Friday, November 26, 2004

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for many wonderful parts of my life. Among them, I am thankful for the time my family gives me to write. Currently, I am working on a rather long novel. I'm almost 39K into it so far and have just finished the first quarter of the book.

To be honest, these characters had me a bit worried. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love them. I'm finding their story fascinating and I love how it's developing. But they certainly aren't in any hurry to get into bed together! LOL

I know, what an odd thing to be worried about. But all my past stories have been very hot, very erotic and very kinky. These two characters seemed, at first, to be taking a more mainstream romance route. Would my readers be disappointed if I wrote something less hot, but still romantic? THAT's what worried me.

But here I am, 39K along (I'm not going by page numbers because those vary by format and font and spacing; the 39K refers to the number of words. So far, I have 39,000 words. Typed at 1 1/2 spaces in Book Antiqua, that's 114 pages), and the two are finally moving in the direction we all want them to go. This will be a Plus novel for sure!

Another challenge in this particular novel has been the fact that there are only two major characters. Those readers familiar with my work know I almost always focus only on the major hero and heroine...with very few supporting characters. There tends to be one plot because I enjoy really getting to know that one couple. By the time the story ends, I feel as if the two of them have become close friends.

The only exception to that has been Table for Four. But even there, the two love stories are told almost separately. In fact, when I did the final read through of that novel, before I sent it off to my editor, I had to print out the pages where the two stories separate and read through each plot line apart from the other. First I went through and read all of Richard's and Lissa's story, then I went back through and read all of David and Adora's plot line.

But this one is more of a challenge simply because there are no supporting characters except at the very beginning and at the very end. The bulk of the novel revolves around just the two of them. It is my hope that my readers will come to know and love Isabel and Daniel as much as I do. And as much as they end up loving each other!

Sorry I keep referring to the current novel as "this story" but it does not at yet have even a working title! Soon. I'll put on my thinking cap and come up with a title soon. That's always the last part of my creative process, I'm afraid.

Time to get back to work...take care!

Diana