Carrie Cross's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"
Carrie Cross's Advice to Aspiring Writers: Use Foreshadowing to Create Suspense.
“Foreshadowing is a literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story.” (Literarydevices.net)
What bigger goal can a writer have than to keep your readers turning those pages, desperate to find out what happens next? Foreshadowing is a technique that can help you accomplish this objective. Remember being a kid, reading a book that you absolutely couldn’t put down, and suddenly it was–bedtime? Did you hide under the covers, reading by flashlight, because you just knew something exciting was about to happen? That built-up anticipation was probably caused by the author’s superlative use of foreshadowing.
Foreshadowing can be accomplished subtly, by using a description of the setting for example, or overtly, via dialogue and first person narration. The following excerpts from Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of Shadow Hills are used for illustration.
Using setting in foreshadowing:
Even though I was afraid, following a treasure map and investigating caves sounded so adventurous that at the stroke of midnight I found myself following Kat outside. Creaky wooden stairs led down the rocky hillside behind her house to their private beach. Sliding my hand along the rough rail, I hoped that the worst thing that would happen to me tonight would be getting a splinter in my palm.
Silver-gray clouds slid past the moon, casting huge shadows on the sand. All too soon we reached the end of the staircase and I smelled the stench of dead mussels clinging to rocks. A cold breeze kissed my cheek as if to wish me luck. Or to warn me.
Violent waves slammed ocean water against the sand. Each pounding crash sounded like a car accident. Pausing with my shoe still touching the last stair, I wondered if there was any way to talk Kat out of this. I figured that following her was better than getting lost on the beach in the dark, so I stumbled after her, scared to death. (From Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of Shadow Hills)
Would the worst thing that happened to our heroine be getting a splinter in her palm? Probably not. The cold breeze seemed to be warning her of something. What? Something worse than the car accident that the crashing waves alluded to, or to getting lost on the beach in the dark?
Using dialogue in foreshadowing:
“My new friend was amazing. “What’s Wiccan?” I mouthed.
She looked around. No one was listening.
“Witchcraft.” She waited to see how I’d react, then continued. “I’ll sleep over Saturday night and introduce you.”
“OK. I’ll ask. Introduce me to what?”
Kat looked at me. “Everything Wiccan. I know all about it. And I’ll let you in.”
A nervous tingle shot down my spine. My brain was spinning. I decided to put my plan to escape from Malibu on hold for now.
An uninvited Saturday night sleep-over where Skylar gets introduced to witchcraft? Skylar was nervous and her brain was spinning. Surely something interesting would happen on Saturday night, wouldn’t it?
Using first person narration in foreshadowing:
Heading for Malibu on a sunny Saturday in June would normally have been a good thing. I could have spent the day bodysurfing with my BFF, Alexa, and playing games in the arcade on the Santa Monica pier. If I was totally lucky I might have shared a bumper car with Dustin Coles, the cutest boy going into Pacific Middle School. Alexa and I liked to lie in the sun and watch surfers ride the waves on Zuma beach. If there were pinball and corndogs ahead of me instead of what I was in for, I would have begged my dad for a ride down the coast. But today? Not so much.
If I’d gotten out of the car right then and spread out my beach towel, everything might have turned out fine. But my dad kept right on driving.
Apparently, everything didn’t turn out fine. ‘Tween readers who enjoy going to the beach, watching surfers, eating corndogs, or playing video games should already have an affinity with the protagonist. If she’d gotten out of the car right then, everything might have turned out fine. But her dad kept right on driving. What happened to her?
Foreshadowing helps to create suspense; so whatever your genre, hinting at exciting events to come will keep your readers intrigued, staying up later than intended, reading just one more chapter.
What bigger goal can a writer have than to keep your readers turning those pages, desperate to find out what happens next? Foreshadowing is a technique that can help you accomplish this objective. Remember being a kid, reading a book that you absolutely couldn’t put down, and suddenly it was–bedtime? Did you hide under the covers, reading by flashlight, because you just knew something exciting was about to happen? That built-up anticipation was probably caused by the author’s superlative use of foreshadowing.
Foreshadowing can be accomplished subtly, by using a description of the setting for example, or overtly, via dialogue and first person narration. The following excerpts from Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of Shadow Hills are used for illustration.
Using setting in foreshadowing:
Even though I was afraid, following a treasure map and investigating caves sounded so adventurous that at the stroke of midnight I found myself following Kat outside. Creaky wooden stairs led down the rocky hillside behind her house to their private beach. Sliding my hand along the rough rail, I hoped that the worst thing that would happen to me tonight would be getting a splinter in my palm.
