Posts tagged romance/suspense

Read it Thursday

January 28, 2010 · Filed under Read it Thursday · Tagged , , ,

Nuala is descended from ancient witch folk, eternally bound to help others find love. But after the death of her husband, she harbors no such dreams for herself. Then she meets Sinjin, the Earl of Donnington, and feels something stir within her for the first time in centuries….

Handsome and scandalously tempting, Sinjin has never met a woman he couldn’t seduce. Yet from the moment he sees the stunning young widow, he knows he wants more than just one night of sin—and even the discovery of the dark secret they share won’t stop him from trying to possess her forever. But first he must free her from her immortal bondage, which means robbing her of her magic for all time….

She belongs to the Widow’s Club (a group of woman who have pledged never to remarry) and he belongs to the Forties, a confirmed bachelor’s club.  But that isn’t the only hurdle this hero and heroine face in Lord Of Sin, a paranormal historical.

 Our heroine, Nuala, is known Lady Charles in Society.  She is the wife of the late Lord Charles Parkhill and a descended from a long line of witches. Her powers are to be used to help others find love, but has been cursed since the day she used black magic.

Enter the Earl of Donnington.  When Sinjin shows up in her life again, a man capable of making her grow weak in the knees, her main goal is to avoid him.  Which Sinjin would okay with since he blames her for being a of his brother’s death.  But the Earl of Donnington finds this difficult since he wants her  - unlike any  woman before.

Things really heat up when in his pursuit of her, he learns dark secrets.  It soon becomes evident that Nuala can’t control her powers. Sinjin has made up his mind to vanquish her magical abilities so that they may have a chance at happiness, but doing so may cost more than he ever dreamed.

Susan Krinard developed a complete cast of secondary characters to aide Sinjin and Nuala in their love-hate relationship.  The plot is engaging filled with intrigue and enough rabbit holes to keep you guessing until the end where the whole truth is revealed.

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Writer’s Wednesday

January 27, 2010 · Filed under Writer's Wednesday · Tagged , , , , , , ,

Whose telling your current WIP?

Every writer has an opinion on point of view (POV).  There are those I call the purist, those who believe we can only use one pov per story, at the opposite end is the writer who includes everyone’s pov.  I feel pov needs to be determined by the writer and story. 

Personally, I will never write in the first person.  I don’t write like that.  Also, I will generally have at least two pov’s – the heroine and hero – depending on the genre up to three – the bad guy in my suspense.  I like to use the heroine and hero pov’s but that doesn’t mean every writer does. 

What is important – determine your pov at the beginning of your book and then stick with it!  No matter what.  I just finished a book which introduced a new pov in the last twenty pages.  It actually pulled from the tension, in my opinion, instead of adding to it.  I relate to this desire. In Treasure Hunt, I really wanted to use the ‘bad’ guy’s pov for the big fight scene.  But since we hadn’t visited his head before, I had to stick with what I had.  Sometimes, it requires a lot more effort to stay true to your selected pov but you’ll end up with a stronger scene.

The key to pov…..make it deep.  How do you do that?

Dev elope a unique voice for each POV.  No two people sound, think, or act alike.  Your pov should be as individual as the character it represents.  For instance, guys don’t look at things the same way as women.  Your hero probably would not notice things in a room your heroine would.  If he walks into a room and notices the color of the curtains, how many pillows are on the couch, and the little trinkets set around you need to give him a reason.  He’s a cop, etc.  Still even then his internal voice would be different than a woman’s.  For example, the curtains would be off white not eggshell.  Developing voice is key regardless of the number of pov’s or how often you switch. 

One way to establish a voice is to set the mood of your character.  Take a scene and rewrite it three ways – as if everything about the scene infuriates your character, then as if it is breaking your characters’ heart, and then as if he/she is scared.  Do this for all your pov characters.  Find out how they will act differently from one other.  You should be able to read each scene from each character and instantly tell who it is without an introduction.  For example in the heartbreaking scene, the heroine may walk in crying where the hero walks in cursing.  This example is very cliché so another thing to work on is how they portray these typical situations in a unique way.

