Tag Archives: 1st novel

Writing Prompt: Day #3 Get Your S*** Together!… Book Excerpt

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Togethera-stranger-in-france-1

 

 

 

 

I sat down at my laptop tonight to actually look over the current book I’m working on, I’m in the swing of things now I’m done with A Stranger in France and my Christmas book . (I’ll tell you the name, do a cover reveal and chapter reveal nearer the release date I promise.) I got side tracked this evening as today’s WordPress writing prompt word ” together.” I had two very different reactions to the word,  first it was awww I like that word I can write a nice poem or something for that, the second was Danny hmmm he really needs to get his s*** together. Now if you’re not sure who Danny is, it’s Daniel Brown the villain in A Stranger in France. One character I had fun writing. I took a risk and wrote him in a bad light and gave him centre stage along side Kate and Nicholas. So Back to Danny, a prize idiot in my view, who needs to get it together ASAP! I won’t give it all away and tell you why, but here’s an excerpt from A Stranger in France from Danny’s POV showing just how much he needs to get his s*** together.

 

 Danny is sitting at the kitchen table, it’s just gone lunch time yet he is hunched over his second beer already. In total silence in deep thought. The past two weeks have been a haze for him –literally. He arrived home that Saturday night two weeks ago on Valentine’s Day expecting to see a grieving Kate. He knew she would come around. Give her an hour or two and she’d be trying to talk with him and make peace.

The game had been good Arsenal won 2-0 against Manchester United, in his view it was well worth missing all the Valentine’s Day dribble he thought to himself, as he made his way home to Clapham from Woolwich, on the most romantic day of the year.

 But on his arrival home Danny could not believe it when he had read Kate’s note. It had been totally unexpected the bitch she’d left him. At the time all he could think was what did this mean? Were they over? Would she be back? He never once believed that Kate would up and leave him. To him Kate is a strong woman, determined and a fighter yes, but leave him? That was out of the question  ….. to be continued!

Over the last few weeks I’ve  focused on all three main characters, by posting an excerpt from inside  the book, using a word prompts which relate to each  character.If you’ve missed them and want to read more excerpts you can here just scroll through.

 If you want to know why Kate  left Danny, what he does about it and fall in love with the sexy lush Nicholas D’Coix (who I fell in love with while writing him), release day for A Stranger in France is Tuesday next week! On Amazon yippie! Just a few more days and you can escape, in this whirlwind of modern day romance- suspense set in three very different settings. And I hope you enjoy.

 

 

Writing Prompt Day # 7: Radical SEX…. Book Execrpt

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Radical

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That got your attention didn’t it? Good! Today’s WordPress writing prompt is radical. Who loves great sex? We all do, and you can’t actually be a romance writer without writing about it, in some shape or form. How you create it is personal choice erotic and graphic or  sensual, steamy and sexy it’s really your choice. I go with the latter, I  feel like my mum is watching me write when I create a sex scene, so overly erotic is not my forte, I can see my mum with her mouth open like Kim! Where did you learn THAT? That said one day I would like to actually try it ( very erotic writing, what were you thinking??) seriously – when I drum up the confidence one day. I love writing great sensual scenes. Nicholas D’Coix is a great guy, not just pleasing to the eye, rich and charming he has  a really cool personality… and  ladies  YES he’s radical in bed.  With just 7 day’s to go until its release date…here’s an excerpt  scene from A Stranger in France from Kate’s POV.

 Back at the hotel up on the twelfth floor, we order room service and veg out on the bed, in front of an old black and white movie like a couple of teenagers having a sleep over. We order cheese burgers and fries, a very different meal from the West African delights I tasted at Nicholas’ restaurant last week. I prop up my feet on the bed, Nicholas starts to massage them with expert hands.

“I don’t know how you girls do it four to five inch heels all day every day, but I do like it.”

