The Happy Benefits of #Rereading Old Favorites. #WritingLife #WritingTips

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Welcome back my fellow creatives! In the midst of surviving Midwestern snow, rain, more snow, more rain, and a single epic sledding trip–

–my family and I find warm solace in rereading old favorites.

Bo explores his biographies of the Marx Brothers. Bash marches to battle in his Transformer books. Biff dissects the data of every Federation ship in his Star Trek encyclopedia. Blondie explores the Wings of Fire series yet again, pausing at various pages to create her own illustrations of the story.

Blondie won a blue ribbon for this at the local Art Fair!

Me? I returned to Longbourn.

“Why there, Jean?” you may ask. “Why not a Poirot or Howl or some other such series?”

Good question! First, Bo and I are already enjoying Poirot mysteries via the boxed set of television adaptations he got me for Christmas. It’s as much fun to watch David Suchet and Company bring these stories to life as it is to watch Bo enjoy them. Even my three B’s have started to pay attention. “Why hasn’t anyone died yet? Hastings is silly. Woah, the police are using phones. Wait, that’s radio? WHAT?”

As for Diana Wynne Jones, I’ve a goal to finish a series I started looooong ago for some critical reading here: The Dalemark Quartet. This actually also ties to rereading Pride and Prejudice, for both are influences of my lost-in-development-hell Shield Maidens series.

Lastly, I had come across a really cool YouTuber named Dr. Octavia Cox who does close reading of classic literature, and her analyses of Pride and Prejudice made me realize just much one can uncover when one sloooowly moves through the words.

So, let’s focus today on why rereading those old favorites can do a writer–and reader–some good.

Comfort food for the imagination. When reality is cold and bleak, why not escape to a time and place we love? Of course, trying new things is important, but just as we enjoy those warm, delectable comfort foods, so does our imagination enjoy a return to the familiar. We experience those favorite lines, interactions, and settings with fresh appreciation each time, even to the point where we must read them aloud to others. Bash is an avid fan of this–if a Transformer has made him laugh yet again, he’ll read through the whole scene to Biff and Blondie who then, of course, must read the entire story for themselves. When one person loves a story, one never seeks to hide it! As a writer, those returns can be a marvelous benefit to us as we develop our storytelling skills, too.

Worldbuilding. Because we “know what’s coming” in the story, we can pay more attention to all the periphery details and how those enrich the overall setting. Rereading Howl’s Moving Castle, for instance, helps a reader better see how everyday magic utilized by sailors, bakers, and even hatters in Sophie’s life. Rereading the lives of the Marx Brothers–or rewatching Poirot–reveals the surprising pieces of 1930s life that can easily be forgotten. Rereading Wings of Fire helps Blondie catch specific aspects of dragon culture depending on where those dragons come from. In this reread of Pride and Prejudice, I paid closer attention to second and third-string characters, like the Lucas family, so I could better understand life in the Regency period.

The more we study those social gatherings, the more we understand how important they were for folks to meet anyone potentially suitable for marriage; how a female’s talents in entertainment could lift her up in the eyes of the community, and how many dance steps you had to memorize (oh my GOODNESS I would have failed miserably in that period). One may gasp with Elizabeth when Charlotte accepts the simpering Mr. Collins’ proposal, but when one reads closely, one catches that Charlotte is 27 years old–on the far end of the spectrum when folks were expected to marry. Add the size of Charlotte’s large family and small fortune to the mix, and readers have a clearer understanding of the period’s pressures upon a single young woman.

[Charlotte’s] reflections were satisfactory. Mr. Collins to be sure was neither sensible nor agreeable; his society was irksome, and his attachment to her must be imaginary. But still he would be her husband. –Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want.

Is it any wonder Mrs. Bennet was cheesed off at Elizabeth turning Mr. Collins down? In that time and place, such a life was a young woman’s best option. We as modern readers may not understand that at first, but the more we reread and revisit the setting of the story, the more we learn.

Foreshadowing. It can be so, so hard to catch the clues dropped early, can’t it? We are caught up in the current moment, eagerly anticipating the next exchange or event that alters the storyline’s progression. That was me with a lot of tales, whether they were mysteries like The ABC Murders or fantasy epics like the Harry Potter series. We can even use Harry Potter as an example here: in the first story, Harry talks to a snake he unwittingly releases from its zoo enclosure. At the moment, it’s a lighthearted moment, but in the second book, we learn that talking to snakes is not common at all; plus, it was a trait usually only seen in witches and wizards who preferred the Dark Arts. So is Harry actually a Dark Arts master in the making? Dunh dunh DUNH!

One of Dr. Cox’s analyses of Pride and Prejudice really got me thinking about this, too, in regards to Lydia Bennet. The youngest and wildest of the sisters, she is on the constant search for entertainment and isn’t shy about demanding it from her family and friends. She’ll flirt with a number of officers, demand balls, play betting games with cards–the girl loves risks in all shapes and sizes. It’s a sly bit of foreshadowing about Lydia’s character arc and the choices she’s capable of making. Jane Austen’s slyness continues when Lydia starts talking about Wickham more frequently; it’s timed just so that it comes after Elizabeth refuses Mr. Darcy and reads his letter of Mr. Wickham’s attempted seduction of Georgiana, Mr. Darcy’s little sister. Elizabeth has no desire in hell to listen any references of Wickham, but what happens?

