New Adult Romantic Comedy

by Madelle Morgan

Can Rachel, a chambermaid at a luxury resort, raise the tuition for film school by September?

Or will she be stuck in a service job for life?

Rachel—like many New Adults, aka Millennials—is caught in a quarter-life crisis, a term I discovered in B.A. Binns’ September 2, 2017 post.

This is the stage of life when New Adults are trying to break into careers for which they studied and trained. However, their timing sucks. Their 21st century reality is contract work, unpaid internships, downsizing, and limited job opportunities. They’re frustrated at every turn.

Some start their own businesses. Some go on to grad school. Some settle in jobs they hate but need in order to pay off student loans.

As the parent of a millennial, I celebrated when my son with two degrees finally snagged a contract in his field that paid more than minimum wage. It’s tough in the real world, but there’s hope.

Rather than focus on New Adults' angst and frustration, I wrote a fun, light story about a twenty-something’s journey to a career that’s perfect for her. And it turns out that it’s not the career she originally wanted.

Caught on Camera Blurb

To achieve her dream of working as a camera operator on Hollywood film sets, star struck chambermaid Rachel Lehmann needs $35,000 for film school tuition by the end of the summer.

When she’s asked to fill in for a missing bridesmaid at a movie star’s wedding and pretend to be the bride's cousin, it’s her big chance to secretly take photos of celebrities and sell them to the entertainment media! Then Mickey, one of the groomsmen, sweeps her off her feet.

Mickey McNichol, talent agent to the stars, believes everyone in show business is out for what they can get. When he falls for the bride’s "cousin", he thinks he’s finally met a beautiful woman he can trust. But if Rachel betrays the wedding party, Mickey will ensure she never works in Hollywood.

Excerpt: Rachel is seated with the groomsmen and other bridesmaids at the wedding rehearsal dinner.

Mickey lay down his fork, having made his salad disappear in four bites. Rachel ruefully inspected her own small but artistically presented endive, pear, and Roquefort salad sprinkled with walnut crumbs.

In a normal day, she consumed carb-loaded meals to replace thousands of calories burned in a long, labor-intensive shift. That afternoon’s light spa lunch and a shrimp on a skewer left her faint with hunger. She swiftly polished off the delicious salad, then squinted greedily at Tiffany’s untouched plate.

“I admire a woman who enjoys food and doesn’t mind showing it,” Mickey murmured for her ears alone. “So many women at parties appear to survive on champagne and caviar.”

Asta snagged one of the fresh-baked multigrain rolls from a silver basket and slathered it with a ball of iced butter.

“Except Asta, of course,” Mickey continued. “And now you.” Cool fingers lightly tapped her bare thigh under the tablecloth.

At the delicious contact, Rachel’s brain emptied of all coherent thought. She blurted the truth. “We’re working women. I’d fade away to nothing if I ate like this every day.” She indicated her empty plate.

Mickey angled to face her. “What is it that you do, exactly?”

Oh my gods. She’d blithely set herself up for that question. She slunk low in her chair, quavered, “Do?”

“Yeah,” Wade said to the table at large. “What does Candy’s cousin do in Toronto?”

The men’s attention fastened on Rachel. Tiffany’s green-eyed glare spit daggers.

Asta leaned forward, chin cupped in one palm. “Candy never mentioned you before today. But then Candy has been notoriously closemouthed about her own sister. Tell us about yourself.”

Desperately stalling, Rachel licked a crumb of strong Roquefort blue cheese off her upper lip. That spring she’d completed a two-year community college Creative Photography program with top grades that garnered early acceptance into Toronto’s prestigious, private film school for the fall semester.

She’d supported herself while attending college with a part time minimum wage job as an evening room attendant in a three-star downtown hotel, and with summer jobs in the Muskoka resorts. Candy’d be furious if she revealed how she earned her living.

Nervy, Rachel twisted the cord holding her camera pendant and opted for the truth. “I’ve been accepted into Toronto Film School to study cinematography, starting in September. Wade, what do you do?”

Wade chuckled, apparently amused by her transparent attempt to deflect prying questions. Good natured, he played along.

