by June Shaw
Before I sold a novel, I had no idea that an author needed to spend so much time promoting her work. Boy, but we do--unless, of course, your name happens to be one that remains atop the bestseller list.
DEADLY REUNION, third book in my series of humorous mysteries, comes out at the end of July. It seems like ages since I started that book and again since I completed all of the rewrites. Now I'm hard at work on another book--but it's time to throw myself full out into promoting the one that comes out this summer.
Jugglers should be good at this job. They know how to balance one thing against another one. We've studied from excellent authors to learn how to write well enough to sell and now need to learn more and more marketing skills. Hm, let's see--if I'd start college now to learn these things, I would probably schedule classes equally between marketing and creative writing. Oh, and then there's social media, public speaking and too many other skills to think about.
I'll stop now. I need to write. Or promote. Probably both.
How fortunate I am to have entered into this interesting challenge of becoming a modern novelist.
Showing posts with label novel writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label novel writing. Show all posts
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Three Easy Pieces
By Pat Browning 
Dusting off the keyboard, flexing your fingers, settling down to write your novel? Nothing to it, according to Vickie Britton: You just write a good beginning, a good middle and a good ending. On Suite10.com she lays it all out -- good advice from a Voice of Experience.
Vickie and her sister, Loretta Jackson, have co-authored more than thirty novels of mystery and suspense, published by Avalon, Zebra, Thorndike, FictionWorks, TrebleHeart Books, and Whiskey Creek. They have recently signed a contract with Mundania Press to publish THE CURSE OF SENMUT, the first book in the Ardis Cole Series, in electronic format and trade paperback.
They have a new 3-book Avalon Western series: The Devil's Game, The Fifth Ace, and The Wild Card. They also have a new Robert Hale mystery, Stone of Vengeance. Their novels Path of the Jaguar and Nightmare in Morocco, have been reprinted as Thorndike Large Print editions and have sold internationally. The sisters also have an audio series, The Ardis Cole Mystery Series, with Books in Motion.
The sisters' research has recently taken them to Peru, Russia, Egypt, and China. Among their titles, NIGHTMARE IN MOROCCO, KILLER OF EAGLES, and MEXICAN MYSTIQUE, have just been released in Scotland and Italy.
Vickie Britton lives in Hutchinson, Kansas with her husband, Roger, a geologist and computer consultant. Their son, Ed, lives in Denver and works as game level designer.
Loretta Jackson, former teacher of English and Creative Writing, lives in Junction City, Kansas.
You can read summaries of some of their books at
http://www.foxfountain.com/vl.htm.
****
FIRST Chapter for Your Novel
Vickie Britton
The first chapter is the most important chapter in the book because it is the first sample of your writing your readers will see. It must have the power to draw them in and interest them in the rest of the book. The first chapter also determines the voice, tone, and atmosphere of the story.
Start with Conflict or a Point of Interest
While the first chapter doesn’t have to start with soap-opera drama, it must have enough action the interest the reader. Many writers choose to begin their story at a point of conflict such as at a place where the hero is in immediate danger. For example, the logical place to begin a mystery would be with the discovery of the body, not the detective commuting to work or reading the morning newspaper.
Providing Background Information
Many instructors habitually advise their students to throw away the first chapter. Should you? That depends. Many writers make the mistake of including far too much background information in the first chapter. This is because they are anxious to set the groundwork for the rest of novel. They want readers to know everything about their character from the start.
You need to start where the action begins, not with a lot of who, what and where explanation about your character and how he got in this mess. The first chapter should provide only the bare essentials of background information.
For example, it might be necessary for the reader to know where your hero lives, but not, at this point, where he went to school, how many kids he has, whether or not he gets along with his mother. These points can be introduced if and when they become pertinent to the story. Though additional information is necessary, it should not all be crowded into the first chapter. If there is too much explanation, most of it can be discarded, and what is essential should be threaded into to a later part of the book.