 He glances down at my white stilettos by the bed. I sink further into the bed as he takes me to heaven and back with his foot massage. I close my eyes and feel his hands moving up my legs, under my jeans my skin is on fire at his touch. As he turns his attention to me fully his hand stops at my groin area. He slowly presses his hand between my legs, I flinch and open my eyes abruptly and smile down at him. He swaps his hand for his mouth and starts to kiss and bite at the material of my jeans between my legs. I moan with pleasure. He climbs on the bed above me- fully facing me, then undoes the zipper on my jeans. Slowly he removes them, I don’t fight, and I don’t resist him. Laying there on my back underneath him, in just my white vest with plum coloured bra and panties I all of a sudden feel very sexy, looking up at Nicholas. He raises my knees, as he moves closer his fresh and fruity scent fills my nostrils. Without taking our eyes off each other he pulls off my panties and chucks them to one side. Moving on top of me positioned between my legs, that I’ve bent at the knees, he starts to kiss me softly, while caressing between my legs with expert fingers. He lowers himself after a moment and places his mouth between my legs, I’m lost in feelings of pleasure. Nicholas ignites a fire- a fire that Danny has failed to keep a light.

His tongue makes my body quiver, and I explode in a sea of ecstasy. I pull him up from between my legs and remove his shirt- taking in more of his delicious scent. His torso is rock solid and his arms firm. He stands up removes his jeans and boxers, then climbs back on to the bed and kisses me passionately as he picks me up and places me on top of him. He removes my vest top and bra, I straddle him on the bed. Looking me dead in the eye with a smile he lets down my hair, and I allow him to enter me. I’ve never felt more feelings of want, lust and pleasure in the last year as this. Our bodies press together, passionate kisses and teasing. As I ride him passionately I feel him explode inside me. This is a night to remember, in every way. Romantic, passionate, carefree, and lustful. We make love more into the early hours of the morning. I enjoy every moment of it.

TO BE CONTINUED!

 

Hope you enjoyed *wink

Writing Prompt: Day #11 The Learning Sandwich- Served By My Guest Author Tammy Tate.

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Sandwich

So today’s WordPress writing prompt is sandwich, and I was served a rather tasty sandwich by a bestselling author. In my sandwich was lots of advice on writing and general editing and how to look at your work in a new light.As a few readers have asked me questions on my journey /for some general thoughts and advice, here’s some of the highlights on what I’ve learned on my road to a published author – in addition to my last post  which you can read here. Which is a Q and A from a reader on publishing. I’m not selfish,  and far from an expert but I’ll share my sandwich  with you that’s handmade by Tammy Tate. Since Tammy is a busy lady over in the USA and I don’t want to disrupt her research and writing time, this guest blog I’ve done myself with her  permission to quote her from the organic conversations we’ve had. It is my pleasure to share with you a guest blog with Mrs Tammy Tate – Romance Author from the USA.

 Creating The Villain in Your Writing:

 This really depends on what genre you write in and whether a villain falls naturally. I write across two genres, and in romance you don’t often see a villain really do you? Have you ever thought of or have you already wrote a villain in one of your stories and wondered if you should keep him/her in? In A Stranger in France you will meet a villain – Danny a complete asshole no one is meant to like him, I really dislike him myself and wrote him in a bad light on purpose. I was nervous about him as I thought having a villain in a romance story may spoil it or turn readers off. To me it was a risk, but he’s central to the story and has a rather dramatic part that spices up the story, alongside Nicholas the hero (and my dream man!). Tammy (without even knowing) helped to calm my nerves about Danny and including a villain.  I am now no longer nervous and would do this again in this genre.This happened during an organic conversation, when she touched on this subject, here’s what she said.

“Sometimes we take risks when we create a bad guy who plays a big part knowing our readers will hate them. Who could blame them? Truth is, we hate them, too! It reminds me of a character I created in Off-Duty Christmas. Ethan. He was an arrogant cop who thought he was god’s gift to women. My readers hated him. By the end, everyone liked him, including me 🙂

Now in my case didn’t aim to make Danny likeable in anyway, but to hear this from Tammy made me realise – take a risk a villain is OK (in romance), and may even spark great discussion and debate for readers. If it works, hey it works even if it’s not the norm.

 Writing From What You Know:

I find that this can make stories realistic if you use a little of what you know or have witnessed/experienced in life. Again, via an organic conversation we touched on this subject, and I’m not sure how Tammy guessed I may have done this! But I guess that’s what happens when you’ve wrote and published five books- you just know. Tammy says

“They say our DNA is etched into every character we create.  I truly believe that to be true.”

 The message I got from this is if you want a realistic feel, it’s OK to use what you know. Just go for it dramatise it if need be but use it.

