Excerpts/Outtake

Since I'm all done with this current novel...well, for the time being, I've decided to post a scene that didn't make it into the first draft. I liked the scene, but it didn't really move the story along and I knew it almost as soon as I wrote it. So it was one of those scenes that got deleted pretty quickly. As I'm writing, I make a file of all big chunks of text that I delete, just in case I change my mind. Do you guys do something like that ? Do you keep big deletes? Would you ever share them?

Scene Summary:

Sayra and Chaz have been outside during their lunch period, in a place they have to get to through the boiler room. So while they wait for their eyes to adjust from the sunny garden to the dark boiler room, they have this conversation:

“Oh, I’ve been meaning to tell you,” I said as we waited to see more than two inches in front of our faces. “I told my mother that you said her books were filled with heaving bosoms, throbbing loins and—”

“What? Why would you do that?”

“It just came out. I blame you.”

“Okay, this oughta be good.” Chaz folded his arms over his chest. “How am I responsible?”

“You fed us all that sugar and fat and it did something to my brain.”

“Uh-huh. So I guess I can forget ever meeting her. No way I’ll be able to look her in the face now.”

“She won’t remember. But the crazy part is, she made me read one of her books. I have until Sunday and then we have to discuss it.”

“Yikes.”

“I know, right? I’ve read about half of it and I have to admit it’s really good. It’s weird though, the main character’s name is Sayra.”

“Really? So your mom named her character after you. That’s kinda cool.”

“No, she wrote this book before I was born so I’m named after the character.”

“Oh. Well, it’s still kinda cool.”

“It is, but it’s weirding me out. I think I’m coming up to the part where the girl is about to, you know…do it for the first time and I’m going to freak if this dude is all like, ‘Oh Sayra, let me touch your heaving bosoms.’”

Chaz laughed so hard I thought I was going to have to resuscitate him. “Oh god, let’s hope your mom is a better writer than that.”

W.I.P. Excerpt

Excerpt from PlATINUM DIARIES: Sayra just spent an afternoon with her friends and found out a couple of them had read the books her mom wrote, and they aren’t books targeted to teens.
~*~
That reminded me, and before they could speak I said, “Guess what I learned today?”

They both looked at me with mild curiosity.

“Mom writes porn.”

Dad’s café sprayed the counter as he choked on his mouthful.

“Excuse me?” Mom’s face took on an expression that had me thinking, ‘oh shit’. Say something, stupid, or run out of the room faking impending projectile vomiting. Granted, if Mom kept looking at me like that, there would be no faking involved.

“I…well, I mean…Chaz told me that you write about heaving bosoms and throbbing loins and—”
Dad choked again, but this time it was on his laughter.

Mom aimed her daggers at Dad. “You find it funny that our child is being disrespectful?”

“Well, no, but—”

“Sit,” she snapped and I plopped my butt on one of the high-back stools at the island. Dad sat on my right at the end of the island, with Mom on the other side, squaring off with me.

“What do you know of the books I write?”

I licked my lips, annoyed that now they seemed glued together when they should’ve been sealed shut minutes ago. “Um, well, nothing. I just—”

“Exactly. You know nothing about it, and do you know why?”

Did she want me to answer that? “Well, because you told me that I couldn’t read them.”

“Years ago, yes. But natural curiosity should’ve made you question me by now. You’re just not concerned with anything that doesn’t have to do with car parts.”

Ouch. That was the second person to tell me I wasn’t normal. I starred at her as a bit of anger flared up side. “So Chaz lied, you don’t have characters named Storm or Sebastian in your novels?”

When she glared at me, I dropped my eyes. “I do,” she said. “But give me some credit not to be such a cliché as to have heaving bosoms and throbbing members. I write romance and fantasy, but it’s in a real way. You’re not a child anymore, Sayra, why are you so upset by this?”

“Because…people will make fun of me at school. Hillary knows now and I don’t know how, but she’ll make my life hell because of it.”

Mom shook her head and walked out of the kitchen. I stood to go after her, but Dad clamped a hand over my forearm. He gestured for me to sit back down. A moment later Mom returned. She resumed her position on the other side of the island and tossed a book in front of me. It had a metallic blue jacket with the word, FIRSTS written in silver.

“That’s one of the first books I had published. It’s about a twenty-year-old girl going through an identity crisis and experiencing a series of firsts, including her first sexual experience. You’ll be twenty soon enough and will be having sex soon enough too.”

Dad jerked like someone had touched the back of his neck with icy fingers. He hissed something in Spanish, but Mom ignored him.

WIP Excerpt

I've been working on a new novel--Platinum Diaries--well, full disclosure, this is what I started during NaNo. So I decided to post an excerpt. This is a first draft, but in this scene Sayra (16 yrs old and has psychic dreams) is upset because her parking space was revoked at school and given to the new kid who has yet to show, three weeks into the school year.
~*~
Students filed past me, lingering on the sides of the main steps for the few remaining minutes we had before first period. I stared at the mustard-yellow number nine drawn on the asphalt, taunting me from my coveted parking spot. What would the headmaster do if I just drove my car and parked there? Nothing, right? So I should just do it tomorrow!

