#1LineWed

I love one line Wednesday. It's fun to go through you WIP, or published manuscript and find those little nuggets that captures who or what your characters are. The theme this week was dialogue. Now it can be difficult to capture a fun line because without the other 'stuff' around that one line, things could be taken out of context.

However, my one line was pretty straight forward: "Noooo...so unfair. I don't have any hot neighbors, just acres and acres of corn fields.' (technically two lines, but who's counting?)
Here is the expanded version between Lindsay and her BFF, Tina, who is also married to Lindsay's brother, Nick.

The whine of a miter saw became louder.
What was he doing now?
Lindsay minimized the application on her computer and swiveled to look out the second storey window. Her home office overlooked the new neighbor’s driveway. A neighbor who’d become extremely distracting.
She couldn’t make out his features, with a baseball cap covering his face from her elevated view, but she sure could see his body. At that moment Tina’s ringtone sang out.
“Hello?”
“What’s shakin’ bacon? Still watching Hot Stuff next door?”
Lindsay dropped the curtain as if burned.
“No.” She faced her computer, which had gone into screen saver mode. “I’m at my computer.” She jiggled her mouse and a CAD program popped up, displaying a current renovation.
“You are such a liar. I’ll bet you haven’t touched your mouse until right now.”
Lindsay let go of the mouse. How did Tina always know what she was doing? It was like she had a spy camera in her office.
“I shouldn’t have told you what he was doing.”
“Well, you did and now I want to know more.”
“You’re a married woman. You shouldn’t think this way.”
Tina laughed out loud. “I may be married, but I’m not dead. Besides, I can look at the dessert tray as long as I don’t place an order.” Lindsay imagined Tina’s eyebrows waggling while she spoke. “Come on, woman. Feed my avarice.”
“Avarice?”
“I’m doing crosswords at the doctor’s office while I wait for my appointment. Stop stalling. Give me details. Have you figured out what he’s up to?”
Lindsay stood, and partially concealed by her curtains she watched, as she had for most of the morning. What she saw pushed her pulse into overdrive.
All sweaty in a pair of low-rise Levi’s and scruffy work boots, Hot Stuff grabbed a water bottle and sucked back huge gulps. As his thirst was quenched, her mouth became paradoxically drier. His wide shoulders and hard chest looked as though they’d been sculpted by Michelangelo himself. Twin ropes of muscles carved around six pack abs and caused her heart to trip along a little faster.
“Well?” Tina whispered into the phone.
“He’s finished clearing the backyard.” Lindsay whispered back. “Now he’s cutting lumber, but they’re too short for even a deck.”
“More. Give me more.”
“I don’t know if you’re ready for this. He’s shirtless.”
“You’re killing me,” Tina groaned. “Is he built?”
“Like a Greek god.”
“Noooo…. So unfair. I don’t have any hot neighbors, just acres and acres of corn fields.”
There you go. I hope you enjoyed.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Due to the proliferation of scam artists inundating this blog with their garbage, I am forced to moderate all comments. If you are a real person, thank you. YOU are appreciated.