When my agent suggested reading Charles Martin, I bought “The Dead Don’t Dance” right away. I devoured this book. Personally, I think it’s his best. But I haven’t read the sequal, “Maggie” yet.
What Martin does well is paint on the page. He’s lyrical and magical in his phrasing. He takes the time, (sometimes too much) to put emotion on the page. In “Dance” I felt the emotion and love of the hero for his wife and the pain of their devastation.
In a season where fiction writing seems to be all about “tension” on every page, Martin creates a story of tension that evokes emotion on every page. In love stories or relationship stories, true emotion is just as much a drive to the story as tension or conflict.
We can get weary with too much tension such as anxiety, stress, strain. So, there needs to be a balance of negative and postive emotion while driving the story forward. Charles Martin is one to read and learn.
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