Deleted Darlings, do you want to share any of yours?  Here are three of mine.  I'd like company out here parading my purple prose before an audience.

Sinners Opera from the heroine’s (Isabeau) POV: The color of the eyes didn’t matter. The face, in its breathtaking beauty didn’t matter. It was the shock she felt as she recognized the male side of herself—or perhaps herself stripped of gender and reduced to the essence her own being—staring back at her with blind, knowing eyes. And then the image shifted and she saw herself, wide-eyed, mouth agape, before a rocket of sensation shot from her head to toe.


Cardinal Desires, another vampire paranormal which I have just contracted with Double Dragon Publishing, Inc. for release next year:  From the heroine Katy’s POV about the hero Sterling Fox:  Why did boys either love or hate their mothers? No grey—black or white—the driving force behind how they perceived the world. Particularly influential in their relationships with women. She and Sterling were alike. Childhood had marked them both. Katie carried scars from a cruel senseless act of violence; he from cruelty and the violence of loneliness.

Beats me??:  Have you ever faced yourself in the mirror? And your reflection was a stranger? She gazed into the looking glass and saw another face, not her own, but a man’s face, strong boned but elegant and beautiful. But behind the eyes, their souls met. And it seemed lightning arced across the sky as blue eyes met eyes of sheerest gold—unreal and real as the faceted metallic jewelry that adorned the Christmas store fronts.





8 comments

  1. Mary Marvella // February 17, 2012 at 1:01 PM  

    I'll need to look for old files later today. I still loved your line about hair the color of a new born chick, or something like that.

  2. Mary Ricksen // February 17, 2012 at 4:01 PM  

    Not bad for stuff you deleted!

  3. Pamela Varnado // February 17, 2012 at 11:39 PM  

    Wow, Linda. The excerpt is awesome. I'm should it will find a home in another one of your stories.

  4. Beth Trissel // February 18, 2012 at 9:17 AM  

    These are too lovely to delete. Save them for some other work.

  5. Josie // February 18, 2012 at 2:06 PM  

    Fabulous snippets. I love the mirror image. Keep it, because I'm sure you'll be able to use it in another story.

  6. Scarlet Pumpernickel // February 18, 2012 at 5:16 PM  

    Found this snippet buried on my hard drive:

    Sara Amos gripped the leather steering wheel tighter, the leather strapping holding the smooth, sleek cover in place cutting into her fingers. The smell of new automobile engulfed her. She was nervous, her hands sweaty, her brows drawn together in a determined frown, nose crinkled at the invasive smell of fresh tar squishing beneath the tires of the low-slung sports car.

    The stupid dump-truck ahead of her sent a spray of the sticky smelly stuff up from its roaring double-axle wheels to splatter like a dead bird across the hood of the gleaming yellow Corvette. Dumb idea, Sara, she chastised herself, copping the bosses car for a quick trip to the donut shop for morning snacks. Big mistake! The man was going to kill her. She'd been trying to make nice, really she had. She hadn't known the gooey chocolate donuts in the break room, were the man's private property. By the time she'd found out it was too late. The last creamy, chocolate covered bite lumped in her throat as he'd howled in outrage. Yep, he was pissed.

  7. Nightingale // February 19, 2012 at 2:00 AM  

    Thanks for liking the darlings I killed. Maybe I'll stick the one back into Cardinal Desires. And Scarlet, hold on to that snippet. It's got everything--voice, vision and emotion.

  8. Judith Keim // February 20, 2012 at 9:47 AM  

    Loved this...my thing is phrasing, putting things out of order...i.e. He lifted the sword, heart pounding when he saw the monster...or whatever, but you get my point.Grrrr