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One of the finest aspects of fiction writing is the ability to set the scene. Characters act and react, but they don't do so in a vacuum. In their world, they meet, fall in love, solve problems, sometimes horrendous problems. Maybe it's a small town, maybe the big city, the green, humid jungle, dust-dry desert, a mountainous region. On the sea. Under the sea. In space!
Setting the scene is also done by using character dialogue to paint a picture of loveliness, danger, evil, trepidation, excitement, awe...
Setting the scene is also done by using character dialogue to paint a picture of loveliness, danger, evil, trepidation, excitement, awe...
Give us six sentences that set the scene. Set the Scene in Six Sentences - Sunday is a new opportunity on the Exquisite Quills! Blog to tout your talent. How have you set the scene in your books? How have you put the reader into the life of your characters?
Every Sunday, the blog will be open to six-sentence scene-setting. Just post your six sentences, your name, and one link in the comment box. We can't wait to read you!
Pass the word! Open to all!
Pass the word! Open to all!
16 comments:
KEY TO LOVE: When architect Elise Springer’s father is injured, she immediately leaves San Francisco to care for him. The last person she expects to encounter in her Pennsylvania hometown of Scranton is her childhood friend Lucas Fisher who is investigating his brother’s death.
Lucas is back in Scranton to set up a classic car restoration business and build a future. The torch he carries for Elise burns brighter than ever, but before he can declare his love, he must obtain the legal rights to adopt his nephew—and prove his brother’s death was no accident.
As they unearth clues to find the murderer and a missing stash of money, Elise faces a dilemma. Is her career on the West Coast the key to her happiness, or is it an animal-cracker-eating four-year-old and his handsome uncle instead?
--Judy Ann Davis
http://www.amazon.com/Key-to-Love-ebook/dp/B00DNO9S8K
From my erotic M/M from Siren, I'll Be Your Last...
In the pre-dawn darkness, Michael “Mack” Penchant sprinted down the alley with other TAC officers converging from the opposite direction. His mic confirmed squad cars, marked and unmarked, and three squadrols had pulled up in front of the narrow, two-story, brick Chicago dwelling. Frigid temperatures combined with the time of three in the goddamned morning made it optimal for a raid. Even criminals should be fast asleep by now. Mildly surprised the house didn’t look as derelict as most he’d busted, Mack tugged down his signature knit cap and thanked the Kevlar vest under his jacket for keeping him warm. He and fellow TAC officers crept toward the rear of the house.
http://amzn.to/10VvDsu
I vote for the 4 year old and the handsome uncle... ;-)
Setting the scene for Scarlet Tear by B.J. McCall.
Captain Wytt Sann is given the mission of a lifetime. Impersonating the notorious pirate Kirxx, Wytt must participate in a zap tournament sponsored by the pirate king. Wytt’s objective is to play the bloody game, beat the competition and win the prizes—a beautiful Glacidian woman and the coveted scarlet tear gem.
Wytt joined the parade of competitors entering the arena Rangar had built for his annual competitions. The inebriated crowd of pirates, mercenaries and disreputable folks from several galaxies roared and stamped their feet as sixteen men dressed in nothing but colorful trunks strode onto the field of play in the center of the stadium. At the opposite end of the arena, a long open staircase led to a dais with a large, ornate chair. A narrow balcony ran the length of the arena on both sides. Seated along the two balconies above the rowdy audience were Rangar’s celebrity guests. The parade continued until all players were standing on the diamond-shaped zap field.
Scarlet Tear, a sexy sci-fi tale is published by Ellora’s Cave and available at Amazon, ARe and B&N.
http://www.amzn.com/B005BR64SE
www.bjmccall.com
Mariah's Marriage, beginning of Cahpter 2 when Mariah chooses a dress more suitable for flirtation than teaching. Who is she hoping to impress?
Exactly a week later, Mariah stood at the front of her class once more. She had dressed with more care than usual in a round gown of pale blue cotton that had been new last season and was very flattering to her complexion. Tilly had suggested she add a fichu of old lace around the neckline and Mariah agreed with little protest. The ripple of ivory softened her appearance more than she could haveforeseen.
