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Emmi Lawrence

~ MM Fantasy Romance Writer

Emmi  Lawrence

Tag Archives: Challenge

June ’17, Briefly

30 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Updates

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Tags

Challenge, Fantasy, fantasy romance, Fiction, gay romance, Houndmaster, M/M, Writing

June accomplishments:

1) Created Newsletter

It finally happened. This is something I’ve been meaning to do for a long while, but I admit to being technologically challenged so it took me time to figure out how to create one.

However, it’s here now!

And since I don’t plan on waxing on about myself in a newsletter, I’ve set it up so anyone who subscribes will have the option to choose whether they’ll receive New Release Alerts, Sales & Promo opportunities and/or join my ARC Team.

I would love it if you joined my ARC Team so please consider helping me out!

2) Wrote in Pup Games (A Houndmaster Novella)

This has been what I spent the bulk of the month on. I started this story two years ago, back when I was knee-deep in that A-Z challenge for The Wilds Duology and came back to it in June because I wanted to publish a completed houndmaster story. Pup Games was actually almost done this month until I decided I wanted to add, oh, two more chapters or so to flesh out a section I’d originally been going to gloss over.

It’s a story about La’vii, a young houndmaster hailing from the marshes to the east of the city of Crafton. Special appearances by an annoying brother, Cha’ree (Ni’vaa’s sister), and puppies!

Here’s the first paragraph:

The first time I saw Co’mil he’d been schooling my brother on the sands of a doghouse. He won that fight with only three dogs, one of whom had been gravely pregnant and had mostly just stood growling on the sidelines. My brother, a good seven years older than me with a pack of nine, had been left embarrassed, bloody and bitter in the center of the sands. I’d been left hard and gaping, my gaze locked on Co’mil’s wry expression as he shared a loving, celebratory kiss with one of his dogs.

In early 2018, you’ll be able to follow La’vii’s journey as one of his dogs gives birth in close proximity to his puphood crush and watch as his youthful adoration dissolves into something different.

3) Ari’s Tour

As you can see, I’m falling down a bit on this challenge. I have to delete a whole section because I decided I hate it and deleting whole pieces like that always sparks the desire to write in something entirely different. Which is why Pup Games is almost finished.

More words to write. Will update you again in July :)

Morgan Liu and her Obsession with Fairy Tales (4D)

15 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Serial, Teaser

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Tags

adventure fantasy, Bridle the Unicorn, Challenge, Erotica, Fantasy, fantasy romance, Fiction, Flash, gay romance, LGBT, Love, M/M, Novel, paranormal, Romance, Series, Short Fiction, Writing

Ari’s Tour
(previous installments)
4A—Ari Nix and How It All Began
4C—Mrs. Jameson and Her African Violets
4B—Jasmine Leit and her Collection of High Heels
The Rooftop Garden and the Terror of Heights

4D—Morgan Liu and her Obsession with Fairy Tales

 

Ari sailed straight through the layers of concrete and insulation and piping and wood. Straight into an apartment lit with a purplish hue from a fish tank sitting against the wall. And he knew this because he found his head in said fish tank, fake seaweed flowing so close to his eye he flinched, just as a brilliantly blue tang darted through his open mouth.

He gagged, though there was nothing at all to actually gag on.

His flinching caused him to spin sideways, his downward plunge halting somewhat as he spilled free from the brightness of the fish tank and into a living room he’d never before set foot within. He caught glimpses of open books, pages upon pages cut, folded. Words, blended ink, while on the left-hand sides chapter headings curled with fantastical fonts. Shadows from the tank lights swam upon the carpet, giving it a rippled effect.

“Oh thank goodness. This must be Morgan’s place.” He took a breath that smelled nothing of fish or mugginess, though he knew quite well that it should have. That scent had escaped down the hall often enough whenever Morgan opened her door. Continue reading →

Lost Isle Teasers (WIPTruthOrDare Twitter Collection)

11 Sunday Jun 2017

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Excerpt, Teaser

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Tags

adventure fantasy, Author's Notes, Challenge, Fantasy, fantasy romance, Fiction, gay romance, LGBT, Lost Isle, Love, M/M, Novel, Romance, Short Fiction, twitter, Writing

For the month of May I participated in a twitter game called #WIPTruthOrDare for Lost Isle: The Ocean’s Aviary I, though many of the questions had less to do with the novel. On each day there were two options, a truth or a dare, so I made sure to show which I chose for each day. I did skip a few days where both the truth and dare didn’t correlate with my novel much.

