And thank you to all my friends who supported by sharing the links across social media. You guys made this a success!

Now, for the winners (Random.org)!

Winner of R.J. Ellory’s A Quiet Vendetta: Karen Rought, The Midnight Novelist.

Winner of Margie Lawsen’s awesome course packet: Vicki Batman
*This was announced on Margie’s post. Vicki, email Margie through her site if
you haven’t already, and let me know if you have questions!

Winner of Kathy Bennett’s A Deadly Blessing: C.K. Crouch

Winner of Allison Brennan’s Winner’s Choice: Donna Galanti:
*** You can pick either a signed, print copy of Silenced, the most recent Lucy Kincaid book (or the first book, Love Me to Death), or you can pick digital copies of Silenced AND my stand alone romantic suspense novella, Murder in the River City.

Winner of Vicki Hinze’s Winner’s Choice: Susie Lindau
***digital or print copy of SURVIVE THE NIGHT (inspirational romantic suspense) or NOT THIS TIME (faith-affirming thriller) or digital copy of DUPLICITY (military romantic thriller) or MIND READER (paranormal romantic suspense).

Donna and Susie, let me know which book you prefer, and I’ll pass the information on to Allison and Vicki.

Thriller Extravaganza GRAND PRIZE (Rafflecopter)

So who wins the awesome Silver Spot in Kristen Lamb’s WANA Blogging Class?
By virtue of her tweets and charm, it’s Natalie Hartford! Whoo-hoo!

Second place wins an Amazon gift card and a box of healthy goodies from August McLaughlin, and that winner is…Jenny Hansen!

Congrats, ladies! I’ll let Kristen know, and of course you both know where to contact me. Jenny, look for your gift card soon and please give August your mailing address for the yummies.

Thank you all so much for participating! This was so much fun, and I learned a lot. I hope you did too.

And don’t forget to mark your calendars, because Thriller Thursday returns this week with an all-new true crime post guaranteed to send chills down your spine.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

I’m excited to have award winning author Vicki Hinze for our grand finale. She’s a talented genre-buster, and I wanted to get the inside scoop on how she does it.

Vicki has a great giveaway for you, too: digital or print copy of SURVIVE THE NIGHT (inspirational romantic suspense) or NOT THIS TIME (faith-affirming thriller) or digital copy of DUPLICITY (military romantic thriller) or MIND READER (paranormal romantic suspense).

Vicki is currently bracing for Hurricane Isaac, so she may be slow in answering your comments, but please give her time and keep her in your thoughts. And don’t forget to leave a comment so you’ve got a shot at the giveaway!

Changing Genres and Genre-Blending

Often writers set out on a course for their career and they develop the mindset to stay the course regardless of current market conditions or other career developments until such time as outside factors insist they alter their course.

This is a very human thing to do, but it is also carving a tough path for the writer to walk.

Let’s discuss why in practical, no-frills terms.

You write x type books.  You embark on the path to become a great author of x type books.  You’ve written a few and met with moderate success, and then:

1.  The market for that type of novel collapses.

This happens.  The market cycles.  A few years ago, historical romances were in high demand.  Then suddenly even the historical superstar authors saw sales drop significantly.  Many changed to write romantic suspense and/or small-town contemporary romance.  Why?  The market’s appetite became more favorable for those types of books.  Then still later, historical romance novels again found favor with readers.  Some authors changed back, some didn’t, and new opportunities opened.

Regardless of what type of novel (sub-genre novels, too) an author writes, there are times when outside factors impact readers’ appetites.  Market cycles are driven by reader demand, by interest.  Reader demand and interest are driven by events and all of the usual people, places, things that shape public opinions.

a.  The bottom line is authors can stay the course in what will for a time be a difficult-to-sell type book (a down cycle) and continue writing type x books and wait to sell or publish when conditions improve or

b.  publish anyway, knowing that demand is low and sales will be also or

c.  write something else that has better odds of finding favor with readers at that given point in time or

d.  ignore the market and write what the author wants to write anyway, hoping the market will eventually catch up.

It’s really the author’s call.  The choices are evident and the results of any decision are predictable.  Some authors simply aren’t interested in writing a different type of novel.  That’s their choices and calls, but it makes for a rough career path.