“Are you going on somewhere after the class, Mariah?” Peter asked as his pale gaze betrayed momentary appreciation before he shuttered it. “That dress will get ruinously dirty.”
http://goo.gl/NxYxj5
This time posting 6 in a scene from Loving Leonardo, my Victorian polyamorous love story. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009LS3H6Q
...........
As he was head of the family, I’d expected Luca’s bedroom to be opulent. This room left me speechless. Richly appointed in a stunning timeline of furnishings, the master suite depicted centuries of the Franco family merchant history in microcosm.
The centerpiece: his massive bed where four alabaster caryatids nearly as large as my wife stood as posts at the corners; each carved female suggestively posed and draped in robes that weren’t intended to be modest.
On one wall stood an ornate fireplace with two more caryatids flanking the flickering hearth and supported the mantelpiece on their heads. Incongruous to the caryatids but in keeping with a merchant’s eclectic patchwork of styles, marble baroque lions sat at their sandaled feet.
Here's a scene from Madison's Choice, Book 5 of the Le Club Series, by Skye Michaels in which Rockstar and the crowd from the Hamilton farm, Eden Creek, have made it to the Kentucky Derby after three years of hope and preparation.
Madison’s Choice by Skye Michaels - Book 5 of the Le Club Series
M/F - BDSM/Erotic Romance/Contemporary/Heat Level: Scorching
http://www.bookstrand.com/madisons-choice
Churchill Downs, Louisville, Kentucky—First Thursday in May, 2013—Churchill Downs Stables
The shed rows at Churchill Downs were still dark just after three o’clock on Thursday morning. Soon the grooms for the various racing stables currently occupying the barns would begin to arrive and start readying the horses for morning workouts on the last day before Derby weekend.
Grady Jenkins, one of the Eden Creek grooms, rolled over in his sleep trying to get comfortable on the cot covered with a sleeping bag that was positioned directly in front of the gate to Rockstar’s stall. Rockstar’s stallmate and companion, Buttercup, the pygmy goat, was awake and prowling the stall floor for dropped bits of hay. His ears pricked forward, and he was suddenly alert to the slight noise outside the stall as two men wearing dark pants and sweatshirts with hoods pulled low skulked along the wall toward Rockstar’s stall. Buttercup bleeted in protest at the sound. One carried a rag soaked in chloroform as he approached the sleeping man. The other carried a night stick on a leather cord wrapped around his hand.
“Damn that goat! He’s gonna wake him up,” one of the men hissed.
“Well get it done, dumb ass. What are you waiting for?” the other hissed back.
Other books by Skye Michaels available on Bookstrand.com, Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com:
The LeClub Series: Calleigh’ Collar, Kelly’s Challenge, Anne’s Courage, Paula’s Commitment, Madison’s Choice and Belinda’s Crown
The Golden Dolphin Series: Ivorie’s Surprise, Harper’s Submission, Violette’s Vibrato, Cassandra’s Revenge and coming soon: Pandora’s Box (February 2014) and Hannelore’s Treasure
The Horsemen Series: The Appearance of Impropriety
WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/SKYEMICHAELSBOOKS Fan Page for covers and first chapters
E-MAIL: SKYEMICHAELSBOOKS@YAHOO.COM
From The Brides of Black Mountain:
Trevor’s home was a showplace. Leather couches, gleaming cherry wood furniture, Navajo rugs on the floor. Pricey western art on the walls.
Starla flashed back to high school and the poor as a church mouse kid she’d been then, wearing secondhand clothes. Her mother worked as a housekeeper for Trevor’s parents and her mother’s position had always shamed her. Until she grew up and realized how hard her mother worked to provide for her kids.
Trevor hadn’t ever cared about the differences between them, but she had.
http://tinyurl.com/l9cssek
From BAD VIBES (Mike is undercover when Darla, the local deputy, intervenes)
She cocked her head to one side. “You’re hungry?”