Now that you have gotten their interest, you must develop the first chapter by deepening the conflict. If you have started with a point of action, now is the time to bring into focus the details of the event, and the character’s reactions to the event.
End With a Question or Cliffhanger
Just as the first chapter begins with a bang, it should not end with a whimper. The final lines should pose a question that draws readers into the next chapter.
If your book is a mystery, have the detective discover an unusual lead or clue he plans to follow up on. If your story is a romance, cut the first chapter off at the point where the boy asks the girl for a date, not after the reader already knows her answer. If you are writing a thriller, stop the first chapter with the hero hanging on the ledge of the building, not after he has jumped to safety.
By the end of the first chapter the reader should
*be introduced to the main characters
*know where the story takes place
*have a feeling for the atmosphere of the book
*know the main problem or conflict
*experience some kind of mental or physical excitement
The Middle Chapters
Have you ever put a book down in the middle and never picked it up again? Books are often begun with a great burst of enthusiasm, but by the time the middle is reached, the excitement may have worn thin for both writer and reader. That is because the middle of the book is the longest section and often the most challenging part of a novel to write. What was once new and exciting runs the risk of becoming redundant and ho-hum boring. The writer must think of ways to keep the book entertaining to hold the reader’s interest to the end.
Keep it Exciting by Continually Upping the Ante
The middle is the place to up the ante. If the hero is at risk, make him more so. If he is in danger, make him sweat even more. For example, if your hero is a professional gambler and has risked his own money in the first chapter, in the middle get him into even more hot water by risking money from the boss’s safe or his wife’s private account. Now, if he loses again, he’s really got a problem.
Add a Totally New Event
Spice the middle up with an entirely new event. If you are writing a mystery, add a new murder. If another murder does not fit the storyline, then add a threat or warning. A sinister phone call, a death note, or the taking of a hostage can heighten the suspense and keep the reader interested.
Add an Unexpected Twist
A twist or surprise in the middle can be a pleasant diversion. Perhaps the hero has figured out that the source of all of his problems is the next-door neighbor. He goes to confront him, only to find the neighbor lying in a pool of blood. Everything he has thought up to now has been wrong. The hero must now re-think his angle and start from square one (plus, he must also now find out who murdered the neighbor.)
Further the Subplot
The middle is also the place to develop and deepen the subplot. Create interest in the romantic subplot by making the hero and heroine temporarily separated for some reason. Maybe the hero gets into an argument with his girlfriend or has a misunderstanding that is difficult to clear up. Keeping them estranged for a few chapters can liven up the middle of the book and generate reader interest.
Writing the middle can be a challenge. Creating new problems and events for the hero to face and overcome can help make the middle as entertaining as the rest of the book.
*Up the ante
*Add a totally new event
*Add an unexpected twist
*Further the subplot
Readers who have stayed with the book to the end deserve a reward -- a good ending. A satisfying ending is one that ties up all the loose ends in a logical manner and doesn't disappoint.
The Hero Should Solve his Own Problem
The resolution of the novel should logical and should, at least in part, be brought about by the hero’s quick wit, thinking or reaction. It is unfair to the reader to have the problem solved too easily, or by chance or circumstance. For example, if the hero is in a shootout with the bad guy, it would be disappointing if a brick suddenly fell from an overhead building and instantly killed the bad guy for him.
This would certainly make the hero’s day and solve his problem, but it is unsatisfying because the hero has done nothing toward saving his own life. It would be much better if the hero had made a plan in advance, perhaps rigged the brick so that it would fall, then lured the bad guy over to the spot where it will land. In any event, the hero should use his wits in some way to save his own life. His actions should make sense and be products of his own logic, not fate.
Resolve any Subplot
By the end of the book, any subplots, such as romantic subplots, should be resolved. If the hero has a fight with his girlfriend, do they reconcile or are they forever estranged? Other subplots that should be resolved by the end of the book are conflicts with family members or major life decisions.
