Things I've Learned From Teaching A Fiction Writing Class

I taught a beginning fiction writing class at the state university in the adult continuing education non-credit department.  It was two hours a night, one night a week, for eight weeks.  I taught this class twice a year for sixteen years.

The eight weeks were broken up into the basics of fiction writing.  The first week was about plot, second week developing characters, and so on.  I covered things like point of view, pacing, dialogue, active vs. passive, show don't tell, and other basics of fiction writing.  I used examples from various genres without concentrating on a specific one.  The class culminated with information about publishing which included synopsis, query letter, contests, critique groups, submitting to publishers, editing, and related areas.

I give you that information as a prologue to what's on my mind about my fiction writing class.

It always amazed me each time I taught the class…I learned things, too.  Well, more accurately, I RE-learned them.  There are things I'd forgotten that came to mind again when I was going over the lesson for that week's class.  And then there was information I haven't thought about until someone asked me a question that required me to pull the answer up from the back of my mind and convey it in a manner that made sense to someone taking a beginning writing class…fiction writing technique information I hadn't consciously considered for a while.

A technique I talked about as part of the first week covering plot was the Action-Reaction-Decision combination.  This was one of those things I used when writing without really thinking about it as a technique.  Each time I taught this class and defined the Action-Reaction-Decision combination, it seemed to hit me as a surprise as if I had never heard of it before. :)   One character's action elicited a reaction from the other character, then one of those characters made a decision concerning the situation.  It was that decision that propelled the story forward and led to the next situation.

As we know, each scene needed to do something to move the over all story forward whether it was an action scene, dialogue, or narrative internalization dealing with character development.  And this was one of those techniques that did just that.

An example:  Dressed in a scrap of slinky black, Mary strutted into the club (action).  Mark took one look and his blood pressure skyrocketed (reaction).  He had to get her out of there before she got arrested (decision).  It was that decision that moved the story forward and lead to the next action.  Example: Mark grabbed her arm (action).  But Mary refused to budge (reaction).  She was going to have a drink and dance until dawn (decision).

This fed directly into and helped support the basic structure of story movement which was cause and effect.  Something happened and that caused something else to happen which resulted in moving the story forward toward its conclusion—cause and effect.

Each week I had something (at least one thing, usually more) that teaching the class brought to mind, techniques that I had forgotten, things that I did without thinking about them.

The second week of the class was developing characters.  One exercise I gave the class had them use secondary characters to maneuver the main characters in the direction the story needed. (see last week's blog, June 18, about using secondary characters) Your hero/heroine still did the work and resolved the story's conflict, but those secondary characters made a valuable contribution to moving the story forward.

And secondary characters were fun to work with.  They didn't have the restrictions that apply to your hero/heroine.  A secondary character didn't need to be in any way honorable or heroic.  He could have had lots of bad habits, been a compulsive liar, or any number of things the hero and heroine couldn't.

I enjoyed teaching a class about the basics of beginning fiction writing.  And, of course, I enjoyed getting paid for it. :)  But in addition to that, I liked being reminded a couple of times a year about some of the specifics that tended to slip my mind…things I did, but hadn't consciously thought about.

Do you have any special writing techniques you'd like to share?

Secondary Characters And How To Use Them

 While trying to decide on a topic for today's blog, I was torn between a writing type topic or a more general area of discussion.  Since last week's blog was a writing topic, I decided to continue along those lines.

A couple of days ago I was watching on old movie, the 1974 production of Agatha Christie's Murder On The Orient Express with its all star cast where almost everyone in the movie was a major character.  It occurred to me that there were very few characters other than the many primary ones.  So I started thinking about secondary characters and how they can be used to prod, shove and push the main characters into and along the necessary path for the story line.

So, let's talk a bit about secondary characters.

When I say secondary characters, I'm not referring to the minor characters that decorate a scene and maybe have a couple of lines of dialogue or only appear in one scene.  I'm talking about the characters who have a prominent place in your story but are not your main characters.  These are the characters you can use to maneuver your main characters into and along the path toward achieving the story goal.  They are a key factor in moving your story along and determining what direction it takes.

In developing these characters you need to decide what you want them to accomplish and how you want them to relate to and interact with your main characters in addition to each other in order to move your story line along to its conclusion.  Let's take a look at how a set of secondary characters can be used to move a story line in a specific direction.  Remember, it's not who they are, it's what they do and how they relate to the main characters and how the main characters respond to them.

