, I try to find two characters who—while complete alone—would be much better if they joined their strengths with another. In order to pursue this, I must know how my characters will behave under stress. At this point, I delve into the evil character in the mix and his motives. I also consider the victim or victims and their motives.

Within that framework, I let the character tell me how he/she will behave in an impossible situation, when confronted by a forbidden love? Or some other equally hopeless scenario. The key is to write down a list of possible reactions and figure out, with the characters’ background, goals and desires, how he/she will react. Some people reveal high emotions with little provocation. Others, with deeply buried emotions, may only reveal a twitching muscle. It helps to show a character’s core at every opportunity, and if he/she steps outside of their normal behaviors divulge a strong reason.

In my novel VIRGIN WOLF. ISBN: 978-1-936279-41-8, I pitted two dominant characters against each other and against their dark and unfortunate heritages. Their only salvation in this dangerous situation was to work together.

VIRGIN WOLF--Angela Ward, a Gemini virgin, hates controlling men, especially in their wolfish form. When she meets the gorgeous Alpha werewolf Damon Lamont III, she fights falling under his spell. Her equally controlling wolf-counterpart, however, sees this handsome Alpha’s attempt at control and fiery passion as a delicious challenge, forcing Angela to make an exception. Angela knows she’s courting danger by falling prey to her feral desires with a man who may be the hairy beast tearing out the throats of innocent young women in her community.

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ZERO IN ON PLOT

2010-10-17T05:31:00-05:00

ZERO IN ON PLOT

The first page and the last page of a novel are two crucial elements that can make or break a book. So let’s talk first about the first page and the set up of that extremely important beginning. I’ll break it down in its simplest form. I like memory cues so I’ll use CAE, POV & Setting.

CAE=Conflict, Action and Emotion.

POV= The character or individual telling the story.

Setting= World building. Actually, the setting becomes a character of the book.

It is a delightful challenge to get the CAE, the POV and the setting all on the first page. But it is crucial that you do. I would love to do a workshop where we only work on getting those things down. I think it would be fun and the results would surprise and delight you.

If we do it right, plotting the entire novel, although a complex task, becomes manageable. With a good strong start we can more easily lead the reader into the story and keep them turning the pages. We want a carefully crafted plotline interwoven with clever and believable characterization, tightly written dialogue with sufficient action. Having said that, I’ll be the first to admit it is a tremendous challenge. I’m still working on how to make this journey memorable to my readers. I think it boils down to the authors’ ability to surprise themselves.

The whole first page becomes what some call a hook or crucial inciting incident. Remember it’s important to throw your reader into the thick of things with a serious predicament that looks unsolvable. Your reader is drawn into the story, wanting to know how the protagonists got into this mess and how they will dig and claw themselves out.

POV and character go together which means we add one more thing to the mix—a taste of the character we will be dealing with for the next 300 or so pages.

Middle--Great stories are about interesting, likeable people facing extraordinary situations. Heroes are never perfect. Actually, their fatal flaw makes them memorable and if you’re lucky, endearing.

We show the characters’ strengths, weaknesses and personality through their actions and dialogue. This tells us more about our character than a sleep-inducing chunk of narrative.

Villains should have their own charm and be as strong and clever as the hero or heroine, or when they are defeated it won’t be exceptional and make your reader care about what happens to the hero.

As you work your way through the middle, and it’s necessary subplots, you must step up the tension and throw in unexpected twists and turns that leave no doubt to the impossible odds facing your protagonists. These changes force the characters to act upon the new situation. Each time one problem is solved, throw in another to impede your characters. Each hurdle jumped must become more of a challenge, building to the climatic scene and the equally important last page.

The last page

This is the page the reader has stuck with you through the entire novel to read. It cannot be anything but a work of art. You must spend as much time on the first and last page as you do on a whole chapter and think it through just a carefully. Have you proven the premise of your story? You know the hero defeats the bad guy, the girl gets her man, and they live happily ever after. But remember, you can’t avoid the believable build-up to this final great face-off and closing scene without explaining why what happens on the page is a necessary step for your characters to take. If you fail to lay the foundation, you can leave your reader feeling cheated, and make your story seem contrived.

By the way, contrived is a favorite word of some editors. Try to avoid having it used to reject your work. One way to do this is to set up your obstacles so there is no other way this story could end based upon the events that led your reader to that work of art—the last page.

