When Writing a Novel, Details Do It.

When Writing a Novel, Details Do It.

by C. Patrick Schulze

Listen to a PODCAST of this article.

My father-in-law attained the rank of Major General in the Air Force. This guy had not attended college, let alone graduated from The Air Force Academy. Both of which are required for one star, let alone his two. Yet, despite his lack of education, this guy somehow rose to the third highest rank in the military. Not an inconsequential accomplishment.

One day I asked him the secret of his success and he offered two lessons I've not forgotten to this day. His first rule? "No harm no foul." In effect, take care of your people. His second rule? "Details do it." He said with everything he passed to his superiors, he ensured the correctness of even the tiniest of details. Of course, each boss promoted him as they knew his work was of the highest caliber.

So it is when we write. Details do, indeed, do it.

Imagine a scene where a character does something as simple as exit a car. Does the guy step out of the vehicle? Does he jump out, slide out or even fall out of the vehicle? It makes a difference, don't you think? If one gets out, he may have decided to pick up some milk on the way home from work. If they jump out, a level of tension is indicated, is it not? And if he falls out, all sorts of doors are opened here. Did he slip? Is he drunk or even dead?

The secret is in the specific words you choose for your nouns, verbs and adverbs.

I pay attention to the specificity of my nouns and verbs when I edit. During my first draft, I just write what comes to mind. Later, I review my nouns, verbs and adverbs to ensure they are particular to my scene.

Here's a example from my emerging novel, "Born to be Brothers." In this scene, I wanted to show man and beast at odds with each other. Here's the sentence as it read in my rough draft.

"The man walked behind a mule and snapped the reins to encourage his animal."

After editing, it read as follows:

"The man plodded behind an old mule and snapped the reins again and again to encourage the sluggish beast."

You can see in this sentence how the added details enhanced the image. First, "walked" became "plodded." Plod insinuates the man is tired and worn whereas "walk" does not necessarily do so. I also added the words, "again and again" to indicate the mule did not accommodate his driver. Finally, I changed, "animal" to "sluggish beast." Again, a much more effective picture, don't you think?

Yes, my friends, the details within your writing do indeed do it. If you pay close attention to your details, you'll find a much more effective story will emerge for you.

Now, does anyone care to share how they changed a simple detail and it made a marked difference to their novel?

Until we speak again, know I wish for you only best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

Author of the now-at-the-editors novel, "Born to be Brothers"

Writing a Fight Scene

by C. Patrick Schulze

Listen to a PODCAST of this article.

I don't know why, but WRITING a fight scene seems my specialty. However, as with so much in my life, the knowledge came after the attempt. When I decided to study HOW TO WRITE a fight scene, I came across a number of primary steps for writing a fight scene I wish I'd known beforehand. I'd like to share some of them with you now.

If I could only give you four general tips on writing a fight scene, I'd say, keep the pace forefront in your mind, keep your descriptions limited, have a full understanding of your characters' personalities before you begin writing the fight scene and use the characters' senses.

Now, let's flesh out this scene with a bit more detail, shall we?

The most important aspect to this scene is the characters' emotional reactions to the event. What if this is the first time a woman slaps her husband? How might it affect her, or him and even their relationship? If you bring out the characters' emotional reactions, you'll have a much stronger fight scene.

Another important tool to use when writing a fight scene is to employ your character's senses. Have your hero taste the blood, hear the bullet scream past and smell the sulfur in the air.

You should have the fight scene offer insights into the combatants' personalities. For example, your hero might rise out of his emotional cocoon to protect the girl.

As with all scenes in your novel, a fight scene needs a purpose within the story and must move the story forward. You should also ensure your readers know which characters have something to lose in the scene.

Dialogue is tricky in fight scenes. You may wish to use fewer words and employ more grunts and curses.

Setting should also take a forefront position when writing a fight scene. Is the floor slippery? Does the wall scrape his skin? Is the building on fire?

Pace is another fateful choice for your fight scene. It might be as limited in scope as a woman who slaps a man, or a battle where thousands might gore each other with swords and axes. Regardless the type of scene you envision, the fight moves fast from the perspective of the fighters. It may take a thousand words to write, but to the combatants, it takes mere moments of time. Your goal here is to keep your reader on-edge during the entire scene.

Now for some general tips about writing a fight scene.

Sure, go ahead and act it out in front of a mirror. Choreograph the thing. See what happens when your combatants move in certain ways.

Know your character's perspective is highly focused on the events at hand. They see only their immediate danger and think only of survival. An interesting insight into a combatant's world is that his focus ranges only a few feet in any direction.

The fight scene must fit your characters' personalities. The milquetoast won't rise up to lead the army to victory nor will the troll sit down and cry when someone takes his weapon.

This is a good time to have your hero face his weaknesses.

Balance your violence and gore. The amount of each depends upon your audience, though every audience can appreciate a novel with little to no gore.

Use technical terminology with care. It can confuse your reader or make him slow down to understand what you meant. For example, if your reader does not know the difference between spherical case, shot and canister, just say cannonball.

Imagine the weapons these people will use and experience them for yourself. If they're shooting at each other and you've never been to a range, you're writing may have a hollowness about it.