Next add dept to your POV.  Here is an exercise to use especially for those pivotal scenes.  Take the scene from your current WIP that you want to kick up and tell the same scene from someone else’s POV.  By seeing the same scene from someone else’s eyes you can see how your character looks – acts.  Even if your scene has your character alone, for this exercise rewrite from the POV of  the proverbial fly on the wall.  This will really make you concentrate on the characters action because the fly does not have mind reading ability so your characters action’s needs to portray the mood.  Take the observation and weave them into the scene.

You alone know how many or how few pov’s you need in your story.  But remember the more pov’s or the fewer pov’s doesn’t make a great book – the depth and voice of the pov’s does.

Recommended reading:

Mastering Point of View by Sherri Szeman.  This book shows you how to use pov to reveal or obscure your character’s movtivation and how to handle multiple povs by developing unique voices.

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Read it Thursday

January 21, 2010 · Filed under Read it Thursday · Tagged , , ,

Burning Wild by Christine Feehan

Born into a world of twisted monsters, Jake Bannaconni is shaped and molded into a cold, revenge driven man.  Honed in the fires of hell, he controls his world and rules with an iron hand.  He has everything and anything money can buy.  He’s ruthless, merciless and considered a man to leave alone.  His hidden legacy, that of a shapeshifter, makes him doubly dangerous in the corporate world. 

Emma Reynolds is a woman who knows how to love and love well.  When their two worlds collide, Jake’s plans for a complete take over, may just come tumbling down. 
This book is one of Christine Feehan’s best efforts. While she skimmed over the first two years of the Emmy and Jake’s acquaintance, she still developed a strong non-sexual relationship.  This is the total opposite of her usual plot development which has the hero and heroine starting with sex and working from there. Actually, you’re over a 100 pages in before the first sex scene. 

In place of sex there was A LOT of action. Without all the filler sexual material, Ms. Feehan excels at describing the emotionalism in this book. A very refreshing change.

I did have a hard time accepting a pregnant woman would move in with a stranger, then allow him to be name father after knowing for only 8 months. But that was the only thing I lifted my eyebrows about.  

Emmy Reynolds, the heroine, was very passive in the beginning, although I believe that was adequately explained by the extreme trauma she had just experienced. She was essentially in shock. And she did eventually come out of it, although you have to understand she is the kind of woman who loves to cook and clean, etc. Definitely not a career woman by choice, which I liked, although if that were me (living in a mansion with two kids and somebody else paying the bills) I most certainly would NOT say I didn’t need a maid. If someone else wants to mop my floors – woo hoo!

The hero, Jake Bannaconni, is a tormented person who suffered disturbing abuse as a child. This isn’t implied but adequately explained and realistic in the first chapters so the fact he is extremely manipulative does make him a creep. The change in him was slow and very gradual-and I wouldn’t have accepted anything faster. At the beginning I supposed I both felt sorry for him and hated him, but by the middle it was wonderful to see him growing as a person. I thought his character development was perfect.

The reasons I liked this book so well were
1. good plot
2. lots of action
3. enjoyed the secondary characters
While it’s a hot read for the cold winter months, it offers so much more

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Writer’s Wednesday

January 20, 2010 · Filed under Writer's Wednesday · Tagged , , , , , ,

I think the subject of hooks is one of importance and is covered in great detail.  However, one thing I’ve found missing from the workshops and articles concerning the end hook (chapter or scene) is the need to make it as specific as possible for YOUR book.  Opening hooks can be more general.  Look at these three examples…

