Hi everyone–
I was writing a scene today in my new Aloysius Tale about three young men who come to a veterinary clinic and end up finding their pets. Simple enough. Two dogs and a cat. But i love animals and the moment grabbed me so much i was writing with tears running down my face.
I cry a lot while writing and i think most authors probably do. After all, we write from our own hearts and souls so the stories deal with our own issues, secret fears, and loves. I find a lot of my deepest feelings are reserved for the ends of my books. These are the moments when my characters understand something, usually about love, that changes them.
Here’s an example from my romantic suspense, Golden Dancer (warning. If you haven’t read the book, this takes place at the ending. Of course, it’s a romance, so you already know it will end happily).
Trelain pointed to another area on his floor plan. “Now, for the head table… Well, it won’t really be head. It will be a round table and placed amid the others so we can all talk. But anyway, at our table, of course, we’ll have your folks and my mum. I think they will all get along well and…”
Trelain touched his arm. “Mac?”
“My parents? You invited my parents?”
Daniel cocked his head. “Of course. They’re planning on coming out the week before to help with any last-minute plans. I’m going to fix up your cottage a little, if you don’t mind, and they can have the place to themselves…”
“My parents! They’re coming here? They wanted to come?”
Trelain rested a hand on Mac’s cheek. “Of course, darling. They want to see their son get married.”
Married. The tears that had threatened at the airport poured down his cheeks. Married. He was getting married. Nothing more. Nothing less. The loneliness. The hopelessness. No more. All the trials and problems and joys and ecstasy that married people shared, he got to have.
Daniel wrapped him in his arms. “Are those happy tears?”
Mac nodded, his head buried in Daniel’s shoulder.
When Daniel released Mac, he fell back on the bed, half crying and half laughing. “How many people are coming to our ceremony?”
Trelain shrugged with a look that could only be described as guilty. “Well, we wanted to keep it to a small group, but so many people wanted to come, and we couldn’t leave any out…”
Trelain grinned. “Three hundred.”
Mac held his stomach and laughed. Three hundred people were coming to his wedding. Three hundred people took this unconventional, unlikely, unsanctioned, and nearly unimaginable relationship seriously enough to want to come and celebrate with them. Or maybe they just wanted to drink Daniel’s champagne. He didn’t give a shit. He was happy. For the first time in his twenty-seven years, truly happy.
*************
When i cry while writing my books, i know i’m giving my readers my best. Kind of like when i get turned on writing my love scenes. It doesn’t mean you as a reader will respond to the same things i do, but it does mean that i’m tapping into something genuine in myself. And by the way, while i was copying the scene from Golden Dancer — i started to tear up. LOL Thanks so much for coming by. If you’d like to chat more often, Like my Facebook Page. : )
