When in Doubt, Throw Grampa Down the Stairs

Dan Walsh is the bestselling author of 16 novels, including The Unfinished Gift, The Reunion and When Night Comes. He has won 3 Carol Awards and 3 Selah Awards. Three of his books were finalists for Inspirational Book of the Year (RT Book Reviews). Dan is a member of ACFW and Word Weavers. He lives with his wife, Cindi, in the Daytona Beach area where they love to take walks and spend time with their grandkids. Click here to connect with Dan or check out his books. 

*     *     *

I thought for my column this month, I wouldn’t talk about anything related to indie publishing (like I have the last several times). But instead, share some how-to thoughts (as in, how to write better fiction). One of my central goals when writing novels, whether inspirational stories or suspense thrillers, is to keep the pages turning for my readers. I can’t stand to read boring books, so I’ve made a commitment not to write them. 

One of the challenges all writers have when writing full-length novels is how to avoid a “sagging middle.” I’m not referring to one’s appearance, but the central section of our story. Many novels suffer from this malady. It shows up when you read a book that grabs you at the beginning but then, toward the middle, things start to bog down. The story feels adrift. If I’m really hooked by the story, I may plod through these duller chapters to see how the book ends.

 

Usually, the pace does pick back up, and sometimes the ending grabs you just as much as it did at the beginning. But as I close the book, I wonder why the author didn’t put as much effort into the middle of the story as he/she did the beginning and the end. When this happens, I know I’ve just read a book afflicted with a sagging middle.

Can any of you relate to this? As a reader? How about as a writer?

Early on, I decided to be intentional about solving this dilemma, to deliberately work just as hard to come up with something that would cause the middle of my books not to lose the tension or pace I had set at the beginning. My first novel, The Unfinished Gift, was easy. I was riveted by the story myself, from beginning to end. There was no sagging middle.

The test came when writing the sequel, The Homecoming. I had come up with a great beginning for the novel and a very satisfying ending, but halfway through writing the story I realized…I’m boring myself with these middle chapters. To make sure I wasn’t being too hard on myself, I asked my wife to read what I’d written. She quickly confirmed my suspicions. “These middle chapters are boring. I find myself wanting to skip right past them.”

So I deleted the chapters back to where the story had last been tense and interesting, and we began to work on coming up with something to give the middle of the book a sense of excitement and new life. I remember the moment when the perfect solution came to me. I blurted out to my wife, “I know what we have to do. We have to throw Grampa down the stairs.” She instantly recognized, it was the perfect solution. We wouldn’t kill him, mind you. He would just slip and fall, scare everyone else in the book who loved him, and create all kinds of tension and difficulties to work through.

So, that’s what we did. And it made the story nice and tight from beginning to end. That was my second novel. Since then, I have written 14 more. I've faced the challenge of the “sagging middle” more times than I can count. But now when it happens, I know what to do…

Throw Grampa down the stairs.

Now it’s your turn, fellow novelists. Have you ever struggled with a sagging middle when writing your books? If so, did you fix it? How? Did it work? Tell us the tale. 

And...here's your assignment until next month. Here are the covers to my last 2 novels. An inspirational one (Rescuing Finley) and a suspense one (Remembering Dresden). Buy 1 (or both) as an example of a story guaranteed NOT to have a sagging middle (just kidding...well, actually I'm not :).

Read More

AND... ACTION! - HOW A TV DIRECTOR WRITES A NOVEL

Mark Capell is a writer, director and animator residing in London.

by Mark Capell

I wonder if I'm the only TV director with an allergy to the word 'action'. I've used any substitute I could think of - 'go', 'in your own time', 'when you're ready', even just waving my finger. Maybe that allergy was a sign that I should try something else - which is why I've decided to write novels. But how did a history as a documentary TV director affect my methodology, writing style, even my attitude?

It was while I was editing a book trailer that I got the urge. I'd had it before but I'd fended it off by writing a screenplay. After a couple of years of development hell in Hollywood I decided to do some proper writing (screenwriters hate that joke). And with the Kindle publishing revolution gathering apace, getting something out there appealed greatly. It had to be done.