Silver-gray clouds slid past the moon, casting huge shadows on the sand. All too soon we reached the end of the staircase and I smelled the stench of dead mussels clinging to rocks. A cold breeze kissed my cheek as if to wish me luck. Or to warn me.
Violent waves slammed ocean water against the sand. Each pounding crash sounded like a car accident. Pausing with my shoe still touching the last stair, I wondered if there was any way to talk Kat out of this. I figured that following her was better than getting lost on the beach in the dark, so I stumbled after her, scared to death. (From Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of Shadow Hills)
Would the worst thing that happened to our heroine be getting a splinter in her palm? Probably not. The cold breeze seemed to be warning her of something. What? Something worse than the car accident that the crashing waves alluded to, or to getting lost on the beach in the dark?
Using dialogue in foreshadowing:
“My new friend was amazing. “What’s Wiccan?” I mouthed.
She looked around. No one was listening.
“Witchcraft.” She waited to see how I’d react, then continued. “I’ll sleep over Saturday night and introduce you.”
“OK. I’ll ask. Introduce me to what?”
Kat looked at me. “Everything Wiccan. I know all about it. And I’ll let you in.”
A nervous tingle shot down my spine. My brain was spinning. I decided to put my plan to escape from Malibu on hold for now.
An uninvited Saturday night sleep-over where Skylar gets introduced to witchcraft? Skylar was nervous and her brain was spinning. Surely something interesting would happen on Saturday night, wouldn’t it?
Using first person narration in foreshadowing:
Heading for Malibu on a sunny Saturday in June would normally have been a good thing. I could have spent the day bodysurfing with my BFF, Alexa, and playing games in the arcade on the Santa Monica pier. If I was totally lucky I might have shared a bumper car with Dustin Coles, the cutest boy going into Pacific Middle School. Alexa and I liked to lie in the sun and watch surfers ride the waves on Zuma beach. If there were pinball and corndogs ahead of me instead of what I was in for, I would have begged my dad for a ride down the coast. But today? Not so much.
If I’d gotten out of the car right then and spread out my beach towel, everything might have turned out fine. But my dad kept right on driving.
Apparently, everything didn’t turn out fine. ‘Tween readers who enjoy going to the beach, watching surfers, eating corndogs, or playing video games should already have an affinity with the protagonist. If she’d gotten out of the car right then, everything might have turned out fine. But her dad kept right on driving. What happened to her?
Foreshadowing helps to create suspense; so whatever your genre, hinting at exciting events to come will keep your readers intrigued, staying up later than intended, reading just one more chapter.
Carrie Cross's Advice to Aspiring Writers #1: Revise!
In a recent interview I was asked what advice I would give to aspiring writers, and this was my reply:
Enjoy the writing process and revise, revise, revise. Get as many people as possible to read your manuscript and give you constructive criticism. Don’t just rely on family and friends for feedback. They love you and will tell you your book is great, even if it isn’t.
Find beta readers in your target age group whom you don’t know personally. For instance, I asked my account base at work if they had children who would be willing to read my book, Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of Shadow Hills, before publication, and emailed the manuscript to those kids. Their feedback was invaluable.
Finally, don’t let rejections from agents deter you from getting published. Self-publish if you don’t get a contract; you’re going to do most of your own marketing anyway. Calvin Coolidge said it best: Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent!
Enjoy the writing process and revise, revise, revise. Get as many people as possible to read your manuscript and give you constructive criticism. Don’t just rely on family and friends for feedback. They love you and will tell you your book is great, even if it isn’t.
Find beta readers in your target age group whom you don’t know personally. For instance, I asked my account base at work if they had children who would be willing to read my book, Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of Shadow Hills, before publication, and emailed the manuscript to those kids. Their feedback was invaluable.
Finally, don’t let rejections from agents deter you from getting published. Self-publish if you don’t get a contract; you’re going to do most of your own marketing anyway. Calvin Coolidge said it best: Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent!
Carrie Cross's Advice to Aspiring Writers #3: Inspiration
In a recent interview, I was asked what I use for inspiration when I wrote Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of the Hidden Jewels (Teen Mystery Press, November 2014).
My answer was this: I use a game I call, “What if?”. What if my main character, Skylar Robbins, explored a creepy old house and found it had a hidden floor? What would she find when she got there? What if she used an ultraviolet light in the attic and found a secret message written on the wall in invisible ink? What would it say? I like to put my hero in that type of situation and let my imagination go wild.