Hey, isn’t this writing stuff fun? Okay get busy and write, write, write…. Aloha, Lynde

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THE MEAT OF ROMANCE

2010-09-26T05:30:00-05:00

THE MEAT OF ROMANCE

Or what is romance all about, anyway?

I think romance is about empowerment and finding the partner who’s strong enough and secure enough to admire a strong woman, yet nurturing and protective enough to realize that even a formidable woman has vulnerabilities. As the protagonists go through the story arc, fighting their fatal flaws, they learn about themselves and each other. They find that they need the skill or mental agility of the other to achieve their goal. And in an intrigue romance, this goal might be to avoid death.

In my new release, VIRGIN WOLF, Angela Ward, in her human state, is a sharp analyst for a large company who doesn’t like to be controlled, and Damon Lamont III is a dominant, controlling business executive. Both protagonists morph into dominant Alphas wolves—and both vie to lead the pack in a grueling dance of dominance.

As a human, Angela is a Gemini extrovert and Damon is an Aires recluse. For a hero and heroine who operate in such opposing poles of personality, and who both want to call the shots, it’ll take compelling reasons for them to attempt to share control and work together.

In this story, Angela is a young woman fighting to overcome recent blows to her confidence and her sense of identity—and even what she is. She wins her struggle, and becomes even more determined to empower herself in spite of the events that have left her vulnerable.

The Alpha werewolf hero senses her vulnerabilities and plans to prey on them. But he has underestimated her strength. When this virgin she-wolf matches him growl for growl and bite for bite, he admires her courage and bravery and grows protective.

Slowly his goal to conquer and control Angela changes, and he is transformed into a hero who wants to preserve her empowerment and protect her, even at the cost of his own life.

Of course, in romances, we like happy endings. Will it be enough that he’s willing to sacrifice himself? Or will she view his sacrifice as another attempt to control her destiny?

Writers, have fun empowering your protagonists…and yourselves. Hugs, Lynde

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NEW BUZZ

2010-09-26T05:30:00-05:00

9/25/2010

NEW BUZZ FROM THE

SAVVY ELECTRONIC SET

Electronic novels are the rage with college students and young professionals. Palm Pilots and hand held PCs and other similar PDA or Electronic book (E-book) reader devices have gained popularity with the population as a whole as well. Folks who never would have read an E-book straight from their desktop or laptop computer are now checking out E-books to read on their hand held devices. They do this for the sheer joy of finding different, entertaining stories that fall outside the print publisher’s box. E-books often are so action-packed and exciting that those without reader devices don''t mind reading straight from their computers.

If you’re one of those still in the dark about E-books don’t panic. Help is on the way. To buy an E-books on the Internet, you go to one of the sites, select the book or books of your choice and download to your personal computer and save somewhere convenient to read instantly on the computer or "hot sync" to a Palm Pilot or other hand held device for portable reading.

The best news is that E-books, while quality reading, are reasonably priced, and other than the basic requirement of having access to a computer, modem and Internet service to purchase the books, there is no other expense involved. A second advantage is easy, space- saving storage, a third is in humid climates such as ours there is no chance of one of your favorite stories having to be tossed because of mildew.

Local authors are getting on the bandwagon to bring you stories to enrich your life and give you hours of pleasure. If you are adventurous and savvy, go to the Internet and discover what you are missing.

Can you do it? Definitely. You are the powerful ruler of your world—a phenomenal man or woman who can benefit from the wonderful romantic stories of others who have skirted the mine field of love and came out the winner.

Here’s where to start: If you like a darker story with a complex layered plot where the hero claws his way through a difficult growth and finally finds love and wisdom try my new 2010 release VIRGIN WOLF. Aloha, Lynde

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BRAINSTORMING AND THE THROW AWAY CHARACTER

2010-06-10T05:30:00-05:00

“What?” Why in the world would anyone write in a character they plan to throw away? The reason is psychological. The writer’s brain will consider this intrusion a challenge and try to find a use for them. The writer may not be aware of the mental gyrations, but suddenly this potential-reject is interesting and becomes an important part of the novel that cannot be discarded.

The writer comes up with this person by brainstorming. What kind of character might the hero or heroine find especially irritating and perhaps even dangerous?

