Saturday Simmers with May Williams' Cape May Serenade

Blurb:

Brad Stevens thinks he has life just where he wants it. He's back living in his hometown, restoring a house he loves, and building his carpentry business. When Carolyn Kent, a former USO singer, comes to Cape May one summer to perform, Brad's simple life gets complicated. He finds it easy to love Carolyn, but keeping her may be a difficult job. She has ambitions as a singer that could take her far from him. Will Brad's love and life in a beautiful seaside resort be enough to tempt Carolyn to stay or will she follow her dreams back to the big city?
http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-314/Cape-May-Serenade-May/Detail.bok


Excerpt:

Carolyn nearly burst with excitement when Brad finally pulled into his driveway and parked his truck next to the workshop. Not seeing her, he swung over the wooden side of the truck's bed and grabbed a large box of tools. She rushed to him, waving a letter in her hand when he dropped back to the ground.

"Brad, you're finally home." She launched herself into his arms. The box of tools clattered onto the ground, but they barely heard it during the kiss that followed.

"A man could get used to this kind of welcome home."

She slid down the front of his body. "I thought you'd be home earlier. I've missed you so much."

After a drink with Brad the other night, she left him and returned to the Grand Cape May to reason with her parents. They rebuffed her attempts to explain her relationship with Brad, and the next morning they were simply gone when she went to find them after breakfast. A job took Brad up the coast for a few days and left her too much time to think about him and the problem with her parents.

"I missed you and this." He swooped in for another kiss and ran his fingers through her hair.

"Ummm, you smell of wood and apple pie." Carolyn nuzzled his neck.

"Pie's in the cab. I don't always get paid in cash." He ran his hand down her back and over her bottom, tugging one of her legs up to wrap around his waist. "Why don't you come inside and have some pie with me?"

"Tempting." For a moment she was caught in a wave of heat and desire, then she remembered her reason for coming and pushed him back. "I want to show you my letter, and I don't have much time before tonight's show." He took the letter from her hand and scanned the contents. "I'm being offered a chance to record a demo in New York. Don't you see? This is what I've been hoping for."

"I'm happy for you." With his usual smile and a congratulatory kiss, he handed her the letter. "When do you go?"

"Early tomorrow. Eddie was able to call in a favor with another singer to cover for me."

"Will you be gone long?" He bent over to pick up the scattered tools.

"Through the weekend. I'll be back on Monday in time for my show." She squatted next to him to see his face, but she couldn't read his expression. "Brad, you are happy for me, right?"

"Yeah, of course," he reassured her. "It's what you want. I'm just imagining how you're going to knock'em dead."

"I hope so."

"I know you will." He hoisted the toolbox to his shoulder and walked to the workshop. "You'll be signing a recording deal before the weekend's over."

"Wouldn't that be wonderful? I've spent so much time wishing for this. I can't believe I finally get the chance."

"Will you stay with your parents in Manhattan?"

"I think it's best. Maybe I can talk to them, and they live close to the studio where I'll be recording." Carolyn leaned in the open door of the workshop while Brad returned tools to their places. "Why don't you come up over the weekend? How long's it been since you were in New York?"

"I have a few army buddies in the boroughs. We get together every few months."

"Then you're no stranger to the city. Please come."

"I don't know. I have a lot of work to do here." He gestured to the house with the hammer he held.

"Promise me you'll think about it at least. I'll leave their address with you." She glanced at the clock over his workbench. "I better get back for my evening performance, then I have to pack and be at the train station early."

"How long will it take you to pack tonight?"

"Not long. Why?"

"I'll pick you up at eleven."

She cocked her head to one side. "I have to catch the train at seven in the morning."

"Then we'll have eight hours before you go to be together." He came to her and rested his hands on her hips. "I want you to spend the night with me here."

"I can't look tired." She gazed into the depths of his gray eyes. Passion was there along with something she couldn't quite identify. Was it sadness or worry?

