I am on Unicorn Bell today with Dear Mad Writer.
Do certain things about writing/publishing make you mad?
Hurricane Sabrina is the star of Hurricane Crimes (published 2013). The
narrator (that’s me!) and my characters (Beth and Donovan) are on a first name
basis with the super storm. We call her Sabrina. On occasion Beth refers to the
storm as...Bitch. Yup.
This category 5 hurricane is not only big but she’s a pain in the butt. She destroys Beth’s house, as well as many other houses, floods a lot
of Florida, crashes Donovan’s car into a tree, and throws the state into utter chaos.
Excerpt:
A deep groan
touched their ears and pulled their eyes to the ceiling above them. Time
stalled as they listened to the creaking of the house and the monstrous moan of
ninety mile-per-hour wind.
Suddenly, a transparent claw ripped away a strip of ceiling,
creating a gap that wind and rain invaded. Beth’s cards flew right out of her
hands and the mountain of jelly beans scattered to the ground. Donovan shot to
his feet. With one hand, he grabbed the battery-operated lantern. With the
other, he grasped Beth’s hand and pulled her out of her chair. The wind ate
away at the ceiling and followed them as they ran down the hallway.
Donovan kicked open the bathroom door and yanked Beth
inside. She hurried to the tub, stepped over the ledge, and sank into the deep
porcelain ditch. The first ridiculous thought that rushed through her terrified
mind was “I should’ve grabbed some jelly beans.”
He slammed the door in Sabrina’s face and locked it.
After he set the lantern on the counter, he hunkered in the tub next to Beth.
His arm automatically came around her, and fear had her nestling into the side
of a relative stranger.
The door trembled in its frame.
On the other side, the sounds of banging and shattering
was deafening as pictures crashed to the floor and items tumbled off furniture.
Sabrina was ransacking Beth’s house.
QUESTIONS: What do you think of the excerpt from Hurricane Crimes? Have you ever experienced a hurricane?
Wow, Chrys... that is some awesome descriptive writing. I felt like I was right there with Beth! Never been in a hurricane and hope I never am! Enjoyed this! Have a great weekend and Happy Easter! ~Lori~
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lori! I've experienced hurricanes and when I wrote these scenes, I imagined I was in one. That I was Beth. :)
DeleteHappy Easter!!!
Great excerpt. I've never experienced a hurricane but they are scary. I did the thunderclap thing. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteThey sure are scary! Thanks for helping with my Thunderclap, Bevrely! :)
DeleteSigned up for the Thuderclap!
ReplyDeleteYes, I've been through quite a few hurricanes. Not fun.
Thank you, Alex!!!
DeleteNo they aren't fun.
I love the excerpt and signed up for Thunderclap.
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental
Thank you, thank you!!! :D
DeleteBeen through a few hurricanes, not fun at all.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The best hurricanes are the ones that don't hit land.
DeleteI've never experienced so much as a tornado. But the wind the other night was pretty intense. It knocked over a lawn chair.
ReplyDeleteAs for this excerpt, I loved it. It was a peak into how some have had to deal with such a destructive force of nature.
There has been some pretty strong storms going around lately. I've never experienced a tornado and hope I never do. Tornadoes scare me more than hurricanes.
DeleteGlad you liked the excerpt!
Riveting stuff, Chrys. Can't wait to read it. I love disaster movies, even though I rarely read them. This one is gonna get read!! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHurricane Crimes is available now, Nicola. :)
DeleteChrys, I enjoyed this passage! And as one who sat out hurricane Rita, I'd say, in this excerpt at least, you were true to the storm. I recorded our experiences at http://storm-stories---in-the-path-of-r.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteRevisit the Tender Years with me during the #AtoZChallenge at Life & Faith in Caneyhead!
Thank you, Barbara. I've been in many hurricanes and used what I experienced in Hurricane Crimes. :)
DeleteI've been through a few hurricanes. They're scary and it's not fun to be cooped at home through the ordeal. I'll check out Unicorn Bell.
ReplyDeleteNope. Being cooped up is the worst. Once I was stuck at home for a week!
DeleteI have never been in a hurricane. Not sure I want to either!
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't. They aren't fun.
DeleteExhilarating excerpt, Chrys! Fast paced with artful attention to detail – woot!
ReplyDeleteWe may get remnants, but never full on hurricanes here. We don’t actually get tornados either; they call them micro-bursts, I call a storm that can set your swamp cooler on the neighbor’s lawn a mini-nado;-)
Thanks, Diedre!
DeleteI've heard of the term micro-bursts before. A mini-nado. lol Cute.
No hurricane, several tornadoes, minor earthquakes, and blizzards, but not a hurricane. Thanks Goodness. Your writing takes us there.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thunderclap, I am there!
I could do without the tornadoes, earthquakes and blizzards. ;)
DeleteThank you, Yolanda!
Got my interest for wanting to read more! Never a hurricane, thankfully!
ReplyDeletebetty
Awesome! Hurricane Crimes is available as an eBook. :)
DeleteNope never been in a hurricane. I'm grateful for that.
ReplyDeleteAs you should be. :)
DeleteSounds great! Lots of suspense.
ReplyDeleteI've never been caught in a hurricane, and hope to avoid the experience. I'm guessing you've probably seen a few?
I've been through my fair share.
DeleteI've better knock on wood because I've never been in a hurricane and I grew up on the coast. One struck a two years before we moved there and the next one (just a couple of years after I left). However, we did have storms that struck just north or south of us and since leaving the Wilmington NC area, they have had numerous storms... Good writing, but the ceiling had me confused (the roof would be the problem as a ceiling won't hold back water). Have you read Conroy's "South of Broad" in which he writes about Hurricane Hugo?
ReplyDeleteGrew up on the coast and never been through a hurricane? Yes, you better knock on wood now! haha
DeleteI've never been in a hurricane, can't imagine they are any fun at all.
ReplyDeleteThey aren't. lol
DeleteHappy Easter Monday!
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter Monday! :)
Delete