In the last chapter I posted, I dipped into a developed, romantic scene with Luke. [Chapter 4 Makenzie scene.] I’m going to turn my attention to Kenzie. Although we’re focusing on suspense this year on the blog, this is a romantic suspense, so occasionally during the story I need to slow it down and allow the romance to take over ever so briefly. During these forays into the romance, I need to make sure I’m utilizing my opportunity, because I don’t have a lot of time – I’ll need to cut back to the suspense soon. Therefore, I’ll be looking toward building in some of those essential elements of a romance, building like values, physical attraction, and the sense that they either complete each other or make each other into better […]
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Act 2: How to keep the Momentum Going between chapters?
Would you like a trick to keep the momentum going between chapters? One of my biggest frustrations in writing a novel is that I can’t write it all in one sitting. Seriously. I’ve tried. I once wrote a novel in 10 days. But even then, I had to sleep, eat…maybe have a conversation with the other people in the house. Still, it was the closest thing to being able to simply step into the story and download it from my brain. I love being able to write a novel in a concentrated amount of time because the storyline is never far from me and while it’s exhausting, the story always seems to emerge with fewer jolts in the plot. However, like most authors, I have a busy schedule filled with […]
Read the RestAct 2: Putting all the threads together
We’re building a suspense book live here at MBT, and today we’re onto Act 2, pressing our heroine in to what I call the “fun and games” of the story. As I talked about yesterday, I’m going to address the following elements as I build her scene. First, we are going to start chapter 4 in Kenzie’s POV since we just ended Chapter 3 with Luke. I don’t always have to alternate, but it’s a nice rhythm. We’ll begin with a ReAction scene and since it’s a suspense, I’ll keep the momentum going by segueing into an Action scene. My ReAction scene elements are: Response – Now that she’s seen the “vacation home,” she has to have a reaction to it. We might thread this in with her inner journey […]
Read the RestSetting up Act 2 of your Suspense Novel
It’s time to set up Act 2 of your Suspense novel, and I’m going to show you how by moving onto Act 2 of Limelight, our MBT Romantic Suspense novel today. In Act 1, we’ve set up the foundation for the suspense – the players, what’s at stake, where the game will be played (the Cherokee forest). I’ve also set up sympathy, competence and greatest fears – those things that we’ll start manipulating in Act 2. As I begin chapter 4, and the start of the Second Act, I need to balance a number of threads and ignite the story to keep it flowing into what I call the Fun and Games of Act 2. Suspense Thread: First, I need to keep the suspense thread running by bringing the threat […]
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