Wanting to Remember, Trying to Forget (Meet the Shepards #1)
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Unfortunately, I have a problem. I allow my characters to dictate the story instead of the other way around and the relationship between Max and Danny became more volatile than originally expected (Damn fire signs!).
I was forced to play along with almost everything that happened. For example: Danny and Charlie were not supposed to hate each other, but when I put them in the same vicinity, they were at each other’s throats so I had to work with that.
I loved writing scenes with Charlie because it required no thinking. He was like an improv actor. None of his dialogue was thought of before-hand. I just threw him in and he played the whole thing out.
When I got to about April, I gave my sister the draft and asked for her opinion. She told me that she wasn’t really feeling Danny and she couldn’t connect with her character. So I said: “Okay, Danny, you gotta give me something special.”
She then gave me the Timbaland dance scene. Now, when I wrote this, it was supposed to be a filler scene. Cute. Sweet. Corny. Just giving the reader a little more of Danny. But then she clung to this thing and it actually ended up being quite an important part of the book. Her new career, the first time she chose Max over Richard, her realizing she was in love with Max – all of it stemmed from that scene. So she knew something I didn’t at that point.
Next on the list: If you got irritated with the slow pace of the book, trust me, I felt the same way. Feel free to blame Max. The accident was supposed to happen early March, but he wanted to explore his feelings for Sofia a little more. I wasn’t keen to do that. I didn’t think it was necessary for the story, but I think it was necessary for him to give someone else a chance. Because of this, I had to shift everything out by a month, which was already a delay. After the accident, I was trying to stomp the accelerator, but he kept slamming brakes. I kept saying: “Max, you need to make a move now.”
But he was so hindered by guilt. I thought he would take full advantage of the situation. What I didn’t realize was how much their friendship meant to him and betraying her trust was something he couldn’t do. So I passed the ball to Danny but she was feeling too insecure because he rejected her, so I couldn’t get either of them to do anything. I then had to move scenes around to get out of the corner I wrote myself into until eventually I was like: “Guys, you’re killing me here! It’s almost the end of May. I need something!”
My instructions were clear. I will set the scene for a kiss and then I want a f**king kiss. I don’t care how it happens, there just better be a kiss at the end of this scene.
That kiss is the reason why I will always trust my characters, because what they gave me shocked the hell out of me. It was awesome. After that Danny couldn’t keep her hands off him, so I just left it in her capable hands to move the story along because Max truly was painful at times.
So let me tell you a little more about my Max. I think it’s obvious that I connected with him the most. His personality had more layers than I gave him. He taught me a lot. He taught me that steamy scenes don’t have to be sexy. They can be cute and even silly.
He surprised me constantly. The personification of Penis, his fascination with her scars, his rage in the bathroom; that was all Max. It was never supposed to be part of the story. At the airport, I was planning a big, cliché finish. I was going to use that Jerry Maguire line: “You had me at hello” (that’s why Jerry Maguire was included in the first place. I was building it up from the beginning.) But he ruined everything and left her waiting for seven hours. Seven hours? Who does that? I don’t even know what he was doing. All I know is that he couldn’t face her yet. Anyway, it seemed dumb to still use that line.
Another surprise was him kissing her head at the motel before he left. I actually didn’t want him to touch her at all and he definitely wasn’t supposed to cry. He was supposed to pick up his bags, say his parting words, and leave, but then he wanted to kiss her goodbye and I didn’t have the heart to stop him (I don’t know if you picked up on that sudden change of heart). I was glad that part was written from Danny’s POV because I couldn’t understand his reasoning and she certainly didn’t either, so we just guessed. It was so unforeseen and it meant so much to me that I decided to put it in the Prologue. You probably think I’m crazy now (and you’d be right), but I hope you still enjoyed it nevertheless.
At the point of publishing book one, I am still currently writing the other two books in the series, but here’s some insight on what to expect.
I am going to try my hand at comedy again in Childish Games. Hopefully I’ll get it right this time. As you may have already seen, Tyler is a little non-committal. After an explosive break-up with his ex-girlfriend, he’s having a little trouble letting go of the past. What he doesn’t know is that Jordan is about to rock his world. I have to say that Jordan and Tyler are evolving into the weirdest characters I have encountered in a romance novel. Tyler is funny without trying to be and some of his reactions has me in stitches. He’s one of those characters where I don’t know what he’s going to do until he does it and that kind of unpredictability is very hard to work with from a main character because he keeps changing the flow of the story.
Jordan, on the other hand, isn’t letting me into her head at the moment. She’s not telling me her thoughts or her feelings. All I’m getting from her is some witty remarks and a bit of sarcasm. The combination of the two of them is just flat out weird, but once again, I’m just going to go with it and see how their story develops. I know I will be getting a few more surprises with this book.
For the last book in this series, I’m going to properly introduce you to Kevin and Jasmin. There will a lot of light-hearted moments in that one, but it’s definitely NOT a comedy. Now you already know that Kevin is not easy to deal with and he certainly isn’t the nicest guy in the world, but he has a story to tell and he asked me to tell it.
I am going to have to brace myself and suck it up because this is, by no means, going to be an easy book for me to write. From an emotional point of view, I already know this guy is going to break me (more than Adrian Hawk did in my first book, The Journal). I am having sleepless nights because he won’t stop bothering me.
You’re probably going to hate Kevin for majority of the book, so much so that sometimes I second-guess actually writing it. He is going take me to places I have never been to, make me feel things I don’t necessarily want to feel, but I am going to trust him and go on this road-trip, not knowing exactly where it’s going to take me and that is why I have decided to aptly entitle the last book: Journey to the Unknown.
Thank you once again for taking the time to read this. Please share your thoughts. I appreciate all reviews, whether good or bad.
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