"I'll let you sleep -- some. And if I do my job right, you'll glow from head to toe." He put a soft kiss on her forehead.

http://www.amazon.com/May-Williams/e/B005KVEZNC/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Building a Simmering Saturday Scene

Author Jordan Bollinger is sharing  some writing helps. You are welcome to visit her at http://jordanbollinger.blogspot.com/ or email her at jordanbollinger@rocketmail.com

Mini-Lesson - Adding Tension Between Characters


Today's mini-lesson is on building tension between characters. It is the gradual, yet continual, building of tension that makes for a great plot. Tension 'turns up the volume' on the story's conflict. It is this tension that 'your characters' are immersed in that makes them more real for the reader; and therefore, captures and pulls them into your story. And taking the reader captive is why you 'show', instead of 'tell'. However, for this lesson, I'm going to be 'telling' you about how they feel. Do Not Do This At Home!


There are two types of tension we have available: regular tension and sexual tension. Of course, we want a certain amount of sexual tension between our hero and heroine; and we want it to grow gradually. You want to make your reader 'beg for it' - for that sizzling first kiss, or initial more intimate encounter.

After thinking about this, I came up with several ways of creating, what we'll call 'regular tension'. If you sit and think about it for a while, I bet you can come up with some of your own. Mine are:

• Preconceptions

• Assumptions

• Conflicting ethics

• Miscommunications

Some ways of adding 'sexual tension' between characters are:

• Day dreaming

• Close physical proximity

• Having one party interact with others, or perform some physical task while the other party watches

• The use of double entendre and/or suggestive (or accidentally suggestive) conversation

Let's meet our 'soon-to be-blossoming' couple: Sarah and Mark. They are about to meet for drinks, after being setup by two friends - Danny and Grace. Mark and Danny have been friends most of their lives; and Sarah and Grace went through Catholic school together. Danny and Grace aren't a couple, just friends and co-workers.

After talking over lunch, they've decided that Mark and Sarah are perfect for each other. Grace has repeated Danny's description of Mark to Sarah verbatim, 'As a great guy!', which tells Sarah absolutely nothing about him. Which is why Sarah is looking at the steadily growing pile of discarded outfits on her bed and giving serious thought about just not going.

Of course, Grace's description of Sarah as 'having a bubbly personality' was no better. It has Danny convinced she's 'less than perfect'. And, of course he's passed this assumption on to Mark, who is considering standing Sarah up.

Isn't miscommunication wonderful? They haven't even met yet and both are nervous and having serious doubts.

Okay, now Sarah's found something she actually thinks she looks nice in, and has, perhaps after a serious lecture to herself, arrived five minutes early - because punctuality is extremely important to her. Mark arrives about ten minutes late, not concerned at all about his tardiness. Now Sarah's waiting for an explanation, and when she eventually says something he's starting to believe he's made an awful mistake.

Clash of ideology - it's a great way to not bound.

Once they get seated and order drinks, Mark asks Sarah about herself, which is good, right? Things are smoothing themselves out . . . until Sarah tells Mark about how she and Grace met in Catholic school; and goes on to tell how she still writes to several of the sisters. Now Billy Joel's 'Only the Good Die Young' is running through his head; and he's already feeling frustrated. (Hey, guys are guys - right?)

Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, Sarah sees his fallen face and reads it as he doesn't find her attractive.

Ooh! We got both assumption and pre-conceptions with that one.

The beauty is that they all work equally as well after they've gotten to know each other and started to fall in love. You just need to think about it, and you'll come up with ways of throwing a monkey wrench into their budding romance.

And, we haven't even touched on things others might say - to them or about them; meaning for them to hear it or not. That opens up even more possibilities.