Readers are interested in even small details about the hero or heroine. For example, in your novel the heroine might be looking for a new house to buy. This may be only a minor aside, yet the reader wants to know and will be disappointed if the heroine has not found and purchased her little cottage by the sea the end of the book. Keep them hanging until the end of the book, but not indefinitely.
Tie up all Loose Ends
“And they lived happily ever after.” It is customary for a novel, especially a genre novel, to have a happy ending, or end on a positive note. The ending is usually a time to assure the reader that all the wrongs have been righted.
However, a book does not absolutely have to have a happy ending. In fact, some of the greatest novels of literature end on an unhappy note. If your book does not have a happy conclusion, then it must be in some way satisfying. The hero must have grown or learned some valuable truth about himself. By the end of the book, the problem that plagued the hero should be resolved, one way or another. The hero should either be on his way to a happier life or have in some way come to terms with, and be at peace with, the decisions he has made.
End With a Strong Sentence
The ending is a good place to provide a kind of closure. What has the hero learned (or not learned) about himself? Has this experience made the hero a better person in some way? If possible, end with a deep thought or emotion.
In A Tale of Two Cities, when Sydney Carton commits the noble act of dying in another man’s place, the words "it is a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done, it is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known,” will stay with the reader long after the pages have closed. And who can forget the ending line of Gone with the Wind, when Scarlett O’Hara pronounces, “After all, tomorrow is another day!”
Tips for making a good ending:
*make sure the ending is logical
*the hero should solve his own problem
*resolve any subplot
*tie up all loose ends
*leave the reader with a strong sentence, thought or emotion
****
Read Vickie’s articles at: Suite 101.com
http://tinyurl.com/2egdc3m
****
There you have it. So what am I waiting for?
Dusting off the keyboard, flexing your fingers, settling down to write your novel? Nothing to it, according to Vickie Britton: You just write a good beginning, a good middle and a good ending. On Suite10.com she lays it all out -- good advice from a Voice of Experience.
Vickie and her sister, Loretta Jackson, have co-authored more than thirty novels of mystery and suspense, published by Avalon, Zebra, Thorndike, FictionWorks, TrebleHeart Books, and Whiskey Creek. They have recently signed a contract with Mundania Press to publish THE CURSE OF SENMUT, the first book in the Ardis Cole Series, in electronic format and trade paperback.
They have a new 3-book Avalon Western series: The Devil's Game, The Fifth Ace, and The Wild Card. They also have a new Robert Hale mystery, Stone of Vengeance. Their novels Path of the Jaguar and Nightmare in Morocco, have been reprinted as Thorndike Large Print editions and have sold internationally. The sisters also have an audio series, The Ardis Cole Mystery Series, with Books in Motion.
The sisters' research has recently taken them to Peru, Russia, Egypt, and China. Among their titles, NIGHTMARE IN MOROCCO, KILLER OF EAGLES, and MEXICAN MYSTIQUE, have just been released in Scotland and Italy.
Vickie Britton lives in Hutchinson, Kansas with her husband, Roger, a geologist and computer consultant. Their son, Ed, lives in Denver and works as game level designer.
Loretta Jackson, former teacher of English and Creative Writing, lives in Junction City, Kansas.
You can read summaries of some of their books at
http://www.foxfountain.com/vl.htm.
****
FIRST Chapter for Your Novel
Vickie Britton
The first chapter is the most important chapter in the book because it is the first sample of your writing your readers will see. It must have the power to draw them in and interest them in the rest of the book. The first chapter also determines the voice, tone, and atmosphere of the story.
Start with Conflict or a Point of Interest
While the first chapter doesn’t have to start with soap-opera drama, it must have enough action the interest the reader. Many writers choose to begin their story at a point of conflict such as at a place where the hero is in immediate danger. For example, the logical place to begin a mystery would be with the discovery of the body, not the detective commuting to work or reading the morning newspaper.
