The LOOK Challenge

Jacquie Rogers, author of the Hearts of Owyhee series, tagged me in the LOOK Challenge. "Look" is one of those words for which writers are always on the lookout. Like other words related to the senses, "look" can distance readers from the point-of-view character's experience, so we try t use it with caution. The Look Challenge is a game writers play to remind us to keep an eye out for the overused word and replace it with something more evocative when appropriate. (Plus, the game lets us show off snippets of our works in progress.)

The rules of the Look Challenge require those who've been tagged to find the first occurence of "look" in their work in progress, and then post that sentence and the surrounding paragraph(s). Then they have to tag an unspecified number of friends. Here's my contribution. This is the opening to GHOSTS IN THE SHADOWS, a contemporary romantic suspense:

Sam Whiteoak's shack in the Dragoon Mountains

The body was not yet cold.

That meant nothing, in Britton Moonchaser’s experience. Arizona’s relentless heat could keep a man warm six months into the grave. Sam Whiteoak hadn’t been dead long, though. His remains weren’t bloated or stiff. And there wasn’t a mark on him. At ninety-four, he’d simply reached his expiration date.

Brit gathered the empty shell in his arms and rose from the dusty ground, thanking God or Usen—assuming either existed—for small favors. Sam looked at peace…but Sam would have looked peaceful if the desert had burst into flame around him. That both irritated Brit and somewhat assuaged his guilt.


Now for the tagging part: Cindy Nord, Devon Matthews, Kirsten Arnold, Marie-Nicole Ryan, Alethea Williams, and Marlene Cronkite, y'all are it!