So, let's move on to 'sexual tension' and get back to our hero and heroine. Mark broke up with his last girlfriend several months ago, and has been avoiding women in general. But, he has allowed himself a little bit of fantasying, which in turn has caused a 'rise in his libido'. He finds Sarah attractive, smart (he's never liked dumb girls) and has a great laugh. Maybe this could go somewhere - if not tonight, in the future.

And, since we're all modern women, we know women can fantasize too.

There's a little dance floor and, after some encouragement, Sarah agrees to take a little turn with Mark. Both find the other's perfume/cologne very nice. They also like the waythey feel  in each other's arms. In addition, because of the dim light, Sarah hadn't noticed how very green his eyes were, and Mark hadn't appreciated how rosy her complexion was. Their nauseousness has changed to that wonderful 'new romance' excitement.

Close physical proximity - it's a great way to 'raise' expectations!

Which, in case you haven't guessed, leads us to 'double entendres', flirty talk and careless, and sometime embarrassing, badly worded comments. Our hero and heroine have imaginations, as we discovered above. Even the most innocent of comments start the brain working. Now, you have to work on double entendres - you want them suggestive, but in a tasteful way - even if you've decided to cross over the line into erotica. After all, we're not writing porn!

Remember all those Bond movies with Sean Connery? He and Cubby Broccoli used to play a game of who could think of some little 'naughty' thing and dare the other to include it in the movie. That's where all those double entendres came from.

Here, I should also mention that you have the option of using questionable comments by others as a way of not only building tension between one or more main and secondary characters, but it adds tension between the main characters themselves. If Mark punches a drunk out because of some rude comment, it causes conflict and tension between the soon-to-be lovers, as well. Embarrassment and fear are great motivators.

This leads us to the last means on my list about building tension between our hero and heroine - having one character watch the other participating in some physical activity. I think that punching a guy out counts, but you don't have to use violence. Performing some brave deed, like saving a child from an approaching car, or executing a perfect dive off the high board will work just as well.

I trust you to understand that this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, but I hope it will give you something to think about.
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Thank you Jordan for sharing this. If you aren't a writer, we hope that you still enjoyed this and maybe next time you read that wonderful novel, you'll appreciate what the author has gone through to entertain you. Again, Jordan loves new followers as much as I do. So slip over to learn more from her at these links (Ooh, I hope they work--if not, copy and paste them.)

jordanbollinger.com
jordanbollinger.blogspot.com
jordanbollinger@rocketmail.com

Simmering Saturdays

I recently read a romance that the author's view of making a romance simmer was the romantic lead's constant whispering in the protagonists ear and his fingers always wrapping a lock of her hair around his fingers. In my opinion that is not simmering, that borders on letting the romance go stale!
And yet not every scene can hold a sizzling kiss so where does that leave us? My answer? Letting the relationship simmer to a boiling point.
Okay, granted -- I am far froma amaster on this one, but here is what I propose in the novel I am currently working on, Book One in The Talisman Series. Mind you, this excerpt is still in the writing stages...

A breeze stirred Trish's hair about her face, tickling her nose and eyes. Echoes of a sharp headache reminded her of her collision with the livery door. She slowly opened her eyes. A man stood at her window. She squinted, forcing bleary eyes to focus. "Quinn?"


He turned slowly and she noticed he held something. Fabric. Her clothes? "My bet is that this ain't your blood. No woman bleeds like this."

Trish tried to sit up, a wave of dizziness making her head spin pulled her back down. Swallowing hard and refocusing, she pushed herself upright. "Blood? What blood?"

"Found these bloody clothes. Ya had 'em tucked under your mattress. Whose blood is this?"

Trish stared at him wishing his back wasn't to the light. She couldn't make out his expression. His tone was as level as it had been at the poker table with Ace. Usually his tone held a vibrant quality, even when training a young horse. Not now.

"You rifled through my things?"

"No. Answer the question, Trish. Whose blood?" his tone, though still quiet had an edge to it.

Trish struggled with how to answer, her words rushing out without the usual care of an attorney. "I'm sorry, Quinn. I couldn't save him. He died in my arms. I didn't kill him. You've got to believe me."

