Slowing the pace or resolving a major character conflict at the end of the chapter or scene gives your reader an opportunity to: 1) put down your fabulous writing2) turn off the light3) and dream about some other author’s characters Not quite a Kiss Goodbye – but too close for any aspiring author who has designs on a Best Seller list. Make your readers hang around and hang on, forcing them to read through what would be a natural place to break. How? Use strong hooks. As writers, we WANT to finish the thought, to build to the end – always pushing the conflict up the next notch. BUT – and it’s a huge BUT, … Read more
Tag: suspense
I’m finished . . . I’m finished . . . doing that happy dance!
This weekend, I typed The End on my 92,000 romantic suspense. This baby has been awhile in birthing — frankly, if I’d carried kids as long as it took me to finish this book, there would have only been one bouncing baby in my house. That said, this manuscript has seen me through a tough loss: my father’s year-long illness and passing, which seriously made me question whether I could ever finish this book. Then came my evolving literary skills: the dawn of my true Texas voice and the huge learning curve for any serious suspense plotter — as in I bit off more intrigue than I knew how to write at the time. Months … Read more
A good day writing
As writers, we love those ‘ah-ha’ moments. We call them epiphanies. Big word, bugger to spell – I always get it wrong on the first try! As writers, we weave the ‘ah-ha’ moments in for our readers: characters learning something new on page, discovering a breakthrough in their own personality, or the unfolding of the plot. However . . . if we are very lucky, sometimes the epiphany belongs to the writer. Today was a good writing day. I, actually, should say an excellent writing day as the epiphany was mine. For months I’ve been honing the skill of front-loading the suspense in my under construction manuscript. The first three chapters have been written no … Read more
