Christina Hollis: Creative Writing To Order—NaNoWriMo 2014

I love writing romance (you can find some of my titles here) but I also enjoy reading Ian Rankin's crime fiction and the Montalbano stories by Andrea Camilleri. For quite a while, I've had a couple of characters in mind whose backgrounds are a bit too close to my own to make them a good fit for a romance.

I've never had time to give these characters the space they need to develop. Then along came a Romantic Novelists' Association Workshop, organised by Ann Ankers of the Marcher Chapter. There was a call for samples of work-in-progress, but as I'd just turned in a book and hadn't  started writing my next romance, I didn't have anything to hand. With the requirement of only a few pages, this workshop felt like the ideal place to try out something new, so I produced the first few pages of a—what? Crime, or thriller? The sample was so short I wasn't sure how the story would develop, but everyone at the workshop loved the sample opening. That made the project worth pursuing. There's nothing like the response of readers to improve a writer's work, so I was happy to take their suggestions for improvement on board, and start thinking about a plot to ensnare my two unusual suspects.

My Next Release, from Wild Rose Press

I like to work within a framework of targets and deadlines, and it just so happened NaNoWriMo 2014 was about to kick off. I signed up. It gave me the chance—or is it the excuse? ;) —to put everything else aside, and concentrate on producing a rough first draft of this new work in progress over the thirty days of November.

We're just about half-way through November now, and I'm currently forty-seven percent of the way toward the fifty-thousand word target set down by the NaNoWriMo organisers. It's been hard work, but definitely worthwhile. Plotting my word-count progress in public on the site is pretty scary, but it also acts as a great spur. The sense of achievement is amazing!

The best thing of all is, whether or not I qualify at the end as a NaNoWriMo winner, I'll have the basic structure of my story in place. I can build on that. It's so much easier to edit, rework and rewrite text than it is to start from cold, with the equivalent of a blank sheet of paper.

Writing is all about turning castles in the air into a real story world. Have you ever taken part in NaNoWriMo? How did you get on? You can follow the progress of my current writing project by hitting the "Like" button on my new Facebook Author page, here.

Christina Hollis writes both contemporary and historical fiction–when she isn't cooking, gardening or beekeeping. Her books have been translated into over a dozen different languages, and she’s sold nearly three million books worldwide. You can catch up with her at http://www.christinahollis.blogspot.com,on Twitter and Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at http://www.christinahollis.com Her next release, His Majesty's Secret Passion, will be released in early 2015. 

Christina Hollis–Work In Progress

The view Sophia gets from the top! (Photo:B.R. Marshall)

A few months ago, my chapter of The Romantic Novelists' Association held a workshop. You can read about that here. It was so successful, we've just held a second day–school with the same format.

Once again, we hired a room in Hereford's Courtyard theatre, and each of the seven writers who took part submitted ten pages of their current work–in–progress. Mine's a romantic thriller, but I can't settle on a name. The working title has been both The Barrow Wake and Bright Danger, but I forgot to ask the working party which one they preferred! I'm now toying with the idea of Tasting The Peach as the title, since heroine Sophia, is part of a witness protection scheme.

As Chapter One opens, Sophia Hope is being hassled by a man originally detailed to protect her. He's the secretive new boss of damaged hero Josh, who is prepared to break the rules to expose him. Josh turned to law-enforcement after a tragedy in his turbulent past, but Sophia turns out to be more dangerous to Josh's peace of mind than any murderer...

Here's the final draft of the opening paragraphs of my current work in progress, polished according to the encouragement I got from our latest workshop:

‘...and I love TV, but I don’t want to watch it every day!’ Sophia called back over her shoulder as she put on a spurt. 

Would this guy never take the hint?  It felt like she’d been trying to get away from him all her life. In a way, she had. She’d moved here to get away from it all and start a new, blame-free existence from scratch. Despite everything, he’d refused every instruction, kind word and firm refusal. As her determination increased, so did his puppyish adoration.  What was wrong with the man? He stuck to her like human chewing gum. Sophia was running out of options.

The time’s coming when I’ll have to get nasty, she thought. Really nasty. 

The track ahead of her was a bony limestone spine, rising almost vertically. Kicking on, she outpaced him. Scrabbling forward she almost fell, clawing at the path in a fever of excitement. She was getting away from her unwanted minder, leaving him for dead. 

For dead...

The cold, clean air burned her face. She dragged it in like vodka.

‘I’m serious!’ His voice rose from some way below her, as insubstantial as cigarette smoke.

Sophia stopped, stuck her hands on her hips and screwed round to confront him again. 

Every day, something always managed to stop her sprinting for the summit. Today it was this–this fawning fruit-loop. He was still ten yards behind, and wheezing like an asthmatic ferret. She found it too painful to watch him labour up the slope, so she raised her head and scanned the horizon instead. It was a perfect morning. The atmosphere was gin-clear from here to Hay Bluff, sixty miles away. 

I could run all the way there and be back before this loser’s caught his breath, she thought. 

This was a day to feel the lust for life powering through your veins. A life that was too short for promises. Sophia wanted to get on. 