Providing Background Information
Many instructors habitually advise their students to throw away the first chapter. Should you? That depends. Many writers make the mistake of including far too much background information in the first chapter. This is because they are anxious to set the groundwork for the rest of novel. They want readers to know everything about their character from the start.
You need to start where the action begins, not with a lot of who, what and where explanation about your character and how he got in this mess. The first chapter should provide only the bare essentials of background information.
For example, it might be necessary for the reader to know where your hero lives, but not, at this point, where he went to school, how many kids he has, whether or not he gets along with his mother. These points can be introduced if and when they become pertinent to the story. Though additional information is necessary, it should not all be crowded into the first chapter. If there is too much explanation, most of it can be discarded, and what is essential should be threaded into to a later part of the book.
Now that you have gotten their interest, you must develop the first chapter by deepening the conflict. If you have started with a point of action, now is the time to bring into focus the details of the event, and the character’s reactions to the event.
End With a Question or Cliffhanger
Just as the first chapter begins with a bang, it should not end with a whimper. The final lines should pose a question that draws readers into the next chapter.
If your book is a mystery, have the detective discover an unusual lead or clue he plans to follow up on. If your story is a romance, cut the first chapter off at the point where the boy asks the girl for a date, not after the reader already knows her answer. If you are writing a thriller, stop the first chapter with the hero hanging on the ledge of the building, not after he has jumped to safety.
By the end of the first chapter the reader should
*be introduced to the main characters
*know where the story takes place
*have a feeling for the atmosphere of the book
*know the main problem or conflict
*experience some kind of mental or physical excitement
The Middle Chapters
Have you ever put a book down in the middle and never picked it up again? Books are often begun with a great burst of enthusiasm, but by the time the middle is reached, the excitement may have worn thin for both writer and reader. That is because the middle of the book is the longest section and often the most challenging part of a novel to write. What was once new and exciting runs the risk of becoming redundant and ho-hum boring. The writer must think of ways to keep the book entertaining to hold the reader’s interest to the end.
Keep it Exciting by Continually Upping the Ante
The middle is the place to up the ante. If the hero is at risk, make him more so. If he is in danger, make him sweat even more. For example, if your hero is a professional gambler and has risked his own money in the first chapter, in the middle get him into even more hot water by risking money from the boss’s safe or his wife’s private account. Now, if he loses again, he’s really got a problem.
Add a Totally New Event
Spice the middle up with an entirely new event. If you are writing a mystery, add a new murder. If another murder does not fit the storyline, then add a threat or warning. A sinister phone call, a death note, or the taking of a hostage can heighten the suspense and keep the reader interested.
Add an Unexpected Twist
A twist or surprise in the middle can be a pleasant diversion. Perhaps the hero has figured out that the source of all of his problems is the next-door neighbor. He goes to confront him, only to find the neighbor lying in a pool of blood. Everything he has thought up to now has been wrong. The hero must now re-think his angle and start from square one (plus, he must also now find out who murdered the neighbor.)
Further the Subplot
The middle is also the place to develop and deepen the subplot. Create interest in the romantic subplot by making the hero and heroine temporarily separated for some reason. Maybe the hero gets into an argument with his girlfriend or has a misunderstanding that is difficult to clear up. Keeping them estranged for a few chapters can liven up the middle of the book and generate reader interest.
Writing the middle can be a challenge. Creating new problems and events for the hero to face and overcome can help make the middle as entertaining as the rest of the book.
*Up the ante
*Add a totally new event
*Add an unexpected twist
*Further the subplot
Readers who have stayed with the book to the end deserve a reward -- a good ending. A satisfying ending is one that ties up all the loose ends in a logical manner and doesn't disappoint.
The Hero Should Solve his Own Problem
The resolution of the novel should logical and should, at least in part, be brought about by the hero’s quick wit, thinking or reaction. It is unfair to the reader to have the problem solved too easily, or by chance or circumstance. For example, if the hero is in a shootout with the bad guy, it would be disappointing if a brick suddenly fell from an overhead building and instantly killed the bad guy for him.
