The party had started, and she knew she was uncharacteristically late. She had almost changed her mind at the last-minute. The thought of walking in alone filled her with fear; the thought of finally seeing him again after so many long dark months filled her with excitement. She didn’t dare dream about where the night may lead…
She had dressed carefully, choosing a flattering LBD with his tastes in mind. Now that she stood hovering in the doorway, nerves were beginning to overwhelm her. She felt incredibly self-conscious in the short skirt and heels. There was still time to change her mind…
If she left now, he need never know she had been there. She could slip away unseen…
Suddenly, she felt eyes on her. Looking up, their gaze connected across the room.
Rooted to the spot, she watched as he excused himself from the company he’d been keeping. She watched him weave his way expertly through the guests, pausing briefly to lift two glasses of champagne from a passing hostess’ tray.
Before she had the chance to breathe, he was standing inches in front of her, offering her a champagne flute.
With a trembling hand, she accepted the glass and smiled up at him. She could feel that tell-tale flutter deep inside her as she drew her gaze over his sharp black tuxedo, open dress shirt, the bow tie hanging loose around the collar. Their eyes met.
“I thought you’d had a change of heart,” he said softly, as he leaned forward to caress her cheek with a kiss.
“Almost,” she confessed as she drank in the intoxicating fragrance of his aftershave.
As he was about to step back, he whispered in her ear, “I’m looking forward to coming in you in that dress…”
Teacher: Class, read and analyse the opening section of the novel Riley. Pay close attention to the imagery the author is conveying. Your answers are due in on Thursday.
Around her, the bedroom was illuminated by half a dozen candles, their shadows dancing on the walls. A delicate vanilla fragrance filled the room. The Gothic Palace lay silent. It was almost midnight. Sitting cross-legged in the middle of the large four-poster bed, Riley sat staring down at the CD in her hands. Her CD. Her debut album that was due to be released worldwide on the stroke of midnight.
A box of CDs had been delivered that morning with a note from the record company saying simply, “Autograph these in time for the launch party on February 29th.” She’d signed her way through two silver Sharpie markers before all the CD inserts were autographed. At Garrett’s suggestion, she’d practiced her autograph on a few sheets of paper before deciding how she wanted to sign it. Initially, it had been fun sitting at Garrett’s huge rosewood dining table signing the insert for each disc but, after the first fifty or so, the novelty swiftly wore off. Two hours later she had finished the chore. Each of the discs had been signed -all bar one. The one she held in her trembling hands.
Her dream was on the verge of becoming reality. Everything was falling into place. Since she’d finished recording the album at JJL back in June, Dr Marrs had worked his magic on the mixes then, together with Jethro, had convinced Jason Russell to act for her and to support getting her signed to the same label as Silver Lake and After Life. For the past few months, Jethro had been acting as her manager but when she had spoken to him last, just before he flew out to Australia with Silver Lake, he’d said that he would need to hire someone else to help him manage her after the launch party. Not knowing who that “someone” might be was adding to her already growing anxiety levels.
Beside her on the pale pink patchwork comforter her phone screen read 12:01am. Her album was now live around the world.
With a final look at the album’s cover, Riley laid it down on the bed. Stepping down first onto the soft dark pink rug then onto the cool hardwood floor, she went round the room blowing out the candles one by one before jumping up onto the bed to snuggle under the covers before the “dark” captured her. She’d never been a fan of the dark.
Thursday- English class
Teacher: leave your homework on my desk on your way out of class, please.
Following Monday – English class
Teacher: (handing back the marked homework to the class) Let’s go over the passage and pick out the key imagery. We’ll start with the candlelight. The author is creating the suggestion that there’s something religious or ritualistic about Riley studying the CD in her hands. There’s connotations that this is a moment of prayer as she dares to hope for a successful music career.
Author – Riley just likes candles……
Teacher: the vanilla fragrance implies simplicity and purity
Author – vanilla is a favourite fragrance.
Teacher- the four-poster bed creates the image that this is all a fairytale to Riley
Author – Garrett likes antique furniture, and it ties in with the Gothic décor theme. The room had a four-poster bed in it long before it was Riley’s room.