Introduce the unexpected. The combatants will trip, slip, fall, hurt, bleed and all those other things the fighter never envisioned beforehand.

Fight scenes need to make sense to your reader. A pocketknife probably won't take off the villain's arm.

Make your opponents competent. It's not a fight if a trained soldier takes on a newborn.

Try not to offer too much detail. Allow the reader to visualize as much as you can, so his mind will seek those places most fearful to him.

Remember, for every action, there is a reaction. If he gets punched in the eye, he'll respond in some way.

Spectators are great for telling "what just happened."

One last thought. When the fight is over, show your reader your winner's physical condition. This makes it seem more real to your reader.

Fight scenes can have a powerful and positive effect upon your reader, but not if he doesn't buy it. So, guys, keep it real.

Until we meet again, know I wish for you only best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

Author of the emerging novel, "Born to be Brothers"

How to Make Your Writing Come to Life

by C. Patrick Schulze

Listen to a PODCAST of this article.

Have you ever gone to a park on a clear spring day, sat on a bench and closed your eyes? Doesn’t the world change when you do? The sound of children laughing seems to dance into your consciousness. The leaves begin to sing with the breeze and the sun teases your skin with a warm glow. Why hadn’t you noticed this before?

Because when you close your eyes, you become dependent upon your other senses.

So, too, is should be with your writing.

When we write, our goal is to transport our readers to another world, one in which they have never, and can never visit. To make your writing come alive, write in the same manner you experienced that day on the park bench; with your senses. Some say you have as many as twelve senses, but we’ll stick with the basic five for today’s article.

Of course, the primary sense we use in life and in writing is sight. If you read any novel, it will be loaded with imagery that involves how things appear. The secret to make your writing come alive, however, is found in the combination of sight and the other four senses.

In my opinion, the unsung king of our senses is smell. It is the gateway to our memory and can transport you anywhere; mom’s kitchen, the market in Marrakesh or your first grade school room. It is, therefore, a powerful tool to enhance your novel’s imagery. The problem with smell is it’s the most difficult of the senses to imagine. The trick then is to add visual elements to your “smell” narrative. For example, if you wish to portray a beach scene, if you add the sun, the water, the cry of gulls and so on, the sense of smell is better employed. Another useful aspect to the sense of smell is the wide range of odors available to the writer. It’s use ranges from a stench to a perfume and everywhere in between.

Another sense that carries a great deal of association is taste and is often used in conjunction with the sense of smell. Taste is also easily employed to delve into a character’s emotions and can be as powerful as smell in evoking a reader’s reaction.

Hearing is, of course, a primary tool in your arsenal of weapons to bring your writing to life. Its power comes to light when you wish to create atmosphere. Think of that scene on a beach mentioned above and imagine how it is altered if waves crash upon the shore or lap against the sand. As with all senses, it has a wide range of applications from the crushing boom of waves during a storm to the soft buzz of a hummingbird’s wings. Here’s a tip you don’t hear too often. To create the best action verbs, combine hearing with touch.

Last, but certainly not least, is the sense of touch. This sense carries with it the language of love and of loathing. It, too, has a great depth of emotions and feelings.

The real secret of how to bring your writing to life is to combine the senses in the correct combination. The use of too much sensory imagery can overload your reader and shock or even bore him. You should consider the use of all five senses every time you have the opportunity but find the correct and timely combination of some of them to bring true life to your writing.

One way to determine which senses to employ with any given scene is to return to our park bench. Close your eyes and imagine your setting. What senses jump out to you first when you do this? Scribble a few words that relate to this image because these are probably the senses to use for that scene. After this, choose the most powerful two or three images that came to mind and then ensure you use the strongest and most specific words to describe the scene. By the way, this is the time for metaphors and similes.

The secret to writing that comes alive is the combination of senses your readers can imagine from your words. Without a healthy dose of sensory narrative, your novel will most likely lack the propulsion it needs to send it up the best seller list.

Do you care to share how you’ve enhanced your sensory writing skills?

Until we speak again, know I wish for you only best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

Author of the emerging novel, “Born to be Brothers”

9 Essentials for Writing Your Climactic Scene

by C. Patrick Schulze

To listen to a podcast of this article, click HERE.

Every novel requires that final, explosive scene where the protagonist and his villain struggle with each other to the certain demise of one or the other. It matters not if you hero is a working mother trying to make ends meet, or the commander of the forces ready to invade Omaha Beach on D-Day. Every novel should have this climactic scene and you should consider certain criteria to make it as powerful as you can.

Here are nine tips to help you when writing that all-important scene.

This scene should be an epic confrontation with a clear winner and a clear loser. Someone gets the girl and someone goes home from the party by himself.

Your hero must confront his most worthy of adversaries. Secondary evil doers simply won’t do. Make this clash between the biggest and baddest.

Your reader expects your hero to win and so he should. However, his victory need not be what they expect. Regardless the sour taste of your hero’s success, a victory he should have.

Your hero should win something of value for his trials. It could be the realization that “The Girl” just ain’t worth the work, or it may be real estate garnered by an incredible battle. Whatever he learns or wins, it must make him a better person, or creature, as the case may be.

