Original subtitles

in this lesson I'm going to talk to you

about the importance of having a few key

scenes that you just can't stop

daydreaming about these are the scenes

that will keep you striving towards

finishing your book in the weeks and

months to come I usually think about my

books for about a year before I start

writing them and during that time I'll

be daydreaming about what the characters

get up to often the things that I can't

stop thinking about uh the moment when

they meet or the big life-changing

moment that happens at the beginning of

the novel it might be the moment that

they kiss for the first time or you know

take it even further but I will Daydream

incessant about these scenes so when I

come to write my book I will not be able

to wait until I get to those moments to

be honest with you I don't do a lot of

planning when it comes to writing my

books I know that there are other

authors out there who plan every single

chapter before they come to write you

will have to find what works best for

you and believe me you know you will

probably change the way that you work as

you work with every book that I write I

end up writing it a little bit

differently than the last time but

generally I don't really plan I just

think about these five key scenes and

those are the ones that I just can't

wait to

write before I started writing Only Love

Can Hurt Like This there were a few

things that felt really really realistic

to me inside my mind I thought I might

take you through how I ended up writing

them in my book so the very first one is

the moment that Ren sees her feel say

Scott looking at his coworker and ren

realizes that he's in love with her it's

actually the moment that Scott himself

realizes that he's in love with his

coworker and ren sees this look on his

face and it breaks her heart so I'm

going to read that for you now my

partner and his coworker are almost 2

feet apart but there's something about

their body language that strikes me as

odd Scott is leaning forward his white

T-shirt stretched tort across his broad

back and his forearms planted on his

thighs Nadine has her arms and legs

crossed her face tilted towards Scots

and her typically bouncy High blond

ponytail seems pret naturally still the

angled position of Scott's face mirrors

Nadin but neither of them is looking at

each other nor are they speaking they

seem Frozen tense a squirrel runs along

the jagged wall to my left birds are

singing in the surrounding trees

children laugh in the distant playground

but I stand and stare unease creeping

over me they're sitting apart they're

not doing anything wrong and yet

something does not feel wrong right then

suddenly Scott turns and stares straight

at Nadine there's a strange look on his

handsome face an expression I can't

decipher my heart is in my throat as she

slowly lifts her chin and meets his eyes

two perfect side profiles his thick dark

eyebrows to her Flawless arches his

straight nose to her small upturned one

two sets of full lips serious and

unsmiling seconds tick past and darkness

washes over me to go from feeling light

and warm to sick and cold is completely

hideous they are still staring at each

other each other and not a word has

passed between them I jolt as Scott

launches himself to his feet and strides

off in the direction of town Nadine

watches him until he's out of sight then

visibly exhales hunching forward and

placing her head in her hands she stays

like that for a minute or so before

getting up and slowly following Scott I

realize I'm shaking what was that is my

fiance having an affair and if not is he

thinking about having one hang on they

only looked at each other they didn't do

anything wrong I like Nadine I Trust

Scott but something doesn't appear to be

going on between them my mother has

always told me to trust my instincts but

it's hard to trust your instincts when

they're breaking your heart so that is

the moment for me that um is my

life-changing moment From This Moment

onwards we jump forward to chapter one

this I actually wrote as a prologue

because I wanted to capture this moment

that changes my character's life and

then we pick up with her again in

chapter one when she's on her way to

America

the second of my key scenes that I'd

like to talk about that I couldn't stop

daydreaming about was the moment that

Ren sees Anders for the first time this

is in a crowded bar she's out with her

Half Sister Bailey and they've had a few

too many drinks so I'll just read that

to you at that moment Anders walks

around the back of the table and comes

to a stop in full clear view my breath

hitches unlike his brother there isn't a

hint of caveman about him he's clean

shaven his skin kissed with a golden tan

and he has eyebrows that are bordering

on Sharp he's wearing his black and

mustard checked shirt open over a faded

black T-shirt and the phrase

effortlessly cool comes to mind as he

leans over lining up a shot a few

strands of his dark blonde hair fall

across his eyeline but he doesn't push

them away before striking the ball I

hear a clunk from the ball shooting

straight into a pocket and a split

second later his eyes lift to meet mine

the air holds in my lungs as he slowly

straightens up a Gaz is locked across

the crowded room my heart flutters and

as the seconds tick pass the flutter

becomes a thump that ricochet off my rib

cage I watch fixated as his eyes seem to

darken then his brow furrows and he

breaks the contact raking his hand

through his hair blood rushes to my face

as I reach for my drink feeling as

though my pulse has been hijacked

luckily Bailey that's her half sister is

preoccupied speaking to Casey who's her

husband and doesn't notice how choppy my

breathing has

become Anders doesn't look my way again

at least not to my knowledge I keep

feeling my attention being pulled

towards him an inexplicable draw that

impossible to ignore in the end the only

way I can distract myself is shift in my

seat so that Bailey is entirely blocking

my view so that scene is kind of

supposed to introduce Chemistry Between

Ren and Anders I hope that the readers

will read that and will fancy him too um

I certainly did as I was writing about

him and you know the fact that he

doesn't look at her again I think

hopefully will will you know provide a

little bit of intrigue as to you know

whether or not he has any feelings for

her too I think she sort of felt connect

connection between them but we don't

really know why and so the next of my

key scenes will be the moment when they

actually talk for the first

time so if you remember this is probably

