Friday, March 27, 2009

Body Language: The Lean


This is one of my favourite body language tools when writing. I always use this for my heroes-–not my heroine, unless she’s mirroring him--because I see it as a very Alpha male thing to do.
Let’s face it; our Alphas have absolutely no remorse about blatantly invading our heroines’ personal space.

Of course, for it to work there must be mutual attraction between the hero and heroine, or else they could end up doing an impromptu surreptitious waltz around the room as the hero leans in and the heroine steps back in an effort to regain her personal space.

However, we need not worry about this because our heroes & heroines are always majorly attracted to each other!

I’ve found this to be a great way to crank up the sexual tension, and add conflict & emotion. He leans in, but instead of feeling he’s invading her personal space, our heroine experiences all sorts of pleasant physiological and psychological reactions--even if she doesn’t want to feel anything for him!

Like all forms of body language, THE LEAN is subliminal, closing the distance between two people. Telling her, she’s the only woman in the world at that moment and she has his undivided attention. What woman doesn’t want to feel that way?

On the other hand, leaning away has the effect of putting distance between two people, regaining personal space that says, “I don’t like you!” which is a good way to show how the heroine would normally react. Good to use to contrast her reaction to other men. This will cement her attraction towards the hero in the reader’s mind. Have her mirror his lean to show he has her all to himself, even in a room full of people.

However, let her lean away when any other man tries THE LEAN on her. After all, once she’s had THE LEAN from the hero, it spoils her for all other men who try to use this powerful technique on her.

A word of caution: don’t over use this nonverbal form of communication. And don’t allow you hero to overdo it, let him lean away from your heroine every now and then. Have him divert his attention, look away--not at another woman, though. Let your heroine miss the intimacy of your hero’s lean. Then give it back and let her react.

A great way to keep the pull-push ever-present between your two protagonists.

Until next time.
God bless x


Sunday, March 22, 2009

Happy Mother’s Day to All Mothers Out There.



Here in the UK it’s Mothering Sunday, and what a blessed day it’s been. For the first time in a while, I had all my kids – four children and I grandchild – with hubby and me at church today.

I can’t tell you how good it felt to have my babies all together. If you’re a parent of young adults, you’ll understand what I mean when I say it’s hard to pin them down for family time.


Anyway, I’m having a great Mother’s Day, and not because I got lots of lovely chockies, flowering plants, home-school made fudge – yum, I do love fudge!


Not even because I got a fab new Sony Reader... {insert huge grin here} But because I’m thankful for all my beautiful, talented, wonderful children.


More importantly, I’m thankful to God for blessing me with health, so I get to watch my kids grow from babies to funny, entertaining kids and on to wonderful adults.


Have a great day all who's celebrating Mother’s Day today.


God bless!



Friday, March 20, 2009

What makes a Novel funny?

Is it the author’s voice? Sentence structure? Characters and their reactions? Comic situation? Witty descriptions? Great one-liners?

I would have to conclude it’s all of the above.

We know humour differs from person to person. Therefore, comedy must also differ from one author to another, conveyed through our unique writer’s voices.

I think this might be a prominent factor.

Authors who write good humour awe me. I often wonder how they do it. I imagine them to be the life of the party, the type of person who tells a story or joke and have people rolling around holding their sides.

I am nothing like that. I think I’m the worst at telling jokes. I’m certain to mess up the punch line of any joke. Or tell it at the beginning of the joke and say, “No, wait, it’s supposed to be…” A sentence guaranteed to ruin any funny story and turn me into the butt of the joke.

Needless to say, I stopped telling jokes long ago! Though I’ve felt reassured over the years that I may have some comic value. I seem to have the ability to make people laugh on occasion. Generally it’s my husband and kids and usually it’s when I’m mad that they find me funniest.

Something occurred to me lately. I do write humour! I really do. I once read an article by Shirley Jump, who said our books don’t have to be a laugh a page (I honesty thought they did). She also said something that has stayed with me: It’s even better if we can make our readers laugh and cry within our word count.

Now, that I can do!