Woah!! Where has the year gone, it's almost September and...

I haven't written anything here for a while..nor have I been putting much time into writing. Between harvesting our Tumeric crop and becoming first time cattle owners, there has been so much to do on the paddock that's left little time for writing or anything else.. I have however been reading a lot at night before going to sleep, on the couch in front of the fire or curled up in bed, going through a couple of historical book series; Outlander and the current BBC hit show Poldark..it's been great to watch both series on the screen as well as read the books as historical fiction has always been a love of mine and the temptation to devour book after book has often kept me awake at night, as I subconsciously dwell in the time that the books are written, as you do.. I love Jamie Frazers Scotish highland era and the rugged Cornish coastline in Poldark's England and I have found that some moments in the life of a story are ones that are unforgettable and stay with you forever ..like that magic moment at the end in Pride and Predjudice when Mr Darcy at his passionate best walks over in the early morning to ask for Elizabeths hand and she meets him half way across the field..unforgettable; absolutely. Romantic; perfectly 5 star.  A forever moment; for ever and ever..
So too it is some scenes from Poldark have held me captive and will stay with me forever.. like the one in the last episode of series one where Ross and Demelza lose their first baby, Julia, and Ross tells Demelza when she wakes up from the same illness that has taken her baby, that 'he held her (the baby) the whole time so she wouldn't be afraid to die'..unforgettable; absolutely. Gut wrenchingly sad 10/10. A forever etched in your mind moment; without a doubt..
Scenes that make you weep with joy or sadness, that catch your breath, that give you goosebumps or a feeling of everything is going to be ok in the world are good writing at it's best..and as a writer if I could create just one scene like that for my readers I would be stoked..

Mitch continues to surprise me..

and when I sit and think about him I find all kinds of qualities that I respect and admire... even when he's preoccupied with work, he's still very much the parent and faces his responsibility doesn't shirk it..he thinks about Charlie when he's not with her and is thoughtful of her needs..and he always turns up at school when she's sick and rearranges his work so he can get to her asap.. and more importantly never lets her face Victoria alone..an altogether pretty cool dad..

So Cohen right..Breathless characters Part 3

is gorgeous to look at..with the mind of a delinquent. The school stud with a track record who devours females like prey and spits them out to move onto the next pretty thing..and this time he has a thing for Charlie who works him out from the get-go and does everything possible to keep her distance... the typical bad boy pretending to be a good boy to win over the girl, in the end, shows his true colors..and it comes with a cost..the scorn of the only girl he truly wants.

And then there is Tyler...

Who is almost eighteen and hung up on revenge..revenge for the killer of his dad and revenge for the sake of his mother who was deceived and lied to by his father; and his little sister who didn't deserve any of it. He's angry about being forced to give up a promising career in AFL and forced to move states, and he's angry about being forced into witness protection, often, disrupting his schooling his family and his life. And he's fierce and won't put up with any ones shit including the schools stud Cohen and his taunts. He gives off a piss off attitude and is usually left to himself. Until he meets Charlie who looks as lonely as he is. And alone. And, even though he totally doesn't expect to be is drawn to her and allows her to penetrate his walls. Charlie is a breath of lightness in his dark world and although she's troubled; she brings hope - that there is something in life that matters and it gives him purpose - he feels a strong need to protect her and to fight his own personal demons for; and she brings a softness that he hasn't felt inside him for a very long time. Tyler however finds himself on the run, narrowly avoiding the risk of imminent danger, and as he falls steadily and hard for Charlie she is implicated and is pulled along with him on the run; at first kicking and screaming and then in love and loyalty, until he almost dies and is at risk of loosing her the only good thing in his life. 

 

And so the sequel has come to life, still in it's early stages, but showing some promise..

Out of Darkness
 Before
“CHARLOTTE, WAIT’ my mother's voice rises to another octave and even with the traffic between us, I hear her loud and clear.
    ‘Run, Tyler RUN’ I whisper hoarsely at him. He gets my drift and accelerates back toward the school office pulling me along with him.
    “CHARLOTTE! you wait right there, do you hear me? Victoria yells at me, harsher this time as she attempts to cross the road between cars that swerve sharply missing her within centimeters.
    ‘Charlie what is it, what’s going on?’ Mr. Barrett the school principal looks up from the reception desk where he’s bent over talking to the school secretary, as we explode through the front door.
    ‘Sssir my mothers here and she wants to see me. Please help sir.’
    I don’t need to explain anything more. The school already knows Victoria is prohibited from seeing me and not allowed on school property.
    ‘Where is she?’ he says looking at Tyler.
    ‘In the car park Sir’
    ‘You stay with Charlie, I’ll go out and deal with her. Mrs. Simpson, please ring the police and Charlie’s Dad in that order.’
    ‘Both of you wait in my office’
    I slump down on the sofa in the Principals office and hold my head in my hands, trying to catch my breath from the fifty-meter sprint to the office.
    ‘It’s OK Charlie, it’s OK, Barrett will take care of it, your dad and the cops will be here any minute, there's nothing she can do to you now!’
    Tyler is squatting in front of me, hands on my thighs. His voice and his touch still the waves of tremor that hit my body. I fall against him and hold him tight. He wraps his arms around me and moves to sit beside me. I rest my head on his shoulder, shut my eyes and will the scene from my mind.
    But her face haunts me and vivid memories flash back into my vision. I cover my eyes with the heels of my hands and wish I could smash the pictures out of my head.
I vaguely hear the receptionist make the calls and tell me Mitch is already on his way. An eternity longer I hear the only voice I want to hear.
    ‘Charlie’
    My dad rushes to my side and I clutch hold of him like I’m drowning. Tyler stands and moves across the room. He knows I need my dad right now.
 

The Thing about Charlie..(Part 1 of - An intro to the main protagonists)

She is 17 years old, on the cusp of that period in your life where you want so desperately to be independent..and not quite sure how to be. She is sometimes painfully shy and lacks the confidence and bravado that is often seen in later adolescence. She has lived without a mother's care and love for most of her 17 years. She is street smart as she has lived all her life in the city.  Is close to her dad Mitch who she feels has had a rough deal in his relationship with Victoria, and who has overcompensated and overprotected her, because of it. She gives off vulnerability and most people she meets, like her new friend Ruby want to protect her. She has anxiety and through the book learns to deal with it inadvertently while on the run with Tyler who she falls for, hard, and develops a fierce loyalty to, at the expense of her own safety. Through exposure to some of her fears, she learns how to be resilient, she learns how to be brave. But there is one thing she needs to face more than anything else and begin to deal with. But that one thing is the terror of her dreams; the anxious thoughts before she blacks out; the air that refuses to fill her lungs so she cannot breathe. Charlie...