Example:  You have a story about a teenager who is the leader of a gang that has been stealing cars for some mobsters.  You have two ways you can go with your main character, in other words, two directions your story line can take and you must choose one of them.  #1: he wants to leave the gang and make something of his life OR #2: he runs his gang with a iron hand and threatens anyone who wants out.

With scenario #1 your secondary characters who will influence the story line can be his girl friend, his little brother, and one of his teachers.  That tells you who they are (what their relationship is to your main character), but doesn't tell you how they move the story.  His girl friend fears for his safety and finally gives him the ultimatum to leave the gang or she's leaving him.  His little brother idolizes him and wants to be just like him, but he doesn't want his little brother to make the same mistakes he did.  His teacher is mentoring him by helping him with his studies and finding him an after school job.

With scenario #2 your secondary characters can be his girl friend, a rival gang leader, and his contact with the mobster who pays him for the stolen cars.  Again, that tells you who they are and what their relationship is to your main charabut not what they do to move the story in a specific direction.  His girl friend demands more and more in the way of material things so he needs the money from stealing cars to keep her happy.  The rival gang leader is trying to take over his stolen car business so he has to watch his back at all time to protect himself and his own interests.  The mobster gives him access to the easy money he needs to keep his girl friend happy and the promise of being able to move into their organization and advance in the criminal world.

Each scenario has a girl friend, but her function is different in the two scenarios so that her character helps move the two story lines in two different directions.

One of the great things about secondary characters is that you can make them as outrageous, unconventional and over-the-top as you want.  You don't have the same parameters and cautions with secondary characters as you do with your main characters.  The main thing you need to be careful with in creating your secondary character is to not make them more interesting than your main characters so that they don't steal the show and shove your main characters into the background.

A good example of secondary characters being over the top was the television stiuation comedy Will and Grace.  The secondary characters of Karen and Jack were totally outrageous while the main characters of Will and Grace were more grounded.

Any comments about developing and using secondary characters in your writing?  Or any television shows, movies, or books where the secondary characters stood out in your mind with the way they were able to guide and manipulate the story line?

Fighting A Writer's Self-doubts

Motivation…and the kinds of doubts unique to writers.  I know exactly what you're up against to make it as a writer.  Writers work alone.  There's no one to give us attagirls or attaboys on the days when the words won't come.  There's no rule book to tell us if we have enough talent, if our writing is good enough, if we have what it takes to make it.  Worse than that, no matter how good we are we face repeated rejections of our efforts.  Rejection is a part of life, but it's still different for a writer.  When we submit a manuscript, we're sending in part of our heart and soul…our blood, sweat and tears.  When a story is rejected, it's like a kick in our heart, a direct and personal blow—and everyone is vulnerable to that kind of hurt.

That's intrinsic to the job of writing, but it's also easy to get sidetracked by the wrong things.  When we're working on our first book, we're afraid we'll never finish it.  Then we're afraid it's not good enough to be published.  Once we get it published, we're afraid that first sale is a fluke and we'll never publish a second one.  Along the way, maybe John Doe got a better review than we did.  Maybe Jane Doe got a higher advance than we did.  Then there's Suzy Smith who used to be such a close friend, and she just sold a hardback mainstream novel to a major New York print publisher.  We can't even talk to her—we feel left in the shade because we write ebook short stories.  And then there's Mary Jones who we feel is a much better writer than we are.  We'll never be that good and we know it.  And Polly Perfect…she just sold the first manuscript she wrote and we're on our fourth one after having the first three rejected by every publisher we submitted to.

Possibly if we didn't work alone we wouldn't be so susceptible to letting those kinds of doubts affect our confidence.  But we DO work alone. And that makes it extraordinarily easy to lose sight of what motivated us to start with.  There is a reason we started writing, and for most of us it's because we love doing it.  That's the strongest tool we have to beat the nasty dragon of doubt.  All those other things that can sabotage our confidence—some of them are real and some are doubts we lay on ourselves—are not strong enough to beat us if we keep what matters on the front line.

No flower has the chance to grow if it's getting choked out at the root level by weeds.  When we sit down to write, we have to get the irrelevant stuff out of the way.  We need to give ourselves the right—the freedom—to concentrate on one thing only.  Write the type of book we love.  The first magic we found…when we first discovered the wonder of characters coming alive for us, the joy of watching a story take life on a page…that magic is not something we use up.  It's not something we can lose, like a pair of socks.  It's not something we can forget like a memory we can't get back.  It's still there, the same place it's always been, inside us.  There is no cure for the doubts we go through.  There's no magic elixir that will make us feel better after a rejection, or guarantee that we'll never suffer writer's block, or help us not worry during a rough stretch.