Teacher – the author is trying to create an air of mystery when they mention that Jethro would need to hire “someone” to help manage Riley. This raises the tension levels and creates an element of suspense
Author – Jethro tells Riley he needs to hire help as he can’t do it all himself and she’s anxious about working with a stranger
Teacher – the pink patchwork quilt is creating a feminine side to Riley.
Author – it’s an antique handsewn quilt that compliments the décor in the room.
Teacher- the dark pink rug, is creating the suggestion that there’s a dark side to Riley
Author – the rug was a darker shade of pink. A far more practical colour than light pink for a rug.
Teacher- blowing the candles out is symbolic of the end of Riley’s childhood and ties in with the religious implications of the opening sentence.
Author – Riley blows the candles out because it would be dangerous to go to sleep with them lit and there would be too much light in room
Teacher – the author is trying to create a metaphor for Riley’s fears about how her CD will be received by using the “dark” as something that could come and capture her.
Author – Riley is scared of the dark.
All a bit tongue- in- cheek and not intended to offend English teachers. I’d be beyond flattered if anything I wrote became subject a class’ critique. In reality, that scenario is highly unlikely.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that sometimes authors do just write things as they are without the need for any deeper mystical hidden meanings.
If you want to read Riley and judge for yourself, the book is released worldwide on 18 November 2022….ten days to go……
The restaurant was busy but, when Jethro gave the hostess his name, they were led straight through to a table at the back of the room, affording them a little privacy. A few moments later, Riley became aware of a tall, slender woman with waist length rainbow coloured hair weaving her way through the table towards them.
“Jethro!” greeted the woman enthusiastically. “So sorry I’m late. Traffic out there is horrible. All snarled up.”
Standing to hug the new arrival, Jethro assured her, “It’s fine. We only just got here ourselves.”
Indicating that she should take the empty seat between them, Jethro said, “Riley, meet Molly. Molly, this is Riley.”
“Lovely to meet you at last, sweetie,” said Molly shaking Riley’s hand. “Sorry I missed your launch party last night. My flight from London was delayed. It was after midnight before I got in.”
“Nice to meet you too,” replied Riley shyly.
Pre-order using the links below to ensure Riley is ready and waiting on your kindle on 18 Nov 2022
Did you know that 1st November is National Author’s Day?
This literary day of celebration dates back to 1928 when the president of the Illinois Women’s Club, Nellie Verne Burt McPherson (now there’s a name for a character!) proposed that a day be dedicated to recognising America’s authors. The first National Author’s Day was celebrated the following year and in 1949 was officially recognised by the US Department of Commerce and the rest is history…its been recognised far and wide ever since.
So, what is it? How do you celebrate it?
National Author’s Day is day to be dedicated to celebrating/reading books by your favourite authors. It’s a day to appreciate all those characters that you’ve wanted to grow up to be or those that you have fallen just a little bit in love with over the years. It’s also a day to pause to appreciate the hours and hours of work that go into creating those books and that the author spends developing those characters that you know so well.
In reality, there is no hard and fast way to celebrate.
You could simply take the time to read your child a bedtime story.
You could visit your local library or, if you are an author yourself, you could donate a book to your local library.
You could spare a few minutes from your day to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads or both for a book that you’ve enjoyed. (Hint- authors thrive on those twinkling stars and kind words.)
You could take it a step further an email your favourite author to express your appreciation of their books.
You could try your hand at writing your own piece of fiction. They do say that everyone has a book in them after all.
You could gift a book to a friend. I have actually done this today but the book in question won’t be delivered to said friend for a couple of days so I don’t want to say too much.
Or you could curl up with your favourite beverage, some leftover Halloween treats and lose yourself in a good book for an hour or so.
Grey from Silver Lake christened her “Witchy Woo” so it seems appropriate to allow you the chance to meet Witchy Woo herself aka Ellen for FREE this Hallowe’en.
I’m in this weird creative pre-book release space where I know I’m not quite finished with the current project but I’m itching to start the next one.
Riley is due to be released on 18th November 2022. Eek! The first physical proof copy is due to land this week so there’s still work to be done. (I swear commas move all by themselves!) but already my mind is wandering onto “What next?”
I have an idea … well, half an idea…but I’m not jinxing it by saying too much just yet.
I was flicking through my Continue the Story journal, contemplating using it as inspiration for this week’s blog when the above Ernest Hemingway quote jumped out at me.
