I hit to the road this past weekend and headed south first to Greenville, S.C. where I signed at Fiction-Addiction. What a great store! It was so much fun meeting readers and signing books.
Three hours south of Greenville, S.C. is Woodstock, GA home to the FoxTale Book Shoppe. I had the pleasure of speaking to readers about my writing, chatting and signing books on Saturday March 9.
After my signing it was right back to Virginia.
Despite many lofty promises, my writing day rarely is super-efficient. I always manage to write my 15-20 pages, but the journey is never as smooth as I hoped.
6:00 a.m. Rise/Coffee/Let the dogs out
6:30 a.m. Head to the gym, shower
8:00 a.m. Read email. Check daily horoscope, weekly horoscope and reread monthly horoscope to see if any of it has come true. Make sure my miniature dachshund is in her chair by the fireplace (so she doesn’t whine). Feed the cat for the third time (she’s 15 and forgets she’s just eaten). Read more email. Quick check of Facebook. Let my dog Buddy outside. And then let him back inside. Read a little research.
9:30 a.m. Write 3 pages
10:15 a.m. Repeat 8 a.m. schedule
11:15 a.m. Write four more pages.
12 noon Eat Lunch
1:00 p.m. Feed the cat again and give Bella and Buddy chew sticks so I can make the final push to finish the afternoon pages. Bella gets the big chew stick and Buddy gets two small ones (he hides the first in the backyard and then finally settles to eat the second)
1:00 p.m. Start a spaghetti sauce for dinner (or put a chicken into the oven to roast)
1:30 p.m. Burst of energy to finish the last thirteen pages. (My children are in college but I still can’t help but forget the elementary school bus arrives at 2:35 and I feel a need to be finished by then)
4:00 p.m. Finish up. Walk the dogs.
After dinner is research time. This is when I read the pile of nonfiction books by my desk.
Had a great few days singing books! First stop was Hooray for Books! in Old Town Alexandria and then it was off to Boonsboro, Maryland to sign at Turn the Page bookstore.
First stop Hooray for Books!
Old Town Alexandria just after the sun set. Beautiful city!
Loved signing at Hooray for Books!
Signing at Turn the Page….
Signing at Turn the Page. I’m pictured here with Robin Kaye and Laura Florand.
Author Alyson Richman author of ‘The Lost Wife.’
A great crowd turned out for the signing despite the rain.
Left to Right: Robin Kaye, Mary Burton/Mary Ellen Taylor, Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb, Alyson Richman and Laura Florand.
You ever wondered how mystery/suspense/thriller writers create suspense in a novel? It doesn’t happen by accident. In fact, there are some tried and true techniques that you can use to punch up the suspense in your story.
Set the Stakes. I almost always open with a prologue that not only introduces a likable character but also a dangerous killer. Almost on page one I show the reader the killer’s capacity for violence, so that the reader knows the detective is up against a threatening foe. Even if you opt not to write a prologue show the reader quickly what’s at stake.
In THE SEVENTH VICTIM the heroine narrowly escapes death in the prologue.
Setting. I always consider the book’s setting a character. I think about not only the novel’s location but also the time of year and the weather conditions. What if your detective is working a crime scene in the middle of the hottest summer on record and thunderclouds loom? What if the scene is set during a frigid cold snap in an accessible area on the banks of a wind-swept river? Take time to craft your setting and you’ll not only put pressure on the characters but also kick up the novel’s suspense.
I’M WATCHING YOU is set in July. It’s 105 degrees and a thunderstorm threatens. In DEAD RINGER the cold was the enemy.
Pacing. How fast or slow you move the story controls the suspense. I like to begin my novels about 30 seconds before trouble begins. I don’t spend a lot of time initially on back-story or the events leading up to the book’s opening. I might take a moment to offer a glimpse into the character’s normal world but very quickly trouble arrives. There are times when you can slow the pace. In romantic suspense, I often use the less frenetic times to develop the romance. This also gives your reader a chance to breathe—a little. But as the book progress, especially the last 20{2bc7e4e23428b05b0f692f1ddf5d723165e7c1faee94cc402238e96593bfbeaa}, the pace again picks up.
I rewrote the opening of DYING SCREAM nine times. Initially I started with too much back-story that had to be cut. In the end, the story starts less than a minute before the first threat appears.
False Clues. In real life, the police shift through genuine and false clues so I force my fictional detective to do the same. Not only do the detectives (and the reader) have lots of forensics to process, but they also might have many characters to interview. Nothing like a misleading bit of evidence or a character that lies to keep everyone guessing and the suspense high. Don’t forget to put in the real clues. Your reader needs to be able to go back and flip through the pages and find what they missed.
I dropped more than a few false clues in SENSELESS. All lead to a big reveal on the last pages of the book.
Mini-Mysteries. Not all the story questions have to be big to keep the reader turning the page. Who’s on the other side of the door? What’s inside the box? What happened to the woman living at the end of the road thirty years ago? These might be small questions that can’t sustain a story but they are still interesting enough to keep the reader reading. Make sure you answer all those questions because you’ll frustrate your reader if you don’t.
Character Flaw. Find out what your character is most afraid of and then use it against them. If your hero is afraid of heights, send him up a tall rickety ladder to retrieve a clue. If she’s afraid of snakes, put her in room full of snakes. If the hero or heroine is on edge, the suspense will be higher. Remember a character flaw is a belief or fear that is holding back your character.
From the very beginning of BEFORE SHE DIES I hint that my heroine has a big secret. I was careful not to reveal it to the very end.
Ticking Clock. All my chapters are date-stamped because I want the reader to know that from the first page we are on the clock to catch a killer. I also keep the time frame of the book short. My books rarely span more than a couple of weeks because again, I want to maintain pressure on the detectives and the reader flipping through the pages to the end of the book.
One of my favorite go-to meals is a roast chicken. I season with salt, pepper, dried dill and garlic powder before roasting in a 375 degree oven. I cook until the juices run clear, which is about an hour.
And the best part of a roasted chicken is that you can not only make stock, but can use the bits of extra chicken in soups, enchiladas or as salad toppers.
Tip: to make the perfect stock, I put the discarded bones in a pot of cold water along with a few sliced onions and carrots. I turn the stovetop onto simmer and let the stock cook very slowly. I never let it reach a boil because this will make the stock cloudy. Slow and steady wins the race with a great stock.
After the stock has simmered for several hours, drain and then let the stock stand in cool place so that the fat rises to the top. Once you’ve skimmed the fat off the top, the stock is ready to use!
