Face-Lift 62

Guess the Plot

Bad to the Bone

1. After a George Thorogood concert, Ace Pilate sees three thugs beating a prostitute. Wielding his .38, Ace saves the prostitute, then exclaims, “Mom?!”

2. A bad boy chiropractor moonlights as a male escort to the mega-rich, and becomes the main suspect in a double homicide.

3. A young man's cult conversion hits a snag when he mistakes the only existing relic of their founder Fido for a chew toy.

4. Lucius was supposed to find "sweet, innocent" Macy and bring her home, but when he finds "bad girl" Macy, in the flesh, he gets other ideas.

5. A beautiful paleontologist finds a skeleton that may explain human evolution. A rival offers to help unearth it. Will he bury her in the process?

6. By day, Guido is the town butcher. By night, he's the serial killer police have dubbed . . . "The Butcher."



Original Version

Dear Evil Editor,

In Bad to the Bone, a completed 75,000 word sensual contemporary romance, a former bad boy and the wannabe bad girl, will open up old wounds and push each other until breaking point.

Four years ago, Macy Jackson took off for the big smoke. [Unsure what the big smoke was, Evil Editor Googled it. It has several meanings, the most common of which is a cigar party at which macho men eat steak and smoke Montecristos. It also refers to Sydney, Melbourne, and London. And a golf club.] Tired of her country town existence and desperately wishing for a shot at the big time, [The big time of what?] she packed her bags and kissed her family goodbye. Four years and one stupid mistake later, Macy is wondering whether she made the right choice. One stupid mistake. [What stupid mistake?] That was all it took to turn Macy Jackson’s dreams on their head [What were her dreams?] and her world upside down. But it’s a mistake she’s always thought she could hide by blending anonymously into the fast paced life of a big city.
[This is all too vague. Any of the following information could fit this plot:

Big Smoke: Hollywood
Macy's "Big Time" Dream: Movie star
Macy's Stupid Mistake: Giant tattoo on butt (costs her Brad Pitt nude scene).

Big Smoke: Sydney
Macy's "Big Time" Dream: $1,000,000 Survivor Australia check
Macy's Big Mistake: Refuses to eat bowl of worms; voted off in week 1.

Big Smoke: Washington
Macy's "Big Time" Dream: First Lady
Macy's Stupid Mistake: White House intern gig gets out of hand.

Big Smoke: Cigar party
Macy's "Big Time" Dream: Sugar Daddy
Macy's Stupid Mistake: Misuse of cigar (learned nothing from intern gig).]

Until Lucius Devon shows up at her bar clearly intent on taking her home. And he’s not taking no for an answer. [When your name is Lucius, you get used to taking no for an answer.]

Lucius finds Macy right where her brother said she’d be. Serving booze and fighting off the leery-eyed stares of drunks. But the last time he saw her, she was a foot shorter and a goody-goody. [Now she's wearing twelve-inch heels.] [She hasn't gone home, even for a holiday visit, in four years?] Now, he can see all too clearly the dangerous curves Macy has developed [That was her stupid mistake? A boob job?] and she’s quick to point out that she’s not the sweet innocent girl everyone likes to believe she is. It’s up to him to convince her to come home, but seeing her in the flesh [And I do mean the flesh.] gives Lucius other ideas. Miss Smart Mouth has no intention of going back to their small home town and Lucius is determined to push her bad girl façade to its limits. [Yes, Lucius, who's been on the farm all his life, is going to show Macy, who's been in the big smoke four years, a thing or two about the ways of the world.]

Notes

Evil Editor suggests filling in the specifics. You don't want the editor to think your entire book is this vague. And if it is this vague, you are welcome to choose one of the specific plots suggested above.