So my advice to aspiring writers is to interview your protagonist in your mind. Throw him or her into a sticky situation and ask how they would react. What if your main character discovered a tunnel hiding under some leaves in his backyard? Where would it lead? What if someone scary was hiding at the other end of the tunnel? How would he react? What if an unusual classmate begged your hero for a huge favor that was impossible to deny? How would she reply?
Put your characters into a challenging scenario and watch the scene unfold. The outcome may surprise you.
My answer was this: I use a game I call, “What if?”. What if my main character, Skylar Robbins, explored a creepy old house and found it had a hidden floor? What would she find when she got there? What if she used an ultraviolet light in the attic and found a secret message written on the wall in invisible ink? What would it say? I like to put my hero in that type of situation and let my imagination go wild.
So my advice to aspiring writers is to interview your protagonist in your mind. Throw him or her into a sticky situation and ask how they would react. What if your main character discovered a tunnel hiding under some leaves in his backyard? Where would it lead? What if someone scary was hiding at the other end of the tunnel? How would he react? What if an unusual classmate begged your hero for a huge favor that was impossible to deny? How would she reply?
Put your characters into a challenging scenario and watch the scene unfold. The outcome may surprise you.
Carrie Cross’s Advice to Aspiring Writers #4: Plot From the End
One of the best bits of advice I’ve ever read regarding plotting was from Ayn Rand’s, The Art of Fiction. Her premise suggests that an author must plan the climax in advance, and figure out the end of their story before they ever begin to write.
Some authors like to start with an outline, diagramming their whole book scene-by-scene. This structure doesn’t work for me. I find that it inhibits my creativity if I have to force dialogue, plot twists, and suspense into a prearranged outline. However, I made the mistake of starting my first novel with some juicy, creative ideas, but with no plan for where I was going with them. Why don’t I just let my imagination see where it takes the characters? I thought gleefully, and foolishly. What I ended up with was 400 pages of what I now refer to as “a tangled ball of spaghetti” that took months to unravel. That manuscript never turned into a coherent book.
And that’s because I didn’t know where I was going from the beginning. I started exploring a path without having any idea where it would end. I had the idea for a story, but I didn’t plan the climax, the finale, the de·noue·ment:
ˌdāno͞oˈmäN/
1. the final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved.
Ayn Rand’s advice on plotting was invaluable to me when I wrote my next book, which was the first volume of the Skylar Robbins detective series: The Mystery of Shadow Hills. This time I had the idea for my story, decided how it would end, and planned the climax in advance. And then I wrote toward it.
Every scene, every character, and every bit of dialogue was composed with the end in sight. If you don’t know where the end of the road lies, how can you possibly figure out the path that will lead you to it? As Ayn Rand says in The Art of Fiction, “The only absolute rule is…you must start plotting from the end.”
Some authors like to start with an outline, diagramming their whole book scene-by-scene. This structure doesn’t work for me. I find that it inhibits my creativity if I have to force dialogue, plot twists, and suspense into a prearranged outline. However, I made the mistake of starting my first novel with some juicy, creative ideas, but with no plan for where I was going with them. Why don’t I just let my imagination see where it takes the characters? I thought gleefully, and foolishly. What I ended up with was 400 pages of what I now refer to as “a tangled ball of spaghetti” that took months to unravel. That manuscript never turned into a coherent book.
And that’s because I didn’t know where I was going from the beginning. I started exploring a path without having any idea where it would end. I had the idea for a story, but I didn’t plan the climax, the finale, the de·noue·ment:
ˌdāno͞oˈmäN/
1. the final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved.
Ayn Rand’s advice on plotting was invaluable to me when I wrote my next book, which was the first volume of the Skylar Robbins detective series: The Mystery of Shadow Hills. This time I had the idea for my story, decided how it would end, and planned the climax in advance. And then I wrote toward it.
Every scene, every character, and every bit of dialogue was composed with the end in sight. If you don’t know where the end of the road lies, how can you possibly figure out the path that will lead you to it? As Ayn Rand says in The Art of Fiction, “The only absolute rule is…you must start plotting from the end.”
Carrie Cross’s Advice for Aspiring Writers #5: Grab the Reader with Your First Sentence
The most important thing to do when starting a new book is to grab the readers’ attention from sentence #1, so they cannot help but continue to read. Book buyers frequently open the book to the first chapter and read the opening page. If it doesn’t interest them within a few sentences, the book goes right back to the shelf. Can’t you picture your own hand grabbing a novel, reading a few lines, and instantly putting the book back where it came from—because the initial paragraph didn’t grab your attention? You must have an exciting opener.