With such kind of histories of their parties and good jokes, did Lydia, assisted by Kitty’s hints and additions, endeavour to amuse her companions all the way to Longbourn. Elizabeth listened as little as she could, but there was no escaping the frequent mention of Wickham’s name.

Because we’re focused on Elizabeth in our initial read, we don’t wonder why Elizabeth ignores Lydia’s ramblings. In the rereads, though, we better understand that all of Lydia’s choices fit her temperament and character, and when Wickham bolts his militia, it really isn’t a wonder for Lydia to bolt with him for a lark.

Not to mention the hardcore foreshadowing of Wickham!

Character Arc (one way or another). Let’s stick with Pride and Prejudice‘s Wickham here. In our first read, we share in Meryton’s positive first impressions of Mr. Wickham:

But the attention of every lady was soon caught by a young man, whom they had never seen before, of most gentlemanlike appearance.

That is, the dude’s hot.

Lydia’s making a point to flat-out run into this guy and his friend. Elizabeth’s aunt is hollering at the guy from her window. He’s got eeeveryone’s attention with his manners and looks. After a brief run-in with Mr. Darcy, Mr. Wickham starts probing Elizabeth as to what’s known about Mr. Darcy, and through the coming pages we find out that Mr. Wickham is pretty cool with bemoaning his fate at the hands of the prideful Darcy. Once Elizabeth reads Mr. Darcy’s letter, however, she comes to realize how “gentlemanlike” Mr. Wickham often broke rules of decorum by bashing Darcy at every opportunity. Mr. Darcy’s letter also foreshadows an important aspect of Mr. Wickham’s character–his womanizing. He’s not afraid of ruining a young lady’s reputation for his own interests, and while he failed with Georgiana, he succeeds with Lydia Bennet. Everything that was his character is revealed for an arc from “hot guy” to “womanizing jerk.”

Elizabeth Bennet is also a fine study for the character arc. Oh, she remains playfully witty from start to finish, but in the opening chapters of the ball where Lizzy and Mr. Darcy meet, she is just as prideful as he. She laughs it off, sure, but from that moment on she “willfully misunderstands him,” as Mr. Darcy himself put it during their time together in Netherfield. She refuses to believe such an observation, though, and continues feeling herself best and right regarding Mr. Collins’ simpering, Miss Bingley’s interference with Jane Bennet’s happiness, and more. While Elizabeth is right in some of her observations, she has to face her own mistakes later in the story when it comes to Wickham and Darcy. She has misread people, and she has to own up to it. It actually reminds me of Howl’s Moving Castle when Sophie realizes just how much she cares about Howl. She can’t even admit to herself that she’s capable of loving someone until a fire demon lures Howl into a trap. Readers love seeing characters grow into themselves, so having these rereads helps writers better catch when and how such moments happen.

Two People Finding Each Other.

Blondie: What are you reading?

Me: Pride and Prejudice.

Blondie: Who gets murdered?

Me: Nobody.

Blondie: Does anyone die or get blown up?

Me: Nope.

Blondie: Is there magical stuff in it?

Me: Nope.

Blondie: That sounds really boring.

Now when I was Blondie’s age, I would have agreed. I was immersed in fantasy and mystery at that point, so if someone wasn’t getting murdered, then something better be getting blown up. Now, though, as I reread Pride and Prejudice, I am reminded of something many of us seek in stories of any genre. Even the most violent thing I’ve ever studied on this site, Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s The Boys, understood this important element of storytelling.

Boys members Butcher and Hughie are both transformed by love: Hughie struggles with a broken heart not once but twice, and Butcher’s descent into revenge begins with the rape and murder of his wife by a super “hero.” Early in their time together, they help two witnesses of a murder rekindle their relationship. Looking on, Hughie says:

What is it about love stories, you know?

BUTCHER: Two people findin’ each other.

Many of us yearn for that other soul that connects with us in a way no other can. There’s a reason romance alone can sell a story and that many genres include a romantic interest. Is it demanded? No. It doesn’t even have to be a love thing. It could be something as equally powerful as finding a friend or a family member. There is a unique joy as a reader in watching two characters come together, “finding” each other in spite of all story-world obstacles–even the barriers they themselves created.

So yes, there is much to enjoy and learn in a good re-read. What are you rereading during these dreary days? I’d love to hear. x

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!

#WriterProblems: The Absent Protagonist (or, a Quick Rant about a #MissMarple #Mystery)

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Happy New Year, my fellow creatives! I hope 2023 is a kind one to us all. I’m eager to work with my university to develop strong goals as an educator, an advocate, and as a writer. That includes chatting with you here, and (fingers crossed) getting something published before 2023 ends.

To start the year off right, I picked up a cozy mystery my husband Bo had given me for Christmas…in 2021, but better late than never. Miss Marple has really grown on me over the past couple of years, and since I’ve not read all her books, I wanted to see if I could cover the rest in 2023. So, here we are with her third mystery, The Moving Finger.

One of the creepier covers.

And I’m peeved.

Not deeply peeved, mind you. The mystery itself is rather good. A brother-sister pair settle in to the countryside for a few months while the brother recovers from a back injury. With the peaceful setting situated, the “harmless” crime of poison pen letters begins with a flurry of notes to different members of the community–Jill’s a floozie, Tim’s not your husband’s child, etc. Even the urban siblings receive a letter that they’re not really siblings. The town gossip burns bright, but no one really takes the letters seriously.

That is, until a woman apparently commits suicide. When her maid is later found murdered, the letters suddenly feel like ticking time bombs. When will the next letter lead to the next death? Cue Miss Marple….

