Writes of Submission Read Online Free PDF Page B

no.” She put down her pen and gaped at him. “Don’t tell me you don’t use an outline!”
    “Of course I don’t. Outlines kill creativity.”
    Nikki put her face in her hands. “We’re never going to get this book written. I’ll have to start flipping burgers for a living.”
    He laughed. “I’m messing with you. Sort of.”
    She lifted her head. “What? Do we burn incense and pop some peyote until we have a vision of the story?”
    “Now you’re talking,” Dante said, chugging his wine. “That sounds like fun. When do we do that part?”
    Kane smirked at him. “I’m game if you two are. But for now, let’s decide what our protagonist wants, then we can figure out what rocks to start throwing at her.”
    “Rocks?” Dante sounded confused.
    “I don’t remember who said it,” Kane said. “But somebody said the art of writing consists of sending your character up a tree, throwing rocks at them, and then bringing them back down.”
    “Uh-huh.” Nikki smiled in spite of herself. “So how do we get her in the tree?”
     
    * * * *
     
    Two hours later, Allie came down to start dinner. She paused on her way through to ask how things were going.
    “Let me know if you have any preferences on food or dinnertime,” she said. “My guys and I are planning to have most of our meals in the kitchen to give you some privacy to work.” She gave Dante an apologetic smile. “You’re welcome to come eat with us if you think it would be helpful.”
    He sent a quick glance to Kane. “Would you guys mind if I hang around you? I’m really fascinated by this writing process of yours. It’s giving me some good marketing ideas that will help with your book.”
    “That’s fine with me.” Kane’s first reaction was to say no. He wanted the good-looking blond around Nikki as little as he could manage it. But he also realized that he liked the guy, despite himself, and he was starting to look forward to hearing his ideas. He waited to see what Nikki’s reaction would be. She’d loosened up a bit once she’d finally tried the wine, but he had a feeling this was going to be an uphill battle. She seemed to think that every detail of the book needed to be determined before anything got written down. He’d finally convinced her to take a shot at writing the first scene and introduce the characters. They’d come up with a preliminary situation and some basic character traits and he was going to let her take the lead, at least as long as she was comfortable with it. He would wait and see where the book started heading before choosing which scenes he wanted to write. He just hoped she wasn’t too hung up on the plotting thing. He was more of a seat-of-the-pantser himself, and it had worked pretty well for him so far.
    But that was writing by himself. What would happen now that someone else was doing at least part of the writing? Would the characters still talk to him? Would Nikki accept it if they talked to her? What if the things they said to Nikki were the complete opposite of what they said to him?
    He wasn’t at all confident anymore that this had been a good idea. She was cute, sure, but that didn’t mean they were compatible, personally or professionally. She seemed so serious. Could he deal with that? He liked to goof around, working or not, and sometimes he got his best ideas when he was doing something completely off the wall, like sitting naked in the hot tub with a cigar and a glass of brandy. Somehow he just couldn’t see Nikki joining him in that activity.
    “You don’t have a hot tub here, do you?” Kane asked Allie.
    She looked a little startled. “Not yet. It’s at the top of my list to get when we have a little extra money.”
    Kane glanced at Nikki. An image of the two of them naked together in the water popped into his brain and took hold. His dick responded with a twitch. Great. Now he was going to be thinking of that all night. “Probably just as well. I don’t think I’d be able to