the first scene that I that I came up

with when I was coming up with this idea

it was when I was walking around the

fields near my home and I imagined a

character walking around in the darkness

with stars out and bumping into a hot

farmer so my character Bren is walking

home quite drunk from the bar this same

night and the fireflies out in a field

and she decides to go walking through

the field she doesn't really know what

she's doing but I think she's just

enjoying the sense of

Freedom the sound of a very loud

mosquito causes me to tense up until I

register that what I'm actually hearing

is a motorbike I'm sure town is up the

hill but this noise is coming from the

other way and it's growing louder I run

towards the sound and emerge from the

maze at the same moment a burst of light

streaks across the strip of grass to my

left I hastily jumped back and press

myself against the stalks but too late

the light scorches my face and a man

shouts out with alarm as the engine lets

out a desperate scream before cutting

out I open my eyes to see a dark mass in

front of me the headlamp blinded me so I

can't make out much more than that what

the hell the man exclaims in an American

accent as he wrestles his bike off him

and scrambles to his

feet are you okay I asked I probably

should have taken that opportunity to

run he could be a psychopath but I'm too

shitfaced to feel scared what are you

doing out here he demands to know are

you lost no I replied offensively what

are you doing out here who rides a

motorbike around fields at this hour

that's none of your business it's none

of your business what I'm doing here

then I retort feeling oddly on edge at

the sound of his voice it's low and deep

but not too deep there's a richness to

it that makes me think of honey you're

trespassing so actually it is oh my

scattered thoughts come crashing back

together well I'm on my way home now so

never you mind where are you going he

asks with exasperation as I determinedly

set off along the track I think I walked

here on my eyes are yet to readjust to

the darkness I'm still seeing spots you

need to go up to the road and turn left

if you're heading back to town he calls

after me I spin around stumbling a

little up where up there he's a tall

dark silhouette against the moonlet sky

but I can make out his long lean arm

pointing along the stretch of grass

it'll be much quicker to go straight

through I argue noticing the impressive

breth of his shoulders when his arm

drops to his side I wish I could see his

face who is this guy if you want to go

trampling through soybeans like a

freaking elephant soybeans is that what

they are hang on how rude I'm hardly

damaging them there's a TR track it's

not a track for people it's for tractors

oh whatever get off your high horse or

motorbike or whatever it is actually

you're already off your motorbike aren't

you a drunken giggle escapes at the

thought of him crushing it's probably

not funny but Christ it's funny you're

wasted I'm not that drunk it wasn't a

question getting sober by the minute

sober I ask aloud not expecting an

answer because I'm talking to myself is

that a word oh man he mutters where are

you heading he picks up his Fallen back

as I walk past him it's just a way of

Ren and Anders meeting for the first

time in darkness she hasn't quite gotten

onto the fact yet who he is but she will

do soon and you know that's another

really fun moment that I enjoyed

writing I could go on there are so many

key scenes that I thought about with

this book but there were at least sort

of five maybe sort of six or seven we're

not talking about loads and loads but

these were the ones that were really

really Vivid to me that I kept

daydreaming about there you know a

really big one for me is the Twist and

the scenes that happen around the twist

later on in the book I can't tell you

about that because I don't want to spoil

it for you if you ever gone to read it

but you know that sort of stuff quite

often it will be all of those scenes

that I talked about on the plot when we

talked about story structure earlier so

that life-changing moment the rising

action there will always be moments in

there you know when the characters are

getting to know each other and you know

having chemistry between them then there

will be that climactic scene where maybe

they kiss for the first time or your

main character realizes that he or she

is in love with a main love interest and

then that All Is Lost a moment you know

which for me is a massive twist that

pulls the rug out from a reader if you

can think of something that does a

similar sort of thing you know it's a

really good talking point and then

ultimately you know that resolution and

I don't necessarily think that much

about the ending before I get to it

because that's something that quite

often changes a little bit and comes

naturally when I'm sitting there writing

it but having these five key scenes is

really really important at least five

key scenes I would say um before you

start

writing there will be a temptation to

jump ahead and write one of these key

scenes before you get to it I would

advise not doing that I think it's

really really helpful if you have these

scenes looming because it gives you

something to strive towards I won't be

able to sleep the nights before I start

writing one of these big scenes because

I'll be thinking about it so much

especially the ones that are packed full

of chemistry like you know those are the

ones I really can't stop daydreaming

about and you know I'll still be

thinking about them as I'm falling

asleep and I might even jolt awake in

the morning and still be thinking about

them so that's really helpful because

that day I won't be able to stop writing

and I will often find that it takes me a

couple of months to write the first

40,000 words of my novel and then I'm

left with four weeks left to write

60,000 but I tell you because those so

many of my key scenes happen in the

later part of my book I cannot stop

writing when I get to those scenes and

sometimes I have been known to write

like 10,000 words in a day just because

it's you know the moment when they kiss

or the moment when things are taken to

the next level or the moment when some

big twist happens that you know I'm

really excited about so don't write

those scenes until you get to them just

daydream about them think about them and

keep striving towards them cuz those are

your goals the whole way through and

eventually before you know it you'll get

to the end of your novel in the next

lesson I'm going to talk to you about

the importance of your opening pages