Category: Butterfly Hearts

Butterfly Hearts, Lili Rivera

Lili Rivera and Butterfly Hearts

Mona Alvarado Frazier

It’s Friday night and as promised I have to keep Lili out of the happy hours so she doesn’t get into trouble. So begrudgingly she’ll let me talk about her and her story.

The main character in my first manuscript, Butterfly Hearts, is the protagonist, la mera mera, Lili Rivera. She is a  fast talking, funny, opinionated, passionate woman with a flair for eyeliner, big purses and high heels (she believes the latter makes her look thinner than her size 14 figure). If you can look pass her tough talk, language, and loud laughter you’d find una corazon espinada.

artwork by Yoborobo http://tinyurl.com/3mb6yv3

I created Lili or followed her is a better way of putting it, when I got the idea to write a fiction novel featuring a Latina woman in midlife going through crisis’s in an ‘up the river without a paddle’ kind of way.

Trauma (divorce, death, drugs, abuse, fill in the blank) can happen to any woman at any age and ethnicity so I believe it’s a universal experience. The reactions and decision making that follows such crisis’s varies among women. Some reactions we aren’t proud of but that was then and this is now. We live, learn, and hopefully grow in a positive direction.

But Lili has more problems than most in following the live, learn, grow path. She’s terca (stubborn), she wants to be in love so much that the red flags wave and she salutes them. Why shouldn’t she? Growing up in the barrio, being a struggling young single mother, then meeting the love of her life (a cop no less) and becoming a typical soccer mom was no easy feat, but she did it. She can’t understand why she can’t achieve her goals in her new post-divorce world.

And that’s where she begins in this story.

*Visit www.yoborobo.blogspot.com and view the artists wonderful ‘critters’ and other artwork.

Butterfly Hearts, PItching your book, Sample pitches

Sample Pitches & Character Music

Mona Alvarado Frazier

Almost four weeks ago I blogged about “Pitches,” in various forms. First there was the three minute pitch to an agent, which I think should probably be a 1 minute based on what I’ve read from agent blogs and rides in elevators. Then there’s the  three sentence pitch and the 25 words or less pitch. I committed to creating sample pitches in each area and my 30 days are up tomorrow. So here goes and hope I get this in the ballpark.

I’ll spare you the one to two minute one, because that’s almost 175 words. But I will post the three sentence and 25 words or less. No laughing, spewing or otherwise harming your computer screen, okay?

Three sentence pitch sample:

After Lili Rivera’s 18 year marriage ends she creates a ‘vision board’ for a new life, look, and love. But the road to these goals hits a detour when she’s arrested for drunk driving and her ex-husband is a cop, his fiance a Deputy District Attorney, and Lili’s best friend lost her husband because of a drunk driver. Relationships are tested, secrets unfold, and Lili faces a full custody battle for her twin sons.

Twenty-five words or less:

What if you’re a single mom and a drunk driving arrest lands you in jail and your ex-husband is a cop?

So there it is. Do I hear a:

And/or should I work on it some more?

The other part of today’s post is ‘sample character music.’ These are songs on the playlist compiled by my main character, the protagonist, Lili Rivera age forty something or other. She selected four songs and you should know that she’s totally old skool, she loves Oldies even if they were before her time.

She let her best friend, Veronica (Vero for short) have three songs, because she likes Christian music and Lili isn’t all that fond of that genre but she’s trying to be a better friend. Her ex-husband Joe gets a big nada, but one of the songs does remind her of him. Guess which?

In the meantime, enjoy the music and Lili will be back next Friday. I have to keep her away from those happy hours, tu sabes.