Saturday’s Snippets: First Pages: Resort to Murder

@GlenysOConnell

  I’m always intrigued by the way story ideas come to writers. It seems to be different for everyone. Novels are born from dreams, from snatches of overheard conversations, from newspaper articles, magazine articles, real life events – indeed, all sorts of different things.

The writerly mind – a twisted thing at best! – plays games with these topics. The What If? game, and soon a plot starts to appear, characters sneak in and hide among the neurons of the brain and begin to whisper…and voila! A Book is born!

That’s been my experience, anyway. Resort to Murder, published by The Wild Rose Press, came in pieces, dribs and drabs turning into a full flood as I played the What If? game. I was working in England at the time and read in the local evening newspaper, The Lancashire Evening Post, that a woman police officer had just been appointed to a Chief Constable’s position. That’s like being Top Dog in a county police force.

This officer was the first female to get that job, and in the article were several comments about the ‘glass ceiling’ and the difficulties a woman law enforcement officer can face in seeking promotion.
And out of that came Ellie Fitzpatrick, a wrongly disgraced officer who had been on the fast track to high rank after solving the case of The Sunshine Slasher, a vicious serial killer who attacked women in vacation resorts around the English coast.

Ellie had been hot on the trail of a criminal gang when she was accused of taking bribes and placed on suspension pending investigation. The criminals had done their work well, planting money in Ellie’s bank account and doing everything they could to discredit her.

Ellie was in love with another officer, a man who was her junior. But when she needed Liam Reilly the most, he was nowhere to be found. Unknown to her, Liam was on a secret assignment in Ireland and knew nothing of what was happening to Ellie until his return.
One day, walking on the beach near Whitby in Yorkshire, Ellie literally stumbles across a dead body…

BLURB:

Falsely disgraced police detective Ellie Fitzpatrick is prepared to face a vicious killer to redeem herself but is she also brave enough to make peace with the man she loves? When her meteoric career crashed and burned after she was accused of accepting bribes from thugs running a protection racket, Ellie is suspended from the job she loves and believes herself abandoned not only by police colleagues but by her lover, Detective Liam O'Reilly. She is called back to work when a biography of a serial killer she arrested suggests the man may be innocent. Reilly vows to protect Ellie from the gang who tried to frame her and the vicious killer who's stalking her. Can she trust him with her life?

FIRST PAGE:

A cry was stifled in her throat as the dead woman began to move. Her empty eyes opened. Her dead mouth widened in a terrible silent scream as the white fingers began to claw at the hem of Ellie's coat, pulling her down, down, into a cold embrace. She ran from the nightmare figure until she was caught by strong familiar arms…...
Ellie woke from the dream, her heart pounding in fear and yet with desire flooding hotly through her veins. Her dream rescuer had been Liam Reilly. Cursing demons she couldn't vanquish, she climbed out of bed and pulled on a soft silk robe. Her face was pale in the bathroom mirror, dark shadows under her eyes testament to the early hour. But she wouldn't sleep now, not when the faces of all the dead women would drift through her dreams. She wondered if other police officers ever got used to the sight of the murdered dead. She knew she wouldn’t.
She made a cup of rosehip and orange tea laced with honey, and slipped through the double patio doors onto her terrace. Below the cottage, the restless muttering of the sea, gathering its strength for another tidal assault on the shore, echoed her mood. Ellie leaned against the narrow wooden rail that separated her terrace from the cliff edge, and sucked in a deep breath of salt-tanged air, closing her eyes as she basked in the magnificent silence of the pre-dawn world.
And there he was again, as surely as if he'd materialized from her dream. Liam Reilly. His presence haunted her waking days as surely as the nightmares haunted her nights, because they were inextricably linked. They were opposite sides of the coin of her life.