Writers may ask, “But what about setting? Backstory? Character development?” All of those elements are very important, but your reader won’t read far enough to get to them if your opening lines are weak. How likely would you be to buy a book if the first paragraph you read was nothing more than a description of the weather? It’s amazing how many self-published novels begin in this uninteresting way. Your description of the setting might be creative and well-written. Yes, that thunder and lightning may foreshadow something exciting or dangerous to come, but without introducing your reader to the characters or the plot conflict first, who cares about the weather?
Your main character and the essence of the plot must make their entrances right off the bat. Please take a look at the first paragraph of my second novel, SKYLAR ROBBINS: THE MYSTERY OF THE HIDDEN JEWELS (http://amzn.to/2qFq4oF) with these thoughts in mind.
I didn’t know this when I climbed into the backseat of the black Cadillac, but what was about to happen in the next half hour would change my life forever. And I’m not talking about a little change, either. This one was a monster. It wasn’t just that we were moving out of the house I’d lived in since I was born, or that I was finally about to start middle school. Both of those things were huge, but they seemed like tiny details compared to what came next. The mystery I got tangled up in involved the disappearance of a famous heiress, a million dollars’ worth of hidden jewels, and a threatening gang of bikers who were determined to find them before I did.
After reading this paragraph you already know the following facts:
The story is written in the first person, and the protagonist is about to start middle school, so she is 12 or 13-years old.
She is going to experience a monstrous, life-changing event during this book.
It starts in the next half-hour, so you—the reader—won’t have to wait long for the action to begin.
She’s about to get involved in a dangerous mystery involving a missing person, a hidden fortune, and a threatening group of adversaries.
The more conflict and tension you can introduce on the first page, the more likely potential readers will be to buy your book. Save those tasty descriptions of your setting for later. Start your first chapter off with a bang!
If you enjoyed these tips, I’d really appreciate you sharing this post with your friends. More advice for aspiring writers can be found on my website: www.carrie-cross.com
Writers may ask, “But what about setting? Backstory? Character development?” All of those elements are very important, but your reader won’t read far enough to get to them if your opening lines are weak. How likely would you be to buy a book if the first paragraph you read was nothing more than a description of the weather? It’s amazing how many self-published novels begin in this uninteresting way. Your description of the setting might be creative and well-written. Yes, that thunder and lightning may foreshadow something exciting or dangerous to come, but without introducing your reader to the characters or the plot conflict first, who cares about the weather?
Your main character and the essence of the plot must make their entrances right off the bat. Please take a look at the first paragraph of my second novel, SKYLAR ROBBINS: THE MYSTERY OF THE HIDDEN JEWELS (http://amzn.to/2qFq4oF) with these thoughts in mind.
I didn’t know this when I climbed into the backseat of the black Cadillac, but what was about to happen in the next half hour would change my life forever. And I’m not talking about a little change, either. This one was a monster. It wasn’t just that we were moving out of the house I’d lived in since I was born, or that I was finally about to start middle school. Both of those things were huge, but they seemed like tiny details compared to what came next. The mystery I got tangled up in involved the disappearance of a famous heiress, a million dollars’ worth of hidden jewels, and a threatening gang of bikers who were determined to find them before I did.
After reading this paragraph you already know the following facts:
The story is written in the first person, and the protagonist is about to start middle school, so she is 12 or 13-years old.
She is going to experience a monstrous, life-changing event during this book.
It starts in the next half-hour, so you—the reader—won’t have to wait long for the action to begin.
She’s about to get involved in a dangerous mystery involving a missing person, a hidden fortune, and a threatening group of adversaries.
The more conflict and tension you can introduce on the first page, the more likely potential readers will be to buy your book. Save those tasty descriptions of your setting for later. Start your first chapter off with a bang!
If you enjoyed these tips, I’d really appreciate you sharing this post with your friends. More advice for aspiring writers can be found on my website: www.carrie-cross.com
Interview with thewritechris.blogspot.com
Q. What made you decide to write for middle-grade readers? Was there any particular
author you read that made you think, I could write like that?
A. I decided to write for the middle grade audience because I fell most in love with books when I was between nine and twelve years old. I couldn’t get enough of Judy Blume, and read Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret over and over. Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s The Changeling and The Velvet Room enchanted me. I loved The Happy Hollisters mysteries and Nancy Drew. But it wasn’t until I was an adult, reading Lee Child thrillers and Robert Crais mysteries, that I wondered if and hoped that I could write like them. My first manuscript, The Dark File, was an adult novel exploring the nasty side of the modeling industry, which I experienced first-hand in my twenties. This book was never published, but while I shopped it around and waited for agents to respond, I had the idea for my first Skylar Robbins mystery, then tentatively titled, Magic Summer.