This would certainly make the hero’s day and solve his problem, but it is unsatisfying because the hero has done nothing toward saving his own life. It would be much better if the hero had made a plan in advance, perhaps rigged the brick so that it would fall, then lured the bad guy over to the spot where it will land. In any event, the hero should use his wits in some way to save his own life. His actions should make sense and be products of his own logic, not fate.
Resolve any Subplot
By the end of the book, any subplots, such as romantic subplots, should be resolved. If the hero has a fight with his girlfriend, do they reconcile or are they forever estranged? Other subplots that should be resolved by the end of the book are conflicts with family members or major life decisions.
Readers are interested in even small details about the hero or heroine. For example, in your novel the heroine might be looking for a new house to buy. This may be only a minor aside, yet the reader wants to know and will be disappointed if the heroine has not found and purchased her little cottage by the sea the end of the book. Keep them hanging until the end of the book, but not indefinitely.
Tie up all Loose Ends
“And they lived happily ever after.” It is customary for a novel, especially a genre novel, to have a happy ending, or end on a positive note. The ending is usually a time to assure the reader that all the wrongs have been righted.
However, a book does not absolutely have to have a happy ending. In fact, some of the greatest novels of literature end on an unhappy note. If your book does not have a happy conclusion, then it must be in some way satisfying. The hero must have grown or learned some valuable truth about himself. By the end of the book, the problem that plagued the hero should be resolved, one way or another. The hero should either be on his way to a happier life or have in some way come to terms with, and be at peace with, the decisions he has made.
End With a Strong Sentence
The ending is a good place to provide a kind of closure. What has the hero learned (or not learned) about himself? Has this experience made the hero a better person in some way? If possible, end with a deep thought or emotion.
In A Tale of Two Cities, when Sydney Carton commits the noble act of dying in another man’s place, the words "it is a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done, it is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known,” will stay with the reader long after the pages have closed. And who can forget the ending line of Gone with the Wind, when Scarlett O’Hara pronounces, “After all, tomorrow is another day!”
Tips for making a good ending:
*make sure the ending is logical
*the hero should solve his own problem
*resolve any subplot
*tie up all loose ends
*leave the reader with a strong sentence, thought or emotion
****
Read Vickie’s articles at: Suite 101.com
http://tinyurl.com/2egdc3m
****
There you have it. So what am I waiting for?
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
How To Write a Novel
By Chester Campbell
First you sit down with a pencil and a piece of paper. A pencil? In this day of PCs and laptops and Alphasmarts? A pencil can’t get you on Twitter or Facebook or Blogger.com. Maybe not, but it can jot down all those notes you gather to get started.
John Steinbeck used as many as sixty cedar pencils a day in his writing, and Ernest Hemingway was a major pencil user. I don’t advocate writing your mystery in pencil, but the marvelous little device is a must during the creative process. Look at this neat display of penciled notes on my desk. Okay, neatness isn’t my specialty.
There’s a website called Pencils.com that has all kinds of info on the wooden widget. It notes that the pencil is the only portable, lightweight invention that can draw a line 35 miles long, average 45,000 words and correct its own mistakes.
If you thought it was a latter-day invention, you’re way off the mark. Scribes in ancient Rome wrote on papyrus with metal styluses that left their mark on the forerunner of paper. Some early styluses were made of lead. This led (a little humor there) to calling the legible part of the pencil "lead," although it’s made of graphite.
The first lead stick pencils were wrapped in string. Sort of like those peel-off China markers that will write on most anything. During later times, the lead (or graphite) was inserted in a hollow wooden stick.
Pencils first came into popular use when mass produced in Germany in 1662. The first U.S. pencils were fashioned by a cabinet maker in Concord, Massachusetts after they became unavailable from England because of the War of 1812. Incidentally, Leonardo da Vinci did a lot of pencil sketching. Don’t know how much penciling Dan Brown did while writing Leonardo’s Code.