Jill froze, the pool of blood slowly crept across the cement

Jill froze, as Victor’s  smile revealed fangs

Jill froze when Cain walked into the room – nude 

All three would make nice opening sentences – all start with a bang.  The first one would throw your character right in the middle for action of the suspense, the second would work for a paranormal and the third for a romance.  But for a concluding hook they tend to lean a little more on the weak side, because they lack individuality – a few words changed and Jill has jumped to a different genre and different situation.  To make these work as solid ending hooks your set-up or lead in has to be really strong even then… 

Like for the first one, if you have Jill creeping around an abandoned warehouse, the power is out so she only has the weak light of her flashlight.   She walks rounds the wooden crates. Then your hook line – Jill froze, the pool of blood slowly crept across the cement.  But even then the hook is weak.  The reader is expecting something….so why not surprise them?  I mean that is the purpose of a scene or chapter hook. 

With our example the ‘surprise’ factor is semi-expected and with a few word changes the hook line works for three different genres listed above.  So how do you write a hook that is just for your story?

First, when you set up the scene as I did with Jill in the warehouse, take a minute and brain storm – what are some expected things I could have happen?

Make a list – DON’T limit yourself…go from silly to bizarre.  Look at your list keeping in mind what you need to happen, for example, I needed Jill scared, I needed her prompted to begin a full investigation into the history of warehouse.  Now finding a dead body would work…it would have to be recent for the pool of blood.  But then why isn’t she going to call the cops?  Cops would ruin my plot – they are so nosey.  It could be my hero –injured.  That would be okay but why is she going to investigate? 

So what to do?  The set-up remains the same but instead of seeing a pool of blood…

Jill rounded the corner and heard the mutter of muffled voices.  Switching off the flashlight, she bent down and crawled toward the noise.  The hard concrete bruising her knees and hands. 

“Shut-up.”  A male voice commanded.  “I heard someone.”

“Ye be hearing ghosts.”  Another man laugh.  “Those you killed paying a visit.”

Jill drew a breath of the stale musky air and silently wedged herself between two crates.  Faint moonlight from the sky dome created shadows of the men talking.  It was several long unsettling minutes before the light caught the big gold signet ring on the man’s right hand.

“Lucas,” her mind screamed.

Now the reader knows Lucas is her twin brother who supposedly died three years ago.  Now hopefully this ‘hook’ will have the reader ‘hooked’ – is it really her brother or someone wearing his ring?  And they will continue to read. 

The first hook with the blood, Jill was going to find Lucas’ ring in the blood in the opening of the next chapter.  So I reached the goal with both – her wondering if her brother is alive or if she has stumbled on his killer.  She begins exploring the warehouse.

When creating chapter hooks, play with your options, explore!  Be creative….

Here are some great articles on writing opening hooks.

Open your book with a hook – by Barbara Dawson Smith http://www.barbaradawsonsmith.com/writing%20hooks.htm

Writing Hooks not crooks – by Kat Feete http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Issue27/writinghooks.htm

What are some of your favorite opening and chapter hooks?

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Finally Finished Friday

January 15, 2010 · Filed under Finally Finished Friday · Tagged , , , , , ,

My first finally finished for 2010 is my first fill length story (I usually do novellas) WOO HOO.  But now it’s time to move on.

Why is the story I write in my in the shower always better than the one I type at my computer?  Someone posted this question on twitter yesterday, I nodded at my computer screen in agreement.  I can’t tell you how many times I have started a story…it was perfect in my head and then I wrote it.  The characters who were so alive in my head were flat and lacked depth on the paper.  The story line that made my heart race with excitement was boring and filled with clichés.  

So after repeatedly trying to write in the shower and it not working (yes, I needed to give it repeated tries) I have come to realize that I need to take the idea and put it to some serious testing before I start to write it.

I have finally finished my current WIP – I’m ready to start submitting it.  I’ve had characters showering with me for about the last three weeks.  It’s time to move them out of the shower and on to the paper.  So how do I do this?   I put them through their paces…

First, I sketch out the major events.  This gives me a map—or else the characters drive me into every dead end possible.

