Notes to Self, Pt. II

These little inside jokes (very inside, like in my head) will make total sense if you've already read A Most Unusual Duke

Well, they might.

Authoring can be a lonely road, even if one has their fictional characters for company. At the stage I'm at as a writer, I don't really talk about works-in-progress with pals, as supportive as they are. I trust my process and have the discipline to see a story through, just me and document... and computer and desk and chair. Huh! I've got more support than I thought.

I keep myself amused throughout, as mentioned here, by leaving myself little notes in a manuscript and on printed out drafts. I screengrab the former and keep them in a folder labeled X NOTES LOL. I have a scan through them when I need to remember that writing can be fun.

Exhibit I

This is the first note for A Most Unusual Duke, as evidenced by its title.

Even if it wasn't labeled as such (nor had a timestamp backing it up) I can tell it's very early in the process because I clearly don't know what's going on. Rather than block my progress, I talk to myself in (mostly) all caps so I'll remember this needs attention.

If you've read the book, can you guess what this refers to? (It took me a while to recall it myself, no pressure.)

Exhibit II

Sue me, I love a good pun.

Exhibit III

Ohhhhhh, the love I bear* for these two lines of dialogue, I cannot even tell you.

I knew the family of Arthur, Duke of Osborn and my MMC, from whom he was estranged, were going to descend on their home place, Arcadia, once they heard about his marriage to Beatrice, my FMC.

That's pretty much all I knew apart from their names, but sure that's never stopped me before, so I started writing: they drove up and appeared, spouting innuendo, and all of sudden there they were: Garben (Ben) and Charlotte, lifelong friends and fated mates who shared an irrepressibly saucy, smutty sense of humor that goes over Arthur's head and challenges Beatrice's comportment as a lady.

The rest of my LOL NOTES are too spoilery, alas. I'm off to have a look at the ones I compiled for A Duke at the Door, book three in the series!

*I cannot HELP myself.

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A Most Unusual Duke, the second instalment in The Shapeshifters of the Beau Monde series is published by Sourcebooks is available now from all good booksellers!