Michelle Chamberland's Blog
September 22, 2020
Dream to Book, Before & After You
Hi there, beautiful people! I thought I'd do a Teaser Tuesday...but a little different. By showing you where Before & After You started as some notes on my phone.
Technically, it first started as a dream I had in 2017, and SOMEHOW, I still remember it with the kind of clarity that does not usually occur with this mama brain of mine. I was camping with my family, and I woke up from that dream with an overwhelming amount of emotions from these characters, and their story, still buzzing through me. They were all tangled up in my sleep-filled brain, and I couldn't tell which belonged to me and which were still lingering from my dream world, so I sat up in bed and spent the next-I don't even know how many minutes-writing down every possible thing I could remember.
Jess & Greyson's story ended up looking almost nothing like the dream I had (because in my writing process, the characters always run the show. Hi! Total pantser here!) But I thought it would be fun to share some of what that dream, and notes, looked like here. (Oh! But first, please don't judge my writing based on these sleepy-brained, hastily written notes. *Insert monkey covering it's eyes emoji here* I swear this is not what Before & After You actually looks like.)
Jess & Greyson notes, 10/1/2017:
It's dark. They're hiding, from who, or why, I'm not sure. They're side by side. Her shoulder, arm, hip, leg tingles with awareness. A warmth, a fire at every point of contact.
He's her boyfriend's best friend. Well, her boyfriend in his eyes but not in hers. He does whatever he pleases and still claims her as his own, denying all the shitty things he's done.
His best friend has always been there to pick up the pieces. He lies for him but tells the truth in his eyes. Has held her when she's cried, shows up when her boyfriend doesn't, keeps her company at parties when her boyfriend wanders off.
He makes her laugh. They've built a friendship, a strong friendship. And now he's lying beside her in this dark room, breathing heavily. Faster than normal. She can see the rise and fall of his chest. She can feel every small movement as he shifts beside her. She can feel the tension in the air, the way it's hard to swallow being this close to him.
"Grayson?" she finally manages, past the nerves and tension and butterflies swirling in her stomach.
"Yeah?" he answers calmly. But if she knows him at all, she knows he's the best at hiding his feelings.
"Am I crazy, or do you feel it, too?" It's an innocent enough question. If he's confused she can play it off as a hundred different things, right?
But he stiffens next to her, and she realizes he knows exactly what she means.
She waits nervously for his shut down. Expects it, really. Grayson is nothing if not loyal, there's no way he'd-
His lips are on hers in the next blink, before she can even finish that thought.
Something immediately explodes inside her at the contact.
His lips are soft but demanding, desperate. He kisses her, over and over, soft and then firm, lingering, until the shock wears off and she gasps, opening her mouth for his tongue to swirl around hers.
Warm tingles everywhere.
An explosion of desire.
His lips, on hers. Tasting, demanding.
She grasps his shirt, and yanks the best thing she's ever felt in all her life closer to her body. He pulls her bottom lip between his teeth, before running his tongue along it soothingly. His hands are under her shirt, fingers gripping her waist.
She reaches for his pants, and he doesn't stop her. But that alone stops her. What is so different about tonight? Why?
She moves her head to the side, and he kisses her neck in slow, lingering kisses.
"Grayson...why aren't you stopping me?" She breathes heavily, half from the kiss, half from being pissed at herself for even asking the question when he was finally going to give her what she's wanted.
"I'm..." he pauses, breathing into her neck, "I want you, so bad. I always have. And I don't give a shit what that means for me anymore."
Grayson, Greyson. That changed too. Haha! For what Jess & Greyson's story ACTUALLY looks like, you can find it here:
Before & After You
Thank you for reading my first Goodreads Blog post!!
<3 Michelle Chamberland
Technically, it first started as a dream I had in 2017, and SOMEHOW, I still remember it with the kind of clarity that does not usually occur with this mama brain of mine. I was camping with my family, and I woke up from that dream with an overwhelming amount of emotions from these characters, and their story, still buzzing through me. They were all tangled up in my sleep-filled brain, and I couldn't tell which belonged to me and which were still lingering from my dream world, so I sat up in bed and spent the next-I don't even know how many minutes-writing down every possible thing I could remember.
Jess & Greyson's story ended up looking almost nothing like the dream I had (because in my writing process, the characters always run the show. Hi! Total pantser here!) But I thought it would be fun to share some of what that dream, and notes, looked like here. (Oh! But first, please don't judge my writing based on these sleepy-brained, hastily written notes. *Insert monkey covering it's eyes emoji here* I swear this is not what Before & After You actually looks like.)
Jess & Greyson notes, 10/1/2017:
It's dark. They're hiding, from who, or why, I'm not sure. They're side by side. Her shoulder, arm, hip, leg tingles with awareness. A warmth, a fire at every point of contact.
He's her boyfriend's best friend. Well, her boyfriend in his eyes but not in hers. He does whatever he pleases and still claims her as his own, denying all the shitty things he's done.
His best friend has always been there to pick up the pieces. He lies for him but tells the truth in his eyes. Has held her when she's cried, shows up when her boyfriend doesn't, keeps her company at parties when her boyfriend wanders off.
He makes her laugh. They've built a friendship, a strong friendship. And now he's lying beside her in this dark room, breathing heavily. Faster than normal. She can see the rise and fall of his chest. She can feel every small movement as he shifts beside her. She can feel the tension in the air, the way it's hard to swallow being this close to him.
"Grayson?" she finally manages, past the nerves and tension and butterflies swirling in her stomach.
"Yeah?" he answers calmly. But if she knows him at all, she knows he's the best at hiding his feelings.
"Am I crazy, or do you feel it, too?" It's an innocent enough question. If he's confused she can play it off as a hundred different things, right?
But he stiffens next to her, and she realizes he knows exactly what she means.
She waits nervously for his shut down. Expects it, really. Grayson is nothing if not loyal, there's no way he'd-
His lips are on hers in the next blink, before she can even finish that thought.
Something immediately explodes inside her at the contact.
His lips are soft but demanding, desperate. He kisses her, over and over, soft and then firm, lingering, until the shock wears off and she gasps, opening her mouth for his tongue to swirl around hers.
Warm tingles everywhere.
An explosion of desire.
His lips, on hers. Tasting, demanding.
She grasps his shirt, and yanks the best thing she's ever felt in all her life closer to her body. He pulls her bottom lip between his teeth, before running his tongue along it soothingly. His hands are under her shirt, fingers gripping her waist.
She reaches for his pants, and he doesn't stop her. But that alone stops her. What is so different about tonight? Why?
She moves her head to the side, and he kisses her neck in slow, lingering kisses.
"Grayson...why aren't you stopping me?" She breathes heavily, half from the kiss, half from being pissed at herself for even asking the question when he was finally going to give her what she's wanted.
"I'm..." he pauses, breathing into her neck, "I want you, so bad. I always have. And I don't give a shit what that means for me anymore."
Grayson, Greyson. That changed too. Haha! For what Jess & Greyson's story ACTUALLY looks like, you can find it here:
Before & After You
Thank you for reading my first Goodreads Blog post!!
<3 Michelle Chamberland
