I
recently read a couple of anthologies that groups of authors have been putting
together to showcase their talents.
Between the two collections there were probably about two dozen stories,
most by authors I’d never heard of before.
And from that batch I found only two stories that intrigued me enough to
make me look up more of that author’s work.
That
led me to reflect on why so few of those stories really worked for me. In most
cases, I knew within the first few pages that the story wasn’t grabbing me, but
except for a couple that were so badly written I couldn’t bear to continue, I
did read most of them all the way through. And in every case, my initial
impression of the story was confirmed.
So
what was the apparently rare factor that made me want to continue reading a
couple of authors’ works that most of the other stories lacked?
My
initial thought was that it was the characters, because those generally make or
break a piece for me, but after looking at them a little more closely, I
decided it was something more than that. Certainly characters are part of the
answer because one of the major differences was that I liked or sympathized
with the protagonists in the stories I liked.
But I sometimes felt some of the same for characters in stories I didn’t
care for.
It
was more than just that sympathy factor, though. The characters of the stories
I liked were interesting. They had depth and dimension, not just quirks, which
some of the authors seemed to use instead of showing a real character. The
characters that worked for me felt things, thought about things, and acted from
those thoughts and feelings, but they weren’t just simple things like
generalized anger or fear. Their emotions and reason had complexity and depth.
It
wasn’t just the characters, though. The settings, action, description, all had
that little bit more depth that made the writing vivid and sucked me into the
author’s world. I realized that many of
the stories that didn’t work for me felt thin, as though the author hadn’t
dived deep enough into the story, didn’t know her world and characters well
enough to be able to make them come alive.
I
finally decided it was a combination of doing many things well, but the two
that seemed most prominent were showing everything rather than telling, which
put me right into the story, and picking the right detail to make me see exactly
what was going on. Both of those are things that writing instructors, books on
writing, and blog posts on writing all harp on. Yet, as these stories showed
me, it’s not as easy to do as it sounds.
As
an author myself, it felt important for me to figure this out because I hope
I’m writing the kind of story that will draw readers in deeply and refuse to
let them go. I’ve tried to do that in The
Detective’s Dilemma, my Daphne-award nominated romantic suspense story
from Kensington/Lyrical Press.
It
was especially important to me to get the reader deeply into my heroine in that
story because in the very first chapter she is forced to do something horribly,
mind-blowingly awful. I want readers to feel her shock, her horror, her
helplessness, and her fear. I want the reader to experience that scene right
along with her and then stay with her and cheer for her as she tries to rebuild
a shattered life, find the villains, and beat them at their game.
The
Detective’s Dilemma
Although
Sarah Anne Martin admits to pulling the trigger, she swears someone forced her
to kill her lover. Homicide detective Jay Christianson is skeptical, but enough
ambiguous evidence exists to make her story plausible. If he gives her enough
freedom, she’ll either incriminate herself or draw out the real killers. But,
having been burned before, Jay doesn’t trust his own protective instincts…and
his growing attraction to Sarah only complicates matters.
With
desire burning between them, their relationship could ultimately be doomed
since Sarah will be arrested for murder if they can’t find the real killer.
Karen
McCullough’s wide-ranging imagination makes her incapable of sticking to one
genre for her storytelling. As a result, she’s the author of more than a dozen
published novels and novellas, which span the mystery, fantasy, paranormal, and
romantic suspense genres. A former computer programmer who made a career change
into being an editor with an international trade publishing company for many
years, she now runs her own web design business to support her writing habit.
Awards she’s won include an Eppie Award for fantasy; three other Eppie finals; Daphne,
Prism, Dream Realm, Rising Star, Lories, Scarlett Letter, and Vixen Awards, and
an Honorable Mention in the Writers of the Future contest. Her short fiction
has appeared in several anthologies and numerous small press publications in
the fantasy, science fiction, and romance genres. She lives in Greensboro, NC,
with her husband of many years.
Website:
http://www.kmccullough.com
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/kgmccullough
6 comments:
I enjoyed your perspective, Karen. If the story concept piques my interest, I may go two or three chapters in. I know if a story doesn't captivate me by three chapters, I'll never finish it. Thanks for joining us today. Best luck.
Karen, thank you for an interesting and thoughtful blog. There's always something to learn from reading others' books. Congratulations on your success. I love your cover and the story premise.
Stories that interest me have characters I can connect with. They are strong women who face adversity with compassion but don't let it beat them. Your insights were interesting to read. There's always so much to learn from other people's writing! Thanks for visiting RB4U! And best of luck with your book!!
Thank you for comments, ladies! One of the things I like about being a writer is I can never feel like I've mastered it. There's always more to learn, new things to try, efforts to make. Some of my favorite moments in life are those reading moments when you're sucked so deeply into a story everything else goes away. After the first rush of reading through the story, I often go back and re-read those books and try to figure out what the author did that made the experience so vivid for me. Sometimes it feels like a sort of magic though, because it can be hard to put your finger on what makes it work.
Well motivated characters will draw me into a story every time but I've never really thought about the times when I finished a book I didn't find that interesting, just to see what happens to them. Interesting and thought provoking blog!
I can always be reminded of 'show, not tell'. Something I have to work at all the time, since the story is generally clear in my head and I can't wait to share. Thanks for a great blog, Karen.
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