…a few dozen pages before the end.

That’s what brings me here for a brief rant/chat with you all. I know my blogging was rather sporadic last year as I continue to find my place academically and creatively, but one thing that I hope will help is to keep my blog posts shorter than the 5k essays I’d been writing. The short story collection I began in November reminded me just how much fun creative writing can be when we give ourselves time to actually write. We must still take a moment to learn from others, though, and that’s why we’re here.

No Pevensie to be found here!

When one writes a series, one cannot just use the same group of characters over and over and over again. A story-world is usually populated by more than a dozen folks, yes? So, there must always be someone new to the mix. Perhaps that new person is a side character, or perhaps that new person is a real first-stringer, a protagonist in their own right. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this in an established series so long as we establish why the, well, “established” protagonists are on the sidelines. For a big example, see the Chronicles of Narnia. The four Pevensies are only protagonists in two of the books; two Pevensies are protagonists in a third with their cousin, and then that cousin is a protagonist with a schoolmate in another book. Two books have nothing to do with the Pevensies at all, yet they’re still in the series because the series is focused on the world, not those characters.

Okay, let’s look at a series based on a character–James Bond. Bo, who chides me for not having read the Bond books yet (shall I remedy that this year?) explained that The Spy Who Loved Me, Fleming’s ninth Bond novel, doesn’t bother introducing Bond into the story until around the halfway point. Because the story is told from a civilian woman’s point of view, we can’t just pop over to wherever Bond is, even though this is technically a James Bond novel. We’ve just got to wait for him to show up.

I assume a moped is involved in the story somewhere…

Diana Wynne Jones also has some stories like this in her Chrestomanci series. Technically, technically, Witch Week is a Chrestomanci novel because he has to get involved to make things right in the chaos of a world where burning witches is the law and schoolchildren are on the run for their lives. But like Marple, Chrestomanci does not show up until Act III of the story.

Yet I’m not peeved about Chrestomanci’s late arrival like I am with Miss Marple’s in The Moving Finger. Why?

It has to do with agency. Chrestomanci may have been late to the Witch Week party, but he took action. He dealt with the witch-burners and saved the children. He DID SOMETHING.

Includes The Magicians of Caprona, which also fits my concerns with the absent hero, too.

I’m not going to spoil the resolution of The Moving Finger, but I will say that Marple’s interactions with others can be counted on one hand. Readers don’t see her talking to police or many townspeople. She’s with the vicar’s wife, and she talks to the urban siblings. That’s it. Yet she gets the pages of explaining the mystery at the end? What did she DO???

For the record, I think the mystery’s plot is fine. The characters are a little cheesy with the romance, but not to the point of irritation. What bothers me is that Marple’s absence from the story would not alter the story’s outcome. A little tweaking of interactions with the regular cast here would lead to someone realizing the truth and catching the culprit. Miss Marple had no real agency in her own story, and that just leaves me confused as a reader: why is this a Marple story at all?

There’s nothing wrong with a different cast shining inside an established protagonist’s universe. The key is to make sure that established protagonist still has a moment to shine themselves. So long as readers know their favorite hero(ine) is still ACTIVE in the story-world, they will be happy to see others take action, too.

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!

#writerproblems: #writing awesome #characterdesign in three sentences or less.

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Yes, I know that hashtag #characterdesign is more of an art-related thing, but it fits with this little lesson learned, believe you me.

This week started with its usual chaos: calls at 5am for a substitute teacher in 5th grade–no wait, Kindergarten. No wait, art, just art for aaaaaall the grades, can you do that? Bash wakes up with a swollen eye from Lord knows what (don’t worry, it left just as mysteriously as it came), university students re-submit work I had already flagged as inappropriate for the assignment requirements. On top of all this, another university contacts me to schedule an interview for a full-time gig. (insert excitement and anxiety here.)

Meanwhile, I did my best to stay in the writing community loop, reading about the racial controversy over American Dirt and learning from fellow indie author Michael Dellert that The Arcanist is calling for western speculative flash fiction:

Click here if you’re interested, too!
You can check out my novella for free on Kindle Unlimited, or nab the e-book for 99cents.

Is there another short story inside me for the bounty hunter Sumac? I asked myself as the twelve-year-olds tried to stab each other with colored pencils. 1000 words didn’t feel like a lot of wiggle room. Night’s Tooth was meant to be a short story, after all, but writing a fantasy western inspired by Clint Eastwood’s The Man With No Name trilogy meant a LOT of slow-but-tense moments. Thus, the novella instead of the short story. (Click here if you’d like to read one of those moments.)

As magical showdowns percolated in my mind, I continued planning my excursion into the “dark, impulsive, whiny villainy” of Disney’s Star Wars. I had my collection of Robert McKee Story quotes at the ready for studying the bizarre mix of Hux and Kylo interactions in The Force Awakens and shift from there into the smothering subversions of The Last Jedi.

That is, until my perusal through Agatha Christie’s short fiction sparked a little something that I just had to share.

So we all know that when it comes to short fiction, you gotta pack a lot into a tiny space. Plot, character, setting–aaaaall that jazz has gotta be played at a heightened, almost truncated speed. There’s no time for meandering interludes or long drum solos.

(RIP Neil Pert. I know he wasn’t a jazz player, but Bo’s a HUGE Rush fan, so he’s been showing concerts to the kids and now I’m stuck in a land of music metaphor that doesn’t jive and we’re just going to move on because I clearly have no sense of what decade I’m in.)