Some authors have broad interests and enjoy variety; they prefer to be flexible and cycle with the market.  That makes for a smoother path in ways yet unless the author prepares his or her readers for the transition, the author can face challenges on not meeting reader expectations.

For example, if your readers know you to be a thriller author and you switch to write cozy mysteries or romantic suspense, you need to prepare your readers for this change or they’ll pick up that first cozy or romantic suspense expecting it to be a thriller.  When it isn’t, they’ll be disappointed.

Even prepared, some readers will make the transition with the author and some won’t, because readers have preferences and they might love thrillers but not care for cozy mysteries or romantic suspense novels.  Now, readers who don’t read thrillers but love cozy mysteries or love romantic suspense can become new-to-the-author readers.  The better foundation the author makes for the transition, the greater the odds of success.  Still, no guarantees.

The thing to keep in mind is that markets cycle and authors should be aware of it and make deliberate choices on their reactions to the cycles.  They can only do that if they assess their careers or reassess them at points in time where reassessment is warranted.

 2.  Some authors are determined to hold on to the bitter end.

Authors often resist change.  They love to write what they love to write and keep writing it regardless of what the market does or where reader demand is at a given time.  There’s nothing wrong with that, provided the author does so deliberately for the reasons given in #1 above.

There is wisdom in writing what you love and if all you love is one type of book, then that pretty much says all that needs saying.  It does mean that the author is in for a career of peaks and valleys, and some would say, those peaks and valleys are coming anyway, so one might as well stick with what one loves. There’s merit in that, to be sure, and some authors have the fiscal luxury of following that path.  Some authors are also astute businesspeople who prepare for famine during periods of feast so that when sales are down, their fiscal needs are met and covered.

I hope you’re seeing the pattern:  whatever you decide to do is great.  Authors aren’t one-size fits all and their careers aren’t either.  The key pattern is to understand the writer and the market, prepare for shifts, and have reasonable expectations of performance at various cycle stages during them.

Too often what I see are authors who hang on to the bitter end when they’re forced to change or can no longer sell because they fear change.  Many don’t dub this as the root cause, but many do.  They feel they’re established in a certain genre or type of novel and they should stick with it.  Perhaps they have had moderate success and wish to build on it.  That’s a good strategy.  But if the author is lacking publisher support, or if indie, a successful marketing strategy, more often than not what happens is the author gets caught in a downward spiral.  Let me explain in a practical example.

Author writes x.  Publisher has a decent track record for selling x type novels.  They agree to terms and form a strategic alliance.  Author publishes three books and sales are less than expected for whatever reason.  So say that bookseller A ordered 20,000 copies of Author’s first novel and sold 12,000.  Book 2, Bookseller isn’t going to order 20,000 copies.  S/he is going to order 12,000.  Let’s say author sells 85% (sell-thru), which is a very respectable sell-thru.  That’s 10,200 copies.  How many books does Bookseller order on book 3?  Exactly.  Simply put, orders are based on sales of the last book, so the downward spiral becomes evident.

Now it isn’t just a lack of publisher support that can toss an author into a downward spiral.  As we saw in #1, it can be reader demand, market conditions, preferences.  All sorts of outside influences impact sales.

What happens often and is extremely difficult for the author is when to say whoa, time to make a change.  Knowing that specific point in time is only clear if the author is watching.  And too often, authors are so tied up with writing, marketing, promoting, social networking and doing the many other tasks that are significant to authors, they don’t notice the beginning of the downward spiral.  Often, they don’t see the spiral until they’re entrenched deep in it.

Publishers hesitate to address the matter until contract time because frankly it is to their benefit to work with an author who has a positive mindset during the writing.  There are other reasons, too, but nothing impacts creativity as much as the author’s mindset.

So you have an author steeped in the work who might ask but is given obscure information on numbers until it’s time to go back to contract.  Many are stunned to discover then that the publisher doesn’t want to go back to contract, or that an offer will be coming but at a greatly reduced rate.  Here again, you see the challenges that come to the author who is unaware of his/her status and support and sales.  I receive notes frequently from authors who are blindsided by the news that the publisher is no longer interested in seeing future works.