The writer has done their character chart, and as they flesh out the problems and background of the H/H, they gain the ability to brainstorm what kind of individual will complicate things simply by their presence in the story.

Some main characters who are interesting opposing matches might be: A nun and a convict, a lawyer and a murderer, a rancher and a Hollywood star, a baseball player and a woman who hates sports, or a league owner, a detective who hates reporters and a reporter, or a ranch owner and a woman who likes town living, a preacher and a prostitute, a vampire and a doctor, a werewolf and a detective who wants to prove werewolves don’t exist.

Say the story is about a werewolf who has lived many lives and has a very old soul and a rockin’ hard body, and a detective who, although she admires a hard body now and then, still believes only in hard evidence.

What throw-away character can use to complicate things? An archeologist? A wolf expert? A spiritualist? This perhaps quirky spiritualist or wolf expert, originally meant to be a walk-on, walk-off character, could develop into a crucial part of the story solution.

Get your critique group or a few writer friends together to brainstorm just for fun. When they throw out ideas, the room will come alive with electrical energy—and perhaps magic will happen. Give it a try.

Happy brainstorming, Lynde

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TRIED AND TRUE OR SOMETHING NEW

2010-05-02T05:30:00-05:00

Personally, I’m comfortable writing romantic suspense, but I’m always tweaking it in one manner or another. I love brainstorming and try to ratchet the excitement and action up a notch in each new book. I’ve done paranormal romantic suspense, and now I’m doing a wolf romantic suspense. My publisher strongly suggested that I give it a try because the darker side is selling well now. I don’t like trends, but darn it, it was a challenge and I’m a sucker for a challenge.

I learned it is great fun to stretch my comfort level. I didn’t know I could get so excited about a werewolf and his life of torture and pleasure seeking. Although the world is against him, he keeps his sense of humor and doesn’t let his “little” transformation problem get him down. Shoot, werewolves need love, too.

So I paired him up with a great gal who could be sympathetic to his problem. Not too sympathetic. She’s a clever chick who is smart enough to suspect his feral self and sometimes even his everyday rather amorous self. I mean what girl in her right mind wants to be out with a guy who is great until the moon comes out and all hell breaks loose? Well, yeah, lots of guys are sorta like that, but hopefully they don’t spout fangs and howl at the moon. Although I think we’ve all been out with a guy or two who did something just as bizarre.

Now, back to the story. Next, I put my characters into a castle spooky enough to become a character. But that isn’t enough, I needed a villain. No, I need two villains. And some trouble-making busybodies. And some poor advice-giving best friends. And a storm. And maybe throw in a Holiday. Yeah. Halloween. That fits the spooky atmosphere. Oh, wow and let’s throw in some heavy astrology and a fortune teller. Hey this is fun. If you haven’t started your story for the year, do some brainstorming. Try wolves, vampires, witches or lump them together and make them all try to exist in the same world, tripping over each other for supremacy. Challenge yourself…stretch…try it you’ll like it.

Rainbows, Lynde

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WRITING THRU THE STRESS

2009-04-07T05:30:00-05:00

Things are going along nicely and then whammo we are hit with a double whammy. Things fall apart around us, family responsibilities pile up. We are running around like a chicken trying to avoid the axe. When time is scarce, the writing is pushed aside and just when we may need it the most to relax and replenish our well.

Personality Traits Needed To Be a Writer

It may help to look again at the personality traits needed to be a writer. Besides having a great imagination, we as writers need to be a self-starter, determined, like reading, love books, have a curious nature, like research, have a willingness to share our creative vision of the world, and love challenges. And when our life starts unraveling, we’ll need that love of challenges.

Fighting the Stress Devil

We all know the stress devil well. He jumps into our lives with a bag full of conflict and suffering and unleashes it on us until all we want to do is go to bed and cover up our heads. But that doesn’t help, at least not in the long run. So we make a list. What are the problems? Which ones can we take care of today? Some we can never solve. Some just have to be lived through. The ones we can handle, we can check off on the list as we do them. Maybe set a goal of one a day. And for mental and physical health we add daily exercise. Yes, exercise. It makes us stronger and better able to handle the red guy. We also add fifteen minutes a day to write. Every day. That is to replenish our mental balance and get us over the rough spots. We can’t think about our troubles if we’re making trouble for our characters. Perhaps we can sling some of our trouble at them. They are heroic, like us and they can handle it.

