FABULOUS FIRSTS WITH... Christina Lorenzen



The first few sentences of... A HUSBAND FOR DANNA

Panting from the short dash from the church to the curb, Danna looked around wild-­eyed, spotting a limo at the curb. The fact that it wasnʹt her bridal partyʹs limousine didnʹt matter. She ran around to the driverʹs side and flung open the door. The sound of her wedding gown tearing broke the silence in the big empty car. Frustrated, she shoved away the seat belt and fumbled with the ignition key.





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FUN FIRST FACTS ABOUT CHRISTINA

What was the first romance you ever read?
I actually started with romantic suspense novels by Phyllis Whitney and books by Victoria Holt and Kathleen Woodiwiss. My grandmother was a voracious reader and always had a stack of books from the library. I would read hers and find new authors for myself.

Tell me about the first novel you ever wrote? What ever happened to it?
The first novel I ever wrote was a YA. Actually there were 3 YAs that I wrote but it was long ago and I was a teen. Around senior year I landed a job writing for a local paper and once I saw how writing articles could pay money almost instantly, I packed up my fiction dreams and those 3 manuscripts. To this day I don’t know what happened to them. I’m thinking they’re buried in the attic of my parents’ house never to see the light of day again.

What’s the first thing you do when you start writing a new story?
Like anything else that’s new in life, starting out is the most exciting part. When I’m ready to start a new story the first thing I do is head to my local office supply store to pick out a notebook. For each novel I write I keep a novel notebook. Since I don’t do formal outlines and I’m basically a pantster, the notebook is where I jot down the beginnings of the story. I write out the basic premise, the names of the hero and heroine, the setting and other details that I know at the start. Even when I’m not writing I’m planning that book so the notebook is where I jot down insights and sudden ideas and details. I play with this notebook for quite a while. Then when the actual writing of the first draft begins I keep the notebook next to my laptop. At the end of each writing session I jot down notes about what I wrote that day. If I have concluded a chapter, I write up a summary of what happened and to whom in the notebook. The notebook is also excellent for keeping track of things like days, time, months, hair color, eye color. It’s easy to start out with a blue eyed hero and then suddenly find yourself writing “his chocolate brown eyes” chapters down the road. The notebook helps with continuity, which is vital to authors because readers do notice.

MORE ABOUT CHRISTINA

Christina Lorenzen started writing as a young teen, jotting stories in wire ring composition notebooks. Her first typewriter made it faster to get all those stories out of her head and down on paper. Her love of writing has sustained her through a myriad of jobs that included hairdresser, legal secretary, waitress and door to door saleswoman. Luckily for her, writing proved to be successful and a lot less walking than going door to door. A Husband for Danna is Christina’s first novel. She is busy working on her next. When she isn’t writing or reading, she can be found walking her dog, talking to her herd of cats and spending time with her family.