So – I just gotta tell you about Darla. I do a lot of travelling and not long ago, I was sitting in the O’Hare Airport when a woman walked into the gate area. She was in her early twenties, and carried a backpack, which she held with a whitened fist. She sat down and began to fidget in her seat, checking her watch, looking at the gate, pawing through her bag. She pulled out a book, and clutched it to her chest a moment before opening it, and pulling out a highlighter. The books said, in large black ominous letters – How to get over your fear of flying. Periodically, she wiped her hands on her jeans, and blew out a long breath, as if she’d been holding it. […]
Read the RestArchive | August, 2008
We’re Having A Party
My Book Therapy is all about Self- Therapy – meaning, Friends, Faith, Fun and Food! So – let’s get together! You know that empty spot on your ACFW Conference schedule (if you’re going!) on Friday night between 6-8 p.m.? Where other people might be taking off to hang with their publisher or critique group or just a gang of writers they met at conference, well… Come hang out with the VOICES in the first ever My Book Therapy Voices PIZZA PARTY! Meet your fellow voices face to face. Give your input about how to improve My Book Therapy and Voices Talk about writing And hear what’s in store for MBT in the next year! There might even be a fun bag of goodies to take home! When: Friday, September 19th, […]
Read the RestTricks or Treats
So you’ve figured out your BIG EVENT, and made it believeable and compelling and immediate and threatening. But to really create a great suspense, you new a few TRICKS! Here’s the first one: Grab ‘em with a HOOK from the first line. The suspense Hook is essential for a great story. Your hook should, set the tone, start with your hero/heroine in action, hint at the stakes and raise a story question. However, there is one key that every suspense hook needs to have: Intrigue. Why? How? What? It needs to raise one of these questions right at the beginning. Here are some of my hooks: The past had picked the worst time to find her. (What?) from Flee the Night Out of all FSB Agent Yanna Andrevka’s bright ideas, masquerading […]
Read the RestThe Big Event
Okay, so you’ve introduced your hero and heroine, and the stakes of the story, even hinted at their fears at the outset of the book…now, how do you weave in the SUSPENSE. First, let’s take a look at the defition of a suspense: An everyday hero or heroine confronts a believable, compelling, immediate and terrifying threat, and using their unique abilities, learning more, confronting their own lies and eventually finding a new strength, they overcome and win the day. The key to that definition is the word: EVENT E – Event – The EVENT in a suspense is the bad thing that will happen if the hero/heroine don’t stop it. It’s what is at STAKE in the story that propels our h/hn to face their darkest fears, summon their courage […]
Read the Rest
