One of my favorite movies is Gladiator with Russell Crowe. The opening battle scene does a great job of showing the might of the Roman Empire and I think it is the best battle scene. Very powerful imagery. My favorite quote is, “At my signal, unleash Hell.”
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
noun \ˌā-bē-(ˌ)sē-ˈder-ē-ən\
: one learning the rudiments of something (as the alphabet)
1. <abecedarians soon learn that martial arts have a spiritual as well as physical side>
Middle English abecedary, from Medieval Latin abecedariumalphabet, from Late Latin, neuter of abecedarius of the alphabet, from the letters a + b + c + d
First Known Use: 1603
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Tabby's Nocturnal Nights: Supernatural—Sam or Dean?: I love the show Supernatural about the two brothers that hunt demons and other dangerous supernatural beings. The brothers, Sam and Dean, co...
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604
Two mortals are caught in the midst of the battle between the Titans and Olympian gods.
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Emotional scenes can add special moments that resonate with readers, drawing the readers further into the story. Emotional scenes are especially effective in romance novels where emotions are a huge part of the plot.
Before using an emotional scene to grab the audience, it’s best to make the audience care about the characters first. Otherwise, an emotional scene can fall flat. It’s also important to time the emotional scene correctly. Some scenes don’t have the same power to move an audience if the scene happens at the wrong time in the story.
For example, I saw the latest Star Trek movie, Into the Darkness. I loved the first one with the young cast and how the timeline was altered. I thought this was a great way to write some new storylines. Into the Darkness altered the first meeting with Khan, the genetically engineered human that became an enemy of Captain Kirk in the original TV
show and movies. I thought this was okay until the scene where the young Captain Kirk dies the same way Spock died in Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan. When Spock died in The Wrath of Khan, it was a very emotional, powerful scene between Captain Kirk and Spock, two characters that had known each other and had been close friends for about forty years. But when the young Kirk dies in Into the Darkness, the scene didn’t have the same emotional power because these younger characters hardly knew each other and didn’t really like each other. The characters didn’t have time to grow into the close friends they became later. The scene made me uncomfortable because I felt it was forced on the audience.
An emotional scene can do a lot for a story, but it shouldn’t be rushed or forced.
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
I’ve discovered that I don’t like Alpha males as romance heroes. I prefer a hero with a mix of Alpha and Beta, a man that can stand alone and is secure with his sexuality without having to prove his manliness by jumping out of a plane. He isn’t afraid to show his sensitive side either. And most of all, my favorite romance hero has to be kind to animals.
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
noun \ˌa-bō-ˈmā-səm\
plural ab·oma·sa
: the fourth compartment of the ruminant stomach that follows the omasum and has a true digestive function — compare rumen, reticulum
— ab·oma·sal adjective
New Latin, from Latin ab- + omasum ox's tripe
First Known Use: circa 1706
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Whenever I see clouds forming in the sky, I grab my camera and run outside. I love the way clouds form different patterns—nature’s artwork. My favorite clouds have differing layers of color reflecting off the sunlight. Sunrise and sunset are the best times for unusual cloud patterns. Thunderstorms offer up some really interesting, menacing shapes.
I just took this one with a moon sliver hanging between the pink wispy clouds at sunset.
We don’t have too many cloudy days here where I live in Arizona. Most days are clear blue skies, but that makes it even more special when the clouds do gather. Once I notice a beautiful cloudy, colored sunrise or sunset, I have to hurry outside with my camera because the colors change in seconds. I’ve missed some great shots because I took too long to get outside.
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
I have been re-watching one of my favorite TV series—Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This is one of the best shows ever for so many reasons and it’s one of the few shows that I re-watch. My husband gave me the best Christmas gift ever when he bought me the entire series on DVD. No diamond jewelry for this gal, just some great complex characters, superb storytelling, supernatural creatures and magic, and the perfect mix of humor and darkness to make me happy. It’s hard to name my favorite episodes because there are so many, but the one I watch the most is a Halloween episode, titled “Halloween,” where they become the costumes they wear. And one of the best musical episodes ever is Once More With Feeling. I highly recommend this series.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer-Complete Seasons
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
aard·wolf
noun \-ˌwu̇lf\
plural aard·wolves
: a maned striped nocturnal mammal (Proteles cristatus) of southern and eastern Africa that resembles the related hyenas and feeds chiefly on insects and especially termites
Afrikaans, from aard + wolf
First Known Use: 1833
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
I like to self-edit and get my manuscripts as clean as I can before having an editor take a final look. In the past, I’ve used a list to guide me through my self-edits, but this time I used a free site called Edit Minion. I’m glad I used it because I found some words I had been overusing that I hadn’t noticed.
Edit Minion is a basic guide using highlighting to indicate passive voice, adverbs, ending in prepositions, weak words and ‘said’ replacements. Then it lists how many times a word has been used. This basic guide worked for me and I highly recommend it if you are looking for a free self-edit program.
I discovered I use ‘that’ and ‘with’ way too much. I also end a lot of sentences with prepositions.
Editing programs are great for cleaning up your manuscript, but I would recommend using a live editor or proofreader before publishing if you plan to self-publish. There are some errors only a live person can catch.
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Since winter has arrived with a frosty nip in the air, I thought about some of my favorite things about this time of year. My two most favorite things about winter are drinking hot chocolate and wearing UGG boots. Where I live we don’t have snowy winters, but it still gets cold. I can’t wait for the scorching summers to end so I can stop painting my toenails and just slip my bare feet into my warm, snug UGG boots, sit down and sip some oh-so-awesome hot chocolate. I have one rule: My hot chocolate has to have marshmallows. If it doesn’t have marshmallows, it doesn’t taste the same. Mmm. Now I just need to snuggle with my dogs, I mean my honey, and I’m a happy camper.
Snow on the mountains.
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
adverb
: toward or at the stern : aft
Examples of ABAFT
1. <the lookout in the crow's nest warned that there was an enemy frigate abaft and bearing down hard on their ship>
Middle English, from a- + baft in the rear, from Old Englishbæftan, from be- + æftan behind — more at aft
First Known Use: 15th century
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
Yeah, a new year! I want to be hopeful that 2014 will be a better year than the previous five years, but my pessimistic self won’t allow me to get too excited. I suppose this new year can’t be worse than what we went through after 2008. And things seem to be improving for me (and my husband) but we aren’t out of the black hole yet.
It seems life cannot be planned. Everything that has happened to me in the last thirteen years has been an unpleasant surprise. My life did not turn out the way I had wanted it to be. Some good has come out of these changes, but also some very bad things as well.
Writing saved me from myself, kept me from losing my sanity. Finding an outlet for my frustration, pain and anger was the good that came of my life changes.
The bad, well the bad is something I try to forget. I guess things end up working out somehow, though I’m still struggling a lot with accepting my fate. It’s terrifying not being able to do the things I used to do, to be a different person. But I am lucky to have a husband and a family that understands and sticks by me.
I just hope 2014 is the year that I can finally stop worrying, but then do we ever stop worrying about the future? For what lies in the future, but the unknowable and the inevitable fate of all mortals?
Perhaps the best way to deal with life changes is to think of life as one long, unpredictable adventure and live in the moment. That seems to be the way to live life. Maybe if I had done that all along, I wouldn’t be so bothered by the unexpected.
I didn’t want to make any New Year’s resolutions because I never keep them, but I decided to make a resolution for 2014—to live in the moment.
Happy New Year!
My dogs—living in the moment
Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
Writing means different things to me. I'm a storyteller, a book editor, and a songwriter. For me, it's like breathing.