I found I could use a lot of my TV skills as a director but also that some of them were a hindrance. Here's what I learned in the writing of my thriller, 'Run, Run, Run'.

TV DIRECTORS KNOW HOW TO TELL STORIES - TV and film know how to get from A to B. It's what they do well. It's what I was taught too. The best book I read when learning to direct was called 'On Directing' by David Mamet. The title is misleading because it's mostly about storytelling. In it he says the only question you should concern yourself with when deciding on how to tell the story is 'what happens next?' He says he became a better writer once he started directing movies because of the need to concentrate on 'what happens next'.

THE SHOT LIST METHOD - When you direct a TV show you compile a shot list. This is like a storyboard but with words. For instance, a documentary about a murder at a factory might begin: wide shot of factory building; closer on factory gates; tight shot of worker's legs as they file in. Then, to move the story on, and to provide contrast with the daily humdrum, cut to a body lying on the floor, examined by scene of crime detectives. I used this skill to outline my story. Many times I found myself imagining my chapter as a series of shots, and set about describing them. But you have to be careful. What can make an interesting shot sometimes doesn't make an interesting paragraph.

POINT OF VIEW - In telling stories with a camera there is only one true point of view - the camera's. I know screenplays contain description such as 'From David's P.O.V. we see the knife in Frank's hand'. But it is still the camera, so the image is largely uninflected. Writing a novel made me fully realise just how important and how exciting it is to play with point of view. It's what separates novels from movies.

SHORT CHAPTERS AND FAST FILM EDITING - As I was setting out to write a thriller, I thought I'd read the world's bestselling thriller writer, James Patterson (along with Lee Child, Robert Harris and, of course, any excuse to visit my old friend, John Le Carre). Patterson has settled on a technique of using short chapters for his thrillers to keep tension high. It's the same in TV and movies. If you want to keep the action fast, you shorten the length of a shot. One of my favourite directors is Paul Greengrass, the director of 'The Bourne Ultimatum' and 'United 93'. He's a master of fast cutting and moving a story along quickly without skimping on detail. As my novel is a chase I also used short chapters to keep the action moving. A couple of times I broke this rule when the drama became so intense I wanted to linger in the moment. It works, unless you try to cram too much into a short chapter or end it with an unnecessary cliffhanger, which can lead to melodrama.

DID BEING A TV DIRECTOR HELP OR HINDER? I think it helped enormously. What both have in common is storytelling. And, as a TV director in the editing room, you have to be brutal in cutting out anything that doesn't further the story. Both require you to create memorable images that will transport the reader/viewer to another world. But what I did learn is that you have to respect the differences in the forms too. It's no good trying to make a novel exactly like a movie. The novel has wonderful attributes and strengths all of its own. That's why we read and why we write.

Well, that's it. "Cut, that's a wrap," as they say. Or maybe I should start saying, "Shut the laptop, that's a completed draft."

Read More

Pacing — Too Fast, Too Slow, or Just Right?

Pacing — Too Fast, Too Slow, or Just Right?

By Gail Gaymer Martin

Pacing is the tempo of the story, the speed at which details are provided and the dynamics of the rising tension. It relates to the amount of dialogue compared to narrative/active scenes. Pacing, then, has to do with many elements that cause it to move on it’s journey down the river of life, the calms, the eddies, the white water, and the rapids that lead to a waterfall ahead.

Techniques To Heighten Pacing

Authors sometimes hear from editors or critique partners their pacing is too slow. Pacing is too slow when it bogs down with too many details, too much narration in the form of description or introspection or lack of conflict. Without conflicts growing, one after another, the story is lost. This is probably the biggest problem for new writers as they plot their story. Slow pacing bores a reader and leaves the story in a slump. It’s vital to have good pacing when trying to sell a novel or to keep your readers after you sell. So what can you do to accelerate the pacing?

