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Hi everyone,
Today Melanie Shawn
is dropping in from her blog tour to chat about her new book, ‘My First’. Melanie Shawn is actually a writing tandem made up of two
sisters – Melanie and Shawna.
Hello and welcome
ladies!
Would you like to tell us what made you
decide to write as a duo?
Well, much like Aretha and Annie in
that catchy 80s anthem from the title, it sprang from a decision to take our
future into our own hands. We wanted to define what our lives would look like
moving forward, and we knew that – no matter what – we wanted to approach it
together. When we took a look at our strength and talents, we realized that
we'd actually been “writing together” as part of the business we own for quite
some time – articles, proposals, emails...and blog posts, much like this one!
Once we realized that we already had a
natural writing rhythm together, it was a short leap to deciding that we wanted
to tackle fiction writing together, as well.
Many people wonder what the process of
“writing together” looks like. Do we actually open up a blank document together
and craft every sentence collaboratively, while sitting there side by side?
Good GOD, No! Not only would that be
far too slow, it would probably be pretty frustrating, as well.
Rather, we do the work in “passes” -
Shawna takes a pass, Melanie takes a pass, Shawna takes another pass, and so
on. With each subsequent pass at the manuscript, the plot becomes tightened and
the language more refined. By the final pass, we both love it!
Writing collaboratively is great for us
because we both bring strengths to the table. For instance, Shawna is the
“romantic gesture” nut and thinks of all the beautiful and highly romantic
scenarios in the books. Pretty much anything in any of the stories that has
made you go, “Awwww....I love it!” came straight from Shawna's brain!
Melanie, on the other hand, is the
“word nerd” and comes up with the lion's share of the descriptions, metaphors,
similes...all of the linguistic ornamentation that makes the book sparkle.
Also, she's the sarcastic and sassy one, so the majority of the quips and jokes
come from her snarky sensibilities.
By working together, we wind up with an
end product that is far better than anything either of us could have produced
on her own – and we have a HELL of a lot of fun getting there!
Writing as part of a team may not be
for everybody. But it is definitely for us!
What
comes first, the plot or characters?
For us, the characters always, ALWAYS come first. We are fascinated by the inner workings of people and how they respond to various situations - how they come together, and how they come apart.
When we know WHO the people are in our stories, then the natural progression of ideas causes us to say, "Hmmm...now wouldn't it be interesting if THIS happened to ____? I wonder what she would say to ____? And how would _____ react to the whole thing?"
Basically, the entire premise of every book we write is based on one of us saying to the other, "Hey, I wonder what would happen if _____ happened to ____?" It all grows from there.
What inspires your writing?
Honestly, there are just so many stories in our heads that we want to tell! We create characters and then they take on a life of their own. We become fascinated by their inner lives, their back stories, the plot points that will happen to them and how they will react - once we start getting excited, it's hard put that story away. We have to get it into the world!
For us, the characters always, ALWAYS come first. We are fascinated by the inner workings of people and how they respond to various situations - how they come together, and how they come apart.
When we know WHO the people are in our stories, then the natural progression of ideas causes us to say, "Hmmm...now wouldn't it be interesting if THIS happened to ____? I wonder what she would say to ____? And how would _____ react to the whole thing?"
Basically, the entire premise of every book we write is based on one of us saying to the other, "Hey, I wonder what would happen if _____ happened to ____?" It all grows from there.
What inspires your writing?
Honestly, there are just so many stories in our heads that we want to tell! We create characters and then they take on a life of their own. We become fascinated by their inner lives, their back stories, the plot points that will happen to them and how they will react - once we start getting excited, it's hard put that story away. We have to get it into the world!
Book
Description:
Jason Sloan is known as Harper’s Crossing’s resident Romeo, and
he’s never had to work too hard to live up to that nickname. With his easy going
charm, whiskey-colored brown eyes, and sinfully sexy half smile, women just
seem to fall all over themselves when he’s around.
Well...most women, anyway. Katie Lawson’s the one woman who isn't putty in his hands, and she's the only one he’s ever wanted in his arms.
Katie Lawson left Harper's Crossing in the middle of the night ten years ago, immediately after her high school boyfriend Nick's funeral. She left behind all memories of Nick, and she left behind her life-long best friend, Jason Sloan.
Now she's on the fast track to junior partner at one of San Francisco's top law firms. She's made a life for herself that's all about maintaining order and sticking to the rules. Rule #1 is keeping herself WAY too busy to think about all that she ran away from. If she can do that, after all, she can keep everything under control.
But that rule is about to be broken. She’s headed back home to be the maid of honor in Nick’s little sister’s wedding. It's time to face the truth she's been avoiding all these years, the same one that sent her running ten years ago - that maybe she didn't lose her first love the summer after high school. Maybe her first love has been waiting for her all this time, at home in Harper's Crossing.
