#44 Inside the Emotion of Fiction's "On The Edge" by Gracie C McKeever . . .

Chris Rice Cooper 

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https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

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***The CRC Blog welcomes submissions from published and unpublished fiction genre writers for INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION.  Contact CRC Blog via email at caccoop@aol.com or personal Facebook messaging at https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

****Gracie C McKeever’s On The Edge is the forty-fourth in a never-ending series called INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION where the Chris Rice Cooper Blog (CRC) focuses on one specific excerpt from a fiction genre and how that fiction writer wrote that specific excerpt.  All INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links are at the end of this piece. 

Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? On The Edge. This was actually the only title I considered for this work. It’s the first book in a series where all of the titles are a play on words (or names), thus the series name, Play On.

Fiction genre? Ex science fiction, short story, fantasy novella, romance, drama, crime, plays, flash fiction, historical, comedy, movie script, screenplay, etc. And how many pages long? BDSM, Interracial, Romantic Suspense, Contemporary, 275 pages

Has this been published? And it is totally fine if the answer is no. If yes, what publisher and what publication date? The novel is published by Siren Publishing, Inc. under its Sensations Line and part of the BDSM Collection. Just released January 7, 2019

What is the date you began writing this piece of fiction and the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction? I started the initial premise for On The Edge sometime in 2012 when I was contacted by an agent who was interested in capitalizing on the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon and “discovering” the next E.L. James. I wasn’t working on anything in that genre at the time, but came up with a premise I thought would fit the bill. Unfortunately, my rendition was too niche and not mainstream enough. Specifically, my hero wasn’t a billionaire and was too “blue collar”, LOL. On The Edge has gone through numerous changes in the six years since that initial premise. The hero is still not a billionaire, but he’s flush enough as an architect and partner in an architectural firm (his profession in original premise). I completed On The Edge sometime in September 2018. During the six years to fruition, the book has become the first book in a BDSM series. I am currently working on the second book, Cold As Ice, with a minimum of six total books planned and a two-book spin-off (Sky’s The Limit, duet name).

Where did you do most of your writing for this fiction work? And please describe in detail. And can you please include a photo? Most of the writing was done in my home office, a desk and computer set-up in my bedroom. The desk is pretty cluttered, but I function okay in the space and know where everything I need is.

What were your writing habits while writing this work- did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? Not really a coffee drinker and I try not to eat or drink anything at my desk while I’m working. I usually have the television turned to some show that I’d eventually tune out and would only become background noise. Sometimes I listened to the music channel or music on Pandora. I wrote directly into computer/the Work-in-Progress or pen and paper into small notebook I carry in my handbag. Of late, I’ve been typing notes into Samsung Notes on my phone when an idea comes to me. The time of day was/is problematic as I work full-time and didn’t really get a chance to write until I arrived home around 7:30pm after kickboxing class. By the time I showered and had something to eat, I’d have about an hour or two to get something meaningful down. Sometimes I’d get on a roll and write into the wee hours, a definite no-no when my clock is set for 5am.

What is the summary of this specific fiction work? Aspiring fashion designer Melania Noble has her sights set on an exclusive contract with budding, chic retailer, Ramara’s Rags. With tragic experiences of domestic violence in her past, Mel doesn't want to waste a second not pursuing her dream and has no time for distractions, especially those of the all-consuming, arrogant male variety.

Haunted and determined to avoid the same mistakes of his dysfunctional parents, well-heeled architect Edge Ryan sublimates his thirst for kink with work. A chance encounter with rough-and-ready “Mel the car mechanic,” reveals what a poor substitute work has been. He’ll have his job cut out for him, however, convincing Mel to break her own dry spell and explore her inner submissive.
The deeper she lets Edge take her down the BDSM rabbit hole, however, the more Mel realizes she’s enjoying the trip and the more Edge realizes he may have finally found not just a playmate but a soul mate.

Can you give the reader just enough information for them to understand what is going on in the excerpt? This is the initial meet cute where Mel Noble, the heroine is on her way to an interview with a successful clothing retailer when she bumps into the hero, Edge Ryan, who she accuses of trying to “steal” her cab.

Please include the excerpt and include page numbers as reference. The excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer. Excerpt (pages 11-15):  Instantly warm all over at the butter-melting timbre of his voice, Mel turned to see exactly with whom she was dealing. Sky-blue peepers stared back at her, unblinking. Her stomach fluttered, not in fear, but something else entirely. When her pussy muscles joined the party, involuntarily contracting at the hot male’s proximity, Mel was about through with her rampant hormones!