Meriwether Lewis, the famed explorer of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, carried “1 Set of Small Slates & pencils” on his historic adventure. Which brings us back to mystery writing. My character Sid Chance in The Surest Poison (due out in April) was the former police chief of Lewisville, Tennessee, a fictional small town near the Natchez Trace where Meriwether Lewis died in 1809.
One other note regarding the noted explorer, a small town not far off the Trace named for him, Lewisburg, is home to one of several pencil manufacturers in southern Middle Tennessee. Nearby Shelbyville, better known now for its Walking Horse Celebration, was once called Pencil City. Tennessee became noted for pencil making because of its abundant supply of eastern red cedar, the best wood for writing instruments.
The Shelbyville Pencil Company, which started in 1933, gives their pencils four-to-seven coats of paint and can turn out 400,000 a day. But no doubt the yellow variety called No. 2 is the No. 1 choice of writers.
Now you know how to write a novel. The next question is what do you put in it? Words, of course. And where do you get them? Can you spell t-h-e-s-a-u-r-u-s?
Pre-order The Surest Poison online at Barnes & Noble.
First you sit down with a pencil and a piece of paper. A pencil? In this day of PCs and laptops and Alphasmarts? A pencil can’t get you on Twitter or Facebook or Blogger.com. Maybe not, but it can jot down all those notes you gather to get started.
John Steinbeck used as many as sixty cedar pencils a day in his writing, and Ernest Hemingway was a major pencil user. I don’t advocate writing your mystery in pencil, but the marvelous little device is a must during the creative process. Look at this neat display of penciled notes on my desk. Okay, neatness isn’t my specialty.
There’s a website called Pencils.com that has all kinds of info on the wooden widget. It notes that the pencil is the only portable, lightweight invention that can draw a line 35 miles long, average 45,000 words and correct its own mistakes.
If you thought it was a latter-day invention, you’re way off the mark. Scribes in ancient Rome wrote on papyrus with metal styluses that left their mark on the forerunner of paper. Some early styluses were made of lead. This led (a little humor there) to calling the legible part of the pencil "lead," although it’s made of graphite.
The first lead stick pencils were wrapped in string. Sort of like those peel-off China markers that will write on most anything. During later times, the lead (or graphite) was inserted in a hollow wooden stick.
Pencils first came into popular use when mass produced in Germany in 1662. The first U.S. pencils were fashioned by a cabinet maker in Concord, Massachusetts after they became unavailable from England because of the War of 1812. Incidentally, Leonardo da Vinci did a lot of pencil sketching. Don’t know how much penciling Dan Brown did while writing Leonardo’s Code.
Meriwether Lewis, the famed explorer of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, carried “1 Set of Small Slates & pencils” on his historic adventure. Which brings us back to mystery writing. My character Sid Chance in The Surest Poison (due out in April) was the former police chief of Lewisville, Tennessee, a fictional small town near the Natchez Trace where Meriwether Lewis died in 1809.
One other note regarding the noted explorer, a small town not far off the Trace named for him, Lewisburg, is home to one of several pencil manufacturers in southern Middle Tennessee. Nearby Shelbyville, better known now for its Walking Horse Celebration, was once called Pencil City. Tennessee became noted for pencil making because of its abundant supply of eastern red cedar, the best wood for writing instruments.
The Shelbyville Pencil Company, which started in 1933, gives their pencils four-to-seven coats of paint and can turn out 400,000 a day. But no doubt the yellow variety called No. 2 is the No. 1 choice of writers.
Now you know how to write a novel. The next question is what do you put in it? Words, of course. And where do you get them? Can you spell t-h-e-s-a-u-r-u-s?