Here are some strategic methods to use as you’re plotting:

Provide strong need or goal that can either change or be the demise of the character or his purpose.

Create powerful opposition that deepens the conflict.

Set up a compelling situation or duty that binds the character to his struggle.

Establish one problem that can be solved in two ways and force a decision.

Stay in one POV throughout a scene and make sure it’s the person with the most at stake.

Balance action, dialogue, introspection, and narration throughout the novel.

Resolve one conflict with a new one already established.

Techniques to escalate pacing:

Check each scene for a crisis situation. Something must be happening of importance.

Dialogue moves a story along. Write to allow white space on the page.

Avoid long, involved paragraphs. Use short paragraphs and sentences of varying lengths.

The shorter the sentence the more excitement grows.

Don’t over-describe the action. Clip it and focus only on the most important actions

Tension arouses emotion so focus on the conflicts and slow up on the setup.

If you follow some of these guidelines, you will improve pacing and to avoid what we call the sagging middle.

Techniques to Slow Pacing

Pacing is too fast when the reader has no time to breathe or digest the story. It’s a race from beginning to end or more often, it’s a pleasant stroll, but as the end approaches, the story tumbles forward and ends. This happens most often when authors have a word count restriction and realize the book must end soon.

Rather than cutting other less important elements, they just barrel along and the ending can leave readers feeling unsatisfied. They want to savor the romance or the criminal’s capture or enjoy the resolution of family issues. So why and how do you slow down pacing?

Pacing needs to be slowed when it disappoints readers. They want to watch the ending happen. They want to understand the nuances of these characters that they’ve lived with for 300 or 400 pages. They want to experience the joy of character’s emotion as he finds the hidden treasure, or captures the criminal, or falls in love. To make a greater emotional impact on the reader, these scenes must be more detailed and more character-driven than plot-driven.

If a scene revolves around a mother watching a speeding car head for her child, the author wants the emotion and drama to peak. Slowing the scene down frame by frame, emotion by emotion, works best. Using Dwight Swain’s technique of motivational stimulus leading to reaction, you want to present feeling, action, then dialogue.

For example, in the scenario above, the mother of the child freezes in times. She turns icy, her heart explodes, her adrenalin kicks in, and she races forward, her arms flailing, and she screams. Emotion must work this way. Picture this as a movie, each frame capturing a moment in time.

Pacing needs to slow following a dynamic action scene where conflict and crisis filled the pages. This gives the reader breathing time. It provides the main character with a moment to gather the facts of what happened and to digest the information. These are scenes in a thriller or suspense when the detective reviews the evidence or tries to understand how he’d let the criminal slip through his fingers.

In romance or women’s fiction, it’s a time when one character ponders the relationship and makes decisions what he’ll do next. Even Shakespeare knew that high drama can only be sustained for a time and then needs a release. His tragedies always provided an occasional comic scene to allow the audience to recover from the weight of the tension that had followed.

Techniques to slow pacing:

Provide more detail.

Use the frame by frame feeling in presenting the scene.

Use longer sentence with more descriptors.

Add sensory details.

Use introspection techniques, back-flashes or flashbacks. (Know how to use these well.)

Use more narrative in shorter paragraphs and less dialogue.

By using some of these techniques, you can provide a more satisfying novel that doesn’t slow the story but provides meaningful scenes that allows the reader a more thoughtful, calm respite.

Like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, pacing can be too fast or too slow, or just right. Use these techniques to make it just right. 

Groom in Training

A widow with a sad past, Steph Wright finds comfort in her faith and her adorable Border collie, Fred. When scampering Fred becomes friendly with the neighbor's pedigreed Bouvier, Steph meets the very handsome Nick Davis. With a broken engagement and a busy job, Nick isn't open to love and romance. Especially when Steph needs an escort to a wedding, and Nick agrees to be her not-really-date. But through dog walks, long talks and a shared love of the Lord, Steph realizes there's some unexpected groom-in-training going on, too!

Read More