Stunt Princess Teaser

Tip of the Day: If you write romantic elements of any kind, there’s an interesting discussion going on over at Fangs, Fur, Fey on what works and doesn’t.


Following along with our Teaser Week, I’m going to share a scene from the book I’m working on for Fast Draft January. Along with Kate, I’m incredibly nervous to share. Seeing as this is my first public post of any of my work. But getting over fears is the only way to get published, right?

This scene is from a book currently titled STUNT PRINCESS (or Stunt Camp Drama depending on what day you ask) about a fifteen-year old girl whose father owns a Hollywood Stunt Camp.

No normal person should have to be strong every second of the day. Or switch from being a punching bag for thirty screaming nine year olds to demonstrating proper rope repelling techniques, and then fighting off a mob of foreign bank thieves all before noon.

So was it too much to ask that after having my entire world crushed that people would let me be a girl for one minute?

“Do you mind if you have your melt down later?” my best friend Mitchell asked, while attached to a safety harness suspended off the side of the set building. He faced the building façade and switched from holding on with one hand to doing push ups into the open window. “If you don’t jump soon both my arms will fall off.”

Mitchell was completely oblivious—as usual—to how the bomb shell my dad had just dropped was affecting me. Having a guy for a best friend came in handy in numerous situations, but acting as a shoulder to cry on was not one of them.

Trying to wipe my tears away proved useless. My mascara ran down my face, sticking to the caked on foundation. No matter how I tried, I could never get used to all the makeup the director made me wear just in case a piece of my cheek bone got in the picture. Luckily today wasn’t an Injury Shot Day. Because the fake blood would have been a pain to get off if it blended with my salty tears.

“Katie,” Andrew spoke into the megaphone for the second time. “I said action.”

Andrew expected me to fly threw the air with ease. On a normal day it would have been a breeze to jump up and over Mitchell from thirty feet above the ground and land on a yellow X that looked the size of Halley Chaplin’s thighs from this high up. But thinking about that right now was the last thing I wanted to do.

“How could my own father do this to me?”

Walking back down the metal construction stairs was not an option. The set designer stood halfway up blocking my escape exit. He had a roll of duct tape in his hand and patched the flimsy made contraption posing as a building that I stood on.

Seeing that should have made me want to jump, but it didn’t.

“Are you crying,” Mitchell asked, finally looking at me. His breath grew in sharp making his words mumbled as he started to pant. “Kates, I haven’t seen you cry since you took that blow to the head from the two-by-four during our season opener last year. It’s not that bad.”

“Not that bad?” The structure shook with the sharp twist of my entire body in Mitchell’s direction. Before words came out I lost it. My crying turned to huffs filled with anger. Fearing the crew might hear, I fell to the floor and cradled my head in between my knees. The grates from the jump platform dug into my butt, but in a strange way the pitches of pain felt comforting. “He wants me to train Halley Chaplin, Miss New Face of It Girl Cosmetics. To. Take. Over. My. Job.”

Here’s a brief summary of the novel:
Fifteen-year old Katie Markman doesn’t think anything could get worse then being forced to train her archenemy A-list actress Halley Chaplin to take over her job doing stunts on the hit TV show Jr. Super Agents. But when the one person she hates even worse than Halley shows up at Markman Stunt Training Camp her desire to have a quite, drama-free summer is shattered in an instant. Eternal bad-goy Ethan Reynolds brings more to camp than a sulky attitude, tortured family life, and a one kiss fling with Katie last summer. He might just have a few secrets of his own that are ready to bring Katie’s entire world crashing down on her faster than she can say, “action.”

--Emily, Miss Querylicious