That’s business, pure and simple.  It’s about the bottom line.  Before you bash the publisher for that, ask yourself if you really want to form or keep a strategic alliance with a publisher who isn’t fiscally sound.  You want your publisher to be wise and prudent and responsible.  If not, the publisher won’t stay in business.  That’s the real bottom line.

So how do you recognize the downward spiral?  Look at the example.  If you’re seeing shrinking numbers and you’re told that the market is shrinking, that’s a sign.  The market is changing and fast.  But it is reshaping.  A few years ago, digital sales barely impacted overall sales.  Then they exploded.  And in many areas, our collective tipping point has been reached and we’re selling more digital than print books.

The author who willingly remains in the dark on the market and on how his/her books are doing relative to the market risks finding him or herself deep in the spiral.  It takes time and effort, but it’s a good investment in your career to assess and reassess.

3.  Authors, not just their books, grow and change.

You’re not the person you were when you started writing, or the person you were twenty, ten, or five years ago.  You’re not the person you were yesterday.  You are the person you are now, today, and your interests and desires and purpose for writing changes.

If you don’t assess yourself and reassess on a regular basis and not just when necessity gives you no choice, are you best serving yourself?

That might seem like an odd question, but it’s at the very heart of you, the human being, and that makes it critical.  Not important, not a suggestion that would be beneficial to follow (though it is), it’s critical.  Why?

As we experience and age, what most matters to us changes.  If we don’t assess, we miss the opportunities afforded us by the wisdom gained in our personal journey through life.  We might start our career writing x type books but something happens and we feel driven to write about it even though it’s very different than anything we’ve written thus far.

The key word is driven.  That’s a signal that we’re passionate about this new type of book.  And that passion and drive are signals that we’re hitting upon purpose.  While purpose can be physical, emotional or spiritual–and certainly can be all three–we might not make the connection between writing to our purpose and our personal sense of fulfillment and accomplishment–to success.

I’ve known many authors.  Some define success by money.  But for most, money isn’t enough.  It takes more to reach the contentment zone–a sense of purpose and worth in what you’re doing.  The earlier you recognize this and factor it into your decisions, the fewer regrets you have later on.

Some experts recommend you assess your career once a year.  Others suggest you have a five year plan.  I say, assess it as frequently as you must to stay confident you’re doing what you need to be doing to reach your vision of success.

I’ve always had a five-year plan that includes writing goals and publishing goals.  But I have to tell you that the market is changing so quickly, five years ago it was hard to imagine that the market and landscape in publishing would look as it does today.

More changes are on the horizon, and a lot closer.  That makes a five-year plan still valuable and the annual plan valuable, but it also offers the author the insight that even more frequent assessments are in the author’s best interests.

Understand that when I speak of a five-year plan, or an annual plan, I speak of a plan that addresses me on all levels–physical, emotional and spiritual.  While some things change at the speed of light, some remain steadfast, but one’s approach to them requires modification.  Things happen that impact methods and means everyday.

The benefit of staying in touch with yourself and aware of who you are and what you want and how you plan to get it is I hope clear.  Will things always work out as planned?  No.  Actually, rarely.  But because you’re focused and aware, more of what you’re after will be accomplished, and for real life, that’s pretty good.

PRACTICAL TIPS ON SHIFTING GENRES

Genre-Blending.  I’m a huge fan of genre-blending.  Combining common elements from two or three different but compatible genres.  My favorites are suspense, mystery and romance—and in all my novels, regardless of how they’re classified by publishers, you’ll find those three elements.

It all starts at author theme.  Every author has a theme.  The type of story that the author is naturally drawn to write.  Example.  Maybe you like small town, redemption stories.  Other world fantasies where the kingdom, planet, galaxy is spared.  Look at your body of work and you’ll recognize certain common bonds. My common bonds:  suspense, mystery, and a little romance—healing themes.

It takes all of that for me to love a book enough to write it, and that holds true regardless of genre.  I’ve written everything from books classified as science fiction, fantasy, military, suspense, psycho-thrillers, romance, romantic suspense—well, just about everything but horror, and no matter which book is it, those four things are in it.