I saw for a moment or two reflecting on the characters that I have introduced to the world and on the new “friends” that readers will meet in the pages of Riley.
Over the years several people have complimented me on my various characters and said that they feel as if they know them. A few have said how much they’d love to go to a Silver Lake concert or hear After Life’s music. Those are huge compliments for an author to receive. Well, they’re huge compliments to me.
So, how do you create a believable character? Where do you start to come up with a character that’s destined to become someone’s book boyfriend/girlfriend? (I hope!)
I’m sure there are hundreds of more successful authors than wee me who could wax lyrical on the subject but for me, the key is to give them personality traits and a past.
If we use Jake Power from the Silver Lake series as an example, he has a habit of being late, he runs his hand through his hair when he’s anxious and he takes sugar and cream in his coffee. As the story unfolds, the reader learns a little more about his past. The one thing that I’ve never written in great detail is a description of what Jake looks like. Yes, there are plenty of clues- long blonde hair, hazel eyes, tattoos- but the what Jake looks like is left to the reader’s imagination. I’m sure he looks subtly different to each reader.
Riley Johnson is a character who was never originally intended to be anything more than a minor character in Shattered Hearts, book four in the Silver Lake series. However, once she began to emerge on the pages, I knew there was another tale there waiting to be told. This young lady, this tiny green-haired girl, had more to say. Even if I do say so myself, she’s perhaps one of the best characters that I’ve created so far. You can judge for yourselves next month when the book’s released. (Hint… you can pre-order a kindle copy right now on Amazon worldwide.)
One other key component to my main characters in each of the books is that they aren’t perfect. Each of them has flows and that’s true of each and every one of us.
I love to read. I always have a book on the go, and I’ve read numerous rock star romance novels where the central characters are all about the sex drugs and rock’n’roll rather than the music and hard work and hours of rehearsal it took to put them on that stage. Never say never, but its not my intention to create those kind of rock stars. I hope to create musicians, the kind of genuine musicians that I love to watch play live on stage.
So, perhaps another key to creating characters who feel like real live people is observation. Authors are always watching, filing snippets of the real world away for use in a storyline someday. One of those moments finds its way into Riley. A small simple moment in time from a gig I was at one night. (I can’t now honestly recall which one). I was in my usual rail position watching the crew set up the stage between the support act and the headliners. One crew member brought out several bottles of water to position around the stage and was loosening the lids as he placed them strategically beside each band members’ spot on stage. A simple everyday act…then one bottle put up a fight. The top refused to budge! This poor guy was wrestling with it in front of the crowd before it finally surrendered and came loose. I almost gave him a round of applause.
In my humble opinion, its small observations like that that help to make a story more believable.
Riley sees me introduce several new characters- Jericho, Zed, Sam and JJ to name a few. Riley also sees the return of several familiar faces too. If you choose to pick up a copy of the book, I hope you enjoy meeting each and every one of them.
The weekend before last the Big Green Gummi Bear and I were in London for a few days. We were staying near London Bridge and on the Saturday morning as we set out from the hotel in search of breakfast, I spotted this statue next to the hotel.
I love chimps!
Next morning, while the Big Green Gummi Bear was pounding the streets of London along with 42000 other people, I went for a wander down behind the hotel towards Tower Bridge to take some photos. Much to my great surprise, I found a few more friends.
Later in the day as we walked along the south bank past HMS Belfast and Hays Galleria, I found a few more.
So why all the chimps?
Cue a Google search when we got home.
These statues form part of the Chimps Are Family public art trail in support of conservation projects. There are 18 statues (28 chimps) in total hidden/placed in and around the London Bridge and Tower Bridge area on the south bank of the River Thames. They can be found there until 21 October 2022.
The sculptures showcase different behaviours and emotions that we humans also display e.g., love, grief, friendship, play. The similarities aren’t really so surprising when you consider that we share 98% of our DNA with these wonderful beings.
My only regret is that I failed to find all 18. (In my defence, I didn’t know at the time that there were 18 of them or I would have made the effort to look harder.)
If you happen to be in the area before 21 October and fancy seeking these wee guys out, here’s a map to help you.
Have fun searching them out!
If you want to read more about the project, see the link below:
Coral McCallum 