1. At the start of my book, what distinguishes my protagonist from other people? What central strength does he/she have? How does this strength get him/her into trouble?

2. When the novel opens, what is s/he on the brink of doing? Why does he/she say she’s going to do this? What does this action represent for the protagonist?

3. What external situation will require the protagonist’s participation throughout the course of the book? How does this connect with #2? Does it help or interfere? Can you build in a deadline for extra tension?

4. What is the protagonist’s goal for the time the book covers? How does this connect with the external situation? Or does the external situation divert the protagonist from his/her goal? Why does the protagonist SAY he/she wants the goal? Is there a deeper motivation as yet unknown to him/her?

5. What problem (external conflict) does the external situation present? How can the protagonist eventually resolve that conflict?

6. List at least three obstacles in the way of her resolving this conflict. Make one an internal obstacle/conflict.

7. How will the protagonist grow because of confronting these obstacles?

8. What do I want to happen at the end of the book?

9. What will have to happen to the protagonist against his/her will to make my ending come about?

I use question #2 to craft an opening scene that involves the reader right away. A character on the brink of some action provides a lot of forward momentum. That action can involve the reader in the external situation described in 3, and/or be in pursuit of the goal I defined in 4. If it happens, what unforeseen consequences does it have?

I build my story from these nine questions.  If my characters are cardboard or my story weak, I’m unable to answer these questions.  I have found to be able to write – finally finished at the end of a story – regardless of length, it has to hold up to these nine questions. 

So what have you finished this new year?

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Read it Thursday

January 14, 2010 · Filed under Read it Thursday · Tagged , ,

Walking the Dead by Kylie Brant

Former forensic anthropologist Caitlin Fleming knows bones. So the investigator is the first one called when seven sets of skeletal remains are found dumped in a makeshift graveyard in the Oregon wilderness. Each skeleton bears the same distinctive marks. And each is minus a skull.

Cait needs outdoors guide Zach Sharper for one reason only—to help her find her way through the Willamette Forest as she pieces together clues. Despite the attraction that burns between them, nothing will be allowed to shake her focus. Until the killer closes in to terminate the investigation…and the ones on the verge of unmasking him…

This is the third book in Brant’s Mindhunters series and – in my opinion – the best.

Caitlin Fleming was a well known model and then becam a forensic anthropologist. It was only for a few brief years in her teenage years, but it was long enough Cait still has to prove herself more than a good looking mindless twit.

Zach Sharper is opinion of Caitlin is instant. He recognizes her the moment he lays eyes on her and judges her right then. Zach has no idea how she got into law enforcement and can’t imagine that she’s good at anything but being pretty. Cait proving him wrong is really enjoyable to read. 

Zach was the person that found the bones, the reason for Cait coming to Oregon. When the Mindhunter’s are called in, things get done. Cait is there to piece the bones together and try to figure out who they are and where they were killed. To do that, she has to scour miles of Oregon wilderness…with Zach as her guide.

The pacing was a little slow because Cait’s job was so tedious. The work of a forensic anthropologist is nothing glamorous. Taking soil samples, contacting detectives about missing person cases, and questioning people in town is necessary to get a profile of their killer.

Cait briefly considers Zach as a suspect, then dismisses it. She does believe that some serial killers need some sort of acknowledgment from their “work”, but doesn’t believe that is the case in this situation. The sheriff isn’t so quick to dismiss Zach as a suspect.

Zach and Cait both have their demons. Zach’s demon is his dad, Cait’s demon is her mom. While Zach has no contact with his dad, Cait’s mom constantly contacts her about returning to modeling. There was twist with Cait’s mom that was surprising and I didn’t quite understand why it was necessary to the story.

Of the three books, Waking the Dead was the best blend of romance and suspense. Zach and Cait were also two of the more likable characters in the series. Kylie Brant definitely has a hit with this series and I look forward to seeing where it goes.

This series begins with Walking Nightmare.  Walking Evil is the second in the series.

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