Well 2011 is off to good start so far. I have officially completed my first self-published project. It is a very unique book entitled "Corporate Liaison" and you can take a sneak peek here but definitely order your copy soon, Valentine's Day is right around the corner.
This project was in the works for some time now, mainly because of the various creative elements that had to be blended together into a single cohesive venue. First we have the actual story, which drives everything. It's a erotic love story about two ambitious professionals that fall for each other despite the pitfalls of an office romance. A project like this without a strong plot and interesting characters is a waste. I believe I've been able to capture both.
Then we have the WAY the story is being revealed which is what makes this book so unconventional. It's a collection of poems linked together by short scene descriptions and punctuated with pictures. Yeah I know, crazy but I make it work wonderfully in a way that allows you to feel the energy and emotion of the moment. The anticipation as these two characters meet for the first time, have that spark of attraction but have to wait. The passion felt later on as well as the confusion and heartache. I take you through the full cycle of a relationship in this quick read that will leave you wanting more.
All the poems are real, in that they were inspired and written for women before I ever conceived this project. You can't just write a poem with real emotion to fill a gap a book... not without a perceptive reader feeling that something is missing.
The last device I employed was writing it in a way that allowed the reader to fully immerse themselves in the story. This was not easy but I accomplished it by creating fully developed characters that YOU the reader have to envision. Now I know with books we always have to envision what the characters might be, which is why the book is almost always better than the movie... our imagination is never quite captured on the big screen. I took this a step further turning a limitation into a positive. I deliberately did not include descriptions of either character, with the exception of personalities of course. So you can easily slide yourself into the role and escape the rigors of life into this little fictional world. I didn't even give them names, which provided a tiny hurdle towards the end of the book when we see email exchanges between them.
Developing the female character was also not easy, not because I'm not a female but because I wrote this with female readers in mind. I wanted to create something that would make women feel sensual and empowered. So the challenge was to create a strong yet feminine female character that would not take any shit BUT didn't come off as a bitch. I didn't want to turn men off but more importantly I didn't want the female character to be foreign to women. I want women to be able to relate to her even if they're not like her, they should be able to say, "I like how she handled that. I can do that."
Without revealing too much about the book or what happens to them, I can say that this is just the first of a series featuring these two. The later books will not have poetry in them but I plan to take them around the world featuring my travel photography and experiences in cities like Paris, Athens, Cairo and Barcelona just to mention a few. It should be like an international escape.
Thanks for reading and buying my book, I look forward to a very interesting 2011.
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