WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT THROWAWAY SCENES?

The term cutting room floor is used in the film industry as a figure of speech referring to unused film footage not included in the finished film. Many of the edited scenes were kept in cases, numbered and titled just in case they were needed later. Of course with the use of computers, scenes are no longer literally snipped and spliced onto a film but the edited scenes are still saved and many times become special outtakes or bloopers for DVDs. Today, author's can do the same with throwaway scenes that have been edited from the finished book. Many put them up on their websites. 

My guest, romance author Ashlyn Chase, discusses another use for throwaway scenes when starting a book, or in this case, a new series. 

Sometimes in order for writers to get to know their characters or get a feel for the overall conflict, they write a throwaway scene…a scene usually consisting of backstory that never makes it into the book. I haven’t done it often, but I found it helpful when beginning this series.

One of my most colorful characters is Mother Nature—head of the supernatural council. The council’s acronym is G.A.I.A. which stands for Gods And Immortals Association. Because of her snarky dialog, she may seem like an antagonist, but she’s really on the side of humans and paranormals alike. Like many a tough taskmaster, she’s simply trying to keep unruly characters in line.

I thought you might enjoy a glimpse from the editing floor…so to speak.

Mother Nature paced with her hands behind her back. She whirled on Mr. Balog and narrowed her eyes.

“You’re sure he’s a vampire and he’s opened a bar for all paranormals?”

“That’s the intel I’ve gathered.”

“Hmph. I cannot think of a stupider idea. Can you Balog?”

“No, Ma’am.”

She balled her fists. “What have I told you about calling me Ma’am?”

He bowed and stepped back. “My apologies, Gaia, er, Goddess.”

“That’s right. Gaia or Goddess. I may be older than dirt, but you don’t have to rub it in my face by calling me Ma’am.”

“I’m sorry.”

Gaia folded her arms. “Apology accepted. Now what are we going to do about this bar? Before the Werewolves and Vampires have a pissing contest in front of the humans.”

“Pissing contest? Do you really think they’d—”

“Gaaah! It’s an expression, you dimwit. Get with the lingo of your adopted land. Do you think I brought you over from Romania for nothing?”

“Yes, Goddess. I mean, no, Goddess. I mean…”

She waved away his confusion. “The paranormal beings must never reveal their supernatural status to humans. That’s the only thing I demand of them.” She threw her hands in the air. “Are you sure you’ve made that abundantly clear down there?”

“Yes, Gaia.”

She sighed. “Fine. Try to talk that vampire out of his ridiculous plan.”

“Yes, Ma—I mean, Gaia.”

She narrowed her eyes at him again and he stood stiffly, trying not to do anything to anger the powerful Goddess.

At last she seemed satisfied. “All right. You have your orders. Now get out of my office building.”

With a wave of her hand, Balog found himself in the elevator, moments before the doors opened onto the fake lobby.

• As a writer:  Do you write throwaway scenes to help define your characters or story?
• As a reader: Do you enjoy reading editing outtake scenes from your favorite authors?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Amazon, Barnes and Noble, IndieBound,Chapters/Indigo

FLIRTING UNDER A FULL MOON 

BY ASHLYN CHASE – IN STORES APRIL 2013

Never Cry Werewolf…

Brandee has been dumped in every way possible, but by text is the last straw. That's it—she's officially done with men. Unfortunately, she's just been told her "soul mate" is the drool-worthy hottie all her friends call One-Night Nick.

Nick has been searching for true love for one hundred years. After all, werewolves mate for life, and he does not want to mess this up. As soon as he kisses Brandee, he knows she's the one. But how will he convince a woman who knows nothing of paranormals that she's about to be bound to a werewolf forever?

“A wonderful start to a very lighthearted series...” —Night Owl Reviews, 4.5 Stars, Reviewer Top Pick

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

A multi-published eBook author, Ashlyn Chase specializes in characters who reinvent themselves, having reinvented herself numerous times. She has worked as a psychiatric nurse, and for the Red Cross, and has a degree in behavioral sciences. She lives with her true-life hero husband in beautiful New Hampshire. The next book in the Flirting with Fangs Series, How to Date a Dragon, will be in stores in September 2013. For more information, please visit Ashlyn's WEBSITE, her Facebook Page and on Twitter 

Now Where to Begin…

In February I did a Review of THE HIGHLANDER'S SWORD. I like doing reviews and the opportunity to read some fabulous books and some wonderful debut books. Reviews are all about THE BOOK and not much about the author aside from their bio, unless you also interview them--which isn't always possible due to time/scheduling factors.




Over Coffee primarily focuses on the authors: "SHARING THE LAUGHTER AND THE TEARS, THE GLITCHES AND THE TRIUMPHS, AUTHORS FACE IN THE PURSUIT OF THEIR AMBITION TO WRITE."

So this time around we get to do that with Amanda Forester. Her topic is one that many writers struggle with in today's writing market. Where's the beginning of the book and the problems with backstory.

When I started to write my novel, THE HIGHLANDER’S SWORD, I thought I would begin at the beginning. I know… rookie mistake. My historical adventure romance tells the story of a Lady Aila Graham who finds herself an heiress after the death of her brothers in battle. In order to gain needed warriors to defend her clan against attack, Aila is married off to a Highland warrior who is poor in material wealth but has a large fighting force. The Highlander, MacLaren, is filled with bitterness because his fiancé betrayed him, so he agrees to marry an heiress he doesn’t know in order to provide for his clan.

I thought I’d begin the story where I thought it started, when MacLaren learns that the woman he loves has betrayed him to the English. I wrote the scene, polished it up, and sent it off to the Emerald City Opener Contest feeling rather proud of my literary masterpiece. When I got back my score sheets, any sense of accomplishment evaporated. The comments were kindly meant, but to the point. I had started in the wrong place. I had started with… backstory.

