Guest Blogger ~ Kimber Chin

Today, the Menagerie is happy to have with us Kimber Chin as our guest blogger. It's been great fun getting to know her, and I'm sure y'all will too. So without further ado, here she is:

Writing With Photos

Every week, I feature a photo of a man in a great fitting suit on http://businessromance.com/ . As I write about men in suits (romances set in the business world), I figure my readers will find them interesting.

But that’s not why I take them.

I take these photos (candids, the guys will happily pose for photos as they are, well, guys, but I prefer candids) because they help me with my writing. If I need inspiration describing a man in the heat of contract negotiations, I study one of those photos. If I can’t remember what the hubby looked like while proposing (my jaded salesman vomited right before, he was so nervous), I pull out that photo of a man proposing to his girlfriend in a park. If I’m wondering how a man holds himself after being shot down, I have a photo of that too.

These photos are cheats, short cuts, reminders.

I do the same with other people, places, flowers, desserts (usually chocolate laden desserts). Invisible, my contemporary treasure hunt book, is partially set in Vegas. I have photo after photo of the fountains at Bellagio (one scene in the novel). I made notes of the smell of the water, the mist on my face, the way the wind changed the performance. I didn’t use all this, only bits and pieces, but I had it.

I also use photos as story starters. I’ll capture an interesting scene and use it for inspiration. Every month on http://thewritersvineyard.com/search/label/Kimber%20Chin , I post one of these photos. I may never use these starters but it helps prevent the dreaded writer’s block.

This is a snippet of the Bellagio scene from Invisible:

“Where are we going, Hagen?” Not that she cared. Or that anyone cared about her.

Certainly not this big man. He didn’t care. She was merely a means to an end.

“I think we both need some fresh air.”

Fresh air. That’s exactly what she needed. Some fresh air to clear out her brain. Had she lost a friend in there? Nikolay had been angry, angry enough to tell her goodbye. Sergei…he didn’t think she was good enough to marry his grandson.

Why did it matter to her? When had they crossed the line between source and friend? This was business.

She was running those thoughts through her mind, having herself a good ol’ fashioned pity party as they stood outside the Bellagio watching the fountains dance in time to the music. The coolness of the night air combined with the wet spray made her skin pucker into goose bumps.

Hagen, without asking, hung his jacket on her shoulders, swamping her. It was warm and smelled like him. He slid his hands around her waist, drawing her close.

If she closed her eyes, she could pretend that he cared, that she wasn’t all alone. That Birger hadn’t died and Sergei thought of her as a worthy friend and Nikolay hadn’t told her goodbye.

But it was a lie. They were all lies. “Hagen.”


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Kimber Chin uses photos to give her contemporary romances set in the world of business life. She isn’t the best photographer in the world (not even close) but great photos aren’t needed. Every week, she features a photo of a man in a suit on her site http://businessromance.com/

Breach Of Trust
by Kimber Chin

When a business secret is shared, can love survive?

Invisible
by Kimber Chin

The first person she made disappear was herself.