Author of the NYT Bestselling Novel… (Weekend Assignment #306)


This is Carly‘s first week co-hosting the Weekend Assignment with Karen, and she’s come up with prompt near and dear to book-loving hearts:

Weekend Assignment #306: You’re A Famous Author, Whats The Name Of Your Book?

Carly says:

“Sounds easy, right? Oh, but hold on, there is a catch here folks! The book you are famous for writing must be from a genre that you aren’t known for. As an example, if you really enjoy writing horror stories, make this assignment about a romance novel or a biography, or anything other then you usually relate to. If you don’t dabble in writing very often, no worries, simply come up with a title for your fictional book from the genre you read the least.”

Extra Credit: Write the opening paragraph of your best-seller!
Since I don’t really write fiction at all (aside from embellishments and exaggerations of my “mostly true stories” here) and I really don’t concentrate my reading in any particular genre, you’d think that would make this wide-open and easy, right? You’d be wrong. Wide-open is not always a good thing. Memoir and biography are out for two reasons – I do read them a lot, but more importantly for this Assignment, Carly has specified that this must be a fiction bestseller. (Well, at least that also rules out a self-help book…)

Enough procrastinating! Here’s my bestseller:

Southern Song: A Romance, by Elizabeth Penney (You don’t think I’m writing a romance under my real name, do you? That’s another part of the fiction!)

“If the breeze were blowing off the river, it would be as languid as Renata Jane was feeling that afternoon, but apparently it was even less ambitious than she was. There was not even a hint of a thunderstorm brewing in the west on that July day – it was just hot. There was nothing for it other than to lie on the wicker chaise under the ceiling fan and let her thoughts drift to that last evening she had spent with Tyler. That had been a hot one, too.”

Play along, why don’t you? At the very least, tell me what something about your bestseller! But if you’d like to make it a post of your own, Carly has revised the Weekend Assignment guidelines a bit for the weeks when she hosts:

1. Please post your entry no later than Wednesday evening (Feb.17) at 9:00 PM ET. I will be closing the assignment at that time, and no additional links will be accepted after that time.

2. Please provide a link back to the your assignment response in comments here. (NO HYPERLINKS!) Because I will be sending your links to Karen for posting with her assignments, I need your link typed out, rather then put into a hyperlink. Doing so will save me a little work, and is very much appreciated! (Feel free to display the logo below, along with the link, so other folks can find the assignment and participate along with us.)

3. Don’t forget to come back here with the link to your entry.

4. If you can, please be sure to visit your fellow participants. Let’s encourage each other!

5. Please encourage your readers to join us. The more the merrier… right?

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12 comments

  1. Oh – I have not heard of this meme before, but since I think I want to try my hand at fiction writing (you're never too old to try anything new, right?) I think I might review past prompts to see in which I would like to participate.

    I love your pen name – and the last two lines of the paragraph are terrific 🙂

  2. Molly – Thanks for the feedback on my opening paragraph :-). And the pen name is my middle name + a corruption of my former last name.

    The Weekend Assignment prompt isn't always fiction, but it's usually something fun. I do it most weeks, unless I really can't come up with anything that works. It would be great to have you join in!

  3. I love it, Florinda! LOL You should write the novel!

    I was telling my husband just the other day that if I wrote a novel, it would probably end up being a romance. Well, maybe not quite–chicklit for the older woman maybe.

  4. Debbie – The prompt is different every week, and some weeks I don't post my response till almost the next weekend :-). Maybe if I were more consistent, more people would know about the Assignment and join in!

    Kathy (Bermudaonion) – Why, most certainly, ma'am ;-D! I'm only bugged about "ma'am" when it's directed at ME.

    Wendy (Literary Feline) – That paragraph was quite enough, thank you :-). But "chick-lit for the older woman" definitely sounds like something that would appeal to me as both a reader AND a writer.

  5. Good one. I'm getting sweating while reading it.

    I hope I have time to get around to this assignment. This week has been a little crazy so far.

  6. Hi Florinda 🙂

    Hon, big apologies from me, I have been swamped and yesterday I got a new computer, so needless to say I am a bit late coming by. I have to tell you, I LOVED what I read here! Fantastic idea, using a pen name for the assignment! Well done! And I really liked the opening paragraph. Well, well, well… maybe I will ask for the LAST paragraph in a future assignment so keep that creative thinking cap on! 🙂

    -Carly

    PS… The Weekend Assignment would like to invite one and all to come on over and have some fun. The next assignment posts at Karen's blog tomorrow, and I will have a new assignment for you next week. Thursday is the day! Consider joining us for the fun!

    Karen (Outpost Mavarin)
    http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

    Carly (Ellipsis)
    http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

  7. I like your heroine's name. Like the wicker chaise and the AWOL breeze over the river and a few other key words, you've evoked the setting without descending into cliche. Well done!