David Suchet reading Hercule Poirot is
as awesome as Edward Hardwicke reading Sherlock Holmes.

Agatha Christie wrote over a hundred short stories. If ANYone knew the importance of keeping the story elements thrumming along, it was her. This is especially clear when she describes her characters. Like any good musician, Christie’s style moves sweet’n’slick with just the right amount of flourish.

Miss Lemon was forty-eight and of unprepossessing appearance. Her general effect was that of a lot of bones flung together at random. She had a passion for order almost equalling that of Poirot himself; and though capable of thinking, she never thought unless told to do so.

“How Does Your Garden Grow?”

In just three sentences, we’ve got a sense of this character’s physical appearance, interests, and mindset. Christie doesn’t dwell on the minutiae, like what Miss Lemon wears or how she does her hair. That all falls under “unpreposessing appearance.” But some readers whine when they can’t “see” a character without more precise detail. What if we picture different things? What if we don’t see the character the same way the writer did? THAT CHANGES THE READING EXPERIENCE, DOESN’T IT?!

Honestly, folks, does Miss Lemon’s outfit affect the story? No. Does it matter if each of us picture “a lot of bones flung together” (damn, I really like that bit) in different ways? No.

More importantly, a short story doesn’t have space to waste on that kind of detail. When a writer’s looking into contests like The Arcanist‘s, he/she can’t afford to spend a hundred words on description when forty will do the trick. Heck, even twenty’s enough for Christie in some cases. Take these character descriptions of two parents.

Mrs. Waverly’s emotion was obviously genuine, but it assorted strangely with her shrewd, rather hard type of countenance.

Mr. Waverly was a big, florid, jovial-looking man. He stood with his legs straddled wide apart and looked the type of the country squire.

“The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly”

Again, the colorful details are skipped in favor for body language and behavior. We get senses of these people–the hard, heart-broken mother, the upper-class, happy sort of father. We may not know what these two look like, but we know their body language, and in this we get impressions of their attitudes and behaviors, which are far more important than hair color.

Six months ago she had married a fifth time–a commander in the Navy. He it was who came striding down the beach behind her. Silent, dark–with a pugnacious jaw and a sullen manner. A touch of the primeval ape about him.

“Triangle at Rhodes”

Those third and fourth sentences say it ALL. “Silent, dark”–readers can already get a sense of a nasty face, but since this man’s “a commander in the Navy” then we know he’s going to carry himself like a man of authority and power. Words like “pugnacious” and “sullen” tell readers how he’s going to interact with the other characters: always negatively, aggressively, and without any sort of kindness. The fact he’s “primeval” practically forces readers to picture this character as a sort of sub-human, incapable of empathy or feeling.

And aaaaaall that characterization is given in just eighteen words.

When Poirot’s friend Captain Hastings narrates the story, Christie is also able to take advantage of her ever-lovable unreliable narrator, which allows her to misdirect readers when she so chooses.

An awesome collection if you dig short fic!

The sixth Viscount Cronshaw was a man of about fifty, suave in manner, with a handsome, dissolute face. Evidently an elerly roué, with the languid manner of a poseur. I took an instant dislike to him.

Mrs. Davidson came to us almost immediately, a small, fair creature whose fragility would have seemed pathetic and appealing had it not been for the rather shrewd and calculating gleam in her light blue eyes.

“The Affair at the Victory Ball”

Oh, Hastings, you do love a pretty face. Poirot’s partner loves to let readers know when he’s a fan of a woman or not, consistently keen to describe her appearance and whether or not she’s attractive.Once in a while, though, he’ll catch something genuine, such as Mrs. Davidson’s shrewdness. Likewise, if Hastings doesn’t like a man, he’s obvious about that, too, and these opinions from Hastings always alter how he interacts with the characters as well as how he interprets their words and body language. This in turn affects the information readers receive, and so by the end of “The Affair at the Victory Ball” we’re just as surprised as Hastings to discover how wrong we are about these people.

Once in a while, though, Christie does allow a little drum solo when a minor character takes the stage. It seems to happen when it’s a character type Poirot, Hastings, or the omniscient narrator ignores in favor of more interesting goings-on: a mere citizen, a member of the populace where the mystery occurs. Sometimes it’s this common-ness that plays its part in getting Poirot to the mystery, such as in “The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding”:

Everything about Mr. Jesmond was discreet. His well-cut but inconspicuous clothes, his pleasant, well-bred voice which rarely soared out of an agreeable monotone, his light-brown hair just thinning a little at the temples, his pale serious face. It seemed to Hercule Poirot that he had known not one Mr. Jesmond but a dozen Mr. Jesmonds in his time, all using sooner or later the same phrase–“a position of the utmost delicacy.”

“The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding”

And this bit from “A Cornish Mystery” is a lovely reminder to readers and writers alike that every setting’s character, no matter how bland and un-unusual, is still a person with problems, fear, and feeling.

Many unlikely people came to consult Poirot, but to my mind, the woman who stood nervously just inside the door, fingering her feather neck-piece, was the most unlikely of all. She was so extraordinarily commonplace–a thin, faded woman of about fifty, dressed in a braided coat and skirt, some gold jewellery at her neck, and with her grey hair surmounted by a singularly unbecoming hat. In a country town you pass a hundred Mrs. Pengelleys in the street every day.