REVIEW:
From TRS: "I thoroughly enjoyed this fantastic romantic suspense. The plot was swift and the complex story line was enhanced by the wonderful characters. Beyond the hero and heroine the supporting cast was fabulous with almost no one being quite what they appeared at first. The pace enhances the two main mysteries of the story. The time frame is not dragged out as Ellie tries to separate the bribery charges from the serial killer case and it makes for an intricate puzzle. Liam and Ellie have a complicated relationship that is due mainly to lack of honesty and communication. Both characters were constantly at odds with one another and down right antagonistic. They were forever revealing their true feelings in their private thoughts and denying them out loud. If it were not so skillfully balanced with the suspense this could have ruined the whole story for me. I found the mystery itself to be top-notch all the way from the first paragraph to the ominous ending. I can't wait to see what else this author has in store." - Theresa Joseph

Resort to Murder is available at The Wild Rose Press, or through your Amazon site

Saturday Snippets: First Pages: Judgement By Fire

@GlenysOConnell

Which of the two powerful men in her life wants Lauren dead?

We’re about to start a new month, so I thought I’d start something new: Posting the first page of each of my books. Just a taster, so to speak!
Judgement By Fire is my first novel, written over a long period of time while snatching minutes from a full time job, a part time job, a hobby farm and family with four kids. These days I wonder where the energy came from!

This was published b y Red Rose Publishing, which is now defunct,(a whole other story) so I went on to revise and publish it in dependently. I thoroughly enjoyed the Indie publishing process and went on to do it a few times more!

So here goes, your taste of the first page of Judgement By Fire! Enjoy!

BLURB: 

Canadian wildlife artist Lauren Stephens swore off men after her marriage collapsed and burned. Instead, she's focused on her increasingly successful art career and made her home in an artists' colony based around an old mansion estate in Ontario.

When a multi-national corporation wants to buy the estate and turn it into a health spa for the very rich, turning the artists and writers out of their rented cottages, Lauren volunteers to lead the protest against the sale. The move brings her into direct conflict with Jon Rush, the powerful CEO of Rush Co. International.

An instant attraction springs up between them, although Lauren is reluctant to trust the handsome industrialist. When Lauren's studio is trashed and her life is threatened, Jon fears she's being targeted by the mysterious person trying to destroy his company – a villain not afraid to use violence in his determination to see Jon suffer.

But is there a darker shadow over Lauren? And can Jon save her from a Judgement By Fire?

Chapter One

“Damn it, Warren, surely you can come up with something better than this?” Jon Rush, president of

one of Canada’s largest independent business conglomerates, glared at the man who faced him across the cluttered mahogany desktop.

“I pay you for facts, not fairy tales. You’ve taken a whole series of unrelated events and turned them into some kind of soap opera plot!” Jon ran his fingers through his thick blond hair in a characteristic gesture of frustration.

It was the gesture the heavyset black man across the desk had been waiting for. Warren Dillon, chief of security for Rush Co., was one of the few men who knew Jon Rush well enough not to be intimidated in the face of his anger. Their friendship went back a long way, back to the dark days of their tour of duty in the burning deserts of the Persian Gulf, where the privileged son of a Canadian industrialist and the angry young black youth from the Southside slums of Chicago had forged a lasting friendship.

Coolly, Dillon watched as Jon Rush slammed down the thick red file folder causing a small blizzard of papers to break loose from their untidy stacks on the desk. Then he let out a heavy sigh and, leaning forward in his leather-covered chair, began speaking slowly and quietly, punctuating his words with a stabbing forefinger.

“Jon, your problem is you just won’t believe anyone would betray Rush Co. from the inside. Didn’t you learn anything in the Gulf? You’ve said it yourself - everyone has their price.” He paused for a moment, waiting for Jon’s face to react as the words sank in, and then continued in the same deep, intense tone.

“Even you have to admit that Rush Co. is in trouble. We’ve gone from being the golden-haired boy of the stock market to a walking crisis center in just a few months. Do you really believe that’s just bad luck? Well, do you? Or would you rather own up to jackass management?”

End of Page One, Judgement By Fire If this tweaked your appetite for more, you can read the entire first chapter for free at http://glenysoconnell.webs.com/firstchapters.htm

Saturday Snippets: Free Book: Marrying Money!