“I’m an entertainment attorney. Producers hire me to secure rights to a book or screenplay, negotiate equity financing deals, and vet distribution licenses for film projects. I have the satisfaction of helping independent films I believe in get green-lighted. No money, no movie.”

“Do any Academy Awards decorate your mantle?”

He shook his head in exaggerated dismay. “Sadly, no. Producers get the screen credit.” He threw out his hands, palms up. “I merely bask in the reflected glory.”

Rachel decided she liked Wade’s wry humor. She shifted her attention to Garth, ready to inquire about his profession, but Asta broke in.

“Rachel, you didn’t answer Wade’s question. What do you do now?”

Rachel stiffened. Her lips parted and resealed a couple of times—a fish out of water. She had nothing.

Buy Caught on Camera on Amazon | iBooks | Kobo  

Subscribe to Madelle’s blog to be alerted to the release of Seduced by the Screenwriter, Hollywood in Muskoka series, Book 2, in December, 2017.

About Madelle

Madelle Morgan is a Canadian author who writes romance with heat, heart and humor. Her 2016 release, Caught on Camera, is a Hollywood wedding romance set in Muskoka, Canada—summer playground of the rich and famous.

Diamond Hunter, a romantic suspense, is currently in Kindle Unlimited.

Follow Madelle on  Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Pinterest, and Wattpad. 

Editing Your Book, Part 2 Polishing

by Madelle Morgan

You've finished the second or third draft after the developmental edit (see Part 1), you've sent the manuscript out to beta readers and received their comments, and now it's time to polish the story.

At this stage, the scene structure is locked in. You will now go through the story paragraph by paragraph to:

• improve the flow;
• rewrite for clarity;
• strengthen plot and romantic tension;
• heighten emotion; and
• add details such as what each character is feeling, thinking, smelling, seeing, and hearing.

Here's an example of the difference between the draft and polished versions of a Caught on Camera scene snippet. Rachel, dressed in an oversized white bathrobe, is taking the little Maltese dog for her evening walk.

DRAFT
Blurry movement in the deep gloom under the pines beyond the terrace caught Mickey's eye. A ghostly wraith drifted between trees beyond the corner of the building. A white ball appeared to roll at lawn level. He inhaled sharply.

Holy Hotel California. Twenty feet from the terrace, at the limits of the flickering torchlight, the creepy forms halted.

"Mickey," the taller phantom hissed, beckoning with an undulating wave of an unearthly arm. "Over here."

Mickey cautiously stepped off the flagstones onto the grass. "Who are you?"

FINAL: I punched up Mickey's reaction, added a movie reference, and hopefully made the exchange more amusing.

Blurry movement in the deep gloom under the pines beyond the terrace caught Mickey's eye. A ghostly wraith drifted between trees. A white ball appeared to roll at lawn level.

Mickey inhaled sharply. Holy Hotel California. He held his breath as the creepy forms advanced to twenty feet from the terrace and halted at the limits of the flickering torchlight. Where are the Ghostbusters when you need them?

"Mickey," the taller phantom hissed, beckoning with an undulating wave of an unearthly arm. "Over here."

"No thanks," he demurred. "It's not my time yet."

"Mickey!"

He cautiously stepped off the flagstones onto the grass. "Who or what in hell are you?"

Read the Story Aloud

By this stage in the book crafting process, you've read the manuscript so many times that it's impossible to notice the problems. Listening engages another part of the brain, helping to identify what needs to be fixed. While reading your story aloud, or having someone else read it aloud, you'll be taking notes on these issues:

1. Does the dialogue sound like something a man, woman, teen or child of that age would naturally say?

I have to remember that I'm writing for ages from "Does your mother know you're reading this?" to "My granddaughter recommended this book and I love it too!"

2. Is the vocabulary suited to the target readers? Are you using a sophisticated or old-fashioned word when a simple, more current word would do?

A young Wattpad.com reader commented that the draft's language was "so 19th century." It compelled me to revisit my word choices in the entire manuscript. For example, the hotel general manager has a staff policy against "fraternizing" with the guests. The prim and proper GM might say "fraternize" but the young staff would use the term "hook-up". I made many similar changes to update the vocabulary.