Editing Your Own Work

I have been in a constant paranoid state and labour with no pain relief for about seven months over A Stranger in France LOL- is the story EVER good enough? And I found that sometimes when I read, and re-read, wrote and re-wrote I started to read what I WANTED to read maybe not what was there.  The next day I’d go back and be like what is THAT? Tammy says…

“You are so right about not being able to edit your own manuscript! Your brain will fill in words that aren’t there. Mine does too, even after 5 books. What I like to do, is take it to another room or step outside. If you read it somewhere other then where you wrote it, you’ll see it in a different light! No pun intended…LOL I’ve heard other authors say the same thing.” 

 I did this, I went to another area of the room….

Paranoid State and Nervous To Share:

Nervous some? Yes, very. Whenever I do a short story for a writing prompt/ poem for my blog or write a full novel  as a published bit of work for commercial sale. Whatever I write to share I don’t know how to calm my nerves. Tammy says

“I don’t blame you. I was the same way, especially with my first one. You’re going to be a published author on the Sept. 20th! Of course, you’re nervous

 :-)”

What I took from this is – Just take a chill pill and move on to the next book leave this one alone. This is never going to be easy, it is not designed to be easy to be good, just keep practising and work hard. Maybe one day you nerves will ease.

So my learning curve has been very steep to say the least, but I feel that I have some key things I’ve learned from the writing and editing of book #1, that I will apply to book #2 which is what I’m on now the editing stage now I have it back.

Hope this advice helps an aspiring writer and author out there!Best of luck.

Thank you Tammy!

Here is where you can find Tammy:

Amazon: 

 

 

Day 13: Romance Novels in Color- Feature

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Hi guys!

 Just thought I’d share with you the news that A stranger in France will not only feature in Coffee Time and Romance    and All Romance Reads in September and October but also  in Romance Novels in Color. I’m extremely proud for A Stranger in France to be featured on the front of this website, and in their subscriber’s news letter.  The funny thing is I just looked on line and my book cover is already there! This was not meant to go live until the 21st…. someone has made a whoopsy over there! But still a little early promotion I guess never hurt anybody. I wonder if they will notice and take it down??

If you’re a lover of romance (with a multicultural line up), you should check out Romance Novels in Color on-line, I’m about to  head over see what I fancy reading.

Hope you had a great day!

Stranger in France (1)

Day #47: It’s Time To Submit My Book!

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Whaaah! I’ve  been day dreaming, fantasising and yearning for this day to come. I’m ready (I think) to submit my baby, I’ve been nurturing for the last 4 months to my publisher. 347 pages ,90,000 odd words and 26 chapters of it to be exact. This afternoon I printed off a copy to do my final read through, before I actually submit but I’d say I’m  99 % ready.

So what have I learned from self editing ? Editing is a dam hard slog, slow and steady wins the race;I’ve literally come home from work done my mama duties, then  sat behind my lap top every evening into the wee hours of the morning, for the last 2 weeks. No change in my routine at all. I also learned that I found editing more of a challenge than writing. You need to put yourself in the shoes of a reader, just because it makes sense to you in your head, and you understand what’s happening would someone else? Is it engaging, interesting and page turning? Is there enough drama and suspense? These were all questions that went through my mind when editing scenes and rewriting.

My word count on my first draft was 93,000 I’m surprised that I only removed 3,000 and wiped out one full scene, other than that it’s pretty in line with what I originally wrote, and my book synopsis I sent over to my publisher  in terms of content and order of events.

It’s a complex job, my first edit was just focused on things like ensuring tense, and view point are correct, facts, dates, and the little things made sense and the story flows. This is important to me as the story is set in 3 locations London, the English coast and France.  My story is also  told first person from the main female character’s voice and 3rd for the male so editing from these different POVs, changing  location and even time zone is quite a challenge.  I’ve learned also, if you read something enough times, you start to read what you want a sentence to say and you may miss things, best to rest your work and come back especially if you’re tired. That said I will read a hard copy of my work before I finally let go of that baby and get ready to unleash it to the world. I am paranoid over typos, it’s a joke.

So with 47 day’s to go until my actual agreed deadline to submit my work to my publisher, I’m well on track to take another week or 2 to do a final hard copy read though to ease my paranoid state,  then hit the send button.

The release month will be September 2016, I plan to do a cover reveal on the blog so stay tuned for that, I’ve handed  a brief over to the publishers  on what I’d like my cover to look like. A blog post is up  on alluring book covers seeking your view yes YOU. You can read all about that here. and interact with me.  As a treat you can download a copy of the first 2 chapters of my book here for free! you lucky, lucky thing you.

Do give me a shout via the contact me page or post up a comment if you do download and enjoy.