Arousal should have been the furthest thing from her mind. Not only was she shut in a car with a stranger—technically two strangers—but she normally didn’t have a thing for white guys. The dude sitting beside her, however, was gorgeous enough to cross racial barriers—wavy, chocolate-brown hair, long-lashed eyes, full, brother’s lips, and sculpted features—all causing her clit to swell.
Wait one minute! She didn’t have a thing for any guys, not for the foreseeable future anyway—black, white, or in between. Men were off-limits, too dangerous to her piece of mind and too much of a distraction. She didn’t have the time or desire to entertain a man, good looking or not, as more than a friend. In her experience, any man willing settle for friendship did so with the intention of changing a woman’s mind to become more than friends. She’d made the mistake of nurturing friendships with guys who ultimately just wanted to get into her pants or, worse, who proclaimed their love for her when she didn’t feel the same way.

“I didn’t stutter,” Mel said. “I’ve been hailing my ass off. This cab is mine.”

“I don’t think so,” he said.

“Excuse me?”

He looked her up and down, scanning her body like a bar code, expression smug as his gaze lingered on her hips.

“Your ass seems intact to me.”

“Ha-ha.” Her words came out a lot stronger than she felt considering she felt like someone had just zapped her with a pair of her father’s jumper cables.

“You two want to make a decision back there? The meter’s run—”

Mr. Cab Thief silently put up a finger without turning to the driver. Just one finger and Bushy Brows shut his trap.
       Cool trick, but the hypnotist act wasn’t going to work on her. “Look, mister man—”
       “There’s no reason we can’t share. We’re going in the same direction.”

“Who says?”
“Aren’t we?”

Well, yeah, but that was beside the point. She didn’t want any company, especially Mr. Cab Thief’s. His aura overpowered, eating up all the oxygen in the car and encroaching her personal space. Not to mention his cologne smelled delectable, subtle yet discernable and with the right amount of citrus-spicy scent to make her nostrils flare in appreciation.

“I’ll make it worth your while,” he murmured.

Mel’s sense of indignation went on high alert. How dare he? She put a fist on her hip and rolled her head on her neck in concert with her eyes. “Excuse me?”

He didn’t flinch, just flashed a dimples-revealing smile at her. “I meant I would pay your half of the fare. But if you have something else in mind…”

She bet he thought he was intimidating her with that shrewd look, his azure eyes probing her like an airport X-ray. Not to mention the sedate tone of his voice he probably thought lulled her into a sense of false security. He hadn’t raised it yet, just sat there in his expensive designer suit and tie, looking like the master of his domain, spouting orders-disguised-as-suggestions in that panties-creaming voice.

“I’ma do me.” Mel knocked on the partition, spouted her address to Bushy Brows, and glared at Mr. Cab Thief, daring him to dispute her.

He simply smirked and sat back in his seat, looking like some famous pasha, minus the mustache and hat.
Bushy Brows hesitated and shifted his glance from Mel to her cab mate.

Mr. Cab Thief shrugged his shoulders and said, “By all means, follow the lady’s directions,” as if giving his permission.

Mel didn’t know what irked her more, that the driver waited for Mr. Cab Thief’s okay or that Mr. Cab Thief took the cab driver’s acquiescence as his due. “You’re not getting out?”

“Don’t have the slightest inclination to.”

Bushy Brows turned in his seat, started the car, and merged into the mid-morning traffic.

She had half a mind to tell him to stop until the interloper got out.

Haughty white boy.

Okay, he wasn’t really a boy, though he didn’t seem all that much older than her twenty-five years. He was all man though—broad-shouldered, tall, sexy-as-sin with swagger to spare—and just bad news all the way around for Mel’s libido.

She sat with her arms folded across her breasts and stared out the window to her left. However, the wild antics of bike messengers wasn’t enough to curb new sexual awareness.

It had been a long time since she’d lusted after anyone, not since her ex, Lucien Williams, two years ago, in fact. Reminding herself how that affair ended helped her keep her libido in check… barely.

“What line of work are you in?”

She turned in time to see her cab mate nodding at her designs with his chin.

“Car repair.” She smirked, unwilling to volunteer anything personal, even if Mr. Cab Thief did look and smell like a piece of heaven.

He arched a brow. “Really?”

“Really.” She paused, questioning the wisdom of her next words, but her parents had raised her right. “And you?”

“Architect.”