Q. How long did it take you to write your first book? How many rewrites did you do on
it? Who helped you with the editing?
A. One of my closest friends, Elayne Angel, is also an author, and she and my husband Ed edit the rough drafts of my novels and provide excellent feedback and critiques. I probably worked on Magic Summer for three years before I got it into good enough shape that I decided to hire a professional editor, Beth Lieberman, to proofread my “final” draft. She gave me some excellent advice. For example, I needed to add setting. She characterized mine as “a barely perceptible L.A.” I revised again, she pronounced it good enough to shop, and we began looking for an agent. By this time, I had added a detective angle to Skylar’s character and had renamed the manuscript, Skylar Robbins: Secret Agent.
After several rejections, Writers House signed me. Searching for a publisher is a tedious, time-consuming, frustrating experience. Like agents, publishers do not like it if you “simultaneously submit” to more than one. They don’t want to waste their valuable time reading a manuscript, only to be told when they decide they want it that another house has already snapped it up. So, my agent submitted to one at a time, and then we’d wait between two weeks to two months for a reply. All rejections—but, and this is a big but—some came with constructive criticism. Invaluable!
Q. We have all experienced rejection. Give me an example of how you learned to write
past it.
A. The rejections I received from agents and publishers, one after another, was crushing. But the ones who cared enough to leave constructive criticism gave me the drive to continue to revise, and to not give up on making my book series a reality. (By this time, I had started on a new Skylar Robbins novel and decided this could be a series.) Several of the publishers wrote notes to the effect of, “Great story but we have a similar MG mystery series that this would compete with.” That was better than hearing a plain, “No thanks, we’re uninterested.” But what really helped was when one publisher noted, “Good writing, but I’m afraid this story is just too straight-forward a ride.”
That got me thinking. Good writing: yes! Too straight-forward a storyline? How can I make it better? So, I got back to work and revised again, adding another layer to the plot.
Q. What’s the best encouragement you’ve had in your writing?
A. Getting good feedback from publishers, even through rejection letters, was some of the best encouragement I’ve had in my writing career. Give me a challenge and I’ll take it. Make this manuscript less straight-forward a ride? OK! Here you go! Skylar Robbins went from a shy girl spending a nervous summer at her bullying cousin Gwendolyn’s house to a smart, savvy sleuth, hunting for clues using the tools in her detective kit. By the end of what was finally called, Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of Shadow Hills, Skylar had learned how to determine true friends from phony ones, and had developed self-confidence and expert sleuthing skills.
Better than the feedback from publishers, what really made me feel validated as an author was when more than one group of kids formed their own “detective agencies” after reading my books. Even boys got interested in finding clues and looking for something mysterious—and I thought at first my novels would just appeal to girls.
Q. What is the hardest part of writing for you? Starting? Creating a scene? Dialog?
Tension, etc?
A. I think the hardest part of writing a novel is determining how it will end. As author Ayn Rand teaches, you must determine your story’s climax and write toward it so that every scene has purpose. Once you have established the ending to your plot, you can come up with a rough outline of how the characters will progress toward that finale. It’s a real challenge to determine a story’s climax before you’ve written the book, but it’s imperative that you know where the plot is leading.
Q. You indie-publish, correct? What made you choose the indie route? What was the most
challenging part about putting together the book?
A. I do self-publish, through Amazon’s Createspace. After spending years trying to get an agent and more time trying to land a traditional publishing contract, I figured I’d take the plunge and do it myself. My husband and I created our own publishing company, Teen Mystery Press, hoping that having a legitimate publishing company logo on my novels would help me get into bookstores. Bookstores and libraries shy away from self-published books as so many are poorly-written and error-filled. The Skylar Robbins series is in several stores and a handful of libraries, but the bulk of my sales comes from Amazon. The most challenging part of putting together the book was revising over and over until I was satisfied with it. My husband, Ed Ward, is a graphic designer, so he does my cover art and interior design. Shameless plug: www.mental-ward.com.
Q. You’ve got a great looking website. Who put it together for you? What are some of
your marketing tips that you would like to pass along?
A. Thank you! Ed designed my website, too. I have a section on my site, www.carrie-cross.com, called Advice for Aspiring Writers, where I share writing advice. My number one marketing tip is: advertise. Every month I reinvest whatever I’ve earned from my book sales into ads on Goodreads, Facebook, Bookbub, and other sites. No one is going to look for a self-published book by an unknown author. You need to use every possible social media platform to get your name and your work out there. I’ve run contests on Facebook, giving away toy binoculars for the most shares on my book posts. I’m currently writing a mini-sequel to Shadow Hills called Gwendolyn’s Revenge, and inviting Skylar fans to help co-write it with me. I have a Secret Agent Application form on my website, and recently had my 50th Secret Agent sign up. These kids are encouraged to help Skylar figure out clues in future novels and post their guesses on my site. Several of Skylar’s Secret Agents are mentioned (using their code names) in book 2: Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of the Hidden Jewels.
