IWSG - Spoiler Alert

 This is my Insecure Writers Support Group post for March.

Alex's awesome co-hosts this month are: 
Diedre Knight, Tonya Drecker, 

Bish Denham, Olga Godim, 

and JQ Rose!

Please stop by their blogs and say thank you. 

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March 1st question - Have you ever read a line in novel or a clever plot twist that caused you to have author envy?

I've had many author envy moments over the years. A couple stand out. 

Go ahead. Laugh at me, but I enjoyed the Twilight series. It was what spurred me to write my first novel, just to see if I could do it. Despite all the criticisms of Meyer's writing, she kept readers reading, and gave science-loving me a moment of envy I will never forget. 

This excerpt is from Breaking Dawn, shortly after Bella becomes a vampire, and her senses are enhanced.

    Everything was so clear.

    Sharp. Defined.

    The brilliant light overhead was still blinding-bright, and yet I could plainly see the glowing strands of the filaments inside the bulb. I could see each color of the rainbow in the white light, and, at the very edge of the spectrum, an eighth color I had no name for.

###

Maybe that's not earth-shattering to you, but I paused and said Ooo, kudos.

Another author who gets points for thinking outside the box is Autumn Dawn in her paranormal romance No Words Alone. The heroine, Xera, an interpreter for a group of marooned explorers, marries Ryven, commander and veritable royalty of a human-like race.

In this slightly redacted excerpt, Xera gets some shocking news when she and Ryven are eating a meal alone, at home.

    [Xera] was about to ask if Ryven knew how [the soup] was prepared when she caught him looking at her expectantly. "What? It's very good, if that's what you're wondering."

    He grimaced. "I'm trying to be patient, but you're making it difficult."

    "About what?" she asked, all at sea.

    He seemed about to speak, then sighed and asked, "How do you like the house?"

    Was that all he wanted? His look had seemed to ask more. [...] "I love it. Did you think I wouldn't?"

    "No." He shut his mouth and applied himself to his soup. [...] What are you waiting for?" he asked.

    What? This was starting to bug her. Why couldn't he just speak his mind. "What do you mean?" she snapped.

    He looked exasperated. "The baby! I thought you'd tell me by now."

    "What baby? I haven't been around any babies lately. [...] Is one of your sisters pregnant again?"

    He stared harder at her, then blinked. "You don't know?"

    "Know what? What are you...?" She trailed off as a thought came over her. "Wait a minute. You don't think I'm..." She laughed, but her humor was short lived. The expression on his face was too serious. The hairs on her neck stood straight up. "Not funny, Ryven."

    His eyes moved to her middle and lingered. It was almost as if he could see... It hit her: "You can see in infrared. But...there should be nothing to see. I-I mean, there's nothing to see. [...] Look, I would know if something was up, okay?"

    "Apparently not." He sat back, his eyes beginning to heat with amusement. "I thought you were only teasing me by not saying anything."

    She took a deep breath. "Only a doctor would know this early in the game. I can't be pregnant!" [...] 

    "You are. I can see the color markers."

###

Xera had wondered why all of Ryven's people kept looking at her and smiling when she passed by them. It was because of their infrared vision. In their world, pregnancy couldn't be hidden.

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IWSG is the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh. It's a monthly bloghop that offers a safe haven for writers to express their feelings and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. It's also a venue for offering  support, both in the form of comments and positive posts. Writers of all kinds are welcome. 

We 'meet' the first Wednesday of every month. If you're interested in learning more, click on the link above. And don't be intimidated by the size of the group. We're not expected to visit everyone on the list.