Day 1 Truth: What is your current word count for Lost Isle?

#WIPTruthOrDare Truth: Word count on Lost Isle still around 42600 but I’ve finished another short story and been editing.

— Emmi Lawrence (@EmmiLawrence) May 1, 2017

Day 2 Dare: Write a pitch line for your WIP.

Dare: A cartographer and a pirate must work together to escape a dangerous isle no one believes exists.#WIPTruthOrDare 2 #LostIsle

— Emmi Lawrence (@EmmiLawrence) May 2, 2017

Continue reading →

Mrs. Jameson and her African Violets (4C)

06 Tuesday Jun 2017

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Serial, Teaser

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bridle the Unicorn, Challenge, Fantasy, fantasy romance, Fiction, Flash, gay romance, LGBT, Love, M/M, Novel, paranormal, Romance, Series, Short Fiction, Writing

Ari’s Tour
(previous installments)
4A—Ari Nix and How It All Began

4C—Mrs. Jameson and Her African Violets

Now this had happened once before when he’d been a child. He remembered the day, or at least those few moments, quite vividly. But at that time his sister had been in the room and she’d almost instantly jumped on him, sending him swooping back into his body. He hadn’t had enough time to truly panic then.

Not so now.

The dark kitchen he sailed through was one he’d seen before, though not for quite a long time. Mrs. Jameson kept her pots and pans in an organized line hanging from the wall and a triplicate of feeding bowls ran parallel upon the floor underneath. And at the furthest feeding bowl was a black and white cat, a skinny thing that jerked as Ari floated above its head.

“Hello, hello,” he said with a wave that sent the cat crouching, her eyes glowing in the frail light sneaking in from behind the blinds in the next room. “Don’t mind me. Is your cat lady up? That wonderful woman who feeds you?”

The cat, predictably, did not answer. Continue reading →

Ari Nix and How It All Began (4A)

01 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Serial, Teaser

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Tags

Bridle the Unicorn, Challenge, Erotica, fantasy romance, Fiction, Flash, gay romance, LGBT, Love, M/M, Mystery, Novel, paranormal, Romance, Short Fiction, Writing

4A—Ari Nix and How It All Began

Tequila had never been Ari’s spirit of choice. In fact, he didn’t have a spirit of choice at all given bad things happen when alcohol was involved and bad things on top of bad luck just didn’t mix. Not like a well-shaken drink.

But on this auspicious evening, at, oh, eight o’clock, after having nicked a bottle from Chase down in 1C, Ari opened up a brand new app and attempted not one, not two, but three separate recipes all involving a cheap, gold liquid that tasted surprising like melancholy and self-pity. Not a bad combination if he was any judge. And then the app crashed. And he broke his tumbler. Leading to a not-very-smart-decision to switch to a shot glass.

With breath tasting of orange juice and a sticky residue clinging to his pale blue shirt, Ari threw himself into the chair by his full-length keyboard and began to stumble through the beginnings of sad melodies he’d memorized in his youth during his angstiest stage. And then, for some dreadful reason, he switched to love songs. The sort of love songs that would leave a lonely man sobbing if he didn’t have a lick of sense not to delve too deeply into emotions best left alone.

And Ari was a little short on sense this evening. Even he could admit that. Continue reading →

May, Briefly

31 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Updates

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Tags

adventure fantasy, Author's Notes, Bridle the Unicorn, Challenge, Cover, fantasy romance, Fiction, Flash, gay romance, Houndmaster, LGBT, Novel, Novella, Romance, Series, Short Fiction, Writing

One of my personal problems is that I tend to forget anything and everything I’ve accomplished in a given time period, thus leading to the thought I haven’t actually accomplished anything at all. Which, I’ve been informed, is completely wrong.

I’m hoping that listing everything I’ve done each month will help remove this thought-process while giving everyone updates on where I am in differing projects.

May accomplishments:

1) Prepared Pre-order for Bridle the Unicorn

This includes Edits, Blurb, Formatting, ISBN info and Promotional Schedule.

2) Wrote 6 short stories.

