confessions of a darling killer - guest post and giveaway!

Confessions of a Darling Killer

Okay.  I admit it.  My name is Angela Brown.  And, well, I killed a man.

Not in real life.

*I won’t lie and say I haven’t had murderous thoughts a time or two regarding a couple of gents in my lifetime that I could have done without knowing lol!*  However, the man I – erm – relinquished from life was a character of Neverlove, a darling I thought the story needed.

His name was Wallace, and he was Abby’s older brother.  He appeared in the first draft, all emotional as you please, trying to show he had purpose.  He was darling and he loved Abby very much.  A couple of CPs took a stab at the second draft, bled it out and mentioned darling Wallace as an issue.  Try, try and try as he did, Wallace just didn’t have the full relevance to stay in the story.  So…

To borrow and slightly twist Bob Marley’s words:

I shot the darling,

But I did not shoot his legacy.

That is where the difference occurred.  Although I killed Wallace, I left a piece of his meaning – where his real purpose actually came into play.  Oddly, the word count I lost from removing him was more than made up by fleshing out a bit more about Abby’s inciting incident, which can also be referred to as “when monsters attack”.

Speaking of monsters, I’m not the only one who rid their story of a darling.  Scenes can also be darlings.  

Gwen Gardner had a particular scene that ended up on the cutting board.  Take it away, Gwen...

Trust me, the monster scene I cut from the opening of my book was not a “darling.” I kept it (but not the scene) and brought it in later. The reason? I didn’t want the thing to set the tone of my book. The thing is a dark entity and totally scary and I’d scream bloody murder if it was after me. 

While there are a few scary parts in my book, the main focus is my clumsy vertically challenged main character, Indigo, her propensity for mishaps due to overwhelming spirit activity (including, but not limited to, dark entities) and the murder investigation. 

And so my opening scene went from “chased by monster” to “hello Badger, sorry I knocked you to the ground and whoa, you’re really cute”. Okay, she didn’t say that last part out loud. But she was thinking it. 

Anyway, you get the gist of how the focus of a story changes just by killing off a character or scene. 

What sacrifices have you made to tell a better story?

.....

Neverlove - For Abigail and Basil, there is a choice they both fear making.  Duty or love?  There can be only one

Buy links: Amazon.com, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk, B&N


Givin' Up The Ghost - Indigo Eady's life erupts into mischief and mayhem when a ghost enters her teen abnormal life demanding answers for his death.

Buy link: Amazon.com 

Giveaways!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway