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Tuesday Guest Post: Rayne Hall

“Keep Out - Danger!” Creating Suspense Suspense is a feeling - the feeling of excitement, of tension, of fear, the feeling of needing to know what happens next. As writers, we aim to create suspense, because our readers love it. Here's a quick trick for increasing the suspense: Let your protagonist walk through a doorway on her way to danger. Film makers use this technique frequently. Next time you watch a thriller, cop drama or horror movie, observe how the camera lingers on the door before the hero enters. Subconsciously, the viewer perceives the door as a barrier: if the protagonist crosses it, she is entering a danger zone. The viewer screams inwardly 'Don't open that door!'. Of course, the protagonist opens it and enters. By now, the viewer is sitting on the edge of her chair, frightened on the hero's behalf, needing to find out what happens next. You can use the same trick in your writing: Put a door between your protagonist and the danger, and l

Tuesday Guest Post: C. C. Marks

Who wants to read a story where society has broken down, things have changed for the worse, and civilization is a thing of the past? Well, a lot of people. One of the most popular genres right now is dystopian. What exactly is dystopian literature? When it comes to books, no two are exactly the same, but dystopians are stories that explore social and political structures, especially the breakdown of these structures. What happens if society as we know it becomes a living nightmare? You get a suspenseful story with strong conflict. Thanks to releases like Suzanne Collins’s, The Hunger Games, everyone is clamoring for this type of fiction. Yet, what is so great about the dystopian genre? Why is the audience growing for this genre? Why does Hollywood love this kind of movie? Here are several reasons why dystopian stories are so popular: · Dystopias automatically put characters in a “high-stakes” conflict, often concerning their ultimate survival or demise. ·

DR RAYNE'S CURE FOR SIGHS

In thirty years as an editor, I've found the same words blight and bloat the style of many authors. One of them is 'sigh'. In real life, people who constantly sigh soon get on our nerves. Few folks enjoy the company of sighers. The same applies to fiction: readers don't like characters who sigh a lot. Yet, sighs creep into fiction and multiply like vermin. If you're not on your guard, your novel soon reads like this: He sighed....She sighed deeply.... He heaved a deep sigh... A sigh escaped from her lips.... With a sigh, she did this... Sighing, she rose.... He looked at her and sighed... Moreover, a character who sighs at the slightest trigger comes across as a wuss. One sigh is enough for the reader's subconscious to file that character as a wimp. Two sighs make the character a wimpy wimp. By the time your heroine has heaved her third sigh, the reader has lost respect for her. It's raining - sigh. Aunt Agatha is coming - sigh. Little Laura misbe

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