Discovery

One of the most exciting things about writing is the discoveries you make as characters come alive on the page.

The only downside to that is the amount of re-writing involved as back-story, or a sudden unexpected turn of events feeds into the future thinking and actions of a character!

When these discoveries come along I welcome them, although it may mean rewriting perhaps four or five times to incorporate everything I’ve ‘learned’.

In The Venetian’s Bed, my May release for Harlequin Presents, is somewhat different, as the opening chapters are based on a real-life experience…

I know how Nell feels when her young daughter Molly is taken ill with an asthma attack during a gondola ride along the narrow canals in Venice, because I had been in exactly that same position years ago.

I was that disorientated, terrified, disempowered mother, and it is only now, with my daughter’s blessing, that I can turn those horrendous few hours into the opening of a romance.

My Daily on-line serial - The Venetian’s Defiant Woman - running now on e-harlequin offers an introduction to the magic and allure of Venice.
http://www.eharlequin.com/article.html?articleId=1266

But that magic is stripped away when someone you love is at serious risk, as happens in the opening chapters of In The Venetian’s Bed.

Fortunately for Nell and Molly there is a happy outcome, as thankfully, there was for me and my daughter all those years ago.

During the course of In The Venetian’s Bed as fantasy takes over from reality the magic of Venice comes to the fore again, and Nell and Luca Barbaro enter the erotic world of Carnival…

My question for you today is, if you had to choose one scene from your life and develop it into a scene for a book, what would you choose?
It can be funny, or dramatic, whatever you like…

There will be a lovely prize sent to a winner picked out at random this weekend.

I look forward to hearing from you as always,

(And if you love shaggy dog stories, please come along and take a look at my beautiful rescue Pup-Dogs at www.susanstephens.net *Writing Diary* [more of a Dog Diary, these days!]

By the time you read this we’ll be into day five of their new life.)

Love to you all, and happy reading, everyone!

Susan

16 Responses to “Discovery”

1. Hi,
   my life is pretty boring but one of the happiest days of my life was my daughter’s wedding - so maybe we can do something with that. And there was quite a bit of drama with an uncooperative family member.

   by Helen L. on April 5th, 2007 at 7:29 am
   
   

2. My life is boring too but there were some good moments. One particularly romantic night waa when I came home from a meeting to find my kitchen upside down–my dh had decided to make my favorite dessert: creme brulee. He made 3 trips to the store and was trying to make the sugary crust when I got home. It was wonderful and such a surprise.

   by Robin Bayne on April 5th, 2007 at 9:19 am
   
   

3. My wedding day and the build up to the event would definitely make an extremely dramatic moment within a movie scene. An unexpected development which I hope that no one on earth has to ever live through occurred and this marred the few days before and the wedding itself. Memorable to say the least and totally unforgettable. I could write a book highlighting the incident.

   by alissa on April 5th, 2007 at 9:52 am
   
   

4. Hi, and great to see you here

   Interesting that weddings are mentioned here twice. I have a family wedding coming up this summer and already the dramas are starting. Weddings are such emotion-packed events, it really is a case of light the blue touch paper (guess that starts when you send out the invitations) and stand back!

   I love your creme brulee story, Robin. I’m going to make my husband read it when he gets home

   Sxx

   by Susan Stephens on April 5th, 2007 at 10:17 am
   
   

5. I could choose many scenes from my first marriage so I’ll choose this one:
   Newly married, dh stayed out late one night or never came home(can’t remember exactly after 33 yrs.) and I was so mad(angry) that I threw most of his clothes onto the ground from our apartment balcony. The next day the landlord comes to me and says I think your laundry is on the ground, you better pick it up before someone takes it.
   Ha haha, as if I cared at that moment but I didn’t tell him that.

   by RobynL on April 5th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
   
   

6. Oh, I have a ton of dramatic, scary incidents from my past I could use for scenes in books. I had an eventful late teenage life….it’s a miracle I survived any of it. LOL