All I can tell you is that I've been there, as has every writer I know.  Doubts detract from what matters and they trick us into focusing on things that don't matter.  The next time we sit down at the keyboard we just need to remember to keep what counts in front of us and not allow those doubts to sway us from the task at hand.

Quirky Questions Tourists Ask

It's the start of the summer tourist season (in the Northern Hemisphere). Some of us will be tourists and some of us will encounter tourists.  And tourists invariably ask questions.

At one time or another when we were in school, we've probably all heard a teacher say that there is no such thing as a stupid question in an attempt to get us to express our curiosity about something without being embarrassed.

However, as an adult that old adage doesn't apply to all situations.  The travel industry is filled with weird, quirky, and in some cases just plain stupid questions asked by tourists.  Here's a sampling of some from various sources.

Actual Questions Asked On Cruise Ships:

Does the crew sleep on board?

Is the island surrounded by water?

What happens to the ice sculptures after they melt?

What time is the 2 o'clock tour?

Can you see the equator from the deck?

I know that ships often serve smoked salmon, but I am a non-smoker.

Can the iced tea be served hot?

Will I get wet if I go snorkeling?

Should I put my luggage outside the cabin before or after I go to sleep?

Does the outside cabin mean it's outside the ship?

Where is the good shopping in Antarctica?

And cruise ships aren't the only place that tourists seem to have absurd questions.  Here are some actual questions received by Australians from foreigners, along with some well-deserved replies.

Q: Does it ever get windy in Australia? I have never seen it rain on TV, how do the plants grow? (question from the UK)

A:  We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.

Q:  Will I be able to see kangaroos in the street? (question from USA)

A:  Depends how much you've been drinking.

Q:  I want to walk from Perth to Sydney—can I follow the railroad tracks? (question from Sweden)

A:  Sure, it's only 3000 miles, take lots of water.

Q:  Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Australia? Can you send me a list of them in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville and Hervey Bay? (question from the UK)

A:  What did your last slave die of?

Q:  Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Australia? (question from USA)

A:  A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe.  Aus-tra-lia is the big island in the middle of the Pacific which does not…oh forget it.  Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night at Kings Cross.  Come naked.

Q:  Which direction is north in Australia? (question from USA)

A:  Face south and then turn 180 degrees.  Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions.

Q:  Can I wear high heels in Australia? (question from the UK)

A:  You're a British politician, right?

Q:  Are there supermarkets in Sydney and is milk available all year round? (question from Germany)

A:  No, we are a peaceful civilization of vegan hunter/gatherers.  Milk is illegal.

Q:  Can you tell me the regions in Tasmania where the female population is smaller than the male population? (question from Italy)

A:  Yes, gay nightclubs.

Q:  Do you celebrate Christmas in Australia? (question from France)

A:  Only at Christmas.

The Daily Telegraph in the United Kingdom put together an international list "of the most inexplicably simple queries fielded by tourism officials."

Are there any lakes in the Lake District?

Why on earth did they build Windsor Castle on the flight path for Heathrow?

Is Wales closed during the winter?

Why did they build so many ruined castles and abbeys in England?

Do you know of any undiscovered ruins?

And here are some tourist questions asked at Niagara Falls:

What time do the falls shut off?

How far into Canada do I have to go before we have to drive on the other side of the road?

How much does it cost to get into Canada and are children a different price?

And here are some goodies from Minnesota:

I'm coming in July and want snowmobile rental information.

We want to tour the Edmund Fitzgerald. (the ship sank in Lake Superior during a storm in 1975)

One traveler asked to see the bridge in Minnesota with the arches.  She was shown various photos, none of which were the bridge she was looking for.  She finally identified a picture of the St. Louis Gateway Arch as the bridge she wanted to see.  She was given directions to Missouri.

And finally…these tidbits.

One tourist to Scotland asked what time they fed the Loch Ness Monster.  Another visitor to New York City thought they would end up in Holland if they drove through the Holland Tunnel.  A traveler in Miami asked a tourism official which beach was closest to the ocean.

So…I guess the bottom line is to maybe think about that question a second time before you actually ask it.   :)

MEMORIAL DAY: A Holiday With A Dual Distinction

The last Monday in May, this year falling on May 30th, is Memorial Day in the United States—a holiday honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War but didn't become an official federal holiday until 1971.