3. Are the pauses in the right place for reading aloud at a public reading or in an audiobook?

Even if long sentences are grammatically correct, they can be problematic if and when your book is made into an audiobook. 

4. Are you using certain words over and over and over?

Replace words that occur frequently. For example, I tend to use "sprang", "wildly", and "dragged" repeatedly. An online dictionary and thesaurus is a writer's friend. Use the software's "Find" function to search your document for specific words. You'll be amazed at how frequently—oops, I mean—often you used them on the same page or even in a single paragraph without noticing.

5. Is the meaning what you intended? Can it be misinterpreted?

A beta reader saved me from considerable embarrassment. Micky and Halden, the groom, are discussing Halden's sister Asta, who is a stuntwoman.

DRAFT
Mickey said only, "Speed is Asta's drug of choice."
"She's a daredevil, all right. Keeps Mom up at night worrying."

FINAL
Mickey said only, "Adrenaline is Asta's drug of choice."
"She's a daredevil, all right. Keeps Mom up at night worrying."

I totally missed the fact that "speed" is the street name for amphetamine!

After you've spent a week or longer polishing the story, it's time to send it off to the copy editor. In Part 3 I'll describe the copy-editing of Caught on Camera.

Goodreads Giveaway!

Enter a Goodreads Giveaway starting October 13 to win one of two paperback copies of Caught on Camera (Hollywood in Muskoka, Book 1). This giveaway ends October 20, and is open to residents of the United Kingdom and Canada, as well as the United States.

Caught on Camera is available for $0.99 and £0.99 on Amazon, Kobo, and iBooks, and is now available in paperback on Amazon for $9.99 and £5.99. See the description, playlist and buy links at MadelleMorgan.com . 

Subscribe at MadelleMorgan.com for news of the October 26 Five Secrets about Caught on Camera guest post, November blog tour, ebook giveaways and grand prize giveaway.

Madelle tweets and posts about Hollywood, filmmaking, the settings for her stories and of course, writing.

Follow Madelle on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Pinterest, and Wattpad. 

Book Launch: Caught on Camera Has a Playlist!

by Madelle Morgan

Two years in the making, Caught on Camera, my New Adult romantic comedy, is finally published!

In an awesome coincidence, Cosmopolitan.com is featuring an "excerpt from an exceptional Wattpad fiction story. This week, "Caught on Camera, a very hot story by Madelle Morgan."

Caught on Camera is a fun, light, sexy read with a Cinderella trope and several special features.

Playlist

In my (ahem) several decades of life I've listened to a lot of music. In creating the playlist, I had fun selecting a variety of songs to complement the storyline—everything from The Work Song, from the Disney film Cinderella, to Michael Bublé's infectious song Hollywood. I posted the playlist on my website for people who read on ereaders.

Character Names

In the RTG post Here Comes the Bridezilla, two Romancing the Genres authors suggested songs for the wedding reception and named two characters.

B.A. Binns chose "Juanita Ramirez" for the Reception desk agent. I used her song suggestion, John Legend's hit song "All of Me", for the wedding reception scene.

Sarah Raplee selected "Derek" for Rachel's server friend. He'll star in a future Hollywood in Muskoka story.

Mopette

The character of the bride's pet Maltese, Mopette, was inspired by my sister Lorraine's dog Rudy. Here he is at a cottage in Muskoka on Penninsula Lake.

$0.99 Promo Price

Caught on Camera will be on sale for $0.99 or the equivalent world-wide for an extended launch period this fall. The regular ebook price will be $4.99 USD. As I write this post, it's available on Amazon and Kobo, and will be on iBooks soon. A print version will be available in October, 2016.

Buy Links and Description:  MadelleMorgan.com

Reviews

Caught on Camera needs several dozen reviews to generate marketing momentum! If you can spare a minute or two to post a short review and give it a multiple star rating on Amazon or Kobo, I'd really appreciate it!

Subscribe to MadelleMorgan.com and receive a free copy of the sexy short story, The Next Big Thing.  

Madelle tweets and posts about Hollywood, filmmaking, the settings for her stories, and of course, writing.

Follow Madelle on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Pinterest, and Wattpad. 