So first identify your author theme.  Then look at your common elements.

The important thing to remember isn’t that you can’t combine elements from different genres.  You can.  I’ve done it my whole career.  The important thing is to combine the elements from the different genres in the way that best serves the story you want to tell.

You don’t give each element the same story weight.  If you do, you end up with a book that is not.  In my case, that’d be a book that is not a romance, is not a suspense novel, is not a mystery.  Books that are not are hard sells because they give a bit to all and not enough to none.

So look at the story you want to sell, determine which element best serves it, and give that element dominate focus.  Then bring in your other elements (genres) in a subordinate position.  One that mirrors or echoes the main element and reinforces it but doesn’t compete with it for more attention.

That’s the scoop on genre-blending, and the most effective method I know on doing it successfully.

Blessings,

Vicki

VICKI HINZE

Vicki Hinze is the award-winning bestselling author of nearly 30 novels, four nonfiction books, and hundreds of articles published in as many as 63 countries.  She’s recognized by Who’s Who in the World as an author and as an educator.  FMI visit www.vickihinze.com.

We’re on week four of Thriller Extravaganza, and I’m excited to welcome one of my favorite authors, Allison Brennan. I could have asked Allison to write on just about any thriller related topic, but since I’m starting my own series and I’m selfish, I asked her to tell us about how she approaches creating a series. She’s giving away a copy of one of her books, so make sure to read and leave a comment.

And don’t forget to sign up for Thriller Extravaganza’s Grand Prize: a silver spot in one of Kristen Lamb’s WANA International blogging classes or a $25 gift card and a bag of healthy goodies from August McLaughlin.

Writing Series by Allison Brennan

Until 2010, I always wrote in trilogies. Three books, very loosely connected, with a common theme or family of characters. For example, my “Prison Break” trilogy was connected by an earthquake at San Quentin that precipitated the release of some death row inmates. Each book was a stand alone romantic thriller stemming from that one event. My “No Evil” trilogy centered around the Kincaid Family, a close-knit Irish-Cuban family of (mostly) law enforcement. Each book stood alone as a complete story with a separate hero and heroine, but the books were all set in San Diego and the secondary characters were woven through the three books.

I didn’t plan to write in trilogies, but when I sold my debut novel The Prey, my publisher asked me to write two more connected stories. I decided to focus on three women who were at the FBI Academy together and now, ten years later, their individual pasts are coming back to haunt them.

I always wanted to write both a stand alone and a series. A stand alone because it’s completely self-contained. A series, because I can build on one character over time, both layering and deepening characterization. Readers like all types of stories, but it’s often a solid series that finds resonance in the mass market. Readers know Jack Reacher as well as his creator, Lee Child. They know Stephanie Plum as well as Janet Evanovich. And one of my all-time favorite series, the In Death series, by J.D. Robb, has the formidable and sexy Roarke and Eve Dallas.

When my publisher agreed to buy the Lucy Kincaid series, I was initially thrilled. I loved Lucy, and wanted to see how she’d overcome her brutal ordeal from Fear No Evil, the last of the Kincaid Family trilogy. I sped up time a bit, made her 25 in the first book, and on the cusp of becoming an FBI agent. I wanted to take her from the beginning of her career—through the academy—and into her first real assignment.

Then I became scared. How could I keep the series fresh and original? I didn’t want readers to become bored with Lucy or her boyfriend Sean Rogan; I didn’t want to write the same book over and over. I also feared that, over time, I would tire of writing in the same world. A true, traditional series takes the same core group of characters and puts them in different situations over multiple books. A connected series is usually built around the same world, but with different characters taking a lead role. Laura Griffin’s Tracers series is a good example of a connected series; J.D. Robb’s In Death series is a good example of a traditional series.

I had to make some choices early on: First, I tightened the timeframe. For example, though the first seven books will be published over a three-year period, only 11 months will have passed in Lucy’s world. Each book takes place anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months apart. The primary reason is that I wanted all the major events to be part of the series. Also, I didn’t know when some of the books would be published, so I didn’t keep them true to real time. And mostly, I wanted to show Lucy’s growth during the pivotal years as she begins her career as an FBI Agent.