@GlenysOConnell


I promised free ebooks before Christmas, and here’s the first! I know this blog has been neglected for the past couple of weeks, but I’m back and I’m raring to have you read this story about a modern day English aristocrat who needs a husband. She has a list of what she wants – but love has other ideas! If you love Brit humor you'll really 'get' this book!

Here’s the blurb:
Diana, Lady Ashburnham, needs to find a rich husband, and fast.
She's the last of an aristocratic line stretching back 500 years, and she's broke. The family fortunes have been eaten up by the crumbling mansion and impoverished estate. Not wanting to be known as the 'Ashburnham Who Lost The Lot', she refuses to sell off heirloom jewelry or let the estate be auctioned off to a dot.com millionaire or heavy metal rock star. 

That's when Diana has her Great Idea – she'll follow a new take on the way her ancestors raised money – by marrying money! 

So Diana corals her best friend, commoner Sally Barnes, into joining her on a trip to Ireland to try to net a – preferably titled – millionaire. After all, with the Celtic Tiger economic boom, Ireland is supposed to be awash with wealthy guys. As she tells Sally, Ashburnham ancestors plundered Ireland with Cromwell, so why shouldn’t Diana do a bit of plundering there herself? 

Sally, very much a common commoner from a council house, reluctantly agrees to the trip. 

They meet up with Diana's very pretentious but untitled cousin, Mairead, who married money herself – a wealthy 'paper products' entrepreneur. His line of work has led to many rude family jokes, but Diana has to admit that Mairead had landed herself in the lap of luxury with her marriage choices. 

It looks like Diana isn’t going to be so lucky. Not only do the very valuable Ashburnham Emeralds disappear at the Galway Races, where Sally, not Diana, is chosen the winner of the Ladies' Day Prize, but there seems a huge shortage of titled wealthy young men who would be willing to fork out the millions required to keep Alexandria House, the Ashburnham estate, and Diana all in the style to which they want to become accustomed.......

And things get even more confused when the titled Irish aristocrat who is perfect for Diana has other ideas, and Diana’s heart flutters for a tradesman…..

Reviews For Marrying Money:
4.5 star review from The Long & The Short:
Take a pile of crumbling stones called Alexandria House, add in a garrulous narrator, and you’re all set for a romp through a series of comedic calamities.
Ms. O’Connell marries comedy and suspense together as tightly as bindweed. She captures the idiocyncrinacies of the English class system so beautifully, then adds in some Irish blarney, and hey presto, you’re off again, until the tears of laughter stream down your face.
Her heroine, Lady Diane is larger than life and willing to admit to her flaws. Sally, her best friend, but ‘not her social equal’ is as Dr. Watson to Sherlock Holmes. She brings balance to events, and still manages to throw in some thought provoking personal digs, just when Lady D is in full flow.
Lady D is so busy looking for ‘The Right Man’, to save her estates, she doesn’t see him when he’s standing under her nose.
Bob the Builder, Ms. O’Connell’s hero, is everything a hero should be, but for Lady D, so entrenched in a search for a man from her own social echelon, he’s not in the running.
Lady D has lessons to learn, and part of the suspense is created when it seems she may not learn them in time.
If you enjoy reading about settings you feel you are standing in, surrounded by a vibrant cast of characters, with a pot-full of suspense and a happy-ever-after, then this is the book for you. If you can stop laughing long enough to clear your eyes of tears, that is!
Four Stars from
By Marion H. Campbell (Burbank, CA, US) -
This review is from: Marrying Money: Lady Diana's Story (Kindle Edition)
What happens when two girlfriends try to find the perfect rich man to marry? Great romp, fun book! Add a cool drink and the beach, and this makes for perfect summer reading.
Marrying Money: Lady Diana’s Story, is free on Kindle (and don’t forget you can get an app to read Kindle books on your PC, laptop or tablet – or even your smart phone!)
Free from Saturday, December 12, to December 17.
Get it on Amazon - here on Amazon.com
Or on Amazon.ca:
Or Amazon.co.uk

Wednesday’s Writing: Creating Loglines

What is a log line?  It’s the essence of your entire novel – or movie – boiled down to one or two sentences.

