Bringing Books to Life

Our five senses are stimulated in many ways every day. For each of us one sense plays a dominant role in how we relate to things around us. Some are more auditory. Others are more tactile-oriented. Count me among those who are visually-oriented learners. As a writer I take countless visual cues from my surroundings and daily exposures when fomenting plots and creating characters. While flipping through a fashion magazine and spotting a chartreuse-and-cream paisley scarf, I conjure the type of character who would wear such an accessory. As I pass a handsome guy in the local mall, I mentally create a prototype of a hero, his beliefs, background, world view, motivation, etc. This is one of the reasons I carry a writing tablet with me everywhere. Notes made now cue visual images later.

When I’m reading a romance novel, part of my enjoyment stems from being able to envision the hero, heroine and secondary characters. I prefer having some of the descriptive details left to my imagination. Same goes for the story setting. It’s a great deal of fun figuring out what the hero’s apartment looks like. How he dresses. If he’s the type whose trousers are creased or casually wrinkled. As I turn the pages, words provide me clues, but I play the detective and keep my mind’s eye wide open. Each story I’ve written, even those I wrote during childhood, has always played out in my mind as would a movie. Frame by frame, the action unfolds. Much as I must see the images clearly to put them on the page, I must also hear the dialogue in order to write the characters’ words. Even after I write the passages of dialogue, I read them aloud and assume the character role. If during those reviewing stages I cannot visualize something clearly, or stumble while reading the words, I immediately know something isn’t right and start revising.

One of the most fun mediums I’ve found to challenge and harness my creativity is a book video. Finding the pictures and audio clips that will give readers a glimpse of what my stories are about, and captioning those frames to provide an overview of the storyline, is quite a treasure hunt. Readers get a peek at my vision for the story.

Recently I designed a book video for my latest erotic historical romance with Ellora’s Cave, TORMENTED. Hope you all enjoy watching my novel come to life.

Have You Ever Been Tormented?



Wishing you many happy reading moments,

Shawna Moore
TORMENTED – Ellora’s Cave
ROUGHRIDER – Ellora’s Cave
HELLE IN HEELS – Ellora’s Cave
TO HELLE AND BACK AGAIN – Coming to EC in 2009
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Helle’s Myspace