I did a question challenge in May where I would ‘answer’ a question given to me in story format in a character’s POV. Wrote:

  •  The Illusion That is Failure (I really liked this one so it got bumped ahead of the story I’d originally finished for June)
  • The Baywater and the Hurricane (Set in the same city as The Cascade and the Firebrand)
  • Just a Typical Day in a Nurse’s Life (Sort of a conglomeration of first and second person that is supposed to be humorous)
  • The Choice in the Inevitable (Ideological World-building for a country that never falls to the Merandin Empire)
  • Tall, Dark & Handsome (Coffee shop romance and only non-fantasy I wrote)
  • First Date Taboo (A confession on a dinner date)

I also have a few more small stories started but not finished, but they have dropped to least priority now that May is over.

3) Prepped Bridle the Unicorn Promo

  • Roan’s Interview
  • Ari’s Interview
  • Ari’s Tour
  • Quotes

4) Prepped Blog Posts

I lost count of how many I prepped this month. All the short stories and poems I finished were edited and prepped as well as anything else I finished having to do with Bridle the Unicorn. This was in anticipation of having a bunch of things ready to go in the coming months so I can concentrate on completing longer projects.

5) Requested Cover Date

For a new houndmaster novella set mostly in Crafton. Tentative release next winter/early spring.

Ari’s Interview (Bridle the Unicorn)

30 Tuesday May 2017

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Fantasy, M/M, Short Story, Teaser

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Author's Notes, Bridle the Unicorn, Challenge, Fantasy, fantasy romance, Flash, gay romance, LGBT, Love, Romance, Short Fiction, Writing

Ari’s Interview

Copyright © Emmi Lawrence

No one had ever sat in my office who could quite compare to Ari Nix. He had an insatiable, yet conflicting curiosity that did not breed questions. Rather, he just touched and poked at my things, chuckling under his breath at jokes to which only he knew the punch-lines. His nose crinkled constantly, in bemusement, disgust or delight, his emotions on parade across his face with little care over who might see them.

This man did not hide things. At least, he did not hide them well.

By the time I managed to cajole him into settling onto the bench, I had already discussed my last few books—which he lost interest in quickly—my taste in music—which he mocked incessantly—and my fashion sense—where he claimed my clothes needed a few more holes and much less grey. I disagreed silently and with a roll of internal eyes, but as I was enjoying his energy and discussion, I said nothing out loud of my thoughts.

“All right, Ari. Let’s get right to it. Since you’ve already pretty much introduced yourself, how are you feeling today?”

“Uh, good. I guess. At the moment at any rate. That might change.”

“Why might it change?”

He shrugged and rubbed at the frayed edges of the cushion. “Life throws things at me constantly. Luck takes its toll. You never know what might happen.”

“Of course. Luck is an interesting topic—”

“So are a great many things,” he interrupted. “Let’s talk about something else.”

“Okay.” I glanced at my list of questions. “Are you involved with anyone right now?”

Ari did not have the same resistance as I, so when he rolled his eyes, it was a dramatic and very outward sign. “These questions are incredibly boring. Predictable. You need to ask more thought-provoking questions like… If you could know when and how you die, would you want to know?” Continue reading →

Roan’s Interview (Bridle the Unicorn)

25 Thursday May 2017

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Teaser

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Tags

adventure fantasy, Author's Notes, Bridle the Unicorn, Challenge, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash, gay romance, LGBT, Love, M/M, Novel, Romance, Short Fiction, Writing

Roan’s Interview

Copyright © Emmi Lawrence

He had a curious, but careful, gaze as he sat on the bench I indicated. His hair, brown with just a hint of a reddish tinge, flowed almost to his shoulders and his eyes were the color of charcoal in the shadows cast by my single lamp. He had a easy smile, but a slight one, that came fast and disappeared just as quickly.

“Thank you for stopping by,” I said. “I only have a couple of questions if you don’t mind sparing a few moments for our readers.”

“Not at all.” That smile again, a flash of light before it faded once more. “It’s my pleasure.”

“Just for the record, your name?”

“Roan Baylor.” Continue reading →

Bridle the Unicorn: Ari’s Tour

23 Tuesday May 2017

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Announcement

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Tags

adventure fantasy, Author's Notes, Bridle the Unicorn, Challenge, Fantasy, fantasy romance, Fiction, gay romance, LGBT, Love, M/M, Novel, paranormal, Romance, Short Fiction, Writing

The Plan

Hey everyone! Bridle the Unicorn’s publication date is set for July 28th, but before my novels come out I always like to publish some free promotional pieces to whet your appetite. In this case, I wanted to come up with something that even those of you who have read the story might still enjoy!