In this scene it is not the time for surprise arrivals of any sort. The cavalry, in any of its many forms, should not jump into the story at this point. All that should be set up earlier in your novel.

Have your hero save himself. Imagine if your hero is fighting the villain in hand-to-hand combat and just as the bad guy puts the sword to his throat, an unmentioned meteor streaks from the sky to obliterate the bad guy in a magnificent blaze of fire. Don’t you think your readers will be disappointed in that? Now, that’s not to say the beautiful model can’t Kung Fu in and save him earlier in the story, but at this time, he’s on his own.

There should be no flashbacks at this point in your novel. Flashbacks are tough anyway, but they break the tension and can kill the entire scene. Once the scene opens, focus on the conflict in that scene. Your readers’ interest should be at its peak and they deserve a healthy portion of suspense, action and conflict.

Speaking of action and conflict, this scene should be resolved with action and conflict. Let them duke it out, metaphorically, emotionally or physically, but get the tussle going. Make this thing as exciting as you can. (For more information on the difference between action and conflict, read this ARTICLE.)

Clarification of anything is death to this scene. This is the time for action and your readers should have already received any explanations they need, although mysteries might get away with this to a point.

And finally, this scene should end in a rational fashion. Make it suspenseful, but logical. You never want your readers to say, “Don’t buy it,” at the end of your story. If they do, they’ll tell their friends the same thing; “Don’t buy it.”

Now, are there any aspects to the climactic scene I’ve forgotten?

Until my next post, you knows I wish you only best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

Author of the emerging novel, “Born to be Brothers”

Plot Tips for the Aspiring Author

By C. Patrick Schulze

To listen to a podcast of this article, click HERE.

Before we begin, it’s probably a good idea to define the concept of plot. In general terms, it’s the problems your hero confronts as he travels through the world you’ve created for him. Plot is what keeps your readers’ interest.

Your plot is comprised of three major components, the Complication, the Climax and the Resolution. The Complication involves those scenes that begin your major conflict or plot point. The Complication identifies for your reader what dramatic quest your hero must undergo. The Climax is that plot point where your premier character faces his Complication, the bad guy. The Resolution, of course, is that series of events that solve the conflict outlined in the Complication. It closes the story.

It may help to think of your plot as a three-act play. Your first act is the Complication, the second the Climax and the third, of course, the Resolution.

For some general tips on how to develop your plot, consider the following:

1. Make sure your hero suffers. His trials can be emotional, physical, mental, or best of all, a combination of the three. Keep in mind the more he suffers, the better is his exhilaration during the Resolution phase.

2. The conflict you create must have enough power to encompass the entirety of your story. A secret to this is to interweave subplots into your novel. (For more on subplots, read THIS article.)

3. Insure your hero and villain are evenly matched. It’s important for the story that your reader never knows if your hero will survive his ordeal. He will, and they know it, but you do need to create that sense of doubt for your plot to work with efficiency.

4. Each chapter of your story should hang on an issue. As a famous author whom I can’t quote at this time said, someone must want something in every chapter, even if it’s only a glass of water. This constant tension will keep your audience wanting to read more.

5. Make sure you couple the correct setting with your conflict and plot points. It’s more riveting for your hero to suffer thirst in the desert than a coffee shop. (For more on setting, read THIS article.)

6. At some time, your hero must grab the bull by the horns and get into it with the villain. Nobody wants to read about an indecisive hero. Get the man dirty.

7. It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature, but it’s just fine to fool your reader. Give your plot twists and turns to confuse and surprise them. I think they call this, "mystery."

8. Foreshadowing is a powerful tool when developing your plot. Let them know something ominous is coming, just don’t spill those proverbial beans too soon.

9. Try to stay away from stereotypes in fiction. The nun who works for the underground is more interesting than the soldier who does so. 

10. Let your plot develop as you move through your story. Don’t be afraid to allow your imagination to take your characters where it wants them to go.

11. The secret to your success as a writer of fiction is the good story. And the good story is all about plot. And plot is all about conflict.

What tips might you have to pass along as to how you develop your plot?

Best of luck with developing your plot, and know I wish for you only best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

Author of the emerging novel, "Born to be Brothers."

Tips on How to Create Your Novel's Opening Scene

by C. Patrick Schulze

To listen to a podcast of this article, click HERE.

We all know readers must be spellbound by the very first scene of a novel. In fact, so say industry sages, the first paragraph can lose your reader. (That’s true, by the way. I’ve done it.) Further, an author should spend more time on their first line than any other in the entire work. Wow! That’s a lot of pressure.

So, just how might one go about creating that initial burst of excitement?

There are any number of options open to us as authors, but here’s your list of a dozen that, if crafted well, should offer your reader a scene to keep them wanting more.

1. Open with the proverbial, “Great Line.” I know, it’s not as simple to do as one might think. To develop this ever-elusive Great Line, compress your novel’s major conflict into a single sentence, then polish. Here’s one of my favorite. “When I was little, I would think of ways to kill my daddy.” How’s that for grabbing the imagination. (Interesting, don’t you think, how I fail to remember the book or the author, but not that line? Maybe it’s because I have children?)