“The Cornish Mystery”

It seems Hastings spends an awful long time introducing us to a character that’s just one of a hundred one would pass in the street–81 words, in fact. Why so much time on a single, ordinary character in a short story? Hasting’s description creates an expectation of ordinary-ness, regularity, typicality. But of course, Christie being Christie, this time spent on an ordinary character comes with reason: this ordinary character, this one of one hundred, is murdered. Why would someone murder this one Mrs. Pengelley out of a hundred one would pass on a country town street?

Ah. That is why the reader reads on.

So when you work on your own character designs, writers, always ask yourself what matters more: the character’s appearance, or behavior? The character’s look, or feelings? A character’s choices are often the influence of action and pacing, but there’s no denying that sometimes, a character’s appearance alone may twist the narrative into surprising directions. What matters is that you share character traits important to the story. Picturing a character’s apparel means little when readers cannot see a character’s attitude.

~STAY TUNED NEXT WEEK!~

Back to The Young and the Restless of Disney’s Star Wars villains!

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!

#Writing #Music: Peter Gabriel

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gabriel_scratchmb_header2Rarely do I allow myself to write with lyrical music on in the background. The words don’t always jive with what I picture in my head, and tend to distract me from the goal of the scene.

And yet, there are some songs that work on a level where the music and the words are intrinsic to each other, like a vine that climbs the old iron fence and flowers before your eyes. You can’t remove the fence, and you can’t remove the vine, for together they create a single unique image. The individual components are now in union, and for the better.

That’s one of the reasons I enjoy Peter Gabriel’s rendition of “Heroes” so much. Set apart, the strings are just. Breathtaking. The build is dramatically, almost painfully slow, but you know they’re building, so you’re willing to stay, and well up with them. Touch the stars with them. Return to earth with them.

Set apart, Gabriel himself is just. Heartbreaking. The song itself shares a deep hope, yet when Gabriel sings it, there’s this sense of fate–for all the crying out to the heavens, the singer will continue to be alone, for his hope can never be truly fulfilled.

United, this song transcends to a Shakespearean height in longing, love, and imagination.

The first time I heard this song, a scene formed in my head, bright and complete. It’s a rare experience for me, to see a piece of story in such detail–usually I can only hear the dialogue, or see something important, and have to clean up the fuzzy bits over the course of multiple revisions.

Not that scene, though. This song brought it to me, whole and beautiful, and it’s stayed as it was first drafted. Perhaps this song will help you uncover that precious, bittersweet something hidden beneath the starlight.

Click here for more on SCRATCH MY BACK.

Click here for more on Peter Gabriel.

 

 

 

You’ve Got Five Pages, #TheOlympianAffair by #JimButcher, to Tell Me You’re Good. #FirstChapter #BookReview #Podcast

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When I saw the inside of the book cover was filled with unique world-related ads and propaganda, I knew I was in for something fun.

As writers, we hear all the time that we’ve got to hook readers in just the first few pages or else. We’ve got to hook agents in the first few pages or else.

Whether you’re looking to get published or just hoping to hook your reader, first impressions are vital. Compelling opening scenes are the key to catching an agent or editor’s attention, and are crucial for keeping your reader engaged.

JEFF GERKE, THE FIRST FIFTY PAGES

Today I snagged from the New Release shelf:

The Olympian Affair of The Cinder Series by Jim Butcher

I find myself in a sequel with Jim Butcher’s The Olympian Affair.

Book 2 of The Cinder Series takes a smart approach: start with one character walking through a town with a destination in mind. When a writer takes this narrow focus, they not only give themselves a chance to reacquaint readers with a specific character, but to also re-establish the setting of the world, too. Granted, it’s one town in a fantasy world, but it’s enough to get a sense of what the world is like and how it operates.

Airships are the name of the game here, which is always a fun steampunk concept, and I love that spires take on a whole new meaning through this world. (The fencing swords on the cover are what drew me to pick this book up in the first place.) The writing itself has an interesting rhythm; Butcher deploys short, strong sentences in the midst of long, active prose in order for those brief descriptors to pack a real punch–“The new vatteries stank.”–is a personal favorite of mine. Sensory details like this mixed with banter between two airship captains made the opening pages an intriguing read. If you’re ready to take off for a break from this world (I know I am) then I have a feeling Jim Butcher’s Cinder Spires series would make for an excellent escape.

No matter what the season brings, keep reading!

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!

You’ve Got Five Pages, Northwoods by #AmyPease, to Tell Me You’re Good. #FirstChapter #BookReview #Podcast

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The North Woods is so much more ominous at night…

As writers, we hear all the time that we’ve got to hook readers in just the first few pages or else. We’ve got to hook agents in the first few pages or else.

Whether you’re looking to get published or just hoping to hook your reader, first impressions are vital. Compelling opening scenes are the key to catching an agent or editor’s attention, and are crucial for keeping your reader engaged.

JEFF GERKE, THE FIRST FIFTY PAGES

Today I snagged from the New Release shelf:

Northwoods by Amy Pease

What a delightful find! Amy Pease’s debut Northwoods is yet another mystery set in Northern Wisconsin, but I promise you, this prose and establishing chapter promise some fun thrills in the future.

