Saturday, May 24, 2014

Writing Better Kissing Scenes


My editor recommended I work on my kissing. No, I did not kiss my editor. My editor suggested that I improve my writing scenes about kissing. To clarify, my kissing skills do not need any improvement, but I agree that my writing skills regarding kissing scenes could use some gloss. Here's to hoping my fictional kissing catch-up to my real life ones.

Tips for Great Kissing Scenes:
 
  • Strong Characters: First & most importantly build strong characters and have a strong plot. Two strangers or flat characters kissing is not as powerful as a relationship marinated in lust.
  • Sexual Tension should start immediately.
  • Setting the Scene & Mood: What is happening before the kiss. Are the characters alone? Are they in a crowd? Is it night or day? Are they in an open field or in an elevator? Happy occasion? Scary? Victory kiss?
  • Get them Close: Find a way to get characters physically close to each other. Come running to each other? Lean in to each other while sitting on the couch?
  • Use the five senses.
  • Use Emotions: What are the characters feeling in them moment or about the other characters?
  • Observations: Describe what others notice about each other?
  • Parts of the Kiss: Lips, tongue, teeth, bodies, eyes, face, hands, breath, voice
  • End: Find a way to end the kiss. Someone interrupts them? Run out of time? Change their minds about the kiss? Take their intimacy further? The elevator door opens? It starts raining?
  • Exaggerated Awareness: Another concept to keep in mind is a concept discussed by Sandra Brown called Exaggerated Awareness. A strength and necessity of successful romance writing is to have the readers experience the main characters as having a strong connection. The two are destined to be together and with nobody else. This should be conveyed with every look, touch and interaction.   
  • Kiss that Matches the Character: Match the kiss to the personality of funny, quiet, dominant, etc.
Below are some links regarding writing kissing scenes:

 

 
 


 

Saturday, May 17, 2014

42 Days

It's been 42 days since I published Love's Autograph on Amazon. During those 42 days my writing mind has undergone huge transformation. My writing mind, writer's perspective and faith has transformed.

The number 42 is my favorite number because it was my high school basketball number. I also love that Douglas Adams wrote, "The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything is 42."

What has been so great the last 42 days?
  • People were actually buying my book. I only sold less than a hundred of Trail Swap.
  • Correlated to people buying books, I was actually making money. More money than I thought possible at this stage of the game. I am not bragging. Believe me, I keep looking at the numbers, rubbing my eyes and looking again. I am not going to be retiring any time soon or quitting my day job, but it is more than pocket change.
  • I hired an editor. Yes, finally I have someone to point out all my writing mistakes and help me fix them. Prior to hiring a professional editor, I used a friend who is great at editing but she is busy and the process took a while. I am a big believer that friends and business do not mix.
  • I have fans! How do I know this? They left Amazon Reviews and sent me emails and told me so. I think I even acquired somewhat of an email stalker. Yes, I saved every email from my fans.
  • Trail Swap and other writing started to sell due to Love's Autograph success.
  • I connected with more writers and beta readers.
  • I adjusted my book categories.
  • I resolved that it is okay to write lesbian romances.
  • I learned that romance readers are more generous with their compliments than general fiction readers.
  • I have some money to put back into my writing thus I created a separate account for my writing.
  • I created a marketing plan and comprehensive book release strategy.
  • I am contemplating having a book cover designed for me.
  • I wrote a book of short stories that include characters from my latest books.
  • Beaver's artwork is amazing!
  • I had the opportunity to beta read for an author I admire, Jae. Bonus: she instituted changes that I recommended.

As you can see the last 42 days have been pretty big. Love's Autograph has been the catalyst of the this transformation. I have begun to believe that I can be successful as an author and I can make some good money writing fiction.

Blogs Needed for a Love's Autograph Book Tour

I'm looking for blogs to tour Love's Autograph. I'm trying to get some more exposure for this0 new book that was published in April. It has received 4.5 stars on Amazon. Check-out the reviews on Amazon. Amazon Reviews. The biggest complaint was the editing. I hired a new editor and it is new and improved. Now I am looking to do some marketing.

I'm open to ventures of writing a post for your blog, having you interview me or sending a excerpt of Love's Autograph.

Do you have other ideas for a blog tour? Send me an email to michelemreynolds30@gmail.com if you are interested. If you are looking to tour your book, let me know.

Love's Autograph is lesbian fiction romance. Here is the summary on Amazon:

What do you do when you show up at an apartment to pick up your blind date and she mistakes you for her kid's sitter? Lesbian rock star EJ Way decides to be the sitter for the night. Fascinated by both Ria and her eleven-year-old daughter, she finds herself sitting night after night, without revealing who she really is. Getting a glimpse into their family life seems like a nice change of pace from her world of music and fame. She doesn’t count on falling in love—or on having to watch Ria go on date after date.

Email me at michelemreynolds30@gmail.com and hopefully we see if our books are a good fit for each other.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014