   Here’s one that would make a very cool scene for a paranormal or rom/suspense…ex-hubby and I were vacationing on Vancouver Island, in the beautiful seaside town of Tofino. I wanted to go whale watching because I adore them, but when we got to the place the boats had left. I cried so hard that the owners of the hotel we were staying in agreed to take us on their own private boat. So, out we went just the two of us and our guide into the Pacific Ocean, a fog rolls in, we can’t see land, and all of a sudden several gray bumps surface and blow air out of their holes…OMG, it was amazing and majestic, but then our boat’s engine stops and the guy can’t get it going again, and we stuck out in the middle of the water, fog all around us, surrounded by beautiful Gray Whales. I was scared but exhilirated. Finally, he got the boat running and we headed back to shore. That was one of the best experiences of my life.

   by Vivi Anna on April 5th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
   
   

7. The day I met my husbands family. All I can say is that it was unforgettable.

   by Maureen on April 5th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
   
   

8. I can’t think of anything since I turned 18 a long time ago. . . but as a dream or daydream I was kissed in front of the whole class back in second grade. Although in actuality, he just thought he did, I backed away. LOL

   Lois

   by Lois on April 5th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
   
   

9. I would have to say my first pregnancy since it resulted in a miscarriage. It was a painful time for me and my husband but it actually brought us closer together. My husband was so supportive it just made me love him even more. I think it could make a touching scene in a book.

   by Cherie Japp on April 5th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
   
   

10. As always your remarks are awesome. Grey whales… what an experience. I saw Minky whales from a great distance once and was absolutely in awe.

    And Cherie, I really feel for you.

    Back tomorrow- it’s bedtime here, already.

    Sxx

    by Susan Stephens on April 5th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
    
    

11. I would choose the birth of my first son as it was a very emotional time. It had a lot of emotions associated with it as he was born six weeks early via an emergency c-section. Everything turned out fine but it is a night that I will never forget! This happened over 20 years ago.

    by Linda F on April 5th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
    
    

12. Just dropping by to say I’ll be choosing our winner at random over the weekend, so there’s still chance for you to post your comments. Lovely to hear from you. Back soon.
    Sx

    by Susan Stephens on April 6th, 2007 at 2:17 am
    
    

13. I would have to say when I took a vacation for two weeks and went to Florida the first and sailed on a cruise ship from there to the Bahamas for the second week. Went on this vacation about 15 years ago and would love to do something like this again!

    by Teresa W. on April 6th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
    
    

14. My worst moment was coming home from a two week vacation in Florida mid January 1987 to find that our electric heat thermastats had shut off and it had gotten bitter cold way below zero. ( We had moved into the home the previous June.) Every pipe in our house burst!! We opened our basement door and we were hit with a tropical wave of humid air and the sound of running water. Our sump pump was unsuccessfully trying to empty out our flooded basement. It was a disaster!! We lost all of our possessions that were in the basement, furniture, lots of music albums and pictures as it was a finished basement with a beautiful family room. We also lost all of our live plants throughout the house. We didn’t have any running water upstairs until the plumbers could come and resodder in new pipes. We then had to face 6 months of repairs and renovations with two young kids of 1 and 4. It turned into a very expensive vacation!

    by Laurie G on April 7th, 2007 at 5:53 am
    
    

15. Wow, you have some incidents to dip into here. And Maureen, I think it’s what you don’t say that gets us smiling (and sparks the imagination!!!).

    I’m going to pick our first poster without looking…
    Hi Helen, that’s you! Congratulations! Perhaps you should send me some tips on how to deal with the difficult guests at a wedding!!!

    Thank you all for joining us. I love these chats- back first of May with a fresh opportunity for you to win a prize.

    Helen could you send you details to Lee@susanstephens.net and Lee will make sure you receive your prize ASAP!

    Thank you all once again for taking part. Have to dash because my pup-dogs aren’t so well.
    If you love dogs do drop by my writing diary where from tomorrow (Monday) I’ll be back with some worrying updates of where we are right now with my rescue dogs, Betty and Molly

    Waving goodbye for now,
    Susan

    by Susan Stephens on April 8th, 2007 at 3:18 am
    
    

16. wtg helen

    by kim h on April 8th, 2007 at 7:18 pm