She’d have guessed Wall Street banker or high-priced attorney, but architect was white collar-y enough and above her pay-grade. She wondered if he was a partner in a firm or if he flew solo, then just as quickly kicked herself for her curiosity. She was not interested in this man, so it didn’t matter how he made his living.

Even as she thought it, a voice inside her said she could be interested.

Mel told the voice to mind its own business.

Why is this excerpt so emotional for you? And can you describe your own emotional experience of writing this specific excerpt? It’s been so long, I don’t remember what my emotional experience of writing this excerpt was. I remember relief at getting the story off the ground and remember enjoying watching the characters come alive and take shape, becoming people in their own right, separate from my original ideas of them. I guess I do get emotional at the idea of soul-mates and love at first sight which this first meeting hints at.

Were there any deletions from this excerpt that you can share with us? And can you please include a photo of your marked up rough drafts of this excerpt. Nothing that I can specifically remember or share. I do know that while I was in the midst of writing On The Edge I learned that my targeted publisher had changed its submission guidelines and put a cap on the acceptable word-count at 80K. I was well over this cap at the time and nowhere near finishing the book so had to go back to the beginning for the umpteenth time and start some extensive revisions and editing.

Other works you have published?

The Matchmaker SeriesA

The Double R Series 

Elk Creek Series 

Zara’s Bois Trilogy

Sisters of Emsharra Trilogy

Three Men and a Bounty

In Plain Sight

Spells Cast in Shadows

Eternal Designs

Between Darkness and Daylight

Dancing in the Dark

Desert Dreams

Flames Past

New Life Incognita 

Miles To Go

Intimate Affairs

Anything you would like to add? Thanks so much for the opportunity to share my words and work and emotion with your readers!

A native New Yorker, Gracie C. McKeever has published numerous novels, novellas and short story collections under the romance and erotic romance umbrella and other romance subgenres. She has been writing since the ripe old age of seven when two younger brothers were among her earliest, captive audience for various short story readings and performances. It wasn’t until 2001, however, when Gracie caught the erotic romance bug that produced an instant affinity for the genre and spawned her first erotic romance, Beneath the Surface, published in 2006 by Siren Publishing.

E-mail: gwiz10@optonline.net
Website: https://www.graciecmckeever.com, https://www.graciecmckeever.net
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gracie-C-McKeever/14630435969/
Blog: http://gracie-g-spot.blogspot.com/

INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links

001   11 15 2018 Nathaniel Kaine’s

Thriller Novel

John Hunter – The Veteran

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/001-inside-emotion-of-fiction-nathaniel.html

002   11 18 2018 Ed Protzzel’s

Futuristic/Mystery/Thriller

The Antiquities Dealer 

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/002-inside-emotion-of-fiction-ed.html

003   11 23 2018 Janice Seagraves’s

Science Fiction Romance

Exodus Arcon

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/003-inside-emotion-of-fiction-exodus.html

004   11 29 2018 Christian Fennell’s

Literary Fiction Novel

The Fiddler in the Night

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/004-inside-emotion-of-fiction-christian.html

005  12 02 2018 Jessica Mathews’s

Adult Paranormal Romance

Death Adjacent

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/5-inside-emotion-of-fiction-jessica.html

006  12 04 2018 Robin Jansen’s

Literary Fiction Novel

Ruby the Indomitable

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/006-inside-emotion-of-fiction-robin.html

007  12 12 2018  Adair Valerez’s

Literary Fiction Novel

Scrim

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/007-inside-emotion-of-fiction-adair.html

008  12 17 218 Kit Frazier’s

Mystery Novel

Dead Copy

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/008-inside-emotion-of-fiction-kit.html

009 12 21 2019 Robert Craven’s

Noir/Spy Novel

The Road of a Thousand Tigers

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/009-inside-emotion-of-fiction-robert.html

010 01 13 2019 Kristine Goodfellow’s

Contemporary Romantic Fiction

The Other Twin

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/010-inside-emotion-of-fictions-other.html

011 01 17 2019 Nancy J Cohen’s

Cozy Mystery

Trimmed To Death

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/11-inside-emotion-of-fiction-nancy.html

012 01 20 2019 Charles Salzberg’s

Crime Novel

Second Story Man

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/12-inside-emotion-of-fiction-charles.html

013 01 23 2019 Alexis Fancher’s

Flash Fiction

His Full Attention

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/13-inside-emotion-of-fiction-alexis.html

014 01 27 2019 Brian L Tucker’s

Young Adult/Historical

POKEWEED:  AN ILLUSTRATED NOVELLA

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/14-inside-emotion-of-fiction-brian-l.html