Michael Connelly successful wrote Harry Bosch in real time, so he aged in real time, and the stories took place a year apart (or however long his publishing schedule was for that series.) Lee Child writes out of order—some of his books take place in Reacher’s past, for example, so they’re not published in chronological order. And in J.D. Robb’s In Death series, I believe only 18 or so months have passed over 30+ books.

Other choices I had to make dealt with reader expectations. Because I write primarily romantic thrillers, and the first few Lucy books were published as romantic thrillers, I needed a love interest for Lucy who stays for the series. Reader expectations are important because if you mess with the readers, you’re toast. I decided that Sean Rogan was the perfect guy for Lucy as soon as I wrote him in an early book, Cutting Edge, where his brother, Duke, was the hero. I had to figure out how to get him out to DC, and which Kincaid’s would be part of Lucy’s series, and which would be completely off-page. I also needed to build Lucy’s world – what has she been doing for the seven years since the events in Fear No Evil? How did they change her? Strengthen her? What are her fears that will play a part in the series? Her strengths?

I don’t plot, so a lot of this I didn’t know until I was writing the first book—and some I didn’t know until I was writing the fourth book! But for my readers, Sean and Lucy are together. They will certainly have rough patches, but they will weather any storm. I hope I’ve laid that foundation well.

The difference in reader expectations plays a part in a new series I’m developing around Maxine Revere, an investigating crime reporter. This will be a thriller series, so I can play around more with relationships and don’t have to “pick” a romantic interest right off the back … though there will certainly be one (or two or three) that may be possible. The series is more about Max and the crimes she investigates, as well as her relationships with her staff and friends and, yes, the men she’s involved with.

The hardest part of writing a series, for me, is knowing how much to share in each book without being boring to continuing readers (or “telling” too much back story) but also giving enough information so new readers won’t be lost. It’s a delicate balance that I don’t know if I’ve mastered, but I’m constantly striving to find the right balance. My former editor gave me some great advice early on: give as much information as necessary for readers to enjoy THIS book. I think about that often!

For anyone considering writing a series, remember that character is the most important thing. Not just your protagonist, but the supporting cast. You want readers to want to return time and time again to see what your characters are up to!

What is one of your favorite book series, and why? Everyone who comments (even just to say hi!) will be put in a drawing for one of two giveaways, winner’s choice. You can pick either a signed, print copy of Silenced, the most recent Lucy Kincaid book (or the first book, Love Me to Death), or you can pick digital copies of Silenced AND my stand alone romantic suspense novella, Murder in the River City.

Allison Brennan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of nineteen novels and many short stories. The next Lucy Kincaid thriller, Stalked, will be out on October 30. She lives near Sacramento, California with her husband, five children, and assorted pets.

www.allisonbrennan.com

Thanks so much to Allison for this great post! She’s got some vital point in here that I hadn’t considered the past few weeks while working on my own series. Please leave her some love and give yourself a chance to win a copy of one of her books.

Thriller Extravaganza is in full swing, and I’m excited to welcome Kathy Bennett. As a former police officer, Kathy is skilled in something writers of all stages get wrong: authentic crime scenes. Thanks so much to her for taking the time to share her secrets with us!

Don’t forget to check out the other Thriller Extravaganza posts and enter the
GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY.

Most of my experience involving crime scenes comes from being one of the first police officers at the scene of a crime. Technically, anywhere a crime has occurred is a crime scene, but for the purposes of this blog, I’ll be talking about a setting up a crime scene for a major crime, i.e. a homicide.

Depending upon the circumstances, setting up a crime scene can be a difficult task after the immediate chaos of the crime, or it can involve methodical evidence collection long after the crime has occurred. There are a lot of details involved with setting up and preserving a crime scene, so I’m going to hit on the basics.

One thing to keep in mind: If you are writing about an actual police agency, it is always a good idea to contact that agency and find out what their policies and procedures are. If you are creating a fictional police department, the good news is that you are the Chief of Police– you can make up any policies and procedures you want to fit your story.

Getting back to reality…

The first officers on the scene are going to want to go through the crime seen to be sure there aren’t any additional victims or suspects still present.

