Blair Hayse

My heart feels like it’s been thrown onto the ground only to be beaten and bruised. 

This has to be a dream.

The rain batters my hair and clothes, leaving me a mess, but I don’t take notice. Falling in love had just cost me a heartbreak I had never imagined, one tangled with grief. How could I continue to live my life without him? Someone must wake me up from this nightmare. As the rain runs down my face, I close my eyes, but all that travels across the black canvas are pictures of him: snapshots of the happy times and images of times he annoyed me. I wish he was here to annoy me again. I see wasted moments of precious time over lover’s quarrels that made no sense. The memories are too painful to relive in the flashbacks of my mind’s movie screen. My chest feels heavy, and I suddenly cannot breathe. I am suffocating in pain. All I know is that I have nothing to live for anymore, and I wish I had died right there beside him. 

The quote “I can’t live without you” has never felt so real as it does right now. I want to run until my lungs burn and never look back. I am desperate for the air that only he gave me. I don’t realize my hands are curled into tight fists until I feel my nails biting at the edge of my skin; I watch as the rain washes the blood away. My head turns in many directions while the water drips from my eyelashes and makes it hard for me to see anything. I’m seeking a way to distract myself from the constant ringing of my phone and the loud rain plummeting down on the concrete below. My heart is beating faster than a speed I can decipher, the light buzz in my ears allowing me to hear my blood flow too quickly. I feel so many emotions at once, and even though I’m used to it, everything seems so different; all my feelings are heightened in a way I didn’t understand. The empty promises he left behind run through my brain. 

“I will never leave you, Kamala. I promise.” 

What a stupid promise, one that made my heart secure at the time but now feels like a lie. It feels like the world is shattering beneath my feet. Gravity seems against me as my body sways and I feel like I’m going to fall. 

You did leave me all alone.

If only I could turn back time.

Honestly, even if I could turn back time, I would fall in love with him all over again, even though I now know how the story must end. I can’t imagine erasing him from my life just to avoid the pain. Without him, I would have no memories, and right now, memories are all I have to cling to. I just want him back. I want the feel of his lips against mine, the smell of his rich cologne that I clung to with every hug, just for one moment, I want to feel his hand holding mine.

            If only. Just one more moment with him…that is all I wish for.

Without him, I did not want to exist. 

FIRST ASSIGNMENT: write your story statement.

 

New Adult Novel, Romance with Enemies to Lover’s Twist

 

A young lady is driven for success and pushes herself up the corporate ladder in the hotel industry – leaving her with fragmented health and fractured relationships. Until she meets the one she hates – her new boss. In an effort to save her job and dignity, she slips to rock bottom and finds herself staring into the mirror at the only person who can save her – herself. In a story of love, she finds the most powerful love of all is self – love. With that missing puzzle piece she finally finds success and true love. 

 

SECOND ASSIGNMENT: in 200 words or less, sketch the antagonist or antagonistic force in your story. Keep in mind their goals, their background, and the ways they react to the world about them.

Kamala Spencer is driven to climb the corporate ladder in the hotel industry – her version of success. This gives her self-worth, that is missing and is trying to fill a void of not feeling good enough due to her narcissistic mother who is never proud of anything she does. She ignores all of the signs that point to the truth that the answer to her problems lies no further than herself. Self-love. Without that piece of the puzzle, she drowns herself into work so deeply that it creates health issues and dysfunctional relationships as a result.  

Aspen Alden is driven by power and control in his family made business. The power, or lack of it, causes him to make unwise choices to gain more control in his life. He finds himself falling for a sweet southern girl moving her way up in the hotel business, but when he feels his feelings start to bubble he self-sabotages to push away the one he is starting to love. His cold, emotionless self, is the one thing he can control and he wants to keep that control at all costs. Until it costs him more than he wants to pay. He finds himself in a dilemma of looking at his own demons in the mirror and figuring out what price he is willing to pay for the one thing he needs most. 

 

 

THIRD ASSIGNMENT: create a breakout title (list several options, not more than three, and revisit to edit as needed).

 

Seattle Mishap

 

Love Shattered

 

 

 

 

FOURTH ASSIGNMENT: - Develop two smart comparables for your novel. This is a good opportunity to immerse yourself in your chosen genre. Who compares to you? And why?

The Fine Print – by Lauren Asher 

It compares to my novel with the same sunshine and grumpy, executive business, push away the true self in finding love type of setting. A lot of the same elements are in her book that can be found in mine.

Spanish Love Deception – Elena Armas

This compares to my novel with the same light that two people see themselves differently when put together. This love pushes out their blind spots that need to be fixed within themselves and it is up to them to decide if they want to face their inner demons to gain the life they both want most. 

 

FIFTH ASSIGNMENT: write your own hook line (logline) with conflict and core wound following the format above. Though you may not have one now, keep in mind this is a great developmental tool. In other words, you best begin focusing on this if you're serious about commercial publication.

Kamala Spencer’s drive to be good enough creates fragmented health and fractured relationships until she finds the solution to happiness, success, and love. It has been with her all along, herself. Once she truly learns to love herself she is able to love the one she wants most, Aspen Alden. Will she find the truth in time to save her life and the love of her life? 

 

SIXTH ASSIGNMENT: sketch out the conditions for the inner conflict your protagonist will have. Why will they feel in turmoil? Conflicted? Anxious? Sketch out one hypothetical scenario in the story wherein this would be the case--consider the trigger and the reaction. 

Next, likewise sketch a hypothetical scenario for the "secondary conflict" involving the social environment. Will this involve family? Friends? Associates? What is the nature of it?

Kamala finds herself drowning herself in overworking to compensate for the low self-worth she has inside. Whenever the red flags pop up she pushes them down and continues to push herself harder in her career. It is the one area she feels gives her self-worth. This type of inner conflict ends up damaging her health and she is in hospital with a mini-stroke from stress and overwork conditions. She has no one to blame but herself. For years she has pushed the blame to her mother who has never shown her any moments of how she is proud of her as a daughter, but it truly comes down to her own absence of self-love. When she faces the seriousness of her condition, she decides she has to find the solution instead of all the band-aids she has put on it all along. 

 

She begins to have fractured relationships with those around her as she pushes away anyone close to her as the inner demons of self-worth begin to work overtime in her new job. She plummets to drinking and partying as a way to cope. Her clinginess and depleted self-worth cause others to push her away instead of closer. This only creates a bigger problem for her and things begin to spin out of control. This behavior almost costs her a best friend and love of her life until she conquers her demons of self-worth. 

 

FINAL ASSIGNMENT: sketch out your setting in detail. What makes it interesting enough, scene by scene, to allow for uniqueness and cinema in your narrative and story? Please don't simply repeat what you already have which may well be too quiet. You can change it. That's why you're here! Start now. Imagination is your best friend, and be aggressive with it.

This setting is opened in a small town of Florence, Alabama to give a starting point to the small-town girl who gets the big break for her career in a bigger city. The rest of the book is set in Seattle and in the fine older hotel in the downtown area. The hotel is nothing like the new ones popping up on every corner of the city, but has a long-time residence in the city equated with luxury and good service. The scenes constantly flip between her hotel life and her life outside of the hotel giving it variety. There is also the fact that she ends up in the hospital fighting for her life and standing over his dead body in a later chapter at the funeral home. The settings are fresh and inviting.