Well...most women, anyway. Katie Lawson’s the one woman who isn't putty in his hands, and she's the only one he’s ever wanted in his arms.
Katie Lawson left Harper's Crossing in the middle of the night ten years ago, immediately after her high school boyfriend Nick's funeral. She left behind all memories of Nick, and she left behind her life-long best friend, Jason Sloan.
Now she's on the fast track to junior partner at one of San Francisco's top law firms. She's made a life for herself that's all about maintaining order and sticking to the rules. Rule #1 is keeping herself WAY too busy to think about all that she ran away from. If she can do that, after all, she can keep everything under control.
But that rule is about to be broken. She’s headed back home to be the maid of honor in Nick’s little sister’s wedding. It's time to face the truth she's been avoiding all these years, the same one that sent her running ten years ago - that maybe she didn't lose her first love the summer after high school. Maybe her first love has been waiting for her all this time, at home in Harper's Crossing.
Excerpt:
My
First
Katie opened her mouth to speak,
but nothing came out. She snapped it shut. She tried again. Same result. She
imagined she looked like a trout on the banks of a river, flapping her mouth
open and shut for no apparent reason.
The realization of how silly she
must look gave her just the extra edge of courage she needed to jump off the
cliff.
“Jason, I...I wanted to...I
wanted to tell you that...” she steeled herself for what she knew her physical
reaction would be as she forced herself to look up into those gorgeous brown
eyes, which resembled nothing so much as pools of warm and melty milk
chocolate...
The expression on Jason's face
when she raised her eyes brought her up short. She narrowed her eyes.
“Why do you look so smug?” she
asked suspiciously.
Rather than answering, he
smirked and bent down, putting his mouth right next to her ear. His hot breath
assailed her neck and she began to feel light-headed again.
Wait...was this....OH NO! Panic
attack #2 might be on the horizon.
Not in front of Jason, PLEASE,
not in front of Jason, Katie begged the Universe. It seemed like the Universe must have more
important things on its mind, however because - oh, lord. Now the shallow
breathing was starting.
Jason's breath on her neck, however,
was anything but shallow. It was deep. And heavy. And warm. And full of desire.
And...oh, man, that lightheadedness was just getting worse and worse.
Jason had her pinned up against
the trunk of her car. Her mind was screaming at her to push him away and RUN as
fast and as far as she could. Hey, it had worked in the past. Her body,
however, was sending her some very different signals.
“I'm not smug, Kit Kat,” Jason
informed her, his deep voice rumbling in his chest.
“Wha...huh...?” Katie mumbled.
Jason laughed lightly, “I was
just saying that I'm not smug. Just happy to know that I still get under your
skin.”
Katie didn't respond. She didn't
even really hear what he said, she'd stopped trying to pay attention to the
words. Stupid words. They just got in the way of listening to his voice...that
silky, deep voice.
Jason traced his thumb down the
back of Katie's neck slowly, sensuously, and then continued across her shoulder
and down her arm. When he reached her waist, he slipped his hand around her
easily, spreading his fingers slowly and firmly, grasping her back with a
familiarity that felt as dangerous as it did comforting.
His thumb began to gently
massage the small of her back, sending sharp zings of electricity ping-ponging
off of her nerve endings. She wanted to stop those little zings of pleasure in
their tracks. She wanted to ignore, suppress, deny...anything!
She needed to push him away and
get some distance is what she needed to do. Her knees began to buckle. Any time
now, a little voice in the back of her head whispered. Any time you want to get
a jump on creating that distance would be perfect.
That was, however, not what
Katie did. No matter how hard her lizard brain screamed at her to push him
away...step away...jump away...DANCE away, even...all Katie found herself doing
was looking up into his chocolate brown eyes as she melted into his embrace.
Katie heard a low moan escape
from Jason's throat and was suddenly hyper-aware of how close their lips were
to each other. A shiver ran through her as she contemplated the nearness of
those delicious, sexy lips.
Katie's breathing became more
labored, but not in an out-of-control, panic-attacky kind of way. No, it was
more of a body-coming-alive-for-the-first-time-in-years kind of way.
She vaguely wondered what was
going to happen next, but couldn't make herself focus too much on the future.
Not when the present was this flipping interesting!
Her brain might be telling her
to get out of this situation, to think about the consequences – but her body
was perfectly content to ride this little scene out and see where it went
thankyouverymuch.
Why did it seem that she was
utterly incapable of listening to her brain in any situation where Jason Sloan
was involved?
Links:
Website: http://melanieshawn.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelanieShawn
As always, thanks
for visiting!
Nicóle xx
I've ALWAYS wondered how you write together. I would love to do it but I'm so much of a control freak, I'm not sure I could handle it! Thanks for the great insight, guys!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't think I could do it either. Thanks for the comment, Samantha!
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