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Quick Skills: Suspense

By on March 13, 2012 in How to write a Suspense, Quick Skills, Story Crafting, Susan May Warren, Suspense

Basketball season is over at our house.  Which means one thing:  We’re one sport closer to football.  We love football, and the wait is killing us. But one of the things I love about football is that it’s a great metaphor for nearly everything. Like writing a suspense novel.  A football game has all the elements of a great suspense novel: the players we love, an objective, a playbook on how to win the day, villains, truth tellers (called coaches) on the sidelines and deadline for “game over.” I blogged all year in 2011 about suspense, so I can’t cover all that territory today, so we’re going to touch on the one big element every suspense should have:  The Big Event.  Every suspense must have a Big Event that looms […]

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Conversations: The basics of writing a Suspense Novel

By on March 12, 2012 in Story Crafting, Susan May Warren, Suspense, The Hero's Journey Simplified, Truth or Dare: Conversations with an aspiring novelist

“How is your writing going? Do you feel ready to dive into crafting the Black Moment and Epiphany?” I asked Sally as she came to the table with a chai latte. “Not yet. I want to write a suspense into my romance.” Sally sat down and pulled out her notebook. Outside, the sun shrank the snow banks, spring in the air. “I watched Eagle Eye on FX over the weekend, and I realized how much I love suspense.” “I love suspense too,” I said. “A romantic suspense combines the fun of falling in love with that edge-of-your-seat-fear that the people we care about could get killed. “Let’s take a look at what that would mean for your story. Writing a romantic suspense means adding another story structure/plot to your novel. […]

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Spring into Action, Part Two: Water the Seeds Regularly

By on March 10, 2012 in Encourage Me!, Reba Hoffman, Writing, Writing Life, Writing Life Coaching

Last week we talked about the first step to springing into action: Planting Seeds Now that those seeds are in the ground, let’s talk about the second step: Watering Those Seeds. Back in the old days, farmers planted when they had the best chance of getting the rain to water the seeds. They depended totally on nature and had no control over it whatsoever. Fortunately for them, today they have extensive irrigation systems. During the dry season when no rain is in the forecast, they can still turn out the most beautiful sod or green vegetables. So it is with your own life. You have at your disposal massive irrigation techniques to make sure those seeds of success you just planted get the proper nourishment. Things like: 1)   The pipe. A good irrigation system  begins with […]

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Fabulous Friday Fiction: Baroness hits the shelves next week!

By on March 9, 2012 in Featured Book, Featured Fiction, Featured Fiction Fridays, Susan May Warren

Lilly and Rosie, daughters of an empire coming of age in the roaring twenties, can have anything they want…except freedom.  Expected to marry well and to take the reins of the empire, they have their lives planned out for them. But, Lilly, Esme’s daughter longs to return home to Montana, to adventure outside the confines of New York City.  And Jinx’s daughter Rosie dreams of the bright lights of the newly emerging silver screen.  But following their dreams – from avant garde France, to Broadway, to the skies in the world of barnstormers and wing-walkers will take all their courage.  And if they find love, will they choose freedom or happily ever after?  EXCERPT: All Lilly had to do was hang on and ignore the echo of her arrogant words in her head. “I’m going to save your […]

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