Backstory came to be the bane of my writing existence.

Backstory is all the stuff that happened to the characters leading up to the main event, the primary conflict in the story. Books of yesteryear commonly began with what is now considered backstory. I’ve enjoyed reading Georgette Heyer lately, but if an editor got a hold of those romance books now, huge sections in the beginning would be chucked. For myself, I am content with a slower paced book, a book that creeps up to the primary plot slowly, so as not to scare it too awful much. I actually like backstory (there, I said it). But if you want to get published in the 21st century, backstory is a big no-no.

So I revised. I cut out some things and this time started with Aila. I showed her daily routine, her difficult relationship with her mother, her shyness around others... and, yeah, you guessed it – more backstory. So I began with Aila’s father on the walls of the castle looking over his fields which had been set ablaze. More backstory. Next I wrote a scene where MacLaren receives the message from Aila’s father and MacLaren debates whether or not to enter into the marriage contract. And yes, that was more backstory too.

By this point I had written about four chapters, none of which made the final cut. As a writer this is hard. Some of the chapters I loved… loved like a comfortable old bra whose elastic is all stretched out and only has one remaining hook in back. It doesn’t really do a good job anymore, but it’s so comfy. Well, these chapters became comfy too. But no matter how much I liked them, it was still backstory.

So where to begin? I think this is one of the hardest questions for a writer, or maybe just a novice writer (or maybe just me!). I had to really stop and consider where the primary plot began for my characters. I struggled for a long while, wrote the rest of the manuscript, and then came back to the beginning. Eventually I little light bulb clicked on in my brain. My primary plot is a love story about two very different people who have every reason to distrust each other, but fall in love instead. Chapter one in my published novel begins with the relationship – at the moment Aila met MacLaren and discovered she had been given to him in marriage.

Since I have all these “deleted” scenes taking up space in my computer I thought I’d share one with you (kind of like the extended DVD offerings). So here is a scene from my original beginning, where MacLaren is betrayed by Marguerite, his French fiancé.

“I bring you good tidings of the defeat of your enemy.”

Marguerite smiled at Maclaren’s declaration, radiating her beauty, drawing him toward her. “You have done very well.”


“But it came at a high cost,” MacLaren continued though the words caught like ash in his throat. “Sir James Patrick is counted among the dead.”


Marguerite looked blankly at MacLaren before recalling the name. “Oh, your cousin, what a shame.” Quickly closing the distance between them MacLaren reached out to take her in his arms as he had long ached to do, but she put up a hand to stop him. “Oh, no sir. Perhaps you do not care for your appearance but I do not wish my gown to be bloodied.”


“Shall I have this person removed?” Gerard de Marsan, a neighboring lord, strode through the door. He was dressed in velvet of scarlet, a jeweled dagger hung from his belt, and his shoes had the exaggerated pointed toe that was the latest fashion. Gerard gave MacLaren a quick glance then snorted in disgust.


MacLaren returned the favor and turned back to Marguerite. “Margot, what is he doing here?”


“It is customary for a man to visit his betrothed,” Gerard said with a malicious grin.


“You are daft Gerard. Marguerite is betrothed to me.” MacLaren held out his hand to Marguerite, but she laughed and turned away.


“Oh dear. You didn’t really believe that did you? I could not actually marry you.” She turned her violet eyes back to MacLaren. “You’re a Scot,” she said with a shrug as if that explained it all. MacLaren felt like he had been knocked in the gut with a mace. He looked at his feet on the floor surprised to see them still standing there. Cold realization began to dawn.


“You deceived me,” he said softly to Marguerite. “You feigned love to win my defense of your lands.” He waited for her to contradict his words. The lady simply looked away.


“We have no need for your defense, barbarian. While you needlessly fight the English we have simply allied with them,” Gerard sneered with open contempt.


“No!” MacLaren refused to look at Gerard and watched Marguerite as she carefully smoothed her gown with a delicate hand. The truth became clear in her silence.



“But why?” asked MacLaren, his voice hoarse.


“You really must not upset me with your impertinent questions.” Marguerite’s tone was impetuous, but she could not quite meet MacLaren’s eye. “The English were too many, too strong. Submission was inevitable, but their conditions were unlivable.” Marguerite gave him a slight pout. The effect would have been more endearing if her words had not been so chilling. “When you marched against them it made our alliance more valuable and the terms became much more to our liking.”


MacLaren stared at her. His heart that had been pounding in his ears suddenly seemed to stop, his breath caught in his throat.


MacLaren grabbed Marguerite’s shoulders. “My cousin died so you could better your terms of submission?” He choked on the words. She tried to look away but he turned her face with his hand to force her to look him in the eye. All he saw was the glint of the knife.


Ah that lovely backstory.

• What is your preference when you read a book?

• Do you like a slow build so you really understand the characters at the beginning, or do you like to jump right into the action?

~*~*~*~*~*~

Amanda Forester holds a PhD in clinical psychology and a Masters degree in theology. As a psychologist, she has worked as a clinical researcher and a university instructor (what they call you when they don’t want to give you tenure). None of which has anything to do with writing romance novels. After trying for many years to stop the internal storylines floating around her head, she finally gave up and wrote one down. Now when she is caught daydreaming and talking to herself she can just say, “I’m plotting a scene for my next novel,” which sounds so much better than, “I’m hallucinating and responding to internal stimuli.”

Amanda lives in the Pacific Northwest with her officer and a gentleman husband and their two remarkably active, naturally brilliant children. They share their home with two fiendishly destructive cats and one lazy dog.

The Highlander’s Sword is Amanda’s first novel, so she would greatly enjoy hearing from readers. You can view her book trailers and fun facts.