2. Have the bad guy show up early and in a big way. Your opening might start something like, “The assassins bullet…”

3. Begin your scene with the likeable hero. If you do this, it’s a good idea to include his worthy goal, too. Think along the line of, “She understood early her son’s endearing smile was due more to a weak mind than a sense of humor. Motherhood would be a joy and a challenge.”

4. Introduce humor in the opening paragraph, but insure it fits your audience. Toilet humor might work with the preteen genres, but the church elders will probably, uh, “pass.”

5. Incorporate a feeling of danger right away. “He saw men on horseback, riding hard, their mounts kicking up a swirl behind them.”

6. Write a scene that’s easy on the senses. Make it natural but lyrical. Paint a picture with which your audience will identify. “The landscape looked as if an artist had brushed his fondest vision of nature on the canvas.”

7. Introduce an ominous foreshadowing. “Carrion birds floated in a languid circle off to the south. Something was about to die.” Those, by the way, are the opening lines of my emerging novel, Born to be Brothers.

8. Begin with formidable obstacles your hero must face and overcome. “Tired, bloodied and winded, the soldier crested the hill only to find the enemy dug in on yet another ridge to his front.” Of course these need not be physical barriers, but you get the idea.

9. Use immediate action. Explosions are always exciting, though somewhat overdone these days. It can be an argument, a personal conflict or facing humility. Just make is pop right away.

10. Open with a high level of tension. Use a heavy dose of emotion mixed with high drama. Think of the last argument you had before you demanded a divorce. That’ll get ‘em worked up.

11. A representation of an appealing setting might work for you. Consider your “safe place” in all its glory and invite your reader to join you.

12. You might try an effective joining of humor and tension. “When the bullet ripped into his flesh, he knew the day was not going well.”

So there ya go. A dozen easy openings to hook your reader and sell more books. Good luck.

I hope you know by now I wish you only best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

Author of the emerging novel, “Born to be Brothers.”

The Secrets to Pace in Your Novel

By C. Patrick Schulze

To listen to a podcast of this article, click HERE.

As you write your novel, you’ll find conflict is a key tool in developing the readers’ interest and conflict goes hand-in-hand with the pace of your scenes. If what I call the Read-Speed is slow, the impact of your conflict is much diminished. Further, as an author, you should pay great attention to the speed at which your novel reads. If it’s overall pace or Read-Speed is tedious, the reader will set your book down. Now, there are any number of techniques by which an author can increase the pace of his story and I’ll cover some of the best in this blog post.

One often ignored practice is to manipulate the amount of white space on the page. To clarify what I mean, imagine a sheet of paper filled with text, top to bottom, side to side, one line after the other without breaks. You can visualize how this would overpower the reader, slow the pace and make for difficulty when reading. In contrast, white space makes for a faster read and a better rhythm. The mere fact the reader flips the pages more often also gives the illusion of speed.

Write in short, choppy sentences, in particular when employing dialogue. Your sentences should be meaningful, of course, but quick lines make for faster reading which, in turn, increases the tempo.

One secret often missed is working with sentence fragments, which work well to increase the pace of your writing. Of course, fragments are frowned upon in the writing world, yet the judicious use of them can be quite effective. In those nail-biting scenes that hinge upon the conflict in your novel, well-used and well-positioned fragments can increase the excitement, and thus, the pace of the conflict. Always. Every time. Like this. Use discretion, however, for you can lose control if you’re not careful. In fact, I reviewed a book the other day and put it aside after reading the first paragraph. Its one-sentence construction covered at least two inches of page space, contained four hyphens and three semicolons. It was absolutely unintelligible. The moral is exercise caution when writing in sentence fragments.

You can utilize shorter words to boost the tempo of your story. Anything that slows your reader, slows the pace. Review your four or longer syllable words and consider replacing them with diminutive, or rather, shorter and easier to pronounce synonyms. For example, you might reconsider the use of the word, “antagonism,” when “anger” will suffice.

Be cautious of argot the middling may not twig. That is to say, don’t use terminology your average reader won’t understand. When you force them to take their mind off the story and focus on individual words, their reading slows to a snail’s speed.

Consider the power behind the words you choose. (How many times have we heard this one?) Does your character dream in nightmares or is he haunted by them? I think you can see the power in the word, “haunted” when compared to, “dreams.” As to verbs, consider the difference between someone who “falls” to someone who “collapses”. Falling could mean anything from tripping to going over a cliff. In contrast, “collapse,” assuming it fits the scene, indicates loss of bodily control. If there is no chance your reader will misinterpret what you wrote, they won’t have to reread a sentence to make sense of it. Anytime they reread anything, your pace suffers.

Don’t retell information. Your reader already knows what happened in prior chapters. To loop back to an earlier point in your story will simply slow the reader, and your plot.

Use active voice. Passive voice is a slower read. “He was planning to do the work,” reads slower and with less strength than, “He planned to do the work.” Take your time to learn about active voice. It’s a powerful tool to use when writing your novel.

For more about this subject, consider THIS POST by Gail Martin in her blog titled, “Novel Journey,” or THIS ONE by Roz Denny Fox at her romance blog, “Desert Rose.”

Look to the pace of your novel and your audience will offer better word of mouth advertising in return.