“Damned right I’m hungry.” He squinted at her.
She sighed. “I suppose I can get you some food.”
Mike did an internal eye-roll. Great! She’s springing for lunch.
In a graceful movement, she rose and disappeared around the corner. Her footsteps reverberated on the wide wooden planks that formed the stairs of the Bait Camp Bar overhead.
He sighed and leaned back against the piling upon which the structure had been built to resist storm surges. The sound of choppy water slapping the docks mingled with the scream of a gull stirred memories of his boyhood in coastal Maine. There the Atlantic had pounded the shore with more aggression, but it smelled the same.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009LYM3ZQ
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009LYM3ZQ
Here's the opening of my time travel romance, Thoroughly Modern Amanda.
Carver, Pennsylvania
April 4, 1881
Amanda Montgomery paced the main office of The Carver Weekly. For the past three months, she’d held a position of feature writer and office assistant at the small town newspaper.
Stepping toward the supervising editor’s office, she scowled through the glass-topped door at the massive mahogany desk where Mr. Randolph Norwood worked. Pushing the door open, she slipped inside, her heels clicking against the polished floor. She propped her hands on her hips and scanned the empty room.
Ten minutes before, his secretary had left a message that Randolph summoned her to discuss her latest assignment.
http://www.amazon.com/Thoroughly-Modern-Amanda-ebook/dp/B00AQAIHHW/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355948640&sr=1-1&keywords=Thoroughy+Modern+Amanda
This passage is from my erotic romance, She Likes It Irish.
"What are my eyes saying now?” Kristin stared into Sean's eyes, willing him to see what was written in hers, to see her desire for him.
He paused as if reading, translating the symbols he saw in the green depths. “They’re saying I’ll miss all my tutoring appointments if I don’t get you home fast. Oh, and just to clarify, I never said I wasn’t interested in getting into your panties."
She laughed, but there was nothing funny about how the sweet spot between her legs heated up as her mind lolled in the idea of him getting into her panties.
http://www.amazon.com/She-Likes-It-Irish-ebook/dp/B00BIW8Q3C/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1364253166&sr=1-1&keywords=she+likes+it+irish
I've read an excerpt of this book, and I loved it! Thanks for the reminder. I'm off to buy it now. Sophia
Hi, All,
BEYOND THE BO TREE: TEN TALE OF ROMANCE consists of ten of my best previously published romance stories with varying degrees of heat. It's cost is only $2.99 on Amazon. Here are the first six sentences of one of the stories:
Valentine’s Day
The Sweethearts Detective Agency was founded by Bob and Nina Harris, two N.Y.P.D. detectives who opted for early retirement from the force. They’d met on the job, been attracted to each other from the first, and were married a year after their first date. When Bob, a tall, husky former marine met Nina, a feisty blue-eyed redhead, he started to think it was time to consider marriage.
It was Nina who initially suggested the name for the P.I. firm. At first Bob had groaned, but the truth was it drew a lot of female clients. Ironically, these women were usually checking up on cheating husbands.
Beyond the Bo Tree
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DTV0750
Thanks Sophia. I hope you enjoy it. :)
This is the opening of Engagement of Convenience,my Regency set Harlequin Historical.
Julia heard the shot from the top of the hill. It split the early morning still, sending a shock through her body and silencing the birds in the surrounding trees. Pulling hard on Manfred's reins, she brought the large black horse to a halt and examined the woods below the riding path for signs of the shooter. Brilliant shades of orange, red and yellow dominated the trees and a gentle breeze sent many of the leaves cascading to the ground. A flock of birds rose from the forest, indicating the shot's origin, but she saw nothing of the gunman. Uncle George often hunted here, but he was not expected back from London until later today.
Engagement of Convenience by Georgie Lee
http://www.amazon.com/Engagement-Convenience-Harlequin-Historical-Georgie-ebook/dp/B00CFX467S/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1385356568&sr=1-1&keywords=engagement+of+convenience+by+georgie+lee
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