Writers infuse their books with emotion to engage readers.
Some writers are marvelous at adding emotion to every sentence, but find it
tricky to write action. I am not one of those writers.
My specialty is action. The more, the better! While I do
include my character’s emotions, I don’t always add it in my first draft. Sometimes
I get so caught up in the events happening that I forget to include their
feelings. Fortunately, that’s where good beta readers and editors come to the
rescue. One of my beta readers, Lilly Gayle, helped pinpoint places lacking
emotion. She saved my story!
Here is one of the emotional scenes from Seismic Crimes
that Lilly actually didn’t have to tell me to embellish.
EXCERPT:
“Well, I’m glad to be talking to you now. Have you heard
from your brother?”
The breath fled from his lungs. “Mom, there’s something I
have to tell you.” He paused, bracing for the aftermath of his words and
decided getting it over with quickly would be the best option for both of them.
“Ryan was murdered working on a case.”
A moment of silence stretched on the other side of the
phone, much like the calm before a storm. Then his mom emitted a cry. Her grief
vibrated the phone in Donovan’s hand. He pulled it away, turned his head, and
closed his eyes. Her cry continued for several heart-wrenching seconds. When
there was a pause, he brought the phone back to his ear.
“Mom?” he said it softly, cautiously, as if approaching an
injured animal.
Another wail broke free, then another and another. Donovan
dropped his head, heavy with her sorrow. He tightly clutched the phone, the
earpiece pressed to his forehead as he listened to her sob from a shattered heart.
Tears quietly slipped from his eyes.
Other than his grandmother, he and Ryan were the only ones
left in his mom’s life. Now she was down one son.
He remained on the line while she cried. He might not be
there to comfort her, but he could stay on the phone until her tears stopped
flowing. It took a long time. He didn’t quite know how long. When grief was involved,
minutes could feel like an eternity. But when her crying quieted, and she was
able to catch her breath again, she said his name.
“I’m still here,” he told her and realized the truth of that
statement. Ryan was gone, but he was still there.
Title: Seismic Crimes
Author: Chrys Fey
Series: Disaster Crimes Series (Book Two)
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Format: Digital and Print
Page Count: 282
DIGITAL LINKS:
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BLURB:
An Internal Affairs Investigator was murdered and his
brother, Donovan Goldwyn, was framed. Now Donovan is desperate to prove his
innocence. And the one person who can do that is the woman who saved him from a
deadly hurricane—Beth Kennedy. From the moment their fates intertwined, passion
consumed him. He wants her in his arms. More, he wants her by his side in his
darkest moments.
Beth Kennedy may not know everything about Donovan, but she
can’t deny what she feels for him. It’s her love for him that pushes her to do
whatever she has to do to help him get justice, including putting herself in a
criminal’s crosshairs.
When a tip reveals the killer's location, they travel to
California, but then an earthquake of catastrophic proportions separates them.
As aftershocks roll the land, Beth and Donovan have to endure dangerous
conditions while trying to find their way back to one another. Will they
reunite and find the killer, or will they lose everything?
HURRICANE CRIMES 99¢ SALE!
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