“If you stare at that space any harder, it’s going to burst into flames.” Ivan bumped my shoulder.

I spared him a glance. Ivan was tall, skinny and tragically Jewish—his words—and my other best friend. His handsome face was nearly covered by what he liked to call his Jewish afro or Ja-fro. He wore wire-framed glasses and baggy clothes that made him look like a bully’s wet dream.
Without taking my eyes off the vacant parking spot, I handed my diary to Ivan. “Flip to the last entry.”

He groaned as usual about holding the silver book encrusted with crystals that he’d labeled my platinum diary. “Please tell me you finally had a dream about me making out with a hottie?”
“No, and quit asking me that.”

“I’m hoping it’ll seep into your brain like a subliminal message and voilá, you dream of me giving some tongue action to Hillary Teagarden.”

That got my eyes off the parking spot and onto him. “If I ever have that dream I’ll gouge out my mind’s eye with a rusty nail. You can’t seriously want to hook up with her, can you?”

He blushed, making him look like an adorable little boy. “No. I mean, well, why not? I know I’m not a big stupid jock like Tag, but she could like me.”

“That’s not what I meant. She’s not good enough for you. She’s so…she’s just a…” I let out a frustrated breath. “She was probably the muse for Pink when she wrote that song Stupid Girls.”

Ivan laughed. Ugh, what would I do if I dreamed of him with Hillary? Move heaven and earth to see that it never came true, that’s what I’d do. There was someone else who liked him anyway, someone much better. According to my dream he would find out soon. Ivan scanned the page detailing the headmaster’s slip and fall during our lunch period and howled with laughter.

“Oh, today is going to be a beautiful day.”

Midweek Excerpt

This comes from chapter four of LIGHT BRINGERS. A brief summary of the scene: Ryan is with his girlfriend, Amber and they are “making up” after a minor disagreement. Ryan is a powerful Telekinetic, but something weird has been happening with his gift lately.

~*~

They laughed into each other’s mouths as the kiss intensified. Ryan sent a thought to the lamp, flipping off the light. He focused on the bedroom window and it opened wider, sending a warm breeze into the frilly bedroom. Another tingle through his frontal lobe turned on the stereo, filling the room with soft music. He smiled at the romantic scene he had just created as he dropped down to give more attention to Amber’s breasts.

God, can’t he ever do stuff like a normal person?

Ryan’s head jerked up. “What did you say?”

“Nothing, baby.” She pulled his head back to her breasts.

He broke away and stared at her.

“What?”

Ryan leaned back further. “You think I’m a freak or something?”

Amber’s eyes shot wide. She sat up on her elbows and shook her head. Her strawberry-blonde hair swished over her shoulder like fine threads of silk. “I don’t—I wouldn’t...”

He got up from the bed unsure what he was feeling, but certainly no longer in the mood for sex.

“Ryan, what are you doing? Come back to bed. My parents will be home in like, three hours.”

“Where are my clothes?”

“In the dryer…you’re leaving?”

He’d forgotten that he was soaked to the bone when he got there. He wriggled his toes into those emasculating flip-flops, thanking all things holy that her parents weren’t home to see him marching through their house stark naked. He didn’t know what disturbed him more, the fact that Amber didn’t like one of the most basic things about him, or that he had heard her think it. A lot of people without gifts hated those who had them, jealous really, but he never thought Amber would be one of them. Granted, he should’ve been suspicious when she went out of her way to tell him how much she loved his Telekinesis.

Midweek Excerpt

This week's excerpt comes from my current work in progress: PLATINUM DIARIES. This is also my NaNo project (or one of them...see here).
To give you a bit of background...
Sayra Nieves has the ability to see the furture through her dreams. Her dreams have always been typical teen angst type dreams and they have ALWAYS come true. One night, she dreams of the violent murder of a man she does not know and the scene below is of her telling her best friends about it.

Hope you like it!

~*~

As usual, Ivan arrived first. He looked a question at me, but I only shook my head, knowing it would be easier to tell them both at the same time. I didn’t think I could repeat it anyway. He sat beside me on the steps and took my chin in his long fingers—ideal for stroking the keys of a computer. His thumb ran over the crusted scrap on my chin and the welt on my cheek.

“You fall off your bike?”

I nodded, unable to go into detail about how I’d been nearly mowed down by Chaz’s car. A few minutes later, Penelope zipped into her parking spot and hopped out with her usual bubbling energy. Her smile fell away the moment she saw me.

“Sayra, please tell me you aren’t still moping over that parking space.” Then her eyes narrowed. “No, this isn’t about the spot.” She stooped in front of me. “What happened?”