Pre-order The Surest Poison online at Barnes & Noble.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
The ABCs of Writing a Book
By Chester Campbell
A few people seem to possess a sort of inherent compass that guides their minds into creating stories that satisfy all the requirements of good writing in one fell swoop of the pen, or a single foray across the keyboard. I'm in awe of the one-draft author. That's because I’m the polar opposite. I constantly edit and revise as I go.
Every writer must find what works best for him or herself. I don’t advocate that anyone follow my style of creating a book, but if you find something here that validates what you do or in some way intrigues you into trying a different approach, I’ll feel I have succeeded in some small manner.
I approach a new a novel with a basic idea for an incident that could lead to lots of complications. In my second Greg McKenzie mystery, for example, I considered what might happen if a penthouse balcony collapsed during a party at a new beachfront high-rise condo, killing two people. That presented the questions: what caused the accident, and who was responsible?
With the major premise in hand, I needed a cast of characters. I’m not a detailed plotter or an outliner, so I depend on my characters to dictate the direction of the story. I decided on a young architect/engineer from the previous book to bear the brunt of blame for the accident. For potential bad guys I picked a developer, a contractor, and an inspector. I later added a female real estate agent.
At that point I needed a little initial research to put me on the right track. Since I knew little if anything about condo construction, I consulted a couple of friends. One was a civil engineer, the other a structural engineer who dealt with concrete, the material of choice for building beachfront condos. That gave me enough information to start writing.
I began with a Prologue that, thanks to later revision, introduced all the suspects and most of the major characters, except for my protagonists, Greg and Jill McKenzie. I set it at the penthouse party and used a third person omniscient viewpoint so I could let the reader know the balcony was in trouble from the opening line. Starting with Chapter 1, the story is told in first person from Greg's point of view.
The architect/engineer is found dead the next morning of what the sheriff calls a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The young man’s parents are the McKenzies’ best friends, and his father doesn’t believe he would commit suicide. He asks Greg, a retired Air Force investigator, to look into it.
After the first few chapters in Nashville, the story moved to Perdido Key, FL. It was time for more intensive on-scene research. My brother had a condo there where my wife and I had stayed a couple of times a year, which is how the plot idea came about. We spent two weeks there checking out various angles. Since the so-called suicide occurred at the Gulf Islands National Seashore, I interviewed the National Park ranger responsible for law enforcement. Following up on what I learned from him, I talked to a sheriff’s investigator, a medical examiner’s tech, and a man in the building inspection office.
I also researched locations and backgrounds on Perdido Key, in Pensacola and around Escambia County.
Although I don’t outline, I did extensive character sketches for the major characters and typed up detailed notes from my research. And early on I plotted out where all the main characters were each hour on the night of the murder.
By this time I knew who the murderer was (or so I thought) and had a pretty good idea of where the story was headed. I sat down to write in earnest. But things happen. About halfway through the book, I changed my mind about the murderer. It required going back to make sure I had left enough clues to make the ending believable. That’s what I love about fiction. You’re free to alter the past anytime you like. Makes you feel like God tinkering with the universe.
As I mentioned at the start, I am a constant rewriter. Each time I sit down to write, I go back at least to the start of the last chapter, read through it and make changes where something doesn’t quite fit. Now and then I’ll start from the beginning and do a quick edit up to the point where I left off. Sometimes I may change a line back to what I had on the first try.
When I get to the end of the book, what might be called a first draft is really anything but. I take this opportunity to go back through the manuscript looking for places I can make the writing more colorful, more dramatic, more scintillating (okay, so I don't scintillate all that much). I also delete those too-cute phrases that I got carried away with in their creation. I try to smooth out the rough spots Chris Roerden cites in her book Don’t Murder Your Mystery.
The book I covered here is titled Designed to Kill and was published in 2004. You can read the Prologue and Chapter 1 by clicking this link to the Designed Opening. If you're interested, go to my home page for a 40 percent discount on purchasing the book.
And if you don't agree with my technique for creating your masterpiece, work out your own. But sit down and write it. That's a requirement.