Her first chapter is only two pages long, yet in those two little pages we see our protagonist Eli down on his luck and himself, floating alone out on a lake in the middle of the night, sipping whiskey and reflecting on life. We’re not told he’s sad or depressed—we can see it. Plus, the vivid sensory details of the night woods around him add to the isolation of the setting while also helping us feel Eli’s loneliness…that is, until something strange floats into his vicinity. At the end of that chapter he swims quickly ashore, unsettled, and reaches for his scanner. A couple pages into the second chapter, we learn he’s not only in law enforcement, but a military veteran. So, if something in the water scared HIM, then we as readers can only imagine it wasn’t good.

Sure, I’m naturally a little biased for Wisconsin-set stories, but Pease does a marvelous job of balancing world-building information with active narrative. This keeps the story’s pace in motion while readers continue to learn about life in this little vacation spot in Wisconsin. For those seeking a little mystery outside the gritty city life, Amy Pease is sure to transport you into the dark, unknown wild of the North Woods.

No matter what the season brings, keep reading!

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!

You’ve Got Five Pages, #HerLastBreath by #DanPadavona, to Tell Me You’re Good. #FirstChapter #BookReview #Podcast

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As writers, we hear all the time that we’ve got to hook readers in just the first few pages or else. We’ve got to hook agents in the first few pages or else.

Whether you’re looking to get published or just hoping to hook your reader, first impressions are vital. Compelling opening scenes are the key to catching an agent or editor’s attention, and are crucial for keeping your reader engaged.

JEFF GERKE, THE FIRST FIFTY PAGES

Today I snagged from the New Release shelf:

Her Last Breath by Dan Padavona

I just noticed that on Amazon, the book is called “a gripping suspense thriller,” but my printed copy says “a chilling psychological thriller.” I suppose that’s one of the benefits of being an indie writer–you can tweak lots of things as you go!

The first chapter of Her Last Breath is a mixed bag. On the one hand, the build up of the prostitute Erika being propositioned and then murdered by an unknown man in an SUV is paced fairly well with strong sensory details. We can see and feel the tension of the moment between the man calling to Erika and promising a big payout and Erika choosing to ride home with this man. Plus there is a logistical reason for Erika to accept a ride from this wealthy stranger–she’s miles away from the city and needs a ride back. That isolation, even with a decaying resort motel in the background, helps readers feel the character’s helplessness. How else can she get home?

There are some struggles here as well, though, and these are struggles many of us writers face. We know we’ve got to establish the setting of our story, and establish it fast. However, we’ve got to think about what details the readers need here and now vs. what can wait. While the first paragraph introduces us to the prostitute cleaning up after a job at a motel, the second paragraph takes us through the history of that motel…and then we get back to the prostitute cleaning up again. It’s an odd moment to hear a lot of information about the place, especially when she’s going to leave it. Rundown motels outside of cities is not uncommon, so it would not have hurt to keep this initial context a bit more general so the plot’s momentum can pick up speed instead. After all, a detective investigating a murder has all sorts of opportunities to learn the histories of locations–why not wait until then? These are the kinds of world-building choices we writers have to watch for. As tempting as it is to dive into the setting’s history right away, do readers need it right away? Probably not. It never hurts to break that information up, and drop little bits when the needs arise for characters to learn it.

No matter what the season brings, keep reading!

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!

You’ve Got Five Pages, #TheNarrowRoadBetweenDesires by #PatrickRothfuss, to Tell Me You’re Good. #FirstChapter #BookReview #Podcast

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We may not be kingkillers right now, but perhaps we’ll find ourselves there in time.

As writers, we hear all the time that we’ve got to hook readers in just the first few pages or else. We’ve got to hook agents in the first few pages or else.

Whether you’re looking to get published or just hoping to hook your reader, first impressions are vital. Compelling opening scenes are the key to catching an agent or editor’s attention, and are crucial for keeping your reader engaged.

jEFF GERKE, THE FIRST FIFTY PAges

The Narrow Road Between Desires by Patrick Rothfuss

I have been recommended Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind quite often over the years, but here I am, diving into this shorter fantasy work of his instead. Even Rothfuss recommends NOT reading this short work before his other books, but I have done so…and am glad to have done so, too.

The first chapter quickly establishes our protagonist Bast, a known character from the other books. Being a complete newbie, I accepted that there could be unclear aspects of the world for me because I wasn’t familiar with the world of The Kingkiller Chronicle. Yet the first chapter starts in a very intimate, quiet way: Bast is trying to sneak out of the inn before his master notices. The innkeeper catches him, though, and sets him up with a mysterious book and a small list of errands before asking about a stranger who stopped by the inn earlier. Bast pretends to not know much of the stranger and takes off for his errands.

Doesn’t sound like much, does it? And the stranger’s name sounds like it is also something from the other books.

But that does not leave me flustered in the least. Rothfuss has a beautiful sense of the ear in his language, describing the different sounds created when a novice tries to sneak away vs. an expert vs. the artist Bast is. The visual and aural details mixed with metaphor creates a flow of prose one can easily coast upon, happy to see where the current takes them. Sure, I may choose to follow Rothfuss’ advice and NOT read The Narrow Road Between Desires before I read The Name of the Wind, but something tells me that if I stay with the current, Bast’s tale will still take me to some pretty exciting, unique places in that fantastical realm.

No matter what the season brings, keep reading!

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!

You’ve Got Five Pages, #BlindSpots by #ThomasMullen, to Tell Me You’re Good. #FirstChapter #BookReview #Podcast

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Cops with vampire bat skills. Sure, why not?

As writers, we hear all the time that we’ve got to hook readers in just the first few pages or else. We’ve got to hook agents in the first few pages or else.