With both of them there, I simply opened my diary and handed it to her. She stood as did Ivan, curving his long torso over her back. As if sensing the seriousness of what he was about to read, Ivan didn’t make his usual joke about hoping I’d dreamed up a girlfriend for him. They both scrunched up their faces and I realized how sloppy my writing must’ve looked. Short, choppy, scribbles made by a frightened hand, but even if I’d decided to write it over again, my hands were no less shaky.

Penelope gasped and a second later, so did Ivan. She flipped the page and Ivan snatched it back, scowling as he read the last few lines, lagging behind Penelope. The headache ratcheted up the back of my head and stuck behind my eyes. I didn’t want to talk about the dream, but I knew I had to. I couldn’t just pretend it never happened, no matter how hard I prayed.

“Maybe,” Penelope began, holding the book in her palm like it might explode,” maybe…it was just a nightmare.”

I shook my head.

Ivan sat beside me again. “Haven’t you ever had a dream that was just a dream?”

Again, I shook my head.

“Maybe this is the first,” he said hopefully.

“Yeah,” Penelope added.

They were trying to make me feel better, and I loved them for it, but there was no denying it. I dreamed that man’s murder and it was going to happen. The diary was snatched out of Penelope’s hand before any of us knew what happened.

Midweek Excerpt

This excerpt is from Chapter Two of LIGHT BRINGERS:

Kalie dressed in a powder-blue bikini, ready for a day on the water, then slipped on a pair of denim cut-offs. It was still pretty early so the house was quiet. She headed down the hall to Ryan’s old bedroom and listened at the door, hearing his low snoring from inside. She opened the door a crack.

He lay sprawled like a starfish with his neck bent at an awkward angle. At six-foot-four, he took up the entire bed. His big feet hung off the end, and Kalie had to resist the urge to tickle them. Ryan hated being tickled. She crept inside, because to wake him before he was ready would be like poking a hungry bear with a short stick. His cell phone sat on his head by his temple. He had apparently fallen asleep while talking to someone. God help him if it was Amber. Kalie snickered, hoping that he had indeed drifted off on the bimbo he called a girlfriend.

Hugging his pillow, Ryan farted so loudly that he woke himself up with a snort. Kalie jumped back, clamping her hand over her mouth and nose. His unfocused eyes blinked angrily at her as if she was responsible for waking him. He grumbled “Shicken wings,” and then flopped back to the bed, fast asleep.

“So gross.” She rushed out of the room, holding her breath.

Quietly, she headed down to the library or study or whatever they were currently calling the room with the family computer and hundreds of books. She rooted through several bags filled with newly purchased books, and just then decided to have everything read before the start of her first semester at Lawrence State University. Evolution of Endowments: Effects of the Solstice was not on the required list for her courses, but Kalie wanted to read it first. She stuck an ink pen between her teeth, grabbed a legal pad, tucked the thick book under her arm, and made her way into the back yard.

Midweek Excerpt

In an effort to keep Light Bringers fresh in my mind without over-editing, I’ve decided to post an excerpt every Wednesday. I’m not sure how well the Interview with a Venator went over, but it really helped me know my characters better. It was a good exercise and I still plan to post the remaining three on the next few Fridays.

The weekly excerpts will be roughly 300 words and hopefully give a glimpse of the characters and plot. This week’s scene is from chapter one. Ryan has been hurt at work and has come to his parent’s house so his best friend, Kalie, can heal him. Kalie lives with Ryan's parents because they took her in when she was five.

**~*~*~**

“I’m gonna be sick.” Ryan pushed away from the table.

Before he could rush to the sink Kalie yanked up his shirt and slapped her hand on his stomach. White Light covered her hand like a soft glove. She closed her eyes as a thin sheen of sweat broke out over her face. The need to vomit left Ryan almost instantly. He watched Kalie’s color fade from golden-brown to chalky and greenish.

She pulled her hand away and rushed to the sink. When she turned on the water Ryan thought she was going to be sick. Instead, she cupped her left hand under the flow, letting the water run over it for a minute. Her skin gradually regained its healthy luster until she looked as if none of it had happened. She shook away the excess water, shut off the faucet and turned to Ryan.

“Sit,” she said again, just as calmly as before. “You probably have a concussion.”

Kalie placed her right hand over his forehead and white Light poured from her palm and fingertips like steady rain. This was different than the glowing glove that covered her hand a minute ago. Ryan had to resist the urge to wipe his face as her Light drizzled down on him, but there wasn’t any wetness, just cool tingles.

The emotions pulsing through him felt like nothing he could ever muster on his own. He had the usual physical feelings—the itching and pulling of rapidly healing flesh that tickled his skin. But he also felt love, platonic and strong, at first and it made him smile. Then hot jabs of lust grabbed a hold of his gut, invigorating him, making him want to reach out and touch her. Lately, he felt that stirring more often when she healed him. Ryan shifted uncomfortably in his chair.