Sound crazy? Well, it’s not. Loglines have a lot of impact on your writing, as well as being a great device for when you’re in the elevator with the publisher, editor or agent whose attention you need to grab in 50 words or less!

The following is an excerpt from my book, Naked Writing: The No Frills Way to Write Your Book                !
First of all, be brave. Write down your novel idea. How long is your description? A few pages? A page? Three paragraphs? A couple of sentences?
If your answer was the last option, a couple of sentences, then you're in luck. That's exactly what I want you to do - boil your entire story idea down into two or three crisp, bright sentences. This usually sets students off into groans and moans, but later when they realize what a valuable exercise it is, they're delighted.

Why should you express your idea in so few words? Several reasons:

1) You want to know how strong your idea is. Will it last the course?
If you are able to write it down in two or three sentences, and it still makes sense and sparkles brightly, then you can be fairly sure you've a workable idea. If not, it might be that you need to set it aside until other parts of the puzzle pop into your head.

I always keep an ideas file on my computer. I used to just scribble down notes, but in the end I had several purses crammed with bits of paper, receipts, and paper napkins, all with unintelligible scribbles that once were great ideas. I still scribble down ideas when they come to me - but as soon as I can, I type them into my computer file. Funnily enough, by the time I do this I have a lot more detail for the idea.

Antidote for a Weak Idea: Set it aside in your Ideas File, and read it every now and again - strengthening additions will occur to you. Look at your file to see if any other ideas can be merged to form a stronger whole. Ideas do not arrive in our heads fully formed, sometimes they come in bits and pieces and the smart writer is alert enough to capture them as they arrive.

2) Now you have this one paragraph mini outline. It keeps you focused on your story. Write it out on sticky notes and apply to your computer monitor, your diary - even the bathroom mirror if you dare!

3) This short form is your pitch to an editor or agent. In screenwriting, it's called a 'logline' and is used to capture the attention of producers and directors. In our case, we're going to nurture this simple paragraph, use it at the beginning of query letters and as the basis for the synopsis which is our selling tool when the book is finished and ready to do the rounds of publishers and agents.

See how useful this logline is? So how do you do it?

Take the most important part of your idea, add the names of the two main characters, and describe the problem they must overcome. Here are some examples from well known books:

Consider these:

A young couple fall in love and vow to remain together despite the opposition of their families and an edict from the ruling prince, but a misunderstanding brings about tragic consequences - Romeo and Juliet

A rebel leader goes up against the might of Rome, is betrayed by his own people, and is martyred. But his teachings of love and peace live on and are still celebrated 2000 years later – Jesus Christ, The New Testament

A man and woman struggle against powerful opposition to solve the riddle of an ancient code and find a precious artifact. They learn the truth about it, and in doing so they learn the truth about themselves and fall in love. But they face a dilemma when they find the artifact and realize the dangers it could pose. - The Da Vinci Code

A man whose family has worked a piece of land for generations believes it should be his, and is willing to kill to hold onto it. But his stubbornness results in the death of his only surviving son and he is left to question the true value of the land he so coveted - The Field.

Try it – I guarantee when you see how much this exercise clarifies your novel or non-fiction idea, and how useful it can be as part of your pitch, query letter, and later on, promotion, you’ll learn to love loglines!
                             And here’s a bit of shameless self-promotion: My latest romantic suspense, Another Man’s Son, is now out in print. It’s part of the delightful Lobster Cove series from The Wild Rose Press, and you can read the first chapter on my website here.

Saturday’s Snippet–The No Sex Clause

Today’s Saturday Snippet is from The No Sex Clause, a book I had a lot of fun writing and hope you’ll enjoy reading!