In addition to being a day observed by many Americans visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings, and participating in patriotic parades, it's also considered the unofficial start of the summer season and vacation time.

The Civil War claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history. This required the establishment of the country's first national cemeteries. In the late 1860s, Americans in various small towns and large cities held springtime tributes to fallen soldiers by decorating their graves with flowers. On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan proclaimed May 30^th as Decoration Day, the date chosen because it was not the anniversary of any particular battle.

On the first Decoration Day General Logan made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery where 5,000 participants decorated the graves of 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.

Decoration Day originally honored only those lost while fighting in the Civil War. But by the time the U.S. became involved in World War I, the holiday evolved to commemorate American military personnel who died in all wars.

The name Decoration Day gradually changed over to Memorial Day during the ensuing years, but continued to be observed on May 30^th. In 1968, one hundred years after General Logan made his Decoration Day proclamation, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees. This law also declared Memorial Day to be a federal holiday. The change went into effect in 1971.

In addition to nationwide parades and the decorating of graves and monuments, Memorial Day has come to hold a second distinction. It is also a time of many family gatherings which include backyard BBQs and picnics. With an official date of the last Monday in May, the holiday is considered the unofficial start of summer and the beginning of the vacation travel season in the Northern Hemisphere with the Labor Day holiday on the first Monday of September signaling the unofficial end of the summer season.

Many recreational boaters launch their boats on lakes and rivers over the Memorial Day weekend for the first outing of the summer. Tourist attractions gear up for the summer vacationers. And a sure sign of the start of the summer season—in spite of the lower gasoline prices of late, all across the country gasoline prices usually go up in preparation of increased need!

WYOMING WIFE?—a conversation with Jace and Samantha

Harlequin has reissued 16 of my backlist titles in ebook. Today I'm talking with Jace Tremayne and Samantha Burkett about WYOMING WIFE?, a Silhouette Desire originally released in print and currently available as a Harlequin Desire in ebook.

Hello Samantha and Jace. Welcome to my blog.

Jace:  Thanks for inviting us.

Samantha:  It's nice to be here.

Jace, you raise cattle in Wyoming on a ranch that has been in your family for several generations. Samantha, you were an efficiency expert working for a consulting firm in Los Angeles. That seems about as opposite as you can get. How in the world did the two of you meet?

Jace:  I was up in my helicopter checking the outlying areas of my ranch for damages and problems following the first wave of an early season snowstorm. The second wave was closing in on me and I had just made a wide turn to head back to the house and barn before the winds forced me down and I ended up stranded in the back pasture. That's when I spotted this car on the road stuck in a snowdrift.

Samantha:  Never in my life had I been so startled, frightened, and cold all at the same time. This helicopter suddenly appeared from out of nowhere and landed on the road. The pilot ran over to my car, threw me over his shoulder, then carried me back to his helicopter without saying a word. There I was…strapped into the seat with not even a door between me and the wild blue yonder, no winter coat and the icy cold wind cutting through my silk pants suit, and no idea where he was taking me.

What was someone from Los Angeles, inappropriately dressed for the place and weather, doing on a country road in Wyoming stuck in the snow?

Jace:  LOL. That was my exact question once we got back to the ranch house.

Samantha:  Well…(embarrassed chuckle) it was definitely not one of my finer moments. I had flown from Los Angeles to Denver to surprise my fiancé. It turned out that I was the one surprised when…uh…well, I caught him in bed with another woman. Needless to say, I was devastated over the betrayal. I started driving my rental car without any thought about where I was going and ended up lost and stuck in a snowdrift.

It sounds as if you were truly a fish out of water, so to speak. A big city girl living in Los Angeles with a corporate job who dresses in silk pantsuits suddenly on a cattle ranch in Wyoming in the middle of a blizzard. What in the world could the two of you possibly have found in common?

Samantha:  We obviously had nothing in common, yet I still felt this undeniable attraction to him. Not just his rugged good looks, either. I had never met anyone like him. Straight forward, confident, not feeling a need to impress others. He was comfortable and content with his life and his place in the order of things. Something I had never felt.

Jace:  (took her hand) Probably why you chose the career you did…a drive to be perfect in an imperfect world, to seek perfection in spite of the fact that no one is perfect.

So, while you were stranded together, how did you work out your differences?