As always, I wish you best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

Author of the emerging novel, “Born to be Brothers.”

When is Too Much Sex, Too Much?

Listen to a podcast of this article HERE.

One of my blog readers asked me to expand on an earlier article, “How to Write a Sex Scene,” and today I’ll try and help her out. Her question entailed how much detail should one write into a sex scene. In my mind it’s up to the writer, but the answer varies according to writer’s target audience and the needs of the scene. Regardless, the reader’s imagination is the determining point.

Let’s look at the scene first. If you’re writing about raw sex, you might wish for more detail. Should you write about the power of love, you’d likely incorporate less. In the first case, you might include the feel of a woman’s wetness, whereas in the second you might offer nothing more than a bit of caressing as the two disappear behind a door. 

Think also about the scene’s perspective. Is it written from the eyes of an eighteen year-old male bully or from grandma’s? Imagine how the bully might envision sex in relation to how might your grandmother. (Sorry for that visual.)

Let’s now take a look at the target market. Imagine how “the first time” scene might change if you wrote about seventeen year olds, thirty-somethings or grandmothers. In the first, you might have a young boy’s initial experience which entails raw sex with much more physical and tactile detail. The second could be a woman’s first encounter since her oppressive divorce where the details revolve less on the physical than the emotional. Grandma’s first encounter since her husband died might have very little detail, (if you don’t mind…), and convey something like comfort or even betrayal. Each displays the same basic scene, but with wildly varying descriptions and need for detail. 

Here is how I feel about the subject in general. It’s all about the reader’s imagination. 

Consider this simple example of describing a woman’s eyes when writing this type of scene. 

     “As he grabbed her hair and pushed her down on him, her eyes grew wide as silver dollars.”

     “As he grabbed her hair and pulled her down on him, her eyes grew wide with excitement.”

Which of these lines creates the better vision to the reader? To me, everyone knows the size of a silver dollar and though the scene might be titillating, this simple detail reduces the reader’s option to use their imagination. In contrast, her eyes growing wide with excitement allows the readers to interpret how the character looked and thus makes the scene more personal to the reader. Now envision how involved a reader might be if a hundred details form in their mind, rather than on the page. This concept of appealing to the reader’s imagination applies regardless the level of detail. The more your reader employs their imagination, the more personal, more powerful the scene is to them.


I’m also all about the emotion of a scene. Consider a rape. Though the grabbing and thrusting it integral to the incident, if nothing else is described, the scene lacks much of its potential strength. However, if you write about how the woman emotionally responds to these actions, your writing will have much more impact.

To me, detail is dependent upon the scene and the audience. Use more of the reader’s imagination and fewer major details and I think you’ll write with more powerful imagery.

Now for some general tips.

A sex scene, as with all others, should maintain your writing style. Do you include every detail in every scene? Then continue in that vein. Do you skirt the large details for the small? Then carry on with that.


Highlight the tiny details. A man caressing the goose bumps on a woman’s thigh is more enticing than simply thrusting into her.

Think of your book writing more as an Impressionist painting than one from the realistic period.The Impressionists worked with blurs of color and motion, allowing the reader’s mind to see what they wanted to see. The viewer’s imagination filled in the gaps. In contrast, the Realists painted each and every detail, giving each as much power as the next. Though their work is amazing, you only see what they want you to see.

Color-code the emotions you write on the page. Some people use colored pencils or crayons, while others use their word processing text highlighter. It matters not, but here’s how it works. When you mention an emotion such as yearning, you might color it gray. Should you highlight that mood one gets when a couple cuddles after sharing sex, you could use gold.


After colorizing each emotion, make a flip-book of your pages and thumb through them. The colors that jump off the page will offer a strong insight as to the effectiveness of your writing and inform you if you’ve produced the type of article you wished. If your sex scene has a lot of black, for example, let’s hope it’s a rape. If the colors begin with cerulean, turn to yellow, shift to gold then orange and red, then back to blue, you’re probably on the mark for a love scene.


I read somewhere that “Details are the fingerprints of prose.” (Great line, don’t you think?) However, think of your details like spices. Too much salt or pepper and you’ll ruin the taste of the meal. So it is with your writing. Use your details sparingly so as not to overpower your reader.


When incorporating details, insure you employ your characters’, and thus your readers’, five senses. Have your character look at her nakedness, touch her skin and taste her lips. Have him hear her moan and smell her explosion. (And he’d damn well better see she has one.)

The general purpose of your novel is to transport your readers to another place and time. Would they rather go where they wanted or where you tell them. It’s all about the imagination.

It’s not about the sun, it’s about the warmth of the sun on one’s skin.

I do apologize for not offering specific instructions to leave in the erection and omit the sigh, but how much detail to write into a sex scene is up to the writer.


I wish you only best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

Author of the emerging novel, “Born to be Brothers.”

The Secret to Secrets in Novels

Almost every type of novel can utilize the power of secrets to advance the plot and improve the suspense. Think of how many stories you've read where something unknown pops up in the middle of the book and shifts the entire story to another track. I’ve come up with five ways to use secrets within your novels to enhance your storyline, increase suspense and even help your characters grown and change during the story.