We Say It Isn’t That Simple.

Right it isn’t! But in our fantasy world we are in control. We deserve to let ourselves enjoy that for fifteen minutes a day, don’t we? It will probably save our lives and make us stronger.

Rainbows, Lynde

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VIRGIN WOLF I

2010-03-03T05:29:00-05:00

VIRGIN WOLF I

When Angela Ward, a Gemini virgin meets gorgeous alpha werewolf Damon Lamont, she fights falling under his spell. But with the Halloween full moon bringing her she-wolf hormones to a boil and pressures mounting to stop the series of brutal killings, she must choose her poison. Which is double-difficult when her equally controlling wolf-counterpart sees Damon-the-wolf as a delicious challenge.

As the four parts of the two wholes lust and spar escalating danger closes in from the dark corners of the bedroom community, stirring fears & steamy emotions.

ISBN: 978-1-936279-41-8

Excerpts at this website and at: amirapress.com

*

LASSO THAT COWBOY.

TWO TROUBLED PASTS EQUAL DOUBLE TROUBLE FOR THIS WIDOWED FATHER WITH QUICK FISTS,TRIGGER REACTIONS AND A PASSION TO FOLLOW THE RODEO CIRCUIT.

Oh, did I mention his controlling brother? Desperate, Luke hires a nanny with no credentials. Amber, is the only prospect for the job on his remote South Texas ranch. He might not be so quick to hire her if he knew she had a loaded .38 in her purse. Her secrets could destroy everything he''s worked so hard to develop--and get him and his daughter killed.

New romantic intrigue, DEADLY INFLUENCE coming in mid-March in Print and E-book format.Romantic Intrigue

DEADLY INFLUENCE—Sparks fly when An “Officer and a Gentleman type, Air Force Intelligence Lieutenant Jay Corning, is tackled by the female version of “The Bodyguard.” When he finally learns that the “supposed tart” is really his grandmother’s bodyguard, Lisa Dixon, they join forces. Together they struggle to keep his grandmother and each other alive while trying to uncover the person trying to kill the strong-willed matriarch. Complications arise when the escalating danger closes in from the dark corner of the small community, stirring fears and steamy emotions.

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BRAINSTORMING AND PLOTTING

2010-01-17T05:29:00-05:00

If stories come to you faster than you can write them down, brainstorming can still be useful tools at many stages of the novel. Start now wherever you are in the process.

But suppose you want to start a new book. One way to start a new book is to grab a random idea and see where it takes you. In my novel BILLBOARD COP, I was waiting in Aina Haina parking lot for my buddy. A shiny Mercedes entered the lot and parked. A handsome, well-dressed man (a 15 in a range of 1-10) got out of the car and walked over to a rusty dented Ford. He looked around, then wrote something on a card and placed it under the windshield wiper. When he returned to his car, he stood outside, looking indecisive, then finally climbed back into his car. Before he exited the lot, I was already dreaming up stories to explain what was going on and what he’d written on the card.

The nice car versus old car made me think of Cinderella. But no, that wasn’t where this story was headed. The whole story began to fold in my head. Yet, it had nothing to do with the card, the card had turned into a billboard. I was going to Boston that weekend and the idea churned in my mind. I knew the story would be a romantic intrigue, because that is what I write, and the setting would be Boston. I had experience with gas-leaking service stations, land acquisitions, and government. Hmm. The story would include those elements, I decided. Then I started the wild brainstorming, putting down ideas, good or bad, as fast as I could. That was while in flight. By the time I arrived in Boston, I had pages of brainstorming. Then, after week in a hotel room, BILLBOARD COP was born.

BRAINSTORMING TYPES

WILD BRAINSTORMING

Wild brainstorming works great in groups or alone. The idea of wild brainstorming is to dump ideas onto paper as fast as you can. We use this process to trigger ideas when we have nothing in mind. But I know most of us always have something churning in the brain cells. It is helpful to start with a stack of blank 3x5 cards. Take one card and write down any topic that comes to mind, love, hate, adoption from a foreign country, adoption of a handicapped child, divorce, loss of money, finding a suitcase full of money. Or go with animals, cats, dogs, wolves, horses. Or relatives, aunts, uncles, mother, step-mother, sisters brothers, cousins. Then, if the novel is an intrigue, someone has to die or someone has to murder them. Try a place, Russia, Hawaii, Utah, Las Vegas. I’ll bet each of you can grab any of those dumb ideas and weave them into a story. If not, start putting down more things, silver, gold, veils, kings, brides. Still no trigger?

