Discover how to loosen up that inner vixen and write a great character-based love scene at our March 26 meeting featuring Naima Simone.
Many authors find writing those scenes—the love scenes—intimidating or frustrating to write. The fear or hesitation can originate from embarrassment and the “Oh no, I can’t write that!” voice inside their heads. Or the belief they cannot write a believable, passionate love scene. These scenes involve choreography, intense emotion and capturing the reader’s imagination with all the senses, which can be difficult to accomplish. Whether the bedroom door is closed, cracked or thrown wide open, love scenes are important not only to the story and romance, but also to the relationship between the hero and heroine, and most times the characters’ personal growth and arc. How our characters make love is as much a part of their characterization as their back story. The purpose of this program is to offer the author an alternate way of approaching love scenes that may make writing them more fun and a little easier.
About Naima Simone
Published since 2009, USA Today Bestselling author Naima Simone loves writing sizzling romances with heart, a touch of humor and snark. Her books have been featured in The Washington Post and Entertainment Weekly, and described as balancing “crackling, electric love scenes with exquisitely rendered characters caught in emotional turmoil.”
She is wife to Superman, or his non-Kryptonian, less bullet proof equivalent, and mother to the most awesome kids ever. They all live in perfect, sometimes domestically-challenged bliss in the southern United States.
Amanda Arista will be our guest speaker at the February 26 DARA meeting, teaching us about Down and Dirty Character Development.
Why spend months developing a character only to find that its the wrong character for the story you want to tell? Using this boiled-down amalgamation of three top screenwriting teachers, Amanda Arista will show you how to create a character that will leap off the page with their own backstory, voice, and deep connection to the story you want to tell.
Our February meeting will be held on Zoom. Social time starts at 9 am, followed by a brief business meeting at 9:30. Amanda will begin about 10 am. (Click here or on the Zoom image below to go to the meeting link.)
Invite your fellow authors to join us! Please contact info@dallasarearomanceauthors.com for an official invite with Zoom link (needed only so we can keep track of who attends). Guests are welcome to attend one meeting for free, and additional meetings without joining will be $5 each. Free meetings are one of the many benefits of DARA membership!
About Amanda Arista
Amanda was born in Illinois, raised in Corpus Christi, lives in Dallas but her heart lies in London. Good thing she loves to travel.
During the summer after second grade, she read every book in the young adult section of the library, much to the surprise of the local librarian. So she started making up her own stories and hasn’t stopped.
She has a husband who fights crime, one dog who thinks he’s a real boy, and another who might be a fruit bat in disguise. She recently added a tiny human to the mix who is following in her mother’s footsteps of storytelling.
Along with her BA in English & Psychology and her MA in Education, Amanda is a graduate of the SMU Creative Writing Program and now teaches other aspiring authors. She has delivered lectures at several writer conferences and loves discussing craft, character, and structure. Her current favorite: Stirring up Trouble with Romantic Subplots.
She is represented by Kimberly Brower, of Brower Literary & Management.
Visit Amanda on her website: Amanda Arista.
Welcome to our first meeting back in person! (Or you can join us virtually on Zoom.)
To celebrate that and the upcoming holiday season, we have a special guest -- Sonali Dev will be joining us IN PERSON to talk about "Culture Building is Not Just for Multiculturals."
Please join us on Saturday, Dec. 4 for a memorable morning meeting with a great speaker, breakfast, raffles, door prizes, and goody bags! Tickets are available at dara.ticketleap.com/holiday21.
Our In-Person Gathering will be held at the Richardson Women's Club, 2005 N Cliffe, Richardson, TX 75082. Check-in starts at 9 am, with a full breakfast at 9:30. This catered buffet includes scrambled eggs, pancakes and syrup, potatoes, bacon, sausage, fruit and berries, and drinks including coffee, orange juice and cranberry juice. We'll have our annual DARA turn-over meeting to welcome in our new board at 10 am, and Sonali will begin her presentation about 10:30.
In-person attendees will also receive a goody bag and the chance to win door prizes! The DARA tradition of a holiday raffle continues, with many great items being donated by our members. You can get your in-person raffle tickets when you register, or you can purchase them (or purchase more!) at the event.
The Virtual Event will be available online, beginning with the business meeting at 10 am. We're also holding a virtual raffle, with tickets available when you sign up. Each ticket gets your name put in a random drawing once to win two, $50 Amazon gift cards.
Tickets for the in-person event are $20 for DARA members and $27 for non-members. You can save $12 if you sign up for the holiday gathering and a year's DARA membership together for $60. The virtual meeting is free for DARA members and $7 for non-members.
If you'd like to donate a basket or item to the raffle, please contact Janet at janetleighauthor@gmail.com. To put something in the goody bags, contact Randee at randee@randeeleigh.com.
CULTURE BUILDING IS NOT JUST FOR MULTICULTURALS
According to dictionary.com one of the definitions of culture is: "The sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another." With respect to storytelling it's the sum total of the nitty gritties of human existence that make up the inner and outer worlds our characters live
in.
Culture Building is World Building between the cracks and under the foundation of your story. Learn how to layer your storytelling with the nitty gritties of human existence that make up the world your characters live in. Learn not just how to enrich your narration with the kind of depth and detail that absorbs readers wholly into your story but also learn how to place your characters in conflict with their world to infuse authenticity and meaning into your story, irrespective of genre.
ABOUT SONALI DEV
USA Today bestselling author Sonali Dev writes Bollywood-style love stories that explore universal issues. Her novels have been named Best Books of the Year by Library Journal, NPR, the Washington Post, and Kirkus. She has won numerous accolades, including the American Library Association’s award for best romance, the RT Reviewer Choice Award for best contemporary romance, multiple RT Seals of Excellence, has been a RITA® finalist, and has been listed for the Dublin Literary Award. Shelf Awareness calls her “Not only one of the best but one of the bravest romance novelists working today.”
She lives in Chicagoland with her husband, two visiting adult children, and the world’s most perfect dog.
Find more at sonalidev.com.