One of the best ways to use the suspense created by a secret is to make it corporeal, something your characters can see and touch. When utilizing this technique, your reader is allowed to share in the secret and all the interest and excitement the unknown brings. It could be a sealed envelope, a person lurking in the shadows, a photo or a diary. It can be anything as long as your reader doesn't know what it represents until you want them to know what it represents. 

You can use a secret as a source of conflict for your characters. How about the husband who comes home late from work and refuses to tell his wife why?  What if a soldier cannot bring himself to talk about a war experiences, though his wife tells him she's heard an ugly rumor about that situation. In fact, this secret could even be your entire novel. Regardless, in these situations you've got something you readers know exists but is hidden from them for a reason they are not yet allowed to understand. They may just read on just to find out what's going on.

A third way to take advantage of secrets is to enhance your climactic scene. How often have you read a novel where just as the hero is about to die, he learns a dramatic secret that changes everything and saves his life and sanity? Personally, I don't care for this use. I think it was Orson Wells who said, and I paraphrase, terror isn't terror unless the viewer knows something is about to happen. As I recall, he used the example of two people sitting at a table with a bomb underneath. There is much more suspense if everyone knows the bomb is there and are waiting for it to explode, than if it just detonates all of a sudden. I feel the same way about secrets. They have more power if everyone is waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop. Regardless my sentiments in this, a climactic secret might be useful to your story and you may wish to give it consideration.

Another common use of secrets in novels is as a vehicle for a plot twist. The secret to this secret is to insure it is truly hidden within your story as you set up your readers for its revelation. In Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, (not the movie versions but the book), the creature threatens the not so worthy doctor with perpetual evil unless Dr. Frankenstein creates another creature, a female companion for the monster. When that comes to light, the entire story took on a new direction. If you can work this tool into your novels, it'll create terrific conflict.

I think the most powerful secrets to use are within you. You've got some, just like everyone else. Why not choose those secrets that inspire your life to inspire your readers? 

If you wish to use secrets but don’t have one in mind, find real life ones at Post Secret Blog for ideas. (This place is interesting.)

I hope you've found something in this article that'll spark a secret for your novels.

Until we speak again, I wish you only best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

Author of "Born to be Brothers"

(Coming Soon.)

How to Build Suspense in Your Novel

Conflict, as we all know, is a critical component of a successful novel. In fact, without it, you probably don’t have a novel. One technique used by most successful authors to enhance conflict is to build suspense by judicious use of scenes.

What, you may ask, constitutes a scene? It’s a part of your novel that includes character interactions that moves your story forward. It places your reader in a position to “see” what is taking place. Therefore, a narrative of the landscape is not a scene as there are no characters speaking to each other. In contrast, two characters describing the landscape is a scene.

The purpose of your scenes is to:

·         Move your story forward and toward its end

·         Introduce and flesh out your characters

·         Create a problem or heighten it

·         Solve a problem

·         Set up the scenes to follow

·         Create setting or atmosphere

Within the concept of scenes, you have what are called, “Master Scenes.” These portray the most critical moments in your manuscript, the turning points in the story. For example, two people describing the landscape as above is a scene, but isn’t a master scene. Include the enemy army charging over that landscape toward your speakers and you may well have a master scene.

By combining the critical elements of your story, characters, dialogue, conflict and setting into scenes, you create your novel. And these scenes should interlink like a chain – one linking to the next is logical order. (And yes, your story is only as strong as your weakest scene.)  

How you connect these scenes together is another important aspect of your novel. You need to write your story so that the intensity of your story rises and falls in a rhythm intended to generate excitement. (I’ve designed a nice little chart, but it refused to upload into this blog, so you can see it by downloading my free eBook, “An Introduction to Writing a Novel,” HERE.)

Think of the way your scenes rise and fall from scenes to Master Scenes and back again as a roller coaster ride for your reader. The scenes build excitement, then release the tension, then build again, then fall again. By the end of the book, your story develops to its climactic crescendo before everyone is allowed their final sigh of relief.

As you see from the graphic on page 22 of my eBook, your Master Scenes would have the most tension and interest for your reader and your hero. The other scenes build to these crescendos by always “setting up” the Master Scenes to come.

The last scene, in this case K, brings your reader way down in intensity. This is your “Happily Ever After” scene.

Further, you see that your story should never, ever, be the least bit “Not So Interesting.” At all times, your reader must be enthralled by what is taking place.

Must your story follow the exact graphical guideline I show in the eBook? Not really. In my example, I have three Master Scenes. Your story may have more, though it should have no less.

Can you have more peaks and valleys than shown here? Absolutely! Just make sure your downs always lead to another up.

A secret for many writers, me included, is to create the climactic scene first. After that, create your other pivotal scenes, then fill in. This often makes the story much easier to write.

By employing this technique of ever-increasing tension followed by release then more tension, you’ll have a stronger story and a better chance of finding representation and publication.

Until we speak again, I wish you only best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

The Secrets to Effective Descriptions in Novels

When you, as the author of a novel, describe a scene, character or setting, you’re painting a verbal picture for your reader. You’re using sensory detail to immerse your reader in your words. A well-written description should do the same thing as dialogue; it should move the story forward and add to characterization. 