Jace:  My live-in housekeeper/cook was away visiting her daughter. Her son is my ranch foreman. I had lost my…my wife had died a couple of years earlier and…well, Samantha did her best to help out but it immediately became obvious that in the kitchen anything more difficult than putting something in a microwave was out of her realm of expertise. I showed her how to gather eggs from the hen house, thinking it was a simple task anyone could handle, but it turned out that she was afraid of the chickens.

Samantha:  They had scary mean eyes! LOL It was truly a jolting experience to my sense of reality. As someone who thought she could accomplish anything by simply studying the problem and finding the most efficient solution, I ended up frustrated by everything around me.

What happened? Was there a specific incident for each of you? A moment in time when two people who seemingly had nothing in common realized that each was the person the other had been searching for? The one you wanted to spend the rest of my life with?

Jace:  A single moment?

Samantha:  A specific incident?

Jace/Samantha:  No, nothing like that.

LOL…well you both seem to agree on that. So what happened?

Jace:  You mean besides her disastrous attempts at making the type of hearty breakfast a rancher needs before spending the day working outdoors in a blizzard? Coffee…weak coffee, at that…and a slice of toast don't get the job done. (shoots sly grin at Samantha) We won't even go into what she did with dinner.

Surely there must have been moments where you found some common ground.

Samantha:  All things considered, he was extremely patient with my many blunders. Talk about being a fish out of water. Everything around me was so foreign to my life's experience. And the people…they were exactly what they appeared to be. No pretenses or phoniness. Emotionally, it frightened me. But other than some angry outbursts from Jace…which were totally justified…he was—

Jace:  (taking Samantha's hand) It's all in the book.

Samantha:  Exactly.

Thank you, Jace and Samantha, for joining me today.

WYOMING WIFE?, a Silhouette Desire by Shawna Delacorte reissued in ebook format. Available at http://ebooks.eharlequin.com (do search for author name Shawna Delacorte). Also available from Amazon for Kindle and Barnes & Noble for Nook as well as other online vendors.

Check my website for additional excerpts from WYOMING WIFE? and for information about my other Harlequin reissues.  www.shawnadelacorte.com

Blurb:

SNOWBOUND WITH A WYOMING COWBOY

Samantha Burkett knew microwave meals, rush-hour gridlock and men in three-piece suits. But an ill-fated trip to Wyoming in the midst of a blizzard set her reality on its ear….

Jace Tremayne had literally swooped down from the big sky to save her life. The rugged, tautly muscled rancher hadn't taken no for an answer, flinging her over his shoulder and flying her by copter to his remote ranch to wait out the worst of the storm. But close quarters with this irresistible cowboy showed Samantha how truly different their worlds were. And how completely Jace rocked hers….

But could she ever be content as this man's Wyoming wife?

Inside front cover excerpt:

"You do know that you'll have to stay here overnight, don't you? Maybe even longer."

Anxiety flitted around inside Samantha's stomach. It looked as if it would be just the two of them in the house.

"You seem to be uncomfortable," Jace added. "Let me assure you that you're perfectly safe—"

"Oh, no…it's not that."

Samantha stared at the flames in the fireplace. Exactly what was her problem? She had been totally unprepared for any of the things that had occurred since she left Los Angeles. And the biggest surprise of all was the way Jace Tremayne made her pulse race. It was inappropriate, very confusing…and very real. It was also totally absurd. He was a cowboy, a rugged outdoorsman—not at all the type of man who would fit in her world.

And a cattle ranch in Wyoming was certainly no place for her….

WHO'S BEEN SLEEPING IN MY BED?—an interview with Reece and Brandi

Harlequin has reissued 16 of my backlist titles in ebook. Today Reece Covington and Brandi Doyle are my guests to talk with us about WHO'S BEEN SLEEPING IN MY BED?, a mystery/romantic suspense from Harlequin Intrigue originally released in print and currently available from Harlequin Intrigue in ebook.

Greetings, Reece and Brandi. Thanks for stopping by today.

Reece:  Thanks for the invitation, Shawna. We're pleased to be here. What would you like to know?

Right to business…LOL…okay.  My first question is for Brandi. You were being stalked, you had no idea why or by whom, and when you reported it to the police they basically dismissed you. They didn't offer you any help at all?

Brandi:  Absolutely none. I guess intellectually I understood their position. I couldn't supply them with a name or a reason or even any specific details. But emotionally, their attitude left me frustrated, angry…and very frightened. It was as if they were telling me when I turned up dead they would try to work it into their schedule but until that time…tough luck lady.