BLURB:

Anna Findlay needs a man.
Anna has gone from being the bullied Mouse in a small town high school to the perfectly groomed and wealthy author of a pop psychology book on sex. When her publicity agent talks her into going to her high school reunion at Christmas, there are two problems - Anna hated high school, and she has no one to go with. So, in her own pragmatic style, she hires an escort from an agency - a move that will change her life forever. A serious case of mistaken identity lands Anna in the company of media mogul Jed Walker and the dreaded reunion turns into a sexy comedy of errors.
Anna finds herself revisiting her past and learning that she has never been comfortable in any of the personas she has invented for herself. It takes falling in love - and Christmas - to show her that all she needs do is be herself.


EXCERPT:

But she didn’t have time to consider the implications because a large warm hand closed on hers, and she was pulled away and came to rest against a solid wall of masculine chest. In the split second between Bob pulling her towards him and Joey letting her go, Anna felt like a bone trapped between two slathering dogs. The idea infuriated her almost as much as all this blatant male attention thrilled her. So this is what all the other girls experienced, day after day? What must it be like to float through your teenaged years knowing you were admired and desired, instead of being a Mouse who was, when she got any attention at all, just the butt of jokes.
She turned the flare of anger on to her escort, needing to release the awful feeling on someone’s head. “What do you think you’re up to?” she whispered savagely. “I was enjoying talking to Joey..”
“You didn’t look like you were enjoying it,” Jed told her, playing along with the Bob persona, “In fact, you looked like a mouse who’s realised she’s the snake’s dinner.”
And, dammit, that great ape of a football player looked like he was enjoying being draped all over Anna just a little too much! Jed wondered where that thought which had suddenly bounced into his head came from, but he was distracted by Anna dragging on his arm.
“Come over here with me – we need a quiet word,” she said, smiling up at him seductively while her eyes burned with a very nasty looking fire. Uh, uh – he’d obviously annoyed her by pulling her away from the football playing gorilla… A delighted grin lit up his face.
“You can just wipe that grin off your face. I want to talk to you in a quiet spot, nothing else….” Anna growled.
“Aw, shucks, I thought maybe you wanted to make out like all the other kids are doing...”
Anna glanced around. The first quiet corner she’d spotted to have a little chat with her escort just happened to be littered with bodies, entangled with each other, two by two, all hidden in the relative privacy afforded by the heavy velvet curtains of the stage. Her face burned. Of course she remembered this corner – a must at all high school dances, a spot where chaperons pretended to turn a blind eye on the grounds that kids kissing in the dance hall were less likely to get into anything more serious elsewhere.

The No Sex Clause is available in print and eBook on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, and other Amazon locations. Like a signed print copy? Email the author at glenysoconnell @ gmail .com (no spaces) for details!

Wednesday’s Writing: Writing Rituals Don’t Replace This…

When I first began writing, back in what my kids refer to as the 'Dark Ages', by which they meant before computers and the Internet, there were few guides for writers. The ones I read were staid, intellectual treatises that made writing seem like some kind of religion only the initiated could practice.
Times changed, and with the advent of the World Wide Web, lots of information and opportunities became available to writers. And with this deluge of information came all sorts of advice, much of it terrific. But some of it caused more confusion than clarity. You have probably come across some of these examples:
* Meditate before you write
* Use only pen and paper to capture your thoughts.
* Light candles around your writing space – certain scents inspire creativity.
* Write at dawn, when your work is blessed by the rising sun.
* Write at night, when the moon inspires you to greatness…….
Yeah, right. I started my career as a journalist. Imagine the effect of announcing that I couldn’t write the front page lead until I’d meditated, lit candles, and performed other rituals to bless my work……I'd have been quickly shown the door!
So I learned that there’s absolutely no substitute for putting your bum in the chair, hands on the keyboard, and  - yes, writing. Sounds so simple, doesn't it? But there is magic in just starting to write, even a stream of consciousness that bears some faint resemblance to your story idea or non-fiction topic. mKeep going, putting those words down, and eventually, slowly, the words begin to form a coherent whole and your book is under way! 
Sure I have my own rituals – got to check email & FB, and read over the last chapter I wrote before closing the computer sown for the night. There needs to be a coffee by the keyboard, too, but I know that nothing takes the place of actually getting the writing written!
Comment about your own writing rituals for a chance to win a copy of Naked Writing: The No Frills Way to Write Your Book, or a $10 Amazon gift certificate  

Writing Contests: For Winners or a Waste of Time?