Q. What do you know now about writing that you wished you had known sooner?
A. I would say that I wished I had self-published sooner, but then I never would have gotten the feedback I needed to hear from the agents and publishers who rejected my work. Authors should look at rejections as learning experiences and as opportunities for growth and improvement.
Q. What is some of the best writing advice that you’ve received or could give?
Are there any other points about writing that you would like to add?
A. The best advice I could give fellow authors is, “Revise, revise, revise!” Don’t submit your work until it is as perfect as can be. You only get one chance to impress a prospective agent, publisher, or reader. Make sure your work is error-free and polished. And never give up. If you can’t get a traditional publishing contract, do it yourself. As Calvin Coolidge said, “Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
Q. What is the next book that will be coming out? Can you give me a short synopsis?
A. In my third Skylar Robbins mystery, The Mystery of the Missing Heiress, Skylar teams up with a brilliant would-be spy, Daniel Gannon, to solve the mystery. He is pictured on the cover, swimming under the Santa Monica pier, searching underwater for a locked box containing a clue.
By the end of book 3, Skylar and Daniel decide to partner up again and plan to take a field trip to a mysterious island called Koma. In my next book, Skylar Robbins: The Curse of Koma Island, Skylar and Daniel must determine the meaning of a strange Koman idol. The locals are desperate to frighten the kids off the island before they discover the truth. I hope to publish Koma Island by the end of 2018.
Q. Lastly, what links would you like to be added at the end?
A. Thanks so much, http://thewritechris.blogspot.com/, for the interview!
Skylar Robbins mysteries are available on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2bSxwFB
Check out Carrie Cross’s website: www.carrie-cross.com
Join Carrie on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCarrie...
Follow Carrie on Twitter @Carrie_Skylar
author you read that made you think, I could write like that?
A. I decided to write for the middle grade audience because I fell most in love with books when I was between nine and twelve years old. I couldn’t get enough of Judy Blume, and read Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret over and over. Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s The Changeling and The Velvet Room enchanted me. I loved The Happy Hollisters mysteries and Nancy Drew. But it wasn’t until I was an adult, reading Lee Child thrillers and Robert Crais mysteries, that I wondered if and hoped that I could write like them. My first manuscript, The Dark File, was an adult novel exploring the nasty side of the modeling industry, which I experienced first-hand in my twenties. This book was never published, but while I shopped it around and waited for agents to respond, I had the idea for my first Skylar Robbins mystery, then tentatively titled, Magic Summer.
Q. How long did it take you to write your first book? How many rewrites did you do on
it? Who helped you with the editing?
A. One of my closest friends, Elayne Angel, is also an author, and she and my husband Ed edit the rough drafts of my novels and provide excellent feedback and critiques. I probably worked on Magic Summer for three years before I got it into good enough shape that I decided to hire a professional editor, Beth Lieberman, to proofread my “final” draft. She gave me some excellent advice. For example, I needed to add setting. She characterized mine as “a barely perceptible L.A.” I revised again, she pronounced it good enough to shop, and we began looking for an agent. By this time, I had added a detective angle to Skylar’s character and had renamed the manuscript, Skylar Robbins: Secret Agent.
After several rejections, Writers House signed me. Searching for a publisher is a tedious, time-consuming, frustrating experience. Like agents, publishers do not like it if you “simultaneously submit” to more than one. They don’t want to waste their valuable time reading a manuscript, only to be told when they decide they want it that another house has already snapped it up. So, my agent submitted to one at a time, and then we’d wait between two weeks to two months for a reply. All rejections—but, and this is a big but—some came with constructive criticism. Invaluable!
Q. We have all experienced rejection. Give me an example of how you learned to write
past it.
A. The rejections I received from agents and publishers, one after another, was crushing. But the ones who cared enough to leave constructive criticism gave me the drive to continue to revise, and to not give up on making my book series a reality. (By this time, I had started on a new Skylar Robbins novel and decided this could be a series.) Several of the publishers wrote notes to the effect of, “Great story but we have a similar MG mystery series that this would compete with.” That was better than hearing a plain, “No thanks, we’re uninterested.” But what really helped was when one publisher noted, “Good writing, but I’m afraid this story is just too straight-forward a ride.”
