Okay, I’ve been sitting here for the past half hour with writer’s block.
It didn’t take me long to figure out why. You know what it is?
Eyes. Looking at me.
Waiting for me to talk about them so they can come alive.
When I have a story in my mind, I write several pages about each character until I know them — can be them in my mind. Then I hunt for pictures of people who most resemble each one.
About three feet behind my monitor, I have a board with the characters for my Raptor Castle series. Oh, my, I wish you could see them.
Ranald, the monk turned chanaged to the Black Raptor in Masked Dessires, has emerald eyes that say, “Lucifer’s warty ears! What do you know about a monk’s desires, woman?â€
Raik of Beloved Sacrifice never breaks eye contact with me, no matter where I am in the room. He’s not happy, etiher. He’s angry. Very angry. I’ve been to slow to get Lettia into bed with him.
Ha, that’s all men think about, isn’t it?
Maybe some women, too. I’m certainly doing it a lot lately trying to figure out what readers want.
Let me ask you something. Is it true that you want the hero/heroine in bed by, um, maybe 20 pages? I’ve waited about 50 pages in Beloved Sacrifice, because I don’t want them between the sheets before the reader has a chance to know who they are and why they’re there.
Oh, gag! For someone with nothing to say I sure can ramble on. Help me out before I take this manuscript and put it through the shredder.
I’ll shut up now and do some thinking.
- About the Author
- Posts in the Past
Hi there. I’m Sophia Johnson, and Coffee Time Romance asked that I tell you a little about myself. Ha! That should take about thirty seconds. I can do that.
I’m at the prime of my life. I have long, curly brown hair that makes Katherine Zeta Jones look like a scraggly hen. Below slightly arched brows, my eyes are deep brown with long, thick lashed lids. My nose is small above full lips, and there’s a mischievous dimple in my right cheek.
Oh yes, and I’m very tall and slender with perfect breasts and legs that are insured for a million dollars.
Eh? Did I hear you snort? Smart girl. You didn’t fall for that. Yep. I was lying through my teeth.
Now that’s what I can tell the truth about.
I lie. A lot.
My passion for telling whoppers started in 1999, and I’ve been doing it ever since. That’s the year I joined the Romance Writers of America and found out I could lie and get paid for it.
My husband and I live with our two little dogs in north-central Florida. We enjoy a very quiet life in the Rainbow Springs area. Our long-coat Chihuahua Jamie is our guard dog…he’ll bite anyone’s ankle. He’s not partial. He nips friends as well as strangers. But Konner is our Papillon who wriggles himself silly until Jamie finishes making enemies of our friends, then he soothes them with doggie kisses-to-go.
It’s really important to have a terrorist dog like Jamie. He keeps everyone away. That gives me time to sit here at my keyboard and pretend I’m a tall, beautiful medieval woman who can bring a fabulously sexy, virile Scot warrior to his knees.
Now who could ask for a better life than that? I can be beautiful, courageous and sexy for months on end, and when I’m done playing, I’m always assured of a happily ever after.
Take care,
Sophia
Well I personally like the friction and attraction to pull the two lovers into bed. That I guess for some could take 10 pages but for me I like the build up.
Do not even think of the shredder or Raik will haunt you forever!! Maybe a good thing but let him live on the pages.
With admiration! Your loyal reader, Lorrie
Hi Sophia! Nice to see you. It doesn’t mattter when they go to bed. It could be on page 100 or even 200 as long as it’s believable and fits within the story and isn’t just thrown in for the sake of throwing it in. lol