Dahlia DeWinters – Author – Page 76 – Quirky Heroines, Happy Endings

Lucky Seven – Whatever Wednesdays

Here are the rules:
1. Go to page 77 of your current ms
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines – sentences or paragraphs – and post them as they’re written. No cheating.
4. Tag 7 other authors.

My current WIP does not yet have 77 pages , so I used page 7, seventh line, next 7 lines. Here’s what I have from my zombie fic.

She would jerk awake, drenched in sweat, a scream caught in her throat. Unable to return to even fitful slumber, she would then rise and patrol the house with the battery lantern and her crowbar, ears straining to hear a noise that would alert her to any presence in the house not her own.
Jude would prowl the house until the sun came up and she was exhausted, but the relief of sleep would rarely overtake her. For that she’d smoke a little weed, count the cracks in the ceiling and cry some more, remembering her life before the monsters took over, obliterating everything that once brought her comfort. Then, and only then, with the end of the joint burning in the ashtray next to the bed, she would be able to fall into something resembling sleep.

****

The stockroom door scraped shut mere seconds before her new found enemies thundered by. Whoever had pulled her in here was decidedly male, judging from the hardness of the body pressed against hers, and the strength of the arms.

That’s my lucky seven!

I’ll have to revisit to find some authors to tag.

Check here: http://www.bookbabe.blogspot.com/2012/03/lucky-seven.html

TSS

Tuneful Tuesdays – Billie Holliday

“Better look out,” he said. “I know Lady, and when she starts crying, the next thing she’s going to do is start fighting.” – Louis Armstrong

Talk about hitting all the marks. It’s Women’s History Month, Tuneful Tuesdays, and the sun in Aries. What could be better?

Billie Holliday. If you don’t know, then you need to run an Internet search. No Lady G*ga here, believe that.

I’m not going to go into her life and tribulations (of which there were many). You can pick up a biography or her autobiography “Lady Sings the Blues” for that. I am merely the messenger here to point out what an extraordinary voice and capacity to convey emotion this woman had.

Her love songs were poignant, the edge of the blues discernible even in the “happiest” of love songs, which gave the song itself an extra heft.

It Had to Be You

“Don’t Explain”

“you know that I love you/and that love endures/all my thoughts are of you/for I’m so completely yours”

In addition, she was political when being political could cost you your very life.

Her rendition of the poem “Strange Fruit” was both dramatic and effective:

Strange Fruit was a song based on a poem about lynching written by a Jewish schoolteacher. (From Wikipedia)

For her performance of “Strange Fruit” at the Café Society, she had waiters silence the crowd when the song began. During the song’s long introduction, the lights dimmed and all movement had to cease. As Holiday began singing, only a small spotlight of light illuminated her face. On the final note, all lights in the club went out and when they came back on, Holiday was gone. (From Wikipedia)

Look her on up on YouTube. You won’t be sorry.

TSS

Six Sentence Sunday – Zombies, Continued

I”m going to continue my six sentences this week with another section of my WIP. Our lovely heroine, Judith, who has survived the zombie outbreak, find herself holed up on a closet with a stranger, both of them taking cover during a zombie feasting attack. The closet is small, the quarters very cramped.

They escape safely and make each others’ acquaintance as they walk back to Judith’s place.

And….action!

The sound of their feet was loud on the sidewalk. “I’m Judith, by the way.”

“Sky Beckett.”

“Sky?” She considered it and then smiled. “Well, Sky, I guess I don’t need to shake your hand since I was practically giving you a lap dance back there in the closet.”

The story is fun to write.

Check out what I’ve done so far here: Shades of the Muse

Storytellers Series – Adonis Devereux

I am pleased to welcome Adonis Devereux to the Storytellers Series. Before we jump into the interview, a little about Adonis Devereux:

Adonis Devereux is two people made one. He grew up in Michigan and in rural Indiana, a Midwestern boy with a passion for story. She was rootless, a Virginia native who lived in London, Paris, and Rome before her parents settled just outside Tokyo. Like him, stories burned in her. Together, they are Adonis Devereux.

What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author?

Before we got our first contract, we put the first chapter of our work-in-progress up for critique on a writer’s forum. One man who was retired from professional journalism told us that it was so boring that he couldn’t finish the excerpt. Ouch!

What is the easiest part of writing for you? What is the hardest part?

The easiest part is being able to work side by side with someone who loves writing as much as you do. We write as a team, husband and wife, side by side in life, writing, and everything else. The hardest part is keeping our six kids out of our hair while we write. This is why we use the buddy system. “OK, in age order, you take care of your buddy. Oldest, watch after number 4. Second oldest, watch after number 5. Third, watch after six!”

Do you have any advice to aspiring writers?

Don’t aspire. Do. If you write, you’re not aspiring. You’re a writer. If you’re aspiring, it means you probably want to write but are too lazy to do so because you spend all day on Facebook. Cancel your internet account and get writing. No distractions, no excuses.

Name some of your favorite movies.

Glory, The Shawshank Redemption, Boogie Nights, Blow, Terminator, and many more.

Name some of your favorite books.

Moby-Dick, Jane Eyre, anything by Vonnegut, The Master and Margarita, Dracula, and many more.

Do you have a writing regimen?

Our writing regimen begins before we ever open a new document file on our computer. We take walks and talk through our next novel. Once we have kind of an idea of the story we want to tell, we start outlining. First we get a general outline down. Then, from that outline, we break down our book chapter by chapter. Only when we have that chapter-by-chapter outline do we start actually writing. But if writing is some part storytelling, then we’ve been writing all along, haven’t we? While one of us writes, the other FB pimps or does other non-drafting author things. The female half of our duo seems to be able to write anytime, anywhere. The male half is a bit more limited in his concentration: he can write only when the kids are all in bed. She writes the heroine’s POV, he the hero’s.

What are the perks of being an author?

Just being an author! It is immensely gratifying. I guess the best-seller status from some vendors is nice, too, but we don’t brag about that. One of the best things is being around like-minded writers who keep us diverted on a daily basis. Thanks, y’all! You know who you are!