Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Slaying Isidore's Dragons Book Tour! And an Exclusive Look at Omitted Content!

I'm over at Iyana Jenna's today with an Exclusive Look at Omitted Content!!! Check it out



When I submitted Slaying Isidore’s Dragons for publication, the original word count was 143,000. At the request of the publisher, I was tasked with reducing the word count. Daunting, indeed. One of the rules of thumb in writing for young adults is: if sexual connotation or activity doesn’t advance the story, lose it. Here is a scene where I removed everything from “Can I ask a favor?” down. While I enjoyed the literary sparing between Isidore and Declan, the idea of sleeping nude didn’t advance the story and was one of the first things to go.

In this scene, the boys are reviewing Declan’s psychologist’s list of Patients’ Rights and Declan explains to Isidore that it’s okay to disagree with Mike, the psychologist.

“Sure it does. It means that you don’t have to fight if you disagree. You just agree that you see things differently. Once, I told Mike I thought school was stupid. He said it wasn’t. We didn’t want to fight about it and agreed to disagree. I still think school is stupid most of the time but we don’t fight about it.”
“I am not allowed to disagree with my doctors.”
“Your doctors suck and your dad is a jerk.”
Oui.” Isidore read on. “And this?”
“Those are the things he has to report. If you’re gonna bomb a school, want to kill someone or yourself. Things like that.”
“And this report, who does it go to?”
“I don’t know, ask him. I told him I wanted to kill the people who killed Dad. He told me that wasn’t the kind of thing he had to report.”
Isidore’s eyes went wide. “You said this?”
“Yeah.”
“You are not in trouble for this?”
“No. Mike said I had every right to feel that way.”
“Okay. I think it is time for bed.”
“Can I ask a favor?”
“You may ask anything you wish of me, Declan.”
“Can we sleep naked?”
Isidore smiled a small smile. “What is it Mark Twain said? ‘There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.’”
“He also said ‘I deal with temptation by yielding to it.’”
Isidore shook his head. “It is a foolish man who flirts with temptation, Declan.”
“How about Shakespeare? ‘’Tis one thing to be tempted, another thing to fall.’” Declan did a Groucho with his brows. “We’ve been good so far.”
Isidore laughed. “Okay, we will try this.”


Follow Slaying Isidore’s Dragons’ Book Tour for more exclusive looks at excerpts and omitted scenes!

About Slaying Isidore's Dragons


5 Best friends
4 Vicious brothers
3 STD tests
2 Guys in love
1 Car bombing
&
Nowhere to run

Follow the burgeoning love of two teens during the worst year of their lives. Irish-born Declan David de Quirke II is the son of two ambassadors, one Irish and one American. He is ‘out’ to his parents but to no one else. French-born Jean Isidore de Sauveterre is also the son of two ambassadors, one Catalan and one Parisian. His four half brothers have been told to cure him of his homosexuality. Both teens have lost a parent in a London car bombing.

5 Weeks of hell
4 Attempts on their lives
3 Law enforcement agencies
2 Dead high school seniors
1 Jealous friend
&
A love that won’t be denied

Declan and Isidore meet at the beginning of their senior year at a private academy in the United States. Declan is immediately smitten with Isidore and becomes his knight in shining armor. Isidore wants to keep what is left of his sanity and needs Declan’s love to do it. One is beaten, one is drugged, one is nearly raped, one has been raped. They are harassed by professors and police, and have fights at school, but none of it compares to running for their lives. When the headmaster’s popular son attempts suicide and someone tries to assassinate Declan’s mother, they are thrown headlong into chaos, betrayal, conspiracy, allegations of sexual coercion, even murder. And one of them carries a secret that may get them killed.

5 New family members
4 BFF’s
3 Countries
2 Extraordinary Psychologists
1 Courageous Mother
&
A new beginning for two young men in love



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8 comments:

  1. Loved it. It is sometimes these smaller parts that make things hurt so to cut from the stories we know others will enjoy. Interesting lead in for the event too. I'm enjoying it.

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    1. Thank you, Damian! Sometimes it's difficult to cut our "darlings," as it were, but that doesn't mean that they can't be used another time. Thanks for dropping by and commenting! It's always great to see you here.

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  2. I love their banter! Using classic literature to get naked is a new one! It must be really difficult to decide what gets cut.. Especially when you wrote it!

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    1. Thank you, Kari! I love using literature in literature. I think it adds so much more to a book. And yes, very difficult to decide what to cut. Thanks for dropping by and commenting!

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  3. Thanks for the peek, Cody. I can only imagine how hard it is to cut your word count, especially when the banter is fun. I'm so looking forward to this!!!!

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    1. Thanks, Sandy! I'm glad you enjoyed it! And, yes, deleting words is always tough!

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  4. Thank you again for this post! I am really enjoying this!

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    1. Thank you for stopping by and commenting, Ree Dee! It's great to see you here!

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