This is a fun thing going around the writer community this week. You open up your manuscript to page 77, and after you find line 7, you post the following seven sentences. (That is a heckuva lot of "s" words. I'm not even going to try to say that sentence out loud.)
I was tagged by Serena Bell and Raine Patton to be a part of this, so I want to thank them for including me.
This is from my romantic comedy, I Do. . .or Die, featuring my heroine Shelby, who has been starring in the Six Sentence Sunday snippets (even more "s" words!). She is a commitment-phobe who keeps getting talked into being her best friend's bridesmaid, and at the latest wedding, she was shot at.
Shelby is gunshy, in so many ways, and for so many good reasons. She's trying to fight off her attraction to Ryan, the detective who is also her bodyguard, while they try to find the shooter. In this scene, it looks like they might have found another gunman who has just taken a shot at her:
I lowered the gun to my side, as naturally as if I’d done it all my life. My brain struggled to find answers that would fit all the questions this situation brought up. Why would a gas company employee want to mow me down? I hadn't paid my bill late, at least not last month.
I just couldn't see the gas company sending out assassins as a collection strategy.
"You're so lucky I didn't shoot you," I said, and my legs trembled at the thought.
"That's why I took the clip out first," Ryan said.
So there you are. If you'd like to post your own Lucky 7 sentences, you can do it on your blog, and leave a link in the comments here. Or if you don't have a blog, feel free to leave your sentences in the comments instead.
I'm looking forward to your Lucky Seven!
Dang!!!! That's just enough to make me want to run to the store and buy the book! You should hurry up and finish it :)
Posted by: Britt | March 23, 2012 at 10:34 AM
Great seven! What good taste your tagger has in taggees! :-)
Posted by: Serena Bell | March 23, 2012 at 10:47 AM
Britt, thanks for the compliments. :)
The book IS finished, and I've been trying to decide whether to self-pub it. It received some very nice editor rejections, but since it's a bit of a hybrid -- romantic comedy AND mystery -- it might work better as a self-pub.
It's been a while since I've read it, so I plan to do that soon, and see what it needs before I make a final decision on it.
Posted by: Donna Cummings | March 23, 2012 at 11:04 AM
Serena (another "s"! LOL) -- Thanks for tagging me. I had a lot of fun with this. And it reminded me how much I love this book. :)
Posted by: Donna Cummings | March 23, 2012 at 11:05 AM
This is a fun idea! I really liked what my lucky 7 turned up. It makes me think about how something that's a ways into the book would be the great kind of first lines I never can figure out for the beginning!
Love your lucky 7 and hope the story gets selected to be self-pubbed. :)
Posted by: Melissa | March 23, 2012 at 04:16 PM
Melissa, I was surprised at what turned up too! LOL One of the things that was most fun to me about this book was exactly what you mentioned -- those unexpected first lines, showing up in other places. I ended up changing the chapter breaks as a result, and I think it made the book a lot better.
So here's to short snippets, and all the things they help us discover! And thanks for your vote. LOL
Posted by: Donna Cummings | March 23, 2012 at 04:36 PM
Hi Donna, I love these 7 lines! I love the voice in your work! :)
Posted by: Lorraine Paton | March 26, 2012 at 11:34 PM
Lorraine, thanks! I'm glad you like it. And thanks again for tagging me to do this. :)
Posted by: Donna Cummings | March 27, 2012 at 12:55 AM