And then you were kidnapped from your own garage, escaped your abductor, and were able to find shelter from a storm in an empty cabin in the woods. And that's when Reece entered the picture?

Reece:  Yes. As luck would have it…or perhaps fate would be a more accurate word…it was my cabin. It was one of the few occupied cabins at the lake that time of year. I'd been living there, actually hiding away from society in general, since my release from prison.

You were in prison for two years?

Reece:  (clenches jaw into a hard line while frowning) Yes, two very long years on trumped up charges and false testimony from a police officer. That got me two years in prison and the loss of the private investigator's license. But, as a former P.I. I had the skills and expertise to help Brandi. That is, once she finally calmed down, stopped fighting me, and realized I wasn't going to hurt her. Then she told me how and why she found it necessary to break into my cabin while I was buying supplies.

Brandi:  I think fate is truly the right word. What are the odds of the cabin belonging to a detective, the very person I needed at a time when I truly needed help. It didn't take long for us to discover that the policeman who framed Reece was the same person who had abducted me.

Isn't that quite a coincidence…maybe too much of a coincidence?

Reece:  Not when you have all the facts and know the details.

If this policeman was someone that you had a long-standing feud with then that action, even though both morally wrong and definitely illegal, of framing you for a crime most have had a motive for him to do that. But why Brandi? What could she possibly have to do with anything or anyone connected with these people?

Brandi:  That was our biggest stumbling block. Nothing about it made any sense, but that didn't diminish that fact that it was very real.

Reece:  The more we dug into anything and everything that seemed suspicious, the deeper we sank into confusion. Being followed, threatened and even shot at quickly followed. Evidence disappeared. Unraveling the why became a major stumbling block, but we finally came across the one clue that connected the dots. Unfortunately, even though we had discovered the why we were still a long way from having all the details and evidence—all that pesky little stuff referred to as 'proof'. Another problem…by that time we were both being stalked and our lives were in danger. And then there was the FBI…

The FBI? Why…how did they get involved?

Reece:  That seemed at the time to have been a miscalculation on my part. I contacted an FBI agent I had worked with several years ago, thinking he might be able to give us some help as someone with connections and access to information who didn't have any association with the local police or local events. We ended up with everyone after us including the D.A.'s office and the FBI, albeit for different reasons.

It seems that the FBI should have been help rather than someone you were avoiding. Why were they trying to track you down and why didn't you want them to find you?

Brandi:  (grins) I believe all that is in the book.

Reece:  (grabs hold on Brandi's hand) Yep—it's all in the book.

Ah, yes. I know where this is going. You're about to tell me to read the book.

Brandi:  Right you are!

Sounds like an excellent idea. Thanks for being with us today.

WHO'S BEEN SLEEPING IN MY BED?, a Harlequin Intrigue mystery/romantic suspense by Shawna Delacorte reissued in ebook format. Available at http://ebooks.eharlequin.com (do search for author name Shawna Delacorte). Also available from Amazon for Kindle and Barnes & Noble for Nook as well as other ebook vendors.  Check out my website for additional excerpts from WHO'S BEEN SLEEPING IN MY BED? and information about my other Harlequin ebook reissues.   www.shawnadelacorte.com

Blurb:

WHO WAS THE BEAUTY IN HIS BED?

After a long day, the last thing private eye Reece Covington expected to find was a beautiful stranger hiding out in his remote mountain cabin. And when she awoke and told him she was in danger, Reece had an immediate and intense need to protect her. Who was this woman who'd turned his world upside down?

Local law enforcement claimed there was little evidence supporting the danger Brandi Doyle reported she was in. Luckily, Reece quickly discovered the stalker Brandi was running from was the same man Reece was running to…for vengeance. But would their intimate connection only give an elusive criminal more ammunition for murder?

Inside front cover excerpt:

Everything seemed to be in order, except for the woman asleep in his cabin. Reece took in everything about the stranger—the wet clothes clinging to her body, the tousled, short blond hair and a beautiful face that even in sleep was in obvious turmoil. He felt a definite tug on his reality, a strange combination of lust and concern.

Should he wake her and demand to know what she was doing in his cabin? He spotted her purse on the end table. As he reached for it she stirred, then jerked to attention.

Her eyes went wide with fright as her gaze landed on him.

Her voice was anything but firm as she eased her way out of the chair. She moved behind it in an obvious attempt to put a barricade between them. "Who…who are you?"

"Well, Goldilocks…this is my cabin, and I want to know why you've been sleeping in my bed."