Catch you soon.

 

Day #55 Chapter Preview: 1st Novel

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Just 55 days left for me to do my final edits and submit to my publisher, and the first EVER preview of the first 2 and a bit chapters of my 1st book, are here just for you  to read and enjoy. This is a draft version, I hope you enjoy, and if you do don’t forget to share it, subscribe to the blog for updates and re tweet it!  You can see some reader feedback I’ve had already by clicking here. If you read and enjoy send me your thoughts, if you’re on Twitter tweet me, place a comment below or email me via the contact Kim page.

Enjoy!

K x

Click the link below to download

Chapter Preview by Kim Knight Final Master

Bloggers, Reviewers & Book Clubs Wanted!

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Ok, so my 1st  book is complete (as you know if you’ve been reading along on my blog), I’m now at the edit and submit stage. This is ticking along  nicely and each day I get more excited; I just wish I didn’t  have a day job so I  could spend all day working on this baby.

What I’m after now is to seek out any potential book bloggers, reviewers and book clubs who may be interested in reading  the first 3 chapters of my book, and giving their initial honest thoughts. If you like what you read, then I’ll  chuck in a free whole copy for you when it’s released. Is that you? If so keep reading.

My 1st book is a romance/ suspense story set in London, France (Paris and southern France) and the UK English coastal area, modern, exiting and I’d like to think engaging. Women all over the world of any age and race should be able to relate to my Heroine and Hero’s drama I’ve plot out for them, and no it’s not your average love triangle drama. (So she says). If you’re interested  post a comment below, or send me an email via the contact me page above. I’d love to hear from you.

While you’re here if you have not already why not sign up to follow my blog or Twitter account, so you can keep up to date on the future release (September 2016), gossip and interact with me I’d love to hear from you, yes you behind the PC.

@kimknight_author (Twitter account)

 

 

 

 

Word Prompt Response: Dream

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Dream                                               

From writer to author that’s the dream for many right?… Right, for me now it is, believe it or not I actually didn’t  imagine myself as a published author, I just wrote stuff as I love it it’s how I express myself just like painting my nails every week  or putting on some make-up in the morning. Me a published author? Nah! Not until a publishing deal was put in front of me did I ever dare to dream that big. Even  when I answered a publisher’s call and it happened  I still  found it then and now  hard to imagine that this dream, so many writers have is about to come true. 

Secretly, I guess I imagined my love for creative writing would come to something even if all it meant was just moving out of my current day job as a teacher, to being paid to write content for a magazine or website on subjects I enjoy and mean a lot to me; whether that be human civil rights, women’s and racial  issues, make-up and fashion etc.

 So anyway, now that I have completed my first novel and working hard towards my submission deadline on editing it, before I submit for the 31st July. You can read all about the challenge I’ve set for myself here  , I’m now (I think) living the dream of an average Jo (or Joanne) making the exciting but challenging journey….. fulfilling a dream  from writer to author.

Dreams come in all shapes and sizes,  with regard to me writing  I have a small one now  I’m  on this journey… I hope and dream that my book does well! Like every soon to be published author. In my mind I have no idea how I quantify ” does well”,  all I know is that I hope that my romance suspense story touches a few hearts and starts a fire in each reader’s heart for the  romance/suspense genre, makes a few people laugh, sit on the edge of their seat turning pages unable to say  that’s it I’m off to bed, work, the gym, to make dinner as they are engrossed in the story line. I hope that  my book is loved by readers internationally and they connect with it as it is set in 3 different locations which may be 100% foreign to them  (France, London and the English coast). Most of all I hope and dream that this is one of many books I get to author, and further opportunities to write come my way.

I’ve got the writing bug even more than I had it  before, my creativity is probably the sharpest it’s been these last few months ! I hope the Universe brings my  hopes and dream to life. Not just for me but so I can leave a legacy for my baby boy to be proud of. I hope and dream that he can start school in a few years and say ” yeah my mama she’s a bad ass writer” when asked what his mama does 🙂 ” … OK may be not quite like that as a toddler but you know what I mean, as he grows up he can be proud of the legacy that I hope and dream to leave for him to discover.

Happy dreaming readers! I hope your hopes and dreams come true also, whatever they are.

xoxo

 

 

 

Day #71 I’ve Completed My book!

