Today, Bella Bryce has dropped by to share a snippet from her newest release "The Protagonist," which deals with many authors' fantasies - your hero coming to life....
Excerpt:
Daisy watched William retreat down
the path toward the tent and took his instructions as permission to hide behind
the rose bushes, and also to accept the Champagne offered to her by royal
servants floating about the gardens. From where she stood, Daisy could see
everyone but she was certain not everyone could see her. She watched William
bow to the King and Queen and then offer another bow to Georgina. For someone
who seemed so sure of his love for the girl, he certainly hid it well. Georgina
didn’t even blush when she looked at him. She was on her second. Champagne and
prepared to stash the flutes at the base of the shrubbery when a royal servant
with a tray appeared beside her, again. She didn’t jump or seem surprised even
as his presence caught her off-guard. The alcohol had already begun to seep
into her reflexes.
“Oh, it’s you.” She looked at the
tray he was holding with a further ten flutes of Champagne but when she saw the
servant looking at the ones she’d stashed in the bushes, Daisy slowly lowered
herself in the large gown and collected the flutes before depositing them on
the tray. The servant cleared his throat and promptly turned like a toy soldier
and marched away. Daisy watched the royal servant ascend a set of stone stairs
nearby leading to a side entrance into the palace.
She raised her eyebrows. “Guess who
will have the most accurate description of a palace in modern writing? This
girl.”
Before Daisy could abandon the wall
of rose bushes, but the sight of William approaching caused her to stay put and
pretend to be inspecting them carefully. She assumed he wouldn’t approve of her
following the servant into the palace. She narrowed her eyes when William got
nearer but a hiccup gave her away.
“I see.”
Daisy suddenly abandoned the
practice of being interested in the roses. “You left me unattended.”
William put his hands behind his back.
“I was doing my duty by greeting the King and Queen. I will soon need to speak
to others in my father’s absence.”
“Do I have to stay on your arm and
fan my face?”
“No. You need to observe. We will go
over it all this evening after you’ve written it out.”
“What with?”
“Parchment and ink. There is no fire
wall here.”
Daisy knew he was referring to electricity and was even a little
impressed he had the right words and intention, even though the idea wasn’t
quite correct.
“So you want me to spy?”
William stepped closer. “You must
stop using questionable terms, Daisy.”
“Questionable?”
“Unless you have already forgotten
the year, you will keep words like Georgina,
spy, my flat last night and questions like may I remove my bonnet? out of conversation, especially in public.
It is not appropriate.”
Blurb:
Daisy Abbott is an author as
eccentric as she is successful. She's also used to a certain rhythm when it
comes to her writing: she sits at her desk, the hero speaks, she writes. Book
done. After all, that's how she wrote thirty titles and she doesn't expect
anything to be different during the working of her thirty-first manuscript.
Daisy is convinced the protagonist of her newest book isn’t speaking to her and
when he appears in the flesh to challenge her, she is transported to his time
and place to better understand things from his perspective. The question is,
whose story is it?
Buy Links:
About the Author:
I am a British writer of niche
market fiction in the domestic discipline genre. My first duty is to write a
compelling story with strong characterisation and dialogue that makes you feel
involved. It just so happens that all of these elements are in a genre that is
otherwise on the underside of the internet and is given very little credit for
its literary merit.
Twitter: @bella_bryce
Facebook: Author Bella Bryce
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