book excerpt

My First Foray into Screenwriting: An Excerpt

If you’ve been following along with me for the last year, you’ll know how much of a struggle finishing my last novel was. With that in mind, I decided to give myself a bit of a break and try my hand at screenwriting. After purchasing a book on how to do it right and realizing with much relief that Scrivener, a program I already own, can handle the formatting for me, I dove in.

I’ve been wanting to write an Oregon Trail story since I was a kid, but I didn’t think I could pull off the history to a satisfying, realistic degree. Cut to a brainstorming sesh with a friend where we came up with a modern Oregon Trail concept based on the game with all the classic trials and tribulations along the way. Think new Jumanji meets Road Trip.

Here’s an excerpt from when the gang of four begin their journey together.

Content warning: Rated PG-13.

Excerpt from My Current WIP: Jenna with the Red Pen

We’re halfway through Camp NaNoWriMo, and it’s been going pretty much how my Camps usually go—slow with plenty of stops and starts. I set a goal for 20,000 words for the month, and considering all the stuff I have coming up in the next couple weeks, I probably won’t hit it. What I will do though, for sure, is finish the first draft of my third Rockin’ Austen book, based on Persuasion.

While I was looking for a line to use to participate in the #SunWIP Twitter hashtag, I stumbled upon this scene, squeed, and found it too cute not to share. To set up the scene a little, assistant director Jenna runs into the lead actor, Weston, her former high school boyfriend, in the hotel lobby where they’re staying.

I left in my editing notes in brackets, so you can get a peek at my drafting process too.

Excerpt from Sharnita with the Long Nails

OK, so that’s a working title. I wanted something to go with Brit with the Pink Hair (book one), which I’m not 100% sold on yet either. We shall see. Naming things is hard.

Camp NaNoWriMo last month went better than usual! I hit my goal of 25,000 words for the month of April.

campnano0418-1 Excerpt from Sharnita with the Long Nails

I’ll absolutely be participating again in July to either finish up book one or two, or start writing book three. Obviously, no decisions have been made yet. It’ll all depend on whether I make any progress between now and then. Maybe I’ll give JuNoWriMo a shot too?

My goal is to be ready to publish book one by the end of the year. If I say that here, hopefully that’ll make it official.

Anyway, to the words! This is the moment Mike and Sharnita finally meet.

Excerpt from My Current Work-in-Progress

This past weekend, I finished the first draft of my yet-untitled retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma (hooray!). In this version, Emma Woodhouse (or Brit Byers) is a socialite and daughter of former rock star and current music club owner Lonnie Byers.

Here’s a sample of one of the first scenes in the book:

Brit was supposed to go on a date today, but all she could think about at the moment was what happened last night.

She had somehow gotten home and somehow gotten in bed. She didn’t know who had gotten her there, but whoever it was, they had also stripped off her jumpsuit.

Oh crap. Had she peed in the jumpsuit? Barbara had warned her that wearing a jumpsuit was a bad idea, but Brit hadn’t listened. A hot up-and-coming designer had sent it to her, and she was determined to wear it. She wasn’t exactly sample sized, but she liked how the jumpsuit hugged her hips.

The jumpsuit, which Brit was pretty sure she was supposed to return to the designer, was balled up in the corner of her bedroom, feet away from the hamper. Who couldn’t even hit the hamper? She sat up gingerly and pressed her fingers into her temples to sooth the throbbing in her head. Her ears were still ringing from the pumping bass the DJ had been spinning.

Who the heck had tried to roofie her, and who had saved her? She hoped she was saved although by her current state of undress, she couldn’t be sure. Hopefully it was Daisy who had undressed her. Or maybe Lander had called Barbara to come get Brit. That would be the ideal situation.

Brit’s ears pricked painfully as something crashed outside of her bedroom. Her body jolted, and she pulled her comforter around her shoulders, shrouding herself completely in down feathers and satin. Please don’t let it be a rapist, please don’t let it be a rapist, she chanted to herself. Her eyes darted around the room, praying that she would spot her phone, but it was nowhere to be found. She couldn’t climb out the window—her apartment was too high off the ground.
Read More