The key thing to think about when writing a crime scene is, no matter if it’s the patrol cop who responds to the call or the detective who will be investigating the crime, they want to preserve the crime scene as much as possible and protect any evidence at the scene. The perimeter of the scene has to be large enough to protect the scene and keep the evidence free of contamination.

Many agencies utilize a Crime Scene Log where everyone who arrives at the scene and is assigned a task or enters the crime scene is logged in and out.

Officers (or detectives) will gather information from all possible witnesses at the scene.

Patrol officers will make contact with people at locations near the crime to find and identify possible witnesses.

If the location of the suspect(s) in known, the officers (or detectives) will at the least detain, and possibly arrest the suspect.

A crime broadcast might be put out to other officers in the field if there is information about an outstanding suspect.

A diagram of the area surrounding the crime scene will be done – usually by one of the first arriving patrol officers.

Identifying information of the ambulance crew will be obtained as well as interviewing them of their observations of the crime scene, what they did, and anything they touched or moved at the scene.

Smoking, eating and/or drinking should not be permitted in the crime scene.

Once the investigating detective gets to the scene, he should make note of the officer in control of the Crime Scene Log, his own time of arrival on the scene, the exact address of the scene of the crime, the lighting conditions, the weather conditions and the outside temperature. These are details that can easily be forgotten or overlooked. When an investigating detective is unsure of these basic facts of the investigation, their credibility may be questioned during testimony.

As I said in the beginning of this blog, there are as many scenarios for setting up a crime scene as there are story ideas. However, if a writer can get the basics right, a reader is more likely to believe situations when the writer must ‘bend authenticity’ for the sake of the story.

What do you guys think? What are some of the major problems you see with crime scenes? Do you think television programs have had a detrimental affect on crime writers?

Kathy’s giving away a copy of A DEADLY BLESSING to one lucky commenter, so make sure to leave her some love!

Kathy Bennett’s career with the LAPD began in 1973 as a civilian employee. After serving eight years as a civilian, Kathy became a sworn member of the force, and was a Los Angeles Police Officer for twenty-one years. While most of her career was spent in a patrol car, she’s also been a Firearms Instructor at the LAPD Police Academy, a crime analyst in the “War Room”, a Field Training Officer, and worked undercover in various assignments. She’s was named Officer of the Quarter twice, and Officer of the Year once. 

Kathy has self-published two suspense e-books, A Dozen Deadly Roses and A Deadly Blessing. Both books became bestsellers at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, reaching the Top 100 e-books at both retailers. Find out more about Kathy at:  www.KathyBennett.com

A big THANK YOU to Stacy Green for inviting me to be her guest today!

Visceral Rules!

By Margie Lawson

Let’s talk visceral!

First, I’ll SHOW, then I’ll TELL, then I’ll SHOW and TELL.

SHOWING:

Romily Bernard, 2012 Golden Heart Winner, and multi-Margie-grad

Find Me,  Romily’s debut Young Adult novel will be published Sept. 2013

1. Then I hear the car door slam and my heart rides up my throat with spurs.
2. “We have a visitor.” Weird how my voice sounds flat and confident when my insides are churning and liquid.
3. I rub my thumb over the frayed binding, irritation pinching all my insides like I’ve got mosquitoes eating their way out.
4. There’s a flickering under my scalp, a tingling across the back of my neck. My annoying mosquitoes have grown into spiders. They’re crawling all over my skin.

TELLING:

A visceral response is a physical manifestation of emotion.

If you’ve taken some of my online courses, or heard me present a full day master class, you know a key to writing a page-turner is visceral emotion.

You know a scene carries psychological power when you use several scene components, including visceral responses.

You know when emotions in a scene are high, POV characters need to get out of their heads to get in to reader’s hearts.

Visceral responses include, but are not limited to:

• stomach clenching
• heart pounding
• rapid and shallow breathing
• pulse racing
• adrenaline surging
• legs weakening
• throat tightening
• mouth drying
• face flushing
• nausea imminent
• chest tightening
• equilibrium failing
• hear blood rushing
• vision narrowing

Visceral responses are involuntary.

You can’t keep your face from flushing. You can’t keep your mouth from going dry. You can’t keep your chest from tightening, your heart from pounding, your vision from narrowing.