015 01 31 2019 Robin Tidwell’s

Dystopian

Reduced

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/15-inside-emotion-of-ficton-reduced-by.html

016 02 07 2019 J.D. Trafford’s

Legal Fiction/Mystery

Little Boy Lost

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/16-inside-emotion-of-fiction-little-boy.html

017 02 08 2019 Paula Shene’s

Young Adult ScieFi/Fantasy/Romance/Adventure

My Quest Begins 

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/017-inside-emotion-of-fiction-my-quest.html

018 02 13 2019 Talia Carner’s

Mainstream Fiction/ Suspense/ Historical

Hotel Moscow

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/18-inside-emotion-of-fiction-talia.html

019 02 15 2019 Rick Robinson’s

Multidimensional Fiction

Alligator Alley

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/19-inside-emotion-of-fiction-rick.html

020 02 21 2019 LaVerne Thompson’s

Urban Fantasy

The Soul Collectors

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/20-inside-emotion-of-fictions-soul.html

021 02 27 2019 Marlon L Fick’s

Post-Colonialist Novel

The Nowhere Man

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/21-inside-emotion-of-fictions-nowhere.html

022 03 02 2019 Carol Johnson’s

Mainstream Novel

Silk And Ashes

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/22-inside-emotion-of-fictions-silk-and.html

023 03 06 2019 Samuel Snoek-Brown’s

Short Story Collection

There Is No Other Way to Worship Them

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/23-inside-emotion-of-fictions-there-is.html

024 03 08 2019 Marlin Barton’s

Short Story Collection

Pasture Art

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/24-inside-emotion-of-fictions-pasture.html

025 03 18 2019 Laura Hunter’s

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Beloved Mother

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/25-inside-emotion-of-fictions-beloved.html

026 03 21 2019 Maggie Rivers’s

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Magical Mistletoe

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/26-inside-emotion-of-fictions-magical.html

027  03 25 2019 Faith Gibson’s

Paranormal Romance

Rafael

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/27-inside-emotion-of-fictions-rafael-by.html

028 03 27 2019 Valerie Nieman’s

Tall Tale

To The Bones

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/28-inside-emotion-of-fictions-to-bones.html

029 04 04 2019 Betty Bolte’s

Paranormal Romance

Veiled Visions of Love

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/04/29-inside-emotion-of-fictions-veiled.html

030 04 05 2019  Marianne Maili’s

Tragicomedy

Lucy, go see

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/04/30-inside-emotion-of-fictions-lucy-go.html

031 04 10 2019 Gregory Erich Phillips’s

Mainstream Fiction

The Exile

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/04/31-inside-emotion-of-fictions-exile-by.html

032 04 15 2019 Jason Ament’s

Speculative Fiction

Rabid Dogs

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/04/32-inside-emotion-of-fictions-rabid.html

033 04 24 2019 Stephen P. Keirnan’s

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The Baker’s Secret

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/04/33-inside-emotion-of-fictions-bakers.html

034 05 01 2019 George Kramer’s

Fantasy

Arcadis: Prophecy Book

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/34-inside-emotion-of-fictions-arcadis.html

035 05 05 2019 Erika Sams’s

Adventure/Fantasy/Romance

Rose of Dance

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036 05 07 2019 Mark Wisniewski’s

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037 05 08 2019 Marci Baun’s

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The Whispering House

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/37-inside-emotion-of-fictions.html

038 05 10 2019 Suzanne M. Wolfe’s

Historical Fiction

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039 05 12 2019 Edward DeVito’s

Historical/Fantasy

The Woodstock Paradox

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/39-inside-emotion-of-fictions-woodstock.html

040 05 14 2019 Gytha Lodge’s

Literary/Crime

She Lies In Wait

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/40-inside-emotion-of-fictions-she-lies.html

041 05 16 2019 Kari Bovee’s

Historical Fiction/Mystery

Peccadillo At The Palace:  An Annie Oakley Mystery

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/41-inside-emotion-of-fictions.html

042 05 20 2019 Annie Seaton’s

Time Travel Romance

Follow Me

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/42-inside-emotion-of-fictions-follow-me.html

043 05 22 2019 Paula Rose Michelson’s

Inspirational Christian Romance

Rosa & Miguel – Love’s Legacy: Prequel to The Naomi

Chronicles

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/43-inside-emotion-of-fictions-rosa.html

044 05 24 2019 Gracie C McKeever’s
BDMS/Interracial Romance
On The Edge
http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/44-inside-emotion-of-fictions-on-edge.html