The Write and the Wrong Words

With any writing, suspense fiction or other genre, some carefully chosen words makes all the difference for the reader experience. When I say carefully chosen I also mean carefully chosen to delete from the document! Some simple tips are outlined here.

I have noticed in my own writing that I have a tendency to use some words more frequently than others. For example - so; apparently; at the moment; after a moment; of course; maybe; perhaps; clearly; quite clearly; as yet. Most of time these words or phrases are superfluous - "So, you want to go to the movies?" ; "Quite clearly the man was on a mission." "As yet there had be no sign of the young man." Sometimes these words help, but often they are unnecessary. Use MS Word's find option and look at each occasion of use. Let's not use fluff to increase our word count. What are your most over-used and potentially unnecessary words?

Characters need to have several names that can be used to identify them. Using the same name repeatedly tends to impede the flow of the read and it sounds awkward and clunky. Jackson Hammond (a main character in my book The Tree of Thorns) for example could be referred to as Jackson Hammond or Jackson or Hammond or the trainee or the young man or the nurse or the trainee nurse. Mix them up through a paragraph or over a page or two. The repeated use of "he" or "she" is something to avoid for the same reason.

Avoiding repetitive phrases or sentences like "He turned the corner and disappeared from view." - why not "He turned the corner and disappeared." or "Hammond lifted up the bonnet of his vehicle." No need for the "up" here. The same with words like "raised up" ; "dropped down" ; "knelt down". There may at times be a place for the use of these - most likely within character dialogue.

The reader will make automatic conclusions of some actions without them having to be detailed. "The old man lifted up his arm, took hold of the doorknob, turned it and opened the door." Now if this is a suspenseful moment and done slowly with the suggestion that something dastardly is about to happen, it may fit the scene, but if not simply "The old man opened the door" would suffice. The reader is familiar with how a door is opened. Try using more concise words where possible - can you use "soon" instead of "in a while". "The large rotund man was fat and overweight" - a pretty untidy sentence that says the same thing four times!

Knowing your character and what words they would use in different scenarios is important. They may never curse in front of ladies for example; they may speak quite differently at work to how they would elsewhere. A teacher when addressing students is much different to the chat they would have in the teacher's lunchroom.

Scene description and detail is essential. Think of yourself like an artist painting a picture because this is what you need to do for your reader. At the same time it's not a flood of adjectives. "An unseasonable wind and early autumn chill whistled around the eaves of the aged building." This is the first sentence of a novel. It poses some questions and sets up a feeling and / or expectation of some unpleasantness or discomfort. 

I used the Editor tool that comes with MS Word - it scanned my book of 95,000 words and came up with 951 suggestions! Wow! Out of all of them there was only one that was a genuine error (a typo with "the the"). Most of these were grammatical, suggesting commas where I didn't want them and wanting an expansion of abbreviations like I'll or You're or They're to I will; You are and They are - which is completely stupid - especially in dialogue. In fact, I have deliberately gone through and changed many of such word couplets to the abbreviated version. The use of "I am" or "I'm" and others is interesting. "I am" is stronger and indeed appropriate at times "I am leading the discussion" sounds more forceful than "I'm leading the discussion." Consider which way you go with these in your own writing and remember how people actually talk to each other so it all sounds authentic.

Writing with Feeling! A guide.

How do you feel when you write? Can your mood impact your writing?

Quite clearly, and as most regular writers would know, the answer to second question is yes.  Feeling bright and chirpy can help the words flow freely. Even feeling a bit low and gloomy can be useful for getting deeper into a scene or a character's experience. Suspense fiction, just like any other fiction, can benefit from characters and scenes that provide the reader with some sort of emotional reaction.

As an individual with your own unique set of life experiences, you can, if you choose, use these to aid your work.

There will be a range of emotions at various stages of your story - why not “dig up” your own similar feelings and get writing!

A word of caution - you just need to visit these past experiences not relive them to the point of personal distress.

Grab the memory you want to use. If you can't think of anything try looking at old photos or talking to friends - see this time of your life in your mind’s eye. Remember the colours. Recall any sounds. Remember any movement. We’re there words spoken? We’re there any tactile sensations? Immerse yourself deeply into the memory. Access those feelings. Now write your story - feel for your character.

Don’t forget to come back to the present and focus on your life now. This is a creative visualisation process. Often useful to change negative feelings into positive ones by accessing pleasurable past experiences. Once again if the past experiences are too traumatic please don’t go there without a plan to extract yourself. Naturally, your writing will have a range of emotional content - it may be very positive and uplifting feelings you are seeking - so go right ahead, do some visualisation and enjoy.

Another option that works for some is the use of music. Choose the piece of music that delivers the feelings you want. Maybe a few sad songs of lost love, or it could be Chariots of Fire for an uplifting experience. For me, this works. I don't have it loud - more just there in the background doing its job.

I’d be interested in your feedback and other strategies you may use.

The Tree of Thorns

The time has finally arrived and it seems to have been a long wait. "The Tree of Thorns" is now available for preorder. This is my 6th novel in the suspense / thriller fiction genre.

And here's the TRAILER

This story is set in a mental asylum in 1976 amidst cruelty, over-medicating, violence and a system of self-protection. Below is the back cover blurb...

Inspired by real events…

There is something very wrong at the Holman Mental Hospital. Sure, there’s the usual mistreatment, the poor living conditions and staff brutality, but there’s something even worse, and patients are dying. Two detectives are working the case with limited resources and progress is slow.

Jackson, a trainee nurse has forged a bond with Ezra, a man diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Ezra has seen something, but with all the drugs and the shock treatment, he is being kept quiet.