As writers our main aim is to get our work accepted by a publisher, right? And it’s hard enough sending out all those query letters and neat little packages of partials and synopses, without being bothered sending stuff off to some group with an odd-sounding name who’ll take a look at your work and — gulp! — maybe tell you it’s no good. Heavens, after all, we can get letters from publishers telling us the same thing, and less publicly!
If we get a nice letter praising our work from these contest judges, or better yet, our names appear as finalists or winners, so what? I mean, it’s not like being published, is it?
And contests cost you money, too. So why bother?
Now, gather round, all you ambitious writers, and listen up.
Contests can provide you with a showcase for your work, a chance to bring your work before judges who are also editors, agents, or published writers in their other incarnations. And you don’t have to win the contests to be a winner, either. Many writers will tell about their experiences of being contacted by editors or agents who read their contest submissions and were impressed enough to ask to see the whole manuscript.
So, is it really worth going to the trouble of seeking out contests, packaging up your precious work and sending it off? Many writers think so. Here are some positive viewpoints:
“I entered the Iowa Romance Novelists’ Query and Synopsis contest last year and was a finalist. It was advantageous in many aspects and I’m going to enter a few more this year as a result of my experience with the contest,” says writer Dawn Tomasko, “Contests can open doors for writers. It’s a tight, competitive market and if an editor or agent notices your work through a contest so much the better. It’s one way to get a foot in the door. I very much liked reading the different judges’ responses to my work (I had included the first 30 pages as requested) and not only was the feedback helpful to point out good and bad things in my work, but the differences in their opinions underlined the fact that fiction is SO subjective.”
Dawn is now on her third novel, and adds the contest final as a credit in her query letters alongside her publication credits. “I advocate contests wholeheartedly,” she said.
Author Laurie Alice Eakes is a first-rate example of how a contest can boost a writer into committing to her craft — and the successes that follow. “In 1993, I won my first writing contest,” Laurie Alice said. “After that, with the encouragement of writer friends and business associates, I got serious and finished my first true attempt at a readable novel. My first sale was actually a nonfiction book entitled Virginia Wine, A Tasteful Guide, published in 1997. In 1999, while I was in grad school at Virginia Tech, I contracted my first novel with Awe-Struck E-Books.”
That first novel, The Widow’s Secret, was nominated for best e-book of 1999 and the Frankfurt E-Book awards, and remained high on the Barnes and Noble best selling e-books list for several months. “When some unfortunate circumstances compelled me to take a leave of absence from graduate school, I began writing again. December 2001 marks the release of the paperback version of The Widow’s Secret. In February 2002, my Regency historical, Married by Mistake, will be published by Novel Books Inc., in both trade paperback and electronic format. Awe-Struck E-Books will publish my Regency suspense novel, Unmarriageable, in April 2002, and Novel Books Inc., will publish my first contemporary romance, Lessons in Love, in August 2002. “Under the Mistletoe,” my Regency Mystery short story, is still available as part of A Winter Holiday Sampler, in trade paperback and electronic formats from Regency Press.”
To emphasize the value of contests further, she adds: ” I have out three books now, two in print, which is nice. I just won a scholarship for my writing, a nicely large one. So that contest paid off, too.”
So, contests are well worth your consideration. Not only can you get valuable credits to add to your writers’ resume, but the judges often offer the sort of constructive criticism that some professionals charge a fortune for — giving you a chance to review their advice and revamp your MS, and all for the entry fee. If you’re not sure whether a certain contest fits with your career plan as a writer, ask. Ask the organizers — most have email contact addresses now. Ask other writers — often contest news is announced on Internet writers’ lists and so other list members may be able to give fast answers to your queries. And if there’s no email contact, then write for more details. After all, you are a writer, aren’t you?
(This article was first published several years ago; it's still popping up all over the Net, so I thought I'd get some extra mileage out of it, too)