The secret to presenting descriptions in a novel is all about discipline and imagination. It may seem odd to relate those two things, but it’s important for the successful author to understand this association. The discipline, I’m afraid, is the responsibility of the writer while the reader gets the fun part, the imagination.


As writers we must discipline ourselves to give readers what it is they want to read. And this takes us to why people purchase novels in the first place. After all, they know its fiction, and therefore a lie. Don’t we spend most of our lives trying not to buy someone else’s lies? Why then would the reader put up his hard-earned money to purchase a stranger’s lie? It’s because novel writers take the reader on an adventure, someplace they can never experience, but only imagine. The reader uses his imagination to create personal pictures your words represent. These mental pictures are relevant to him and him alone, making the story more realistic and personal. His imagination does most of the author’s work of transporting the reader to that netherworld he craves.


Consider, if you will, a warm, sunny day with you racing down the open road in a sleek convertible. Your favorite music is blaring as your hair whips in the wind and the love of your life snuggles next to you.


Oh, I forgot to mention, the convertible is pea-green.


I just gave you too much information, didn’t I? The enjoyable picture you’d fashioned in your mind just slipped a notch, didn’t it? It might have been ruined altogether, because of one word too many. So it is with descriptions in your novels.


It’s all about their imagination, not your writing skills. You may be able to paint a wondrous image with your words, but its’ not about your words. It’s about the pictures the reader creates.


So, the true secret to describing anything is to discipline yourself to describe only those necessary things, and then to describe them with no more words than necessary to evoke the readers imagination.


Here are some tips on how to create your descriptions.


Blend, don’t list, characteristics. That is to present details within action. Instead of telling the reader about the many multicolored wildflowers in the field, have the protagonist picking the flowers. Have him mention the many colors, hand the multicolored bouquet he’s gathered to his love, etc. Unless they’re important to the story, don’t just describe the flowers use them within the actions of your characters.


Don’t describe too many things. Descriptions slow a story and the more of them you have, the worse your writing will appear.


When you do describe something, consider the not so obvious details and offer the reader something to spark their imagination. For example, you might mention not only the bright light seeping into the room from between the slats of the blinds, but how the plants on the desk arch their leaves toward the limited sunlight.


I’ve already mentioned descriptions slow scene. You might use one, however, if you wish to retard the action and give your readers a breather.


Use nebulous rather than specific words. This allows the reader to use their imagination. For example, she doesn’t have eyes the size of silver dollars, she has oversized eyes. The reader will determine for himself what “oversized” means.


Avoid flowery language, especially the abuse of adjectives and adverbs. His “gangly approach toward the cusp of manhood” might be reworded to say “he turned fifteen.”


A rule of thumb is a description should be kept to no more than four or five sentences. Never use five when two will do the trick.


Describe those things that differ every time you see one. There’s little need to portray a red rose, as it’s pretty much a red rose everywhere you go. (Yes, I know there are a million varieties, but when you write, “rose,” the identical image come to almost everyone’s mind.) An antique pocket watch, however, is unique almost every time.


Effective descriptions are difficult to master, but mastering the technique will lift your writing to a new level. Best of luck.


Until next time, I wish you only best-sellers.


C. Patrick Schulze

How to Create a Plot Outline

Recently a reader of one of my blogs asked if I might offer some insight as to how to outline the plot of a story. I’m glad to help.

I know of two methods by which you can outline the plot of a work of fiction. My favorite is known as The Hero’s Journey. It’s a method by which you identify twelve major activities the hero must undergo in your story. The other is a five-step method where you perform the same task, but focus only on the most important aspects of your story. I’ve outlined the two methods below.

The Hero’s Journey, those twelve steps your hero must face, are defined in its most simplistic form as follows:

1. Ordinary World – Your hero’s life prior to beginning his quest

2. Call to Adventure – The event that tells your hero a major life change is approaching

3. Refusal of the Call – Your hero’s attempt to ignore or forestall the Call to Adventure

4. Meeting the Mentor – Your hero meets the premier person who will assist him on his quest

5. Crossing the Threshold – Your hero moves away from his life and onto his quest

6. Test, Allies and Enemies – The people your hero meets who aid or hinder him during his quest

7. Approach to the Innermost Cave – Your hero stands on the precipice of fighting his villain

8. The Supreme Ordeal – Your hero fights your villain

9. Reward – The treasure your hero receives for defeating the villain

10. Journey Home – Your hero travels home and combats additional, lesser villains

11. Resurrection – Your hero proves worthy of the treasure he has received

12. Return with Elixir – Your hero reaches his home and received the accolades due him

The Five-Step Method is loosely defined as follows:

1. Identify your main characters then establish the setting and decide upon the major point of conflict around which your major characters will revolve.

2. Create the building action. In effect, you place your protagonist in the position where he must take some sort of action to quell the conflict you’ve established.

3. Bring the conflict in your story to a head. Here the conflict rises to the point of its highest emotion.

4. Lower the emotional level for your reader and your hero. Any loose ends are tied up and your story is moved toward its conclusion.