Anyone who followed along last year knows there were a number of times I really—really—wanted to write some of the story from Ari’s point of view, but was unable to because of spoiler city in his mind. So! As a way to let me finally play around in his point of view I came up with an idea that intermixes writing in Ari’s mind with an introduction to the apartment building inside which most of the story takes place.

I call it: Ari’s Tour. Continue reading →

Lost Isle Teasers (WIPjoy Twitter Collection)

14 Sunday May 2017

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Excerpt, Fantasy, Teaser

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Tags

adventure fantasy, Author's Notes, Challenge, Erotica, Fantasy, fantasy romance, Fiction, gay romance, LGBT, Lost Isle, Love, M/M, Mystery, Novel, Romance, Short Fiction, The Ocean's Aviary, twitter, Worldbuilding, Writing

In April I participated in a twitter challenge to celebrate a current WIP. The book I used was Lost Isle: The Ocean’s Aviary I, which will be published in December 2017. Gay fantasy romance, as per the norm. I thought I’d gather the answers to all the questions here as teasers for the novel :)

Just as a quick additional announcement, I’m adding 2-3 more monthly posts on my blog. The second Sunday will have a post similar to this one serving as a collection/teaser. The third Sunday will be a publication of a short poem. And there’s the possibility of me adding a fourth post at the end of each month that will serve as an update to let everyone know what I’ve accomplished for that month and where I am in different projects.

None of these are time-intensive so they will not interrupt my writing schedule, but will hopefully give more information to you on a regular basis to remove spotty updates.

Writers, unite for the April #WIPjoy! Follow the tag, post using the daily prompts, & RT/❤️/comment on your favorite posts to share the fun! pic.twitter.com/mlVkBwFNyN

— Bethany A. Jennings (@simmeringmind) March 27, 2017

Day 1: Introduce your WIP!

#WIPjoy D1: My WIP is a short novel, m/m fantasy romance, featuring a cartographer and a pirate (of course) who are marooned together.

— Emmi Lawrence (@EmmiLawrence) April 1, 2017

Day 2: Describe your main character.

#WIPjoy D2: My WIP’s MC is educated, yet indecisive, introspective, though often worried, and his hands are usually stained with ink.

— Emmi Lawrence (@EmmiLawrence) April 2, 2017

Day 3: Share a visual that goes with Lost Isle.

#WIPjoy D3: Found this before I started in on my current WIP. All kinds of inspiration. pic.twitter.com/wMGbvj24MJ

— Emmi Lawrence (@EmmiLawrence) April 3, 2017

Day 4: Share a song that inspires you for Lost Isle.

#WIPjoy D4: Pulled from my childhood: https://t.co/JmeTA9l9CQ via @YouTube

— Emmi Lawrence (@EmmiLawrence) April 5, 2017

Day 5: Share a line of description.

#WIPjoy 5 The jungle opened at the crest of the hill, trees stunted in the rocky soil, giving way to grasses and low-growing creeper bushes.

— Emmi Lawrence (@EmmiLawrence) April 5, 2017

Continue reading →

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CANVAS BLUES
Vignettes Regarding the Artwork of Brendon Kotes

A serialized novel begun Jan 29th 2020. Here you can find links to the beginning and the most recent additions.

I: Prologue
II: Present
III: Yesteryears
IV: Yesteryears
V: Present

……….

L: Present
LI: Yesteryears
LII: Yesteryears
LIII: Present
LIV: Yesteryears

New chapters published every Wednesday!
Next up: Jul 7th 2021

FREE SHORT STORIES

THE BAYWATER & THE HURRICANE
(fantasy M/M)

WHAT SECRETS MIGHT REMAIN
(fantasy M/M)

TALL, DARK & HANDSOME
(contemporary M/M)

THE IMMORTAL LOVER OF LAKE PHANTA
(fantasy M/M)

ACROSS THAT OCEAN OF SAND
(fantasy M/M)

MY LIFE, HIS BREATH
(contemporary M/M)

POET’S BANE
(fantasy M/M)

What’s Up!

  • Canvas Blues – XCV: Present
  • Canvas Blues – XCIV: Present
  • Coffee & Conversation: How to keep your plots/stories from being repetitive?
  • Canvas Blues – XCIII: Yesteryears
  • Coffee & Conversation: How to critique someone else’s work?
  • Canvas Blues – XCII: Present

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