That got me thinking. Good writing: yes! Too straight-forward a storyline? How can I make it better? So, I got back to work and revised again, adding another layer to the plot.
Q. What’s the best encouragement you’ve had in your writing?
A. Getting good feedback from publishers, even through rejection letters, was some of the best encouragement I’ve had in my writing career. Give me a challenge and I’ll take it. Make this manuscript less straight-forward a ride? OK! Here you go! Skylar Robbins went from a shy girl spending a nervous summer at her bullying cousin Gwendolyn’s house to a smart, savvy sleuth, hunting for clues using the tools in her detective kit. By the end of what was finally called, Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of Shadow Hills, Skylar had learned how to determine true friends from phony ones, and had developed self-confidence and expert sleuthing skills.
Better than the feedback from publishers, what really made me feel validated as an author was when more than one group of kids formed their own “detective agencies” after reading my books. Even boys got interested in finding clues and looking for something mysterious—and I thought at first my novels would just appeal to girls.
Q. What is the hardest part of writing for you? Starting? Creating a scene? Dialog?
Tension, etc?
A. I think the hardest part of writing a novel is determining how it will end. As author Ayn Rand teaches, you must determine your story’s climax and write toward it so that every scene has purpose. Once you have established the ending to your plot, you can come up with a rough outline of how the characters will progress toward that finale. It’s a real challenge to determine a story’s climax before you’ve written the book, but it’s imperative that you know where the plot is leading.
Q. You indie-publish, correct? What made you choose the indie route? What was the most
challenging part about putting together the book?
A. I do self-publish, through Amazon’s Createspace. After spending years trying to get an agent and more time trying to land a traditional publishing contract, I figured I’d take the plunge and do it myself. My husband and I created our own publishing company, Teen Mystery Press, hoping that having a legitimate publishing company logo on my novels would help me get into bookstores. Bookstores and libraries shy away from self-published books as so many are poorly-written and error-filled. The Skylar Robbins series is in several stores and a handful of libraries, but the bulk of my sales comes from Amazon. The most challenging part of putting together the book was revising over and over until I was satisfied with it. My husband, Ed Ward, is a graphic designer, so he does my cover art and interior design. Shameless plug: www.mental-ward.com.
Q. You’ve got a great looking website. Who put it together for you? What are some of
your marketing tips that you would like to pass along?
A. Thank you! Ed designed my website, too. I have a section on my site, www.carrie-cross.com, called Advice for Aspiring Writers, where I share writing advice. My number one marketing tip is: advertise. Every month I reinvest whatever I’ve earned from my book sales into ads on Goodreads, Facebook, Bookbub, and other sites. No one is going to look for a self-published book by an unknown author. You need to use every possible social media platform to get your name and your work out there. I’ve run contests on Facebook, giving away toy binoculars for the most shares on my book posts. I’m currently writing a mini-sequel to Shadow Hills called Gwendolyn’s Revenge, and inviting Skylar fans to help co-write it with me. I have a Secret Agent Application form on my website, and recently had my 50th Secret Agent sign up. These kids are encouraged to help Skylar figure out clues in future novels and post their guesses on my site. Several of Skylar’s Secret Agents are mentioned (using their code names) in book 2: Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of the Hidden Jewels.
Q. What do you know now about writing that you wished you had known sooner?
A. I would say that I wished I had self-published sooner, but then I never would have gotten the feedback I needed to hear from the agents and publishers who rejected my work. Authors should look at rejections as learning experiences and as opportunities for growth and improvement.
Q. What is some of the best writing advice that you’ve received or could give?
Are there any other points about writing that you would like to add?
A. The best advice I could give fellow authors is, “Revise, revise, revise!” Don’t submit your work until it is as perfect as can be. You only get one chance to impress a prospective agent, publisher, or reader. Make sure your work is error-free and polished. And never give up. If you can’t get a traditional publishing contract, do it yourself. As Calvin Coolidge said, “Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
Q. What is the next book that will be coming out? Can you give me a short synopsis?
A. In my third Skylar Robbins mystery, The Mystery of the Missing Heiress, Skylar teams up with a brilliant would-be spy, Daniel Gannon, to solve the mystery. He is pictured on the cover, swimming under the Santa Monica pier, searching underwater for a locked box containing a clue.
By the end of book 3, Skylar and Daniel decide to partner up again and plan to take a field trip to a mysterious island called Koma. In my next book, Skylar Robbins: The Curse of Koma Island, Skylar and Daniel must determine the meaning of a strange Koman idol. The locals are desperate to frighten the kids off the island before they discover the truth. I hope to publish Koma Island by the end of 2018.