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Oh wow, I’ve done it I have really done it.  I’ve been writing every chance I got solidly and with 71 days to go until my deadline to submit to my publisher, just now I wrote the last chapter, the last paragraph and the last word of my first book. I’ve got 93,000 words down on paper and I am over the moon.

It’s hard to explain how else I feel apart from relief that I will  meet my deadline, joy at my achievement, nervousness over the whole editing process I’m about to do before I finally submit and excitement over the  release of my first book in September.

Was it hard work? Yes! But I never lost my mojo or experienced writer’s block funny enough I really got into the story, was it a challenge? Hell yes! But a very enjoyable one. Would I do it again? Of course in a heart beat I still have 2 more book ideas.

Over the next 71 days I’ll start the editing process to chop down some words, check over my research and also make sure that the final manuscript is the best it can be. If you missed my earlier post on editing I’ve decided to take some advice from this article I read which you can view here in this post. If you missed the earlier post on what it is that I’m actually writing oh sorry make that what I’ve WROTE then you can read all about that here

Stay tuned, I’ll keep blogging on how the editing process is going and any random interesting thoughts also.

 

Word Prompt of the Day: Buddy

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Buddy

I got excited when I saw this morning’s writing word prompt of the day, ” buddy” this is the second  prompt I’ve responded to that personally means something to me. Why you ask? 2 main reasons.

The word buddy or friend means a lot to me, I’ve reached the age of 33 and I’ve honestly learned that friends come in all shapes and sizes, races and ages they also enter and exit your life for lots of different reasons. But what’s important  about friendship / buddies I’ve learned at 33 is  1. what  you learn from  a friendship  /buddy 2. how does it help move you forward or have you realised this friendship is holding you back 3. your true friends make themselves known to you in many ways, and your deadbeat tag-a-long buddies who really do not enrich your life, or never there for you, believe in one-sided friendship or even worse are secretly competitive or jealous also show their true colours; and it’s up to you to decide whether this is the kind of buddy you need in your life. I’ve shed 1 girlfriend like this I can count in 33 years.

Around 2 years ago, I also learned that friendship can be maintained via letter  as in you’ve never met or even spoken to this person, in some cases never even seen a photo! Yes hand written  personal letters sent millions of miles across the Atlantic and Pacific ocean just once or twice a month can really seal a friendship or bond with a buddy but you’ve never even met or spoken to. There’s something special about this type of buddy /friendship made when you click via letter and you can’t wait to hear back once you’ve stuck your international stamp on  the envelope and sent your letter off.

 I have mentioned before in my reflection #1 post how grateful I am for my overseas girlfriends who I write to, these random women of different ages and races some who speak French  we write in this lovely language to maintain my fluency/ bilingual ability  to practice. Some who don’t speak a word but we have common interests and connected via letter writing forums and write in English. For the last 2 years I can count buddies I’ve made in the USA, Canada, France,  Germany,UK, Austria and as far as Australia who I have ”spoken to” via letter solidly for 2 years and I would say yes she’s a buddy! Amazing as a writer I feel letter writing should not die.

last weekend, guess what? I had the real pleasure of actually meeting one of my French pen buddies from Paris when she came to London with her husband ! After almost 2 years of writing back and forth our friendship is sealed, last weekend to actually hear her Parisian accent and have a conversation with her that did not take weeks/ months to finish was amazing. This year  over the summer, I also hope to meet another UK pen buddy when I travel  down to the English coast for a holiday.

The second reason this word buddy means a lot to me personally is because in my book I’m  about to finish writing this month, the main character’s story is ” shown” a lot through her exchanges with her buddy, so the whole concept of a buddy is a main feature  which helps to progress  my story lines/ drama I’ve plot out for my main female character in my book. I like the word buddy, it means a lot, personally and creatively as a writer it’s helped progress my creativity in writing. 

 Did you know that us Aquarius star sign folk are meant to be the most loyal of all star signs when it comes to friendships/ being a buddy? I’m the world’s biggest pen buddy nerd, I don’t actually care… judge me LOL, this is part of my life and I don’t intend to stop writing to buddies that I may not ever get to meet. As my son grows older, it is something I would encourage him to think about too as a child making sense of the world as a way to learn about the world and different cultures, which has been a great experience for me.

So reader, what do you think about friendships via letter? Do you enjoy a more slow paced friendship / buddy building with people and have pen friends all over the word? Have you ever thought of finding a distant buddy / pen friend but been too scared of looking like a nerd? What does the word buddy mean to you?