Summer's Coming...

by Madelle Morgan

Last week I typed THE END on my New Adult romantic comedy Caught on Camera! It's the first in my Muskoka series of contemporary romances about men and women in the film-making industry who fall for locals in a beautiful lake district.

The series premise - "Hollywood in cottage country" - is aimed at those interested in learning about the various professions in the entertainment business, in the context of love stories.

I actually wrote the second in the series first. Sex & the Screenwriter tells the story of one of the secondary characters in Caught on Camera, so the two books will be released back-to-back. If the editing process goes smoothly, both will be late summer reads on Amazon. I plan to write the third, Director's Pick, over the summer and fall.

Caught on Camera has a Cinderella theme. Here's a snapshot:

To achieve her dream of working on Hollywood film sets, starstruck chambermaid Rachel Lehmann needs $35,000 for film school tuition by the end of the summer. When she's asked to fill in for a missing bridesmaid at a movie star's wedding, it's her big chance to take candid photos of celebrities and sell them to the entertainment media. Then groomsman Mickey McNichol, agent to the stars, sweeps her off her feet.

Mickey's bitter experience is that everyone in show business fakes emotions. When he falls for the stand-in bridesmaid, he thinks he's finally met a beautiful woman he can trust. But if Rachel betrays his friends' privacy, Mickey will ensure she never works in Hollywood.

Rachel  Image Credit

Excerpt

   Rachel stood in front of the Bridal Suite's floor-length mirror dressed in a pale lilac strapless, tea-length chiffon gown with fitted bodice. One part of her basked in the image of herself in the exquisite dress, and the other part fretted about falling behind schedule. She kept one eye on the digital bedside clock, and the other on the ball of white fur rolling over her black uniform on the unmade bed. 

   “I need to call the Housekeeper, Ms. Kane. I have rooms to clean.”

   “Wanda will take care of that,” the bride-to-be said airily. She turned to her personal assistant. “Inform the hotel manager that I need Rachel until Sunday.”

   “Right away.” The PA bolted for the exit.

   “We booked the entire hotel for the wedding,” assured the tall, slender woman with a medley of blonde highlights in waist-length hair. “What the bride wants, the bride gets. Relax and show me a few smiles. Mouth open. Mouth closed. You know the drill.”

   “Drill?”

   “Your smile for the wedding photos. I need to approve it.” She grabbed Rachel’s bare shoulders and twisted her around to face the mirror.

   Rachel obliged, although the situation felt more surreal by the second.

   Ms. Kane tapped a scarlet, French-tipped nail against her chin. “Mouth closed, I think. Yes, a sweet but sexy smile puts the focus on your big brown eyes.”

   Meanwhile, reflected in the mirror the tiny white dog’s devilish black eyes stared straight at Rachel’s backside. To her horror she noticed a dark stain spreading out from under its butt and over her uniform. “Oh my gods. Your dog just urinated on the bed!”

   “Did she?” Ms. Kane’s good humor restored, she merely glanced at her pet sitting innocently beside a puddle rapidly disappearing through Rachel’s uniform into the eight hundred thread count Egyptian cotton duvet cover. “Bad Mopette,” she cooed. “It’s Wanda’s fault. She’s supposed to walk you every couple of hours. The maid will clean it up.”

   “I’m the maid!”

   “Not anymore you’re not. This weekend you are my bridesmaid. A cousin on my mother’s side from... from...”

   “Toronto,” Rachel supplied.

   “Right, Toronto, Canada. Where they have that international film festival.”

   “And the largest city in Canada,” Rachel added dryly.

   But Candy Kane’s mind was already on a different track. “Don’t you dare tell any of the guests you work here.” Candy swiped fingers across her mouth in a zipping motion. “There’s a big tip in it if you keep the secret and pull this off.”

   “How big?” Rachel wanted to ask, but kept her “sweet but sexy” lips clamped shut. Truthfully, a tip wasn’t the prime reason she’d jumped at the miraculous opportunity to be Ms. Kane’s bridesmaid. A shiver of excitement rippled across exposed skin. Her good fortune to be conscripted into the Kane-Armstrong wedding party and have access to their guests felt like a dream. She pinched herself. Then her mood plunged as the awful truth hit her. She’d tucked the camera pendant into the pocket of her pee-drenched uniform.

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