If visceral responses are clichéd, the scene loses power.

If there are too many visceral responses, the scene loses power.

If variations on the same visceral response are overused, the scene loses power.

Time Out for a Teaching Point on Rhetorical Devices!

The paragraph starting with—You can’t keep—Is an example of anaphora.

The next three lines below that paragraph, the ones ending with—the scene loses power—that’s an example of epistrophe.

Now – back to visceral responses. 

When a POV character experiences a strong emotional stimulus, they will have a visceral response. And that visceral response presents immediately.

Visceral responses are experienced first. Always.

When there’s a strong emotional stimulus, people don’t act first.

People don’t think first.

People don’t speak first.

People experience a visceral response first. It’s immediate.

If your characters experience a visceral response first, your scene will be more credible.

We want readers hooked, glued, secured, emotionally immersed in our stories. We want readers viscerally engaged.

SHOWING AND TELLING:

Melanie Milburne, USA Today Bestselling Author, and multi-Margie-grad

Deserving of His Diamonds? 

1. Gisele’s heart tripped in her chest like a pony’s hoof in a pothole.

Analysis: Fresh writing, Simile, Alliteration, Compelling cadence

1. Gisele felt a butterfly wing-like flutter pass over the floor of her belly.

Analysis: Fresh writing. Specificity. A subtle play on the cliché, butterflies in stomach, but it’s fresh and light and connotes something positive. Compelling cadence.

1. Her legs felt like dampened paper, barely strong enough to hold her upright. Her spine was loosening, vertebra by vertebra, until she felt sure she would melt into a pool at his feet. Where was her resolve? Where was her anger? They were like cowardly soldiers retreating from the frontline of battle.

Analysis: Fresh writing, twice! Simile. Specificity. Several points amplified multiple times. Two rhetorical questions. Amplified simile backloaded with power word: battle. Compelling cadence.

Barbara O’Neal, Seven-time RITA Winner, Inducted into the RWA Hall of Fame

The Garden of Happy Endings

1. Elsa paused on the threshold, feeling a dense, dark energy swelling from somewhere, through her. Dizzy, she closed her eyes and put a hand on the door to steady herself.

Analysis: Fresh writing. Amplified feeling. Alliteration, twice. Body language. Recovery. Compelling cadence.

1. Tamsin sat through the sermon with a brick in her belly.

Analysis: Fresh writing. Fun metaphor. Alliteration, twice. Compelling cadence.

1. Her lungs pinched hard enough that she had to cough, like an old lady, to get air.

Analysis: Fresh writing. Visceral response used as a stimulus. Amplified with simile. Backloaded with power words: to get air. Compelling cadence.

1. A sense of anticipation skittered over the top of her skin, brushing the back of her neck, her elbows, her belly.

Analysis: Fresh writing. Alliteration. Specificity. Anaphora. Asyndeton. Compelling cadence.

Darynda Jones, 2012 RITA Winner, and multi-Margie-grad

Third Grave on the Left

1. A rush of delight rippled down my spine and pooled in my abdomen. My pulse accelerated by a hairsbreadth, just enough to cause a tingling flutter in my stomach

Analysis: Fresh writing. Visceral responses, amplified multiple times. Specificity. Visceral response used as a stimulus for another visceral response (pulse accelerating triggered tingling flutter in stomach). Compelling cadence.

1. A vise locked around my chest and was inching closed. My periphery darkened. I could barely breathe, and I needed out of there.

Analysis: Three basic visceral responses. First visceral response intensified. Two others in separate sentences. Shared need to leave, implying things would get worse if she didn’t leave. Compelling cadence.

The last examples I’ll analyze are the four by Romily Bernard that you read in the opening of the blog.

Romily Bernard, 2012 Golden Heart Winner, and multi-Margie-grad

Find Me,   Romily’s debut Young Adult novel will be published Sept. 2013

1. Then I hear the car door slam and my heart rides up my throat with spurs.

Analysis: Fresh writing. Shared stimulus and response. Amplified visceral response twice. Backloaded with power word: spurs. Compelling cadence.

1. “We have a visitor.” Weird how my voice sounds flat and confident when my insides are churning and liquid.