A few people seem to possess a sort of inherent compass that guides their minds into creating stories that satisfy all the requirements of good writing in one fell swoop of the pen, or a single foray across the keyboard. I'm in awe of the one-draft author. That's because I’m the polar opposite. I constantly edit and revise as I go.
Every writer must find what works best for him or herself. I don’t advocate that anyone follow my style of creating a book, but if you find something here that validates what you do or in some way intrigues you into trying a different approach, I’ll feel I have succeeded in some small manner.
I approach a new a novel with a basic idea for an incident that could lead to lots of complications. In my second Greg McKenzie mystery, for example, I considered what might happen if a penthouse balcony collapsed during a party at a new beachfront high-rise condo, killing two people. That presented the questions: what caused the accident, and who was responsible?
With the major premise in hand, I needed a cast of characters. I’m not a detailed plotter or an outliner, so I depend on my characters to dictate the direction of the story. I decided on a young architect/engineer from the previous book to bear the brunt of blame for the accident. For potential bad guys I picked a developer, a contractor, and an inspector. I later added a female real estate agent.
At that point I needed a little initial research to put me on the right track. Since I knew little if anything about condo construction, I consulted a couple of friends. One was a civil engineer, the other a structural engineer who dealt with concrete, the material of choice for building beachfront condos. That gave me enough information to start writing.
I began with a Prologue that, thanks to later revision, introduced all the suspects and most of the major characters, except for my protagonists, Greg and Jill McKenzie. I set it at the penthouse party and used a third person omniscient viewpoint so I could let the reader know the balcony was in trouble from the opening line. Starting with Chapter 1, the story is told in first person from Greg's point of view.
The architect/engineer is found dead the next morning of what the sheriff calls a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The young man’s parents are the McKenzies’ best friends, and his father doesn’t believe he would commit suicide. He asks Greg, a retired Air Force investigator, to look into it.
After the first few chapters in Nashville, the story moved to Perdido Key, FL. It was time for more intensive on-scene research. My brother had a condo there where my wife and I had stayed a couple of times a year, which is how the plot idea came about. We spent two weeks there checking out various angles. Since the so-called suicide occurred at the Gulf Islands National Seashore, I interviewed the National Park ranger responsible for law enforcement. Following up on what I learned from him, I talked to a sheriff’s investigator, a medical examiner’s tech, and a man in the building inspection office.
I also researched locations and backgrounds on Perdido Key, in Pensacola and around Escambia County.
Although I don’t outline, I did extensive character sketches for the major characters and typed up detailed notes from my research. And early on I plotted out where all the main characters were each hour on the night of the murder.
By this time I knew who the murderer was (or so I thought) and had a pretty good idea of where the story was headed. I sat down to write in earnest. But things happen. About halfway through the book, I changed my mind about the murderer. It required going back to make sure I had left enough clues to make the ending believable. That’s what I love about fiction. You’re free to alter the past anytime you like. Makes you feel like God tinkering with the universe.
As I mentioned at the start, I am a constant rewriter. Each time I sit down to write, I go back at least to the start of the last chapter, read through it and make changes where something doesn’t quite fit. Now and then I’ll start from the beginning and do a quick edit up to the point where I left off. Sometimes I may change a line back to what I had on the first try.
When I get to the end of the book, what might be called a first draft is really anything but. I take this opportunity to go back through the manuscript looking for places I can make the writing more colorful, more dramatic, more scintillating (okay, so I don't scintillate all that much). I also delete those too-cute phrases that I got carried away with in their creation. I try to smooth out the rough spots Chris Roerden cites in her book Don’t Murder Your Mystery.
The book I covered here is titled Designed to Kill and was published in 2004. You can read the Prologue and Chapter 1 by clicking this link to the Designed Opening. If you're interested, go to my home page for a 40 percent discount on purchasing the book.
And if you don't agree with my technique for creating your masterpiece, work out your own. But sit down and write it. That's a requirement.
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