5. Define the formal conclusion of your plot arc or your story.

You can see the similarities between these two systems. I prefer The Hero’s Journey as it, to me, insures you don’t miss any critical scenes. Regardless which method you use, after you’ve created the basic storyline, flesh out those events you need to lead your hero from step one to twelve, or one to five if you prefer.

By first outlining your story and constructing those steps that must take place to move your story forward, you’ll enhance your chances of creating a well-structured and well-received story.

I wish you the best with this and if you have any questions, please post them in a comment. I’ll be glad to help.

Until my next post, I wish you best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

Tips on Developing Plot in Your Novel

Plot, according to Aristotle, is “the arrangement of incidents” that follow one after the other in logical order. Plot is the turning points of your story.

There are five basic plots from which you may choose. They are:

Man against nature – “War of the Worlds”

Man against man – Any Bruce Willis movie

Man against the environment - “The Day After Tomorrow”

Man against technology – “I Robot”

Man against religion – “The Da Vinci Code”

When you break down your story, it will fall into one of these major categories. (If it does not, please let me know about it.)

Your plot, the way you develop your story, will have four components or plot elements. They are:

Exposition:           The basic information needed to comprehend the story

Complication:      The mechanism that introduces the primary conflict point in your story

Climax:                 The turning point at which your characters solve this primary conflict

Resolution:           The series of events that bring your story to its conclusion

To create a persuasive plot you might consider the following tips.

Great plot is all about the conflict and the conflict is all about denial. Identify what your hero desires, then deny him that want. If your story lacks this fundamental, you have no conflict and your plot falls apart.

Think about the way you wish to design your plot. Can you create an unusual way to tell your story? Will you use flashbacks? Should you tell the story from a different point of view? Will your story be character driven, as in a coming-of-age story, or plot driven as in most thrillers? Should your plot be complex or simplistic? (Thrillers are typically more complex than a coming-of-age story, for example.) Imagine your plot if laid out in various ways and determine which works best for your story. Whichever technique you choose, remember it’s the conflict and characters’ passions that make your plot work.

Allow your plot to advance on its own. Each scene should follow naturally from the prior scene. Though they may be out of sequence chronologically, their order must make sense to your reader.

As you advance your plot, your “arrangement of incidents”, each such incident should escalate the conflict for your hero. Conflict should always be increasing. If it does not, the plot will not move forward.

Your characters should add to the plot’s development. That means events don’t just happen to them. They are instrumental in making the plot move forward. They change the “arrangement of incidents” by their own actions and motivations.

Your resolution need not be orderly.  In reality, it often works best if it is not. As long as you present your reader with a final emotional release by way of your plot, they’ll be happy.

If you take your time and develop an effective plot, your efforts will go a long way toward making your novel a success.

Tomorrow’s post will highlight one method for outlining an effective plotline.

Until we again cross paths, I wish you only best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

How to Bring Characters to Life

As any fiction writer will tell you, vivid characters are necessary to any successful novel. It may surprise you to know the method you use to bring your character to life can be as important as the character himself. With that in mind, let’s consider some of the different ways you might develop the characters in your novel.

One way you can add depth to a character is to summarize. This technique has the distinct advantage of simplicity. You basically give your reader a list of characteristics in narrative form. If you wish to advance your character in this fashion, don’t just give the reader a physical description. You should also use this time to bring his conflict to the fore. Those who use this technique typically do so early in their story. The problem with this methodology? The author tends to tell about the character, rather than show. (How many times have we heard the maxim writers are to show and not tell?)

Another popular method writers use to portray a character is to show an unusual action or habit. You might mention a young girl’s habit of tucking her hair behind her ear whenever she feels nervous around men. When your reader sees her tucking her hair later in the book, they understand what this character is feeling.

You can always have your character give a self-portrait. Fyodor Dostoyevski used this technique in “Notes From Underground.”

           

“I am a sick man… I am a spiteful man. I am an ugly man. I believe my liver is diseased.”

The advantage of this methodology is the reader can also even envision the character’s personality by the words he uses and the way he uses them. The disadvantages can be significant as it might not carry enough dramatic weight to propel the story.

You can always use a person’s appearance to show their personality. We’ve all heard the old saw that says, “Image is everything.” Your reader can deduce your character’s traits by the way their groom themselves and their physical traits. The reader can also surmise the core conflict from a description if you use this technique with care.  For example, is his mustache shabby or cropped? It is wide and waxed or does it sit low on the upper lip? What if one female character glopped on make-up while another wore none? What type of person do these various personality traits demonstrate? Can you see different personalities exhibited by these descriptions?

What I like about this type of characterization is their appearance may be deceiving. (Ah, love those Shapeshifters!)

You can bring your character to life with the scenes in which you place him. This manner of expressing character traits is quite common and is the most true to life. In our lives, we judge people by the way they act, do we not? We all know that “Actions speak louder than words,” and, consciously or not, we often determine our outlook toward people in this manner. So, too, will your readers when watching your character act and react. This technique easily brings your reader into the scene.

Perhaps the most useful method is to use a blend of the various methods. You may, for example, give a bit of description and write about a character’s personal ticks to show his true colors. This technique is often the best way to introduce your major characters.

Whatever method or combination of methods you use, insure the people you create feel true to life or all you work is for naught.

Until we meet again, I wish you best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze