Buttons and Bones

Hiya . . .

My newest heroine is an archaeologist. I have always loved archaeology and hoped to write a story along these lines for a long time, so since I'm trying everything but the kitchen sink these days (in terms of marketable plot ideas), I figured now might be the time do follow my heart, so to speak, and really dig in to this idea. Pun intended.

My working title is REMAINS TO BE SEEN and it's a romantic suspense. After trying a variety of story approaches over the last 18 months (from paranormal to straight contemporary to WWII), I'm going back to my roots - a mystery, a love story, snappy dialogue, and humor based on what's funny to me (and hopefully you).

My heroine is Dr. Hannah Linley, Ph.D. (aka, Hard Hearted Hannah to the men she's ignored) and her hero will be Mackenzie Trent - a man who finds Hannah distant, cold, arrogant, focused, and ultimately fascinating. I've written much of Chapter 1, and the Mac and Hannah are about to meet. Oh boy.

I'm studying several books on archaeology and current archaeological theory. Even non-technical stories need a lot of research, but in manuscripts like this, you've got to have the details right to make the world you're building real. History, jargon, dialogues, facts all have to be correct (you can't make stuff up) or you risk losing readers. If you can't create a world for your characters to live in - a realistic world for those characters - it throws readers out of the story, a huge no-no.

As I go along, I'll keep you up-to-date on Hannah and Mac's story; I hope you'll like it as much as I'll enjoy writing it!

*** BTW - Autumn's coming - I can feel it in the air! Love Autumn!!!

Take care,
Marianne