Analysis: Fresh writing.  Complex dialogue cue.  Complex visceral response. Parallelism.  Compelling cadence.

1. I rub my thumb over the frayed binding, irritation pinching all my insides like I’ve got mosquitoes eating their way out.

Analysis: Fresh writing. Shares stimulus (the book) and amplified visceral response.  Implies creepy/scary feelings, without saying she was creeped out or scared. Backloaded with power. Compelling cadence.

1. There’s a flickering under my scalp, a tingling across the back of my neck. My annoying mosquitoes have grown into spiders. They’re crawling all over my skin.

Analysis: Fresh writing. Picks up visceral thread from half-page above. Visceral amplified multiple times. Mosquitoes to spiders, implies danger intensified. Compelling cadence.

Excellent examples from all the authors!

This blog shared some ideas for using visceral responses. You got to taste a few dishes from my visceral response smorgasbord.

Lots more to learn about writing visceral responses.  I dig deep into visceral responses in these two online courses:

1. Empowering Characters’ Emotions
2. The EDITS System: Turning Troubled Scenes in to Winners!

The next time I teach Empowering Characters’ Emotions is February.  But the Lecture Packet can be ordered any time through my web site.

I teach The EDITS System course Sept. 24 – Oct. 19.

Please check out my online courses and presentation schedule. I’m presenting in Denver, Houston, Seattle, and Washington D.C. this fall. I hope to meet some of you in one of those cities this fall – or somewhere next year. Atlanta?

BLOG GUESTS:  NOW IT’S YOUR TURN! 

POST A COMMENT AND YOU MAY WIN a Lecture Packet  or one of my online courses from Lawson Writer’s Academy!

I’ll post the name of the LUCKY WINNER  tonight – at 9PM Mountain Time.

Post a comment – or just say “Hi Margie!” – and you could be a WINNER!

 —Make sure you leave a comment for a chance at winning an awesome gift from Margie. Don’t forget to enter the THRILLER EXTRAVAGANZA GRAND PRIZE giveaway of either a silver spot in Kristen Lamb’s WANA International Blogging or an Amazon Gift Card and a bag of healthy goodies. 

***IF YOU ARE A NEW COMMENTER, YOUR COMMENT WILL NEED TO BE APPROVED. DON’T WORRY IF IT DOESN’T SHOW UP RIGHT AWAY – I’LL GET IT:)

Lawson Writer’s Academy now has 37 courses and 12 instructors. LWA courses are taught in a cyber classroom from Margie’s website, www.MargieLawson.com.

Upcoming Courses from Lawson Writer’s Academy:

1.  Aug. 20 – Sept. 28:  Fab 30 in 40 Days: Advanced Deep Editing, A Master Class

     Instructor: Margie Lawson

2.  Sept. 1 – 30: Story Structure Safari

     Instructor: Lisa Miller

3.  Sept. 3 – 28:  Writing Compelling Scenes

     Instructor: Shirley Jump

4.  Sept. 3 – 28:  Steampunk A-Z

      Instructor: Suzi Lazear

5.  Sept. 24 – Oct. 19:  The EDITS System:  Turning Troubled Scenes in to Winners

      Instructor: Margie Lawson

Margie Lawson —psychotherapist, editor, and international presenter—developed innovative editing systems and deep editing techniques used by writers, from newbies to NYT Bestsellers. She teaches writers how to edit for psychological power, how to hook the reader viscerally, how to create a page-turner.

Thousands of writers have learned Margie’s psychologically-based deep editing material. In the last seven years, she presented over seventy full day Master Classes for writers in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Please contact Margie if you think your group might be interested in having her present a master class for them.

For more information on Lawson Writer’s Academy, lecture packets, full day master classes, and the 4-day Immersion Master Class sessions offered in Margie’s Colorado mountain-top home, visit:  www.MargieLawson.com.

This post by R.J. Ellory is a month old and was posted before the disappointing news broke about his poor choice of leaving himself 5-star reviews under fake names. Even worse, he attacked fellow authors. Ellory has since made a statement, but in light of his mistreatment of fellow authors, I’ve decided to remove this post. Sorry to all who didn’t get to read it.

Stacy