by Charlene Teglia | Nov 21, 2005 | Uncategorized
And Lorelei is putting the screws to him.
From The Gripping Beast:
He had never before failed his duty. But he could not help the feeling, in spite of all logical reason, that he was failing her. He had thought to have her and fulfill his duty too. But as the days wore on and she failed to accept her role, his duty and his desire fought a war within him. If duty lay one way and his heart another, how was he to choose and keep his honor?
It’s RTB columnist day. I talk about 5 years of erotic romance and the impact on the genre. I’ll tell you the impact on me. When I reread this ms. it was clear to me that I’d held back on the eroticism and it hurt the story. Without those scenes, the emotional impact wasn’t there. The above paragraph is from an erotic scene. There is Erik’s inner conflict in a nutshell and he can’t walk away from it.
Oh, yeah, and Elizabeth’s Wolf is as good as all the recommendations make it sound. Lora Leigh had me crying in the first chapter. Didn’t get very far, but I’m loving it.
by Charlene Teglia | Nov 21, 2005 | Uncategorized
Raise your hand if that part of The Shining scared you more than the ax-waving. But this is not about The Shining, it’s about my sudden realization that I fell into a common trap working on TGB. The “I’ll just put my life and everything fun on hold until the book is done” trap.
This is dumb and counterproductive. I realized I was putting off reading a book I really wanted to read because my book wasn’t done and…well. Why? Because I’m afraid I’ll suddenly start sounding like Lora Leigh? (I should hope!) The book is Elizabeth’s Wolf. I’m dying to read it. It is nothing like the book I’m writing and telling myself I don’t deserve to read for fun until I finish is beyond dumb when you’re talking about a task as big as a novel. Because unlike homework, you can’t finish it in a couple of hours and then go play.
I’m going to get that book and start reading. TGB will get done. It’s nearly there. It’s not perfect. It doesn’t shine the way I want it to. I still think it doesn’t have the oomph I want it to have. But I’m reaching the point where it’s time to stop fiddling with it and turn it over to an editor, who can provide fresh ideas and a fresh perspective on the work.
Meanwhile, I’m going to focus on having more fun when I’m not working, even if I’m not finished with a project. Because in this business, working is the rule and finished is the brief exception. I don’t mean to imply that writing isn’t fun, but trust me, a salvage job like this with extensive revisions is the worst kind of difficult writing on the planet. If the book wasn’t so damn good, I wouldn’t struggle through it. But this story is too good to abandon because I don’t want to do the work to fix it, and the work is paying off. I do need to energize myself in between sessions, though.
So tonight I will curl up with Elizabeth’s Wolf after I shut down and back up my work for the day.
by Charlene Teglia | Nov 20, 2005 | Uncategorized
Wanna see an excerpt from The Gripping Beast? Click for more…
The Gripping Beast copyright 2005 Charlene Teglia
Samhain Publishing, all rights reserved
ISBN: 1-59998-005-3
Release date: Feb. 7, 2006
He started towards the shelter she’d just left, taking her arm with him and leaving her no choice but to follow along or get dragged. “Cut it out! You’re going to leave a bruise if you don’t let up!”
He adjusted his grip but otherwise gave no indication that he’d heard a word she said. Lorelei supposed she should be grateful for small favors, but as he continued dragging her back to the cabin, she didn’t see much to be grateful for. She’d just gotten out. If he wanted her back indoors, she wasn’t going to cooperate. She deliberately dragged her feet and forced him to carry her full weight in silent protest.
Being silent didn’t sit well with her, though.
“You’re acting like a barbarian,” she ground out between clenched teeth, in case his behavior had escaped his notice. “You can’t just haul me around like this.”
“I can do whatever I wish with you.”
The cold, grim voice hit right on her aggravation button, and she’d already had enough to keep her in a fighting mood for a week even without the choice of words.
“Wrong,” she snapped.
When he didn’t answer she planted her feet and leaned back until he looked at her. “Answer when I’m fighting with you, buster.”
He looked faintly incredulous.
“You demand that I fight you?”
It was kind of ridiculous, put like that. Lorelei felt her anger evaporating, and humor twitched at the corner of her mouth.
“I guess it is kind of funny,” she admitted. Then she giggled. The giggles grew to full laughter at the disbelief in his eyes. She had demanded, actually demanded, that this overgrown behemoth fight her. It was too absurd. She laughed until her side ached, and then she slumped against him, panting, while she recovered. She didn’t even protest when he finished hauling her back to her now-familiar fur.
Or when he threw her down on it and followed suit himself.
Until the grim look in his eye combined with the grip on the contested dress told her where he was headed.
She froze. Her mind was racing a million miles an hour, but her body was just frozen like a deer caught in the oncoming headlights of a semi. She’d been the focus of plenty of masculine attention. But she’d never been on the receiving end of anything like this. He looked like a conquering hero bent on taking what he wanted, and he wanted her. Some dark part of her stirred to life and wondered what it would be like to be taken by this man. To be seized and captured and sexually dominated.
Maybe she was about to find out. One thing she knew for certain, she was fully aware of him. He had her attention in a way no other man had ever managed. She knew the feminine awareness and dark curiosity showed her eyes and she didn’t care. She waited, unable to do anything else, and wondered what he would do next.
She wasn’t afraid of him, exactly, although there was a certain amount of fear and it added an erotic edge to the moment. But underneath that was something else. From the beginning she’d stood up to him without hesitation. Why? Because she was used to calling the shots? Or because on an instinctual level she knew he could be trusted?
The answer came instantly. Because he could be trusted.
He might consider her his to possess, but she didn’t really believe he would hurt her. Although she couldn’t really be sure of anything, and that uncertainty mixed with the sexually charged tension between them and ignited it.
His face was expressionless, but his eyes were burning as they held hers. He unfastened her pin with unhurried hands and set it aside. And then he lifted her slightly and stripped the gown from her in one fluid motion, leaving her naked and exposed.
But his eyes remained on hers and she held his gaze. Fascination. That was the only word for this. She was utterly focused on him, captivated by him, his captive in her mind and her unexpected physical response. In that moment, she didn’t think she could or would resist anything he wanted of her.
by Charlene Teglia | Nov 19, 2005 | Uncategorized
and wake up inspired. Last night we dosed the baby to the gills with baby pain relief (teething tablets weren’t cutting it) and EVERYBODY slept. Ahhhh. This morning, the scenes I’ve been ripping my hair out over how to fix are clear in my head. I have the dialog and the action I need to replace the wrong stuff. Yesterday I wrote the stuff I already knew, so I’m moving ahead.
I’m starting to get really excited about having this done. I know it’s not done yet, but I can see it now. I’m so grateful that Samhain bought it because that forced me to go to work on it. No telling when or if I would have gotten around to it otherwise. I knew it was going to be a beast to get a grip on. (There, Shan, beast-gripping references for you!)
Still dying to see the cover art. Wonder if Scott can be bribed?
by Charlene Teglia | Nov 17, 2005 | Uncategorized
Saw a great link on finishing the book this morning courtesy of PBW. Lots of us seem to be in finishing mode right now, with all the accompanying end of book stuff. My focus for today is going to be just being in the moment. Fix this scene. This paragraph. Work on this characterization issue. Only the thing in front of me, not worrying about the whole thing. Moment by moment, the book will get done.
Not to mention coffee cup by coffee cup. Given the early hour today started at (midnight) there’s going to be a lot of coffee in my moment by moment work.
“I know the mornings, the afternoons, I have counted out my life in coffee spoons…”
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