#RomanceinAMonth – Behind the Altar

woman writerI’m taking the plunge this month. Starting on May 15, I began writing a romance with the trope–the well-known types of romance–of Forbidden Lover with an online group headed up by good friend and colleague, Rachelle Ayala. Every day for the next month we’re to write something, and by June 14, supposedly we’ll have the first draft of a true romance.

Rachelle supplies us with the elements of a romance such as plotting suggestions, conflict and tension, and climatic scenes. It’s our choice whether we write erotica, steam, or sanitized “G” copy. Mine will probably be somewhere in the middle.

The title of my book is Behind the Altar, and I already had the cover designed by the folks at Author Marketing Club. I’m a premium member over there so I’m entitled to one free cover per year.

Leah and Dean are the forbidden lovers and right from the first chapters, life conspires to keep them apart. Here’s a few lines from yesterday’s session:

64โ€œYouโ€™re Dean?โ€ Leah said when she found her voice. โ€œYouโ€™re supposed to be dead.โ€

โ€œIโ€™m no Mark Twain, but it appears the reports of my death were greatly exaggerated,” Dean said.

Leah stood and came toward Jacob who reached for her hand. Leah didnโ€™t want to be that close to him right now, not until she received an explanation of why Jacob and Geraldine had lied to her for the past three years that sheโ€™d lived with them.

โ€œWhy did you tell me he died, Jacob?โ€ Leah asked. When her fiancรฉ didnโ€™t answer, she turned around to look at Geraldine. โ€œGeraldine?โ€

โ€œTo us, he was dead,โ€ Geraldine said.

โ€œWhy?โ€ Leah asked. โ€œWould someone please tell me whatโ€™s going on here.โ€

โ€œWhatโ€™s it to you, Miss Savior of the World?โ€ Dean asked. โ€œThis is a family matter; it doesnโ€™t concern the woman who’s been kicked out of the church hall for doing such a despicable thing as feeding the homeless.โ€

โ€œYou havenโ€™t changed one bit,โ€ Jacob said. โ€œYouโ€™re still as nasty and spiteful as you were from the time you could throw your first mud ball. You can talk to me anyway you want, but please show my future wife respect. Sheโ€™s done nothing to you.โ€

โ€œYour future wife?โ€ Dean stood looking at Leah but the sparkle in the eyes from a few moments ago seemed very far removed as these eyes flashed anger at Leah. โ€œYouโ€™re going to marry this creep?โ€

Leah hesitated before nodding her head. โ€œThat was the plan, but nothingโ€™s going to happen if I donโ€™t get an explanation about whatโ€™s going on here.โ€

โ€œIโ€™ll leave you to your little fairy tale, princess,โ€ Dean said. โ€œJust know that all is not what it seems here in Baptist land. Beware of the serpents.โ€

Dean turned and walked out the same door heโ€™d entered a few minutes earlier when heโ€™d captivated Leah so thoroughly. No wonder he looked familiar, Leah thought, as she pulled away from Jacob. She ran to the door ignoring Jacobโ€™s plea to stay there.

Time to go and write my pages for the day. I’ll keep you posted on my efforts. It’s good timing because I just finished the first draft of Native Lands, and now it’s in the hands of two Beta readers. Behind the Altar will help me pass the time while I wait for the trusted comments on a book that took far longer than a month to write.

14 responses to “#RomanceinAMonth – Behind the Altar”

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