Whether you’re looking to get published or just hoping to hook your reader, first impressions are vital. Compelling opening scenes are the key to catching an agent or editor’s attention, and are crucial for keeping your reader engaged.

JEFF GERKE, THE FIRST FIFTY PAGES

Well then, let’s study those first few pages in other people’s stories, shall we?

Today Blondie snagged from the New Release shelf:

Blind Spots by Thomas Mullen

This podcast covers a lot of mysteries–I mean, a LOT of mysteries–so it’s fun to see how blending mystery with another genre can create something unique yet accessible for a reader.

Thomas Mullen’s Blind Spots opens with a traditional setup of The Cop Stakeout, but this traditional setup is warped outside our traditional experience as protagonist Owens thinks about how much life has changed because of The Blinding: a mysterious event that has led to humanity collectively losing their eyesight. (During my podcast I read one moment that the sun was blown out of the sky–my apologies for the misread.) Now humanity has to see through “vidders,” implants that have turned humanity into “vampire bats,” as Owens describes it. It’s a fascinating concept that allows for the science fiction aspect of this story to shine; plus, it creates a multi-layer mystery here, for alongside the mystery Owens has to solve, we readers wonder about the mystery of The Blinding. For those who are eager for a new flavor of mystery, Blind Spots may be the perfect selection to sample.

No matter what the season brings, keep reading!

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!

You’ve Got Five Pages, #TheLostLibrary by #RebeccaStead and #WendyMass, to Tell Me You’re Good. #FirstChapter #BookReview #Podcast

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When Blondie recommends something, I listen, by golly!

As writers, we hear all the time that we’ve got to hook readers in just the first few pages or else. We’ve got to hook agents in the first few pages or else.

Whether you’re looking to get published or just hoping to hook your reader, first impressions are vital. Compelling opening scenes are the key to catching an agent or editor’s attention, and are crucial for keeping your reader engaged.

JEFF GERKE, THE FIRST FIFTY PAGES

Well then, let’s study those first few pages in other people’s stories, shall we?

Today Blondie snagged from the New Release shelf:

The Lost Library by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass

I can see why Blondie enjoyed this Middle-Grade tale.

We have a by-the-rules cat determined to keep mice out of the old house’s basement but refuses to eat them. Mortimer the cat is also a bit envious, for cats do not have many words while mice do. The multiple references to this in the first chapter leave us readers wondering if those abilities with words have something to do with this Middle-Grade mystery. Overall, this first chapter does a fine job establishing the story: we have a sense of our protagonist, we have a sense of how he interacts with others, and we also have a little bit of mystery established with Mortimer describing a guilty feeling about a library book cart in the house’s basement. Why is there a book cart down there? How could old library books make a cat feel so guilty, guilty enough to shoo mice along instead of eating them? I’m intrigued! And hey, if you’ve got a young reader in your household, The Lost Library could be a fun little mystery to share with them for a little extra after-school read.

No matter what the season brings, keep reading!

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!

You’ve Got Five Pages, #DeathintheDarkWoods by #AnneliseRyan, to Tell Me You’re Good. #FirstChapter #BookReview #Podcast

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Alas, the Prologue Curse returns.

As writers, we hear all the time that we’ve got to hook readers in just the first few pages or else. We’ve got to hook agents in the first few pages or else.

Whether you’re looking to get published or just hoping to hook your reader, first impressions are vital. Compelling opening scenes are the key to catching an agent or editor’s attention, and are crucial for keeping your reader engaged.

JEFF GERKE, THE FIRST FIFTY PAGES

Well then, let’s study those first few pages in other people’s stories, shall we?

Today I snagged from the New Release shelf:

Death in the Dark Woods by Annelise Ryan

Don’t get me wrong, my fellow creatives—Annelise Ryan’s premise for Death in the Dark Woods carries promise of something weird and wild, and in Wisconsin of all places! As a fellow Wisconsinite, I’m all in for that kind of mystery.

While the prologue starts a bit slow with a hunter failing to shoot a buck, the tension and pacing quickly mount to a chaotic, lethal attack. Ryan provides just enough detail for readers to experience the terror without getting gory; plus, readers are left in the dark as to what kind of animal killed the hunter. Considering Bigfoot is mentioned in the dust jacket, we as readers can certainly make a guess or two, ahem.

Then the official Chapter 1 brings all that tension to a halt as we restart the story with protagonist Morgan taking care of customers and chatting up the Chief of Police. Once again, we get a fine hook of a prologue only to be reeled in for a slow first chapter. Now the Chief is asking if Morgan will speak to someone in the DNR, so I’m hoping this means Chapter 2 takes readers to the woods where the hunter died. I just wish the narrative didn’t require slamming the brakes on the pacing in order to do that. Still, I’m happy to support local authors, especially ones with a quirky premise like this. A cryptozoologist hunting down monsters in Wisconsin? Let’s go!

No matter what the season brings, keep reading!

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!

You’ve Got Five Pages, #TheWager by #DavidGrann, to Tell Me You’re Good. #FirstChapter #BookReview #Podcast

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I think for the first time ever, I find the author’s note to be a compelling hook.

As writers, we hear all the time that we’ve got to hook readers in just the first few pages or else. We’ve got to hook agents in the first few pages or else.

Whether you’re looking to get published or just hoping to hook your reader, first impressions are vital. Compelling opening scenes are the key to catching an agent or editor’s attention, and are crucial for keeping your reader engaged.