Quinn's chest expanded with his deep intake of air, yet his words remained calm. "Whose blood?"

Trish shook her head, the pain rolling from side to side as the tears she'd held back burst to the surface. "Albert," her voice cracked. "I didn't--"

"Why didn't you stay with him?"

"I did," she swallowed trying to regain her composure.

"No. You weren't there when I found him," he said, his words accusing her.

"I did. I just-- I heard someone coming and realized how it would look if they found me with him. You have to believe me, I didn't kill him."

He stepped closer and she shrank back. "And the blood? Why?"

Trish kept her hands close to her body, but raised them defensively.

"I found him there, bleeding when I arrived. I held him in my arms and tried to comfort him. I lost it. I didn't know what to do. The horse was stamping. The scent of blood-- oh." Her hands flew to her face, covering her tears. "So much blood-- I tried to stop the bleeding and it just kept coming."

Sobs drowned out her words; she shuddered wishing she had done more. Wishing she'd never been there. Wishing she had never come here. Wishing he believed her.

Quinn stepped to the bed, dropping the stained clothing between them. "Ya should have stayed."

"I didn't know it was you. I thought the murderer…"

Quinn sank to the bed. The bedsprings groaned under his added weight, but he didn't touch her. "Ya should have stayed and told me who murdered him."

"But I don't know who did it."

Quinn glowered at her. "Tell me. No more lies. No more tears."

Trish stared at him in silence. She couldn't tell him.

"Damn it, Trish," his words sounded tortured. He pushed her back on the bed, seizing a handful of hair, constraining her. His kiss demanded she yield herself to him. At first she fought him, but when the weight of his chest came down on her, she surrendered.

For most of a week she had dreamed of his kissing her here. Her dreams had warmed her with excited anticipation. This was not as she had hoped. Tears of abject horror replaced tears of sorrow. The pressure of his lips bruised hers and yet his hands remained in her hair and against her cheek. The moment was brief, feeling torturously long.

He moved away, turning his back to her and breathing hard. "No more lies, Trish. The truth. All of it."

She remained prone on her bed where he had left her. "I told you," she whispered.

"Start at the beginning." He pulled the sheet up to cover her. "Why did Curly have you tethered?"

"I guess because he was sick. I certainly didn't deserve it."

"He isn't your papa?"

Trish gasped. "No!"

"Where you giving your--your body to Albert?" He sounded like he might choke on his words.

"No!" Trish rolled away from him, coming to a sitting position. "Never, how could you think that?"

Strong hands reached for her pushing her back to the mattress. "Woman, I am through playing games with you. Tell me the truth, all of it."

She stared up at him, willing him to believe her. She shook her head, fresh tears spilling form her eyes, marking fresh trails to her ears. "I can't."

He let go of her only to flick his bowie knife free, placing it at her neck. "Tell me the truth."

"I would never offer myself to Albert," she whispered. "I couldn't."

"Why?"

She swallowed and answered, "Because I'm --."

"He didn't want your body so you swung the hammer at his head in jealous anger. Is that it?" Twisted distaste wrinkled his handsome features.

"No," she gasped. "I'm not a murderer."

"But you killed Old Curly." Quinn's eyes glared at her, daring her to lie.

"That depends on how you plea and your defense attorney. Technically, I could plea self defense and get off while you would be found guilty. I'm only an accessory."

"How do you know that?"

"You wouldn't believe me." He applied pressure to her skin with the knife.

"Try me."

"Put your knife away and pull up a chair."

He looked around her scantily furnished room. "You don't have a chair."

She forced a weak smile, "Details… the knife, put it away?"

With a flick of his wrist the knife disappeared. "It is where I can get to it if you don't tell me the truth."

"Then you better find yourself a really comfortable place to sit and have an open mind."

+++++
Tension? You decide.