The Writer creates a state of Anxious Uncertainty, the Reader has Tension in Uncertainity...

I have been away for a while and I apologize. Life just got in the way in so many ways. I am starting fresh and new and this blog is about my current rewrite, I originally wanted to make it a romantic suspense novel. I unfortunately doubted myself and deleted all my tension, and uncertainty. I am now removing my mediocrity and writing it the way I wanted originally so it has the feeling I want it too. I want my story to be a page turner, so I am making it so.

I have said many times that writing is a process, as a writer I want to research everything, as a reader I read everything. I have recently been reading a series of books by one of my favorite authors. Her name is Julie Garwood. She is wonderful at romantic suspense. Here's her website if you are interested in her works.(http://juliegarwood.com/)

 Its funny I used to read her historical novels and then I discovered her contemporaries last summer. She does a wonderful job of weaving the suspense, the passion, an the romance into her books. I am so impressed with them. I am striving to create something like this. I love series books as I have said before and that is what I am writing. It is a strange place to be as a writer when you have others critique you work and then you completely second guess it. Not in a harsh or negative way but thankfully in a constructive way. I keep wondering why I didn't let other people read my story before. If I was being honest with myself I would say its because I wasn't prepared for criticism, or any negatives at all. I understand now that I am confident in my abilities as a writer to allow others to give me feedback. it has taken me a long time though.

I hope I am not the only writer out there that feels this way? I mean we literally bleed, and sweat for some of these pages and stories. In my case the bleeding part is usually because I trip, or fall. I am a genuine klutz. So I may put that in some of characters for comic relief. I usually make fun of myself too. anyways my rambles aside I have been researching how to create the right kind of suspense, and tension. Conflicts and relationships. All these factors are what give us those tense moments. So I am adding them. It is strange going into already made chapters an adding them. At the same time if gives my story more dimension. I have a wonderful villain who is becoming more real as well he is one crazy dude, but so calculating hes scary. It is fun to see him come to life. I cannot wait for others to meet him and fear him. So that is what I am working on at the moment. I have not decided if he gets to survive all four books of if he only makes it to book number two. I will keep you posted.

 In my research I have discovered that the villain is as important as the main characters because he is who propels the story forward in a suspense driven way. I am working on pacing. If you place the action in the wrong segment it looses its fervor. I have learned this through different critiques and I am thoroughly enjoying this process.

The key to this genre, I have learned is to stubbly weave in the actions, the questions, and boom the peril. It is a little strange going back to my draft and weaving these in now, I am kicking myself for deleting them previously. I was so worried that I was putting to many ideas into the story. For example its: like a cake that is decorated to much and you cannot even taste it because of the all the decorations and frosting. That is my best description. Instead of editing some of the sugar flowers, I deleted them all. So not I feel like I am playing catch up, or redo. It is a weird feeling. It is work in progress just like a first time recipe. This is my first time writing a novel so that is what I compare it too.

Again with the recipe reference, I tried a new soup recipe recently and I added to much pasta so it became a pasta dish instead of a soup the next day. I can laugh about it now, same as with my book. I don't want to end up with that again. I am going in like a surgeon and precisely adding, important tension elements, and suspense from my villain. I hope you all will enjoy the final product. I am very anxious to complete it the right way, but it has taken me ten years to complete the book, so I need to remember to take my time with it so that time will be the last until the editor gets a hold of it.

~Life is a work in progress as writing is...Until next time readers, and hopeful writers. Jess =)