JEFF GERKE, THE FIRST FIFTY PAGES

Well then, let’s study those first few pages in other people’s stories, shall we?

Today I snagged from the New Release shelf:

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder

David Grann’s The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder is a fascinating mix of true crime and nautical history.

Grann shares a quick paragraph before the prologue describing the “debris” he sorted through of conflicting accounts and half-truths and that he won’t reach a conclusion for us—we must make our own conclusions as to what really happened a couple centuries ago. It’s a cold case without any clear-cut closure…and I’m all for it.

The prologue then gives readers some basic context for what happened regarding the British ship The Wager: originally sent to overtake a Spanish galleon, it goes MIA only to appear battered and beaten off the coast of Brazil with a starved fraction of its original crew. Yet another smaller vessel with a few more survivors lands later, and these two parties provide very, VERY different accounts of what went down on The Wager and the island where all were shipwrecked. Now considering the unique terminology that comes with nautical period writing, I don’t think Grann’s book is for everyone, but if you’re prepared to lose yourself amongst the waves of the past, then I’m sure you’ll enjoy Grann’s The Wager.

No matter what the season brings, keep reading!

Read on, share on, and write on, my friend!

You’ve Got Five Pages, #DistantSons by #TimJohnston, to Tell Me You’re Good. #FirstChapter #BookReview #Podcast

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For the first time in a while we have us a prologue, folks. But what a prologue.

As writers, we hear all the time that we’ve got to hook readers in just the first few pages or else. We’ve got to hook agents in the first few pages or else.

Whether you’re looking to get published or just hoping to hook your reader, first impressions are vital. Compelling opening scenes are the key to catching an agent or editor’s attention, and are crucial for keeping your reader engaged.

JEFF GERKE, THE FIRST FIFTY PAGES

Well then, let’s study those first few pages in other people’s stories, shall we?

Today I snagged from the New Release shelf:

Distant Sons by Tim Johnston

We are transported to a 1976 summer evening tense with sport and hormones and mystery as two brothers run off to play a baseball game…but only one returns.

It’s a damn beautiful prologue, the cadence of the prose flowing like a river such boys would splash in to cool off after a hard nine innings in the schoolyard. The narrator focuses on the experience of the elder brother, stuck with his younger brother for the game, so caught up in the game he forgets about the brother altogether. As he walks home through the woods he remembers the boy who had gone missing a year ago—and as the prologue ends, it sounds like the younger brother has met the same fate.

Now one of my biggest beefs about prologues of this caliber is that they’re often some sort of cover for a lousy first chapter, one that brings the momentum to a grinding halt and dumps us with information before attempting to restart the narrative action. For Johnston, this is not the case. Granted, we have been shifted to a new time—2018—and ride with a new character named Sean. However, we are not given a ton of exposition—hardly any at all, really. We are watching Sean deal with his busted truck and his prediction of how his future interaction with his father may go when he gets home. I stopped at this point due to time, so how this broken truck impacts Sean, I cannot say.

What I will say is that the prologue is a brilliant study of powerful prose that balances a lush setting with the relatable pangs of a boy aspiring to be more and with the looming fear of nefarious danger in the background. Even if you don’t want to read the rest of the novel, I recommend fellow writers check out Distant Sons for the prologue alone.

No matter what the season brings, keep reading!

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!

You’ve Got Five Pages, #ThornHedge by #TKingfisher, to Tell Me You’re Good. #FirstChapter #BookReview #Podcast

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Storytelling is the truly powerful magic.

As writers, we hear all the time that we’ve got to hook readers in just the first few pages or else. We’ve got to hook agents in the first few pages or else.

Whether you’re looking to get published or just hoping to hook your reader, first impressions are vital. Compelling opening scenes are the key to catching an agent or editor’s attention, and are crucial for keeping your reader engaged.

JEFF GERKE, THE FIRST FIFTY PAGES

Well then, let’s study those first few pages in other people’s stories, shall we?

Today I snagged from the New Release shelf:

Thorn Hedge by T. Kingfisher

I admit, I am a little bias with today’s selection. When I saw T. Kingfisher had a new dark take on a classic story, I had to jump on it.

Thorn Hedge does not disappoint. Its opening pages are told from the Fairy’s perspective, describing a crushingly long passage of time as she guards a mysterious tower and the thorn hedge surrounding it. Granted, we as writers are always told to “show, don’t tell.” Kingfisher does the opposite in order to reflect on how much time passes under the Fairy’s watchful eye. Initially the wall of thorns is massive and obvious, drawing the attention of princes and ambitious boys from all over, but as generations come and go, the everyday nature creeps up and grows over this wall. Yet the Fairy fears that the story—yes, the story—of the tower and its secret has not died in time. I do love how Kingfisher focuses on the power of words, of story, and how THAT is to be feared rather than any kind of magic or weapon of the world.

Clues are given to readers to help gauge time, such as the Plague masks of the Black Death and the red crosses worn by knights during the Crusades. I admit, I started getting impatient when we reached the Crusades, for it was starting to feel like we would only see this story as a walk through time, but behold! On the sixth page comes a knight. And then, my fellow creatures, the true narrative starts.

So, if you are one for brief, vivid tellings of classic tales, I don’t think you’ll go wrong with Kingfisher here. I LOVED her take on The Fall of the House of Usher, so I’m stoked to see what she does with this Grimm, dark tale. 😊

No matter what the season brings, keep reading!

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!