She dropped her gaze again, meaning to confront him. It snagged on the city, down in the vale. From here, the confusion of tiny buildings was a dark smudge on the countryside. It was a necessary evil–as vital, ugly and inescapable as the feelings locked away inside her. She glanced at her feet. When she pivoted, her trainers had inscribed perfect circles in the damp grey grit. Down in the city, the heaving mass of humanity would soon be climbing on to the treadmill of another new day, getting ready to run around in the same old circles, in the same old way. 

She pursed her lips. Digging her toes into the ground she scuffed hard, destroying the neat marks.

‘You’re beautiful,’ he gasped.

‘I’m trouble, you mean,’ she ground away at the divots with her toes and heels, ‘especially for a man like you. If you think I’m falling for that old line, forget it. It’s only the thrill of the forbidden you’re finding beautiful.’

‘How many times do I have to tell you?’ He caught her by the arm. The action narrowed her eyes to searchlights.  Releasing her, he flung his hands up in a gesture of peace.

‘Nobody,’ she said in a low voice, ‘does that to me.’ 

Christina Hollis writes both contemporary and historical fiction - when she isn't cooking, gardening or beekeeping. You can catch up with her at http://www.christinahollis.blogspot.com, on Twitter and Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at http://www.christinahollis.com

Christina Hollis: Work In Progress - "Bright Danger"

Cover Art - Samantha Groom

I’ve recently taken some time out to write in genres beyond my usual category of contemporary romance. You can read an extract from my historical novel, Jewel Under Siege, by clicking here.  My current work in progress, Bright Danger, is a full-length contemporary thriller with a romantic twist.

Josh Ambrose turned to law-enforcement after a tragedy in his turbulent past. When mysterious woman-without-a-history Sophia Hope finds a dead celebrity at a local make-out point, she proves more dangerous to Josh's peace of mind than any murderer. He's in trouble, but her predicament is about to get a whole lot worse...

OPENING OF CHAPTER ONE, BRIGHT DANGER

'...but I love you!'

That was the last thing she wanted to hear, especially from him. She put on a spurt, desperate to get away. Would this guy never take the hint? She’d moved here to start a new, blameless life. He’d ignored every instruction not to follow her, from gentle hint to firm refusal. What was wrong with the man? He stuck like human chewing-gum. 

I’ll have to get nasty, she thought. Really nasty. 

The track ahead led up a bony limestone spine. Kicking on, she left her unwanted shadow for dead. The winter air burned her face, but she dragged it into her body like vodka.

‘I’m serious!’ his voice drifted up like cigarette smoke from a long way below her.

Something always managed to stop her running right to the summit of this heartbreaking hill. Today, that fawning fruit-loop wanted to hold her back–but it wasn't going to happen. Today, she was determined to find out what life was like at the top...

*

Josh Ambrose groaned and opened his eyes. It didn’t make any difference. His room was as black as an informant’s heart. Without much enthusiasm, he tried to extract himself from the duvet’s warm embrace. Then he remembered it was Sunday. 

Ahhh...Sunday.... 

Next minute, an unholy racket punched a hole straight through his head. Falling out of bed, he groped across the room. After ripping back the curtains, he killed the alarm clock. When the only thing still ringing was his ears, he dragged his hand down over his face. Then he went over to his bedside chair, and inspected the clothes he’d stripped off after coming home from the match.  They were alive with the smells of quattro stagioni and Black Pepper bodywash, but good enough for what he had in mind.

  Throwing his underpants aside, he got into his jeans. As he moved, he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror. Light ran over his body like honey. The double-headed eagle etched across his back roused as he flexed. It had taken a total of seven hours, eighteen minutes and twenty-seven seconds to get that inking done. The pain had been exquisite. He’d only endured it to fit in with the Anderson gang. All along, they’d thought they were using him. They'd realized too late that Josh was the one in charge, playing them like fish on hooks. In the end they’d lost everything. He’d walked away with the biggest prize of all. 

And Lucky.

Pulling on his shirt, Josh thundered downstairs. He almost filled the small kitchen, bouncing from light switch to radio, toaster to kettle and back again.  

In all that time, his new dog never moved a muscle. Brought up to expect nothing but trouble from men, she was screwed into her bed, still and silent.

  ‘Ready, Lucky?’ 

       He strolled toward her, braced for her usual morning routine of flinch and growl. 

This morning, it didn’t happen. His mouth dried. He dropped into a crouch beside the dog-basket. Was she sick? Instinctively, his hand went toward the danger zone, then he stopped himself. He could afford to lose a few minutes, but he wanted to keep all his fingers...

Josh Ambrose soon finds out that in a world where public faces hide private sins, he can’t count on loyalty from anyone. And the woman he wants has a lot of history, and it's catching up with her fast.

How do you think Bright Danger is shaping up so far?

Christina Hollis writes both contemporary and historical fiction - when she isn't cooking, gardening or beekeeping. You can catch up with her at http://www.christinahollis.blogspot.com, on Twitter and Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at http://www.christinahollis.com