For reasons he cannot understand Jackson is being framed and targeted by unknown people. He gains some allies, but trust can be a fleeting thing, and he will need this and more to keep everyone alive and uncover the dark secrets of the institution.

The Tree of Thorns – a work of fiction surrounded by truth.

SPECIAL OFFER - for a limited time "The Tree of Thorns" paperback can be purchased HERE for $AU19.99. All preorders will also receive 2 FREE eBooks.

If you would prefer an eBook go to Amazon USA or Amazon UK or Amazon Australia.

For more details and to view the full book jacket go to my StoriesAndPlays site.

Book Trailers - make your own!

One useful way to promote your story can be by having a book trailer. You can make your own or get one professionally done. If you do a Google search you will find there are many companies and individuals happy to take your money.

A lot of trailers are not really mini-movies, but more like a series of still pictures with a zoom in or out. This is combined with some audio sounds and appropriate music and a voice-over. You could do this yourself - either take your own high quality pictures or download some royalty free ones. You'll need a program to put it all together - there are two that I have used - Wondershare Filmora and Gimp. There is a little learning required with both, but they are both good programs with plenty of features.

Of course you can also use videos (and still pics), in which case you are then making a mini movie style trailer.

How much will this cost?

If you do it all yourself it could be less than a $100. To get a slide show trailer done for you prices may range from $50 to $500 depending on who does it. To get a professional mini-movie one with actors and various scenes can cost up to $4,000! My first trailer was expensive and unfortunately, looking back on it, a waste of money, despite it being great quality.

The length of the trailer is important - usually 30 seconds to 1 minute is about right. It has taken me a while to learn this and some of mine, while being a whole lot of fun to make, are too long. My 2nd trailer is too long - this one was done entirely by me and some friends for around $70. The voice-over is me, altered with an audio program - its okay but not brilliant.

My 3rd trailer is one that covers 3 books in the Max Justice series. This one cost around $180. It's okay but 40 seconds too long.

The 4th one (not yet released) for "The Tree of Thorns" is a slide show with dramatic music, sounds and a voice-over. It runs for about 1 minute. Cost $250.

Good Conditions for Writing

What are the best conditions in which writers can work?

Most authors / writers think about this from time to time. Really, there are no right or wrongs, although many articles on this talk about establishing a routine which works for you. Maybe getting up and hitting the keyboard at daybreak and going solid for 2-3 hours; or for others the evening may work better. For some just writing on the weekends is more practical. My routine is not to be routine. I don't write every day and there have been times when I haven't written for 2 months - this doesn't mean to say I'm not thinking about writing or running through a framework for my next suspense thriller.

How long should you write for at a time? How much writing should you do in a sitting? Obviously this is variable - 15 minutes to several hours - one paragraph to twenty pages. What I see as more important is knowing where to stop. Stop at a point where you know where to go next. For me, this is very helpful. The next time I sit down to write I'm not sitting there trying to squeeze out the next sentence or staring at a blank screen.

What about distractions? Some authors can write in a house full of people with all various noises going on around them. Some need a quiet space to collect their thoughts. Music for some is a distraction for others it helps and to some degree stimulates their thinking. I like some old favourites playing softly in the background.

These days you can write wherever you are using any device at hand. If you have access to some cloud storage you can upload as you choose. I wrote 80% of my upcoming book on the iPad then changed over to my laptop for the finishing work and editing. I save my documents with a date tag e.g. Bob'sBook080620 - this helps me find the latest version.

Balancing writing with some form of physical exercise is often suggested. Personally, I like this idea - I walk as regularly as I can and I find it useful to run through scenarios and consolidate story lines or get over a speed bump that has prevented you moving forward.

Get to know yourself, experiment and find what's best for you and those around you.

If you have any tips feel free to share them on this blog.

For updates on my new book release check in HERE.

How long should it be?

Whether it be suspense fiction or an autobiography - the length of a piece of writing is something that writers frequently struggle with. Is my novel too short or too long? What do publishers look for? How long is a novella? If I make it shorter or longer will this change what I'm trying to tell my reader?

Firstly, yes, there are general accepted lengths. So if you're an author and you've just written your first book and want to send it off into the abyss that is the market, if it's 200,000 words it is unlikely to hit the stores anytime soon - not impossible - but unlikely. On the other hand, if you're already a successful author (you wouldn't be here reading this!!) you can pretty much write anything and someone will pick it up and run with it!

Below is a suggested word length guide:

Novel - 60,000 to 100.000 words

Novella - 20,000 to 50,000 words

Novelette - 7,000 to 20,000 words

Short Story - up to 7,000 words

College Essay - variable but usually up to 1,000 words (some have set limits)

Blog post - variable but acceptable is around 1,500 words (mine are often shorter!) 

Facebook post - 80 characters or less! Yes, this doesn't seem much, but research says this is optimal to engage others.

Tweet - 280 characters

Text SMS - more of an etiquette matter really. The shorter the better. 

Tome - lets not go here. I will never write one!!

Pick your genre. How many do you know?

What genre do you write in - or prefer to read? Maybe you write or read a few different ones. 

For me it's always suspense / thriller friction - at least it is for my 6 novels. I have done some comedy (humour genre) in my short and One-Act plays. A bit of drama too - although drama is not a genre as such, drama can be part of most genres. I have done some Crime / Detective (combined with comedy); I have skirted close to Horror at times and a few short stories - that' about it for me. As for Romance - I don't think I could ever get anywhere near it!! 

I checked Wikipedia and they list 29 genres! Wow - I sat down before I looked and wrote down just ten! Try yourself and see how many you can come up with. Then check in HERE.

It may be a good writing exercise to write in a different genre to hone your skills - maybe, maybe not. I'd go with Historical fiction if I had to!!