What We're Writing: Jenn and the dreaded copyedits.

JENN McKINLAY: I'm plugging away, cranking out ten pages a day on a brand new venture that I'm enjoying immensely  It's been sold and I'm quite thrilled by the enthusiasm of the publisher, but while the contracts are still being drawn up, I can't say anything about it as yet. Bummer, I know.

In the meantime, because writing four books per year is a juggling act, I'm also doing the dreaded copyedits for October's book, The Christmas Keeper. It's a rom-com that features cranky horses, romance writing divas, and ugly Christmas sweaters. What's not to love, right?

A popular phrase in publishing these days is "meet cute", which describes how a heroine and hero meet. This is not the case with these two characters: Joaquin (Quino) Solis and Savannah (Savy) Wilson. In fact, I believe "meet snark" would be more apt, which could be why I love them so. Here's the scene from the perspective of Joaquin's friend Ryder:

Savannah charged into the office, carrying two mugs of coffee. She saw Joaquin standing there but didn’t slow down. She just plowed past him into the room. Ryder caught Quino’s look of surprise and almost laughed.

    “Here you go,” Savannah said. She thrust the mug at Ryder. Then she scowled at him. “What did you say to Maisy?”

    “Nothing, why?” He took the mug and tried to ignore how his pulse jumped at the sound of her name.

    “Liar,” Savannah said. “She’s with her kitten right now and she’s—,”

    “Crying?” Ryder asked in alarm.

    “Singing.” Savannah gave him a dark look.

    Oh, singing was bad, very bad, for a variety of reasons. “Over the Rainbow?”

    “Worse, Tura Lura Lural,” she said.

    “The Irish lullaby?” Quino asked. “What’s wrong with that?”

    Savannah and Ryder shared a look and then Savy said, “I’m sorry, this is your business why?”

    “Because Ryder is my friend,” he said.

    “Well, Maisy is mine,” she countered.

    Ryder glanced between them. If ever there were two people who should not be in the same room together, it was these two. Both were fiercely independent, stubborn, and frankly, mouthy.

     “Here’s a thought, if you don’t want me knowing your friend’s business, maybe you shouldn’t talk about it in front of me,” Quino said. He crossed his arms over his chest, doing a fair imitation of a wall.

    “If you had any manners, you wouldn’t have listened in on what was obviously a private conversation,” Savy said. She ended it with a hair toss and Ryder saw his friend’s pupils dilate. Quino had always had a thing for gingers.

    “Steady, you two,” Ryder said. “We’re all friends here.” He cast a glance at Savy. “At least, I hope we are. Joaquin Solis, this is Savannah Wilson. There you’ve been introduced, now play nice.”

    Quino’s eyes moved over Savannah’s tall, curvy frame. She was dressed for success today in a skirt and blouse with spiky heels. Her long red curls were loose and framed her face becomingly while her green eyes blazed provocatively. Ryder would have felt sorry for his friend if he wasn’t all consumed by his own female based misery right now. 

    “You’re a city girl, aren’t you?” Quino asked.

    “Woman. I am a woman, not a girl,” Savannah said. “And, yes, I’m from Manhattan, or as we like to call it, civilization.”

     A slow smile spread across Quino’s lips. Ruh roh. Ryder knew that look. It practically shouted “challenge accepted”.

    “Well, woman, since we’ve established that I lack manners, I’m going to say exactly what I’m thinking,” he said.

     “That should be a short sentence,” she retorted.

    This time Quino laughed and it hit the room like a sonic boom of warmth. Ryder noticed that even Savannah responded to it by relaxing her posture a bit. She turned to face him and Quino moved forward until they were an arm’s length apart.

     “I think you should go on a date with me,” he said. Tall and muscular, with movie star good looks and a friendly personality, it had long been established that Quino could have any woman he wanted. In fact, in all the years Ryder had known him no woman had ever refused a date with him.

    “That is never going to happen,” Savannah said. “But thanks for the offer.”

    Ryder was pretty sure his jaw hit the ground. He tried to cover it up by taking a long sip of coffee, but seriously -- Holy Shit! – no one ever said no to Joaquin Solis. He thought his friend might be embarrassed to have crashed and burned in front of him. 

    Nope. Quite the opposite. Quino looked at him as if to say Her. I’ll take her. Ryder had the abrupt epiphany that his world had just gotten infinitely more complicated. This had to be nipped. Immediately!

October 2019

So, how about it, Reds and Readers, how do you prefer your meets between characters - cute, snarky, or other?