Take your next card and write down as many conflicts as come into your mind, maybe use something from the first card.

Now on a third card, make two columns of unlikely characters. A nun and a convict, a lawyer and a murderer, a rancher and a Hollywood star, a baseball player and a woman who hates sports, or maybe she is the league owner, a detective who hates reporters and a reporter, or a ranch owner and a woman who likes town living, a preacher and a prostitute and so forth--you get the idea.

STRUCTURED BRAINSTORMING

This is the process used when you already have an idea, but are searching for new possibilities. I used structured brainstorming in my last job. In our inter-agency meetings, we knew what the outcome had to be, but we wanted input on how best to achieve it in the most inventive and less costly way. In seconds, we would catch fire with enthusiasm. You can do the same thing with a firm idea. You toss the idea out, say what you hope to accomplish and then sit back and let the group take the idea and build on it.

Structured brainstorming takes more thought, but the ideas still have to gush out fast. Say you want to write a woman’s fiction story to help others. Maybe you have gone through the ordeal yourself and have helpful things to say about the topic, but you want some ideas on how to present it. Should it be set in the ghetto, in a hospital, on a ranch? Should there be a love story along with it? What two unlikely characters would be guaranteed to butt heads?

Great characters are often a little wacky, colorful, theatrical, exaggerated, flamboyant, ditzy, dizzy and contrary. Look at the Wedding Singer. He flashed through extremes constantly. The creation of wacky characters can be fun. One way to exaggerate a trait is to make it way out there: a fanatical love of pickles with peanut butter or hatred of snakes, bugs, or sharks. Or an obsessive love of trains, or electronic eavesdropping, or a compulsive need to climb up on high places to think and a hero who is afraid of heights. Extremism in anything will serve. Maybe pit a character who believes in living life to the fullest, and damn the consequences with a character who is ultra cautious.

Wacky characters add spice to serious characters. They act as a foil. The use of foils is a literary device for enhancing the traits of one character by contrasting them with the opposite traits of another. Brainstorming can help with this.

PLOTTING YOUR STORY

This is where the “story arc” is developed to keep you on track. The conflict must be ever-present. Menacing your characters is the name of the game. What is the worst thing that can happen at this moment? Brainstorm this. How many characters do you need to tell the story and make the lead characters shine? What will be the reoccurring theme? What kind of setting do you need to show this story at its best advantage? What kind of weather? How can we gain sympathy, empathy for and identify with our characters? Virtually any predicament that brings physical, mental, or spiritual suffering to the character will earn the reader''s sympathy: Loneliness, lovelessness, humiliation, deprivation, repression embarrassment, danger. As we plot, we need to keep all of this in mind. We thrust our characters into crisis, then light the fuse.

When we plot a story, we must have memorable characters and plot twists. Brainstorm plot twists, unique characters, and the desperation they need to fire them up and push them into action. Dynamic characters have conflicting emotions and destructive desires. Such emotions as: ambition, love, faith, lust or whatever inner emotional fires are raging are the forces that are pulling dynamic characters in more than one direction. Dynamic character resolve these inner conflicts by taking actions that will lead to more story conflict and more inner conflict.. Brainstorm inter-conflicts.

Brainstorming, character contrast and setting. Rube in city. City girl on farm. Poor girl in elite clique. To set your characters off and plunge them into immediate difficulties, put them somewhere where they don''t belong, where the action forces them to deal with new and possibly frightening circumstances. Give your characters intriguing backgrounds, make them have unusual ideas and insights, let some of them be wacky, contrast them well with each other and their setting, maybe even give them a dual nature. It is great to brainstorm this and let the group take some risks and see what develops.

Brainstorm the ruling passion. A characters central motivating force is the sum total of all the forces and drives within him. The ruling passion might be to commit the perfect crime, or become a great preacher, or pickpocket or art forger. It might be something less specific, like to be a good husband, wife. The ruling passion determines what the character will do when faced with dilemmas he or she must overcome in the course of the story

Our character has a dormant and an active ruling passion. The dormant one still defines his character for the writer, but is not what motivates him.

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