Happy Easter, everybody! Street Glass is my novel-in-progress. My tagline: Underprivileged 18-yr-old
Latino leaves street gang and befriends white, over-privileged musicians.While some of the plot is subject to change (draft two is a pretty early draft, after all) the basic elements will stay, as will the character "voices". So these excerpts will still give you a good idea of how the plot plays out and what the characters are like. The year is 1986, in Los Angeles, California.
All the previous excerpts are collected here.
Part I’m skipping: the teenager who handcuffed Sandy and forced him to his knees holds up a switchblade and pulls Sandy’s head back by the hair. Frozen in terror, Sandy simply holds his breath and squeezes his eyes shut—but nothing happens. Sandy dares to peer at his attacker, who he thinks of now as “the kid.”
Join us at Weekend Writing Warriors. We're a pretty friendly bunch. We'd love to see what you're working on and we hope you have fun blog hopping all over the world reading bits of what we're working on.The kid stood for a moment then let go of his hair. Still staring, he stepped back and crossed his arms.Sandy’s heart pounded; he pulled against the cuffs. Now that his attacker had backed up, maybe he could talk his way out of this. “Listen, I can get you cash, lots of it . . . you know who I am?”The kid laughed. “I know the girls faint over the blond músico with brown eyes—but you ain’t nothin’. You on your knees at my feet.”
Thanks for visiting my blog today. Comments gratefully accepted :-D
The kid definitely has a point. :-) Your characters are so realistic, Marcia. Great excerpt!
ReplyDeleteThanks Debbie, I really appreciate that. Should I be scared that it's easy for me to get into the mindset of a thug??
ReplyDeleteHey Marcia, another excellent excerpt this week! With the right dose of empathy and determination you can slip in all kinds of mindsets, even the terrifying ones. :) I think it's necessary to portray them realistically, which is what you're so good at. Same must be true for actors, me thinks?
ReplyDeleteHey Dana :) I'm sure you're right about actors. I think there's a fair amount of similarity in the way actors and writers prepare themselves mentally to portray characters different from themselves.
DeleteThanks for the compliment too.
Harsh but true, what the kid had to say. Can't wait to see what happens next - this is a very engrossing story. Terrific snippet!
ReplyDeleteAh, you make me smile with comments like that! Thanks so much.
DeleteIntriguing snippet, I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.
ReplyDeleteNice! Is there a bit of jealousy underlying his dismissal of the musico? Or does he consider someone begging to be less than a man?
ReplyDeleteThis feels very real to me. Nice characterization.
ReplyDeleteGreat scene. This story is intriguing and the kid has a point...who's the one with the power? The guy with the knife or the one on his knees?
ReplyDeleteOh he is a cocky one isn't he? Very realistic scene.
ReplyDeleteNice job of putting us inside Sandy's head. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe dialect is excellent!
Good snippet. :-)
You have a great voice here!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sarah :)
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