Q. Lastly, what links would you like to be added at the end?
A. Thanks so much, http://thewritechris.blogspot.com/, for the interview!
Skylar Robbins mysteries are available on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2bSxwFB
Check out Carrie Cross’s website: www.carrie-cross.com
Join Carrie on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCarrie...
Follow Carrie on Twitter @Carrie_Skylar
Carrie Cross's Advice for Aspiring writers #6: Create Suspense
Whether you’re writing for children, middle grade, YA, or adults, you must create suspense to keep the reader turning the pages of your novel. Even if your genre isn’t mystery, thriller, or adventure, you can still use suspense to create drama. There are many techniques you can utilize. Here are two of my favorites:
Unexplained events: Leave the reader wondering and guessing
Introduce unexplained story elements. Lee Child has mastered this technique, and it is especially apparent in his fourth Jack Reacher novel, Running Blind.
“The killer’s victims have only one thing in common–all of them brought sexual harassment charges against their military superiors and all resigned from the army after winning their cases. The manner, if not the cause, of their deaths is gruesomely the same: they died in their own bathtubs, covered in gallons of camouflage paint, but they didn’t drown and they weren’t shot, strangled, poisoned, or attacked. Even the FBI forensic specialists can’t figure out why they seem to have gone willingly to their mysterious deaths.” ~ Amazon review
Child’s writing leaves the reader mystified. How could the killer drown women in green paint without spilling a single drop? Picture the struggle, and the ensuing mess. How could such immaculate killings be possible? This question keeps the reader intrigued, and eager for the next chapter.
For a Middle Grade read, consider this teaser from my second Skylar Robbins novel, The Mystery of the Hidden Jewels:
If I couldn’t go to Pacific Middle School with Dustin, Alexa, and all of my other friends, it will absolutely destroy me. Not to mention what it will do to my BFF. She’s carrying around a big, embarrassing secret. And I’m trying to help her keep it.
Oh-oh. What’s the big, embarrassing secret?
If the reader is invested in your characters, they will keep reading to find out what happens to them.
Use Cliffhangers
“A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction.” (Wikipedia.net)
Try to end each chapter with a cliffhanger: Put your protagonist in a dangerous situation. Maybe her embarrassing secret is about to be exposed. Or she is about to receive some terrible news. How will she react? Introduce a new, threatening character. How will your lead character handle an upcoming confrontation? Your readers should identify with your protagonist, and will want to find out what happens to him.
Consider this cliffhanger from the last page of chapter one from Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of the Hidden Jewels:
We got out of the car into the wind and rain and hurried toward the house. Crumbling stepping-stones led us through a lawn that was overgrown with knee-high weeds. Dead trees sported black branches that ended in grasping claws. As Victoria Knight fumbled with the key, I saw that the curtains were stained with something that looked like blood.
“Here we go,” she said, opening the tall front door. She let out a loud shriek and ducked.
Why did she scream? What flew out the door and made her duck?
If you end each chapter with a question that begs an answer, your readers will be eager to turn the page and find out what happens next.
Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of the Hidden Jewels is available on Amazon.
If you found this post helpful, I’d really appreciate it if you’d share it with your friends and followers. Thank you!The Mystery of the Hidden JewelsCarrie Cross
Unexplained events: Leave the reader wondering and guessing
Introduce unexplained story elements. Lee Child has mastered this technique, and it is especially apparent in his fourth Jack Reacher novel, Running Blind.
“The killer’s victims have only one thing in common–all of them brought sexual harassment charges against their military superiors and all resigned from the army after winning their cases. The manner, if not the cause, of their deaths is gruesomely the same: they died in their own bathtubs, covered in gallons of camouflage paint, but they didn’t drown and they weren’t shot, strangled, poisoned, or attacked. Even the FBI forensic specialists can’t figure out why they seem to have gone willingly to their mysterious deaths.” ~ Amazon review
Child’s writing leaves the reader mystified. How could the killer drown women in green paint without spilling a single drop? Picture the struggle, and the ensuing mess. How could such immaculate killings be possible? This question keeps the reader intrigued, and eager for the next chapter.
For a Middle Grade read, consider this teaser from my second Skylar Robbins novel, The Mystery of the Hidden Jewels:
If I couldn’t go to Pacific Middle School with Dustin, Alexa, and all of my other friends, it will absolutely destroy me. Not to mention what it will do to my BFF. She’s carrying around a big, embarrassing secret. And I’m trying to help her keep it.
Oh-oh. What’s the big, embarrassing secret?
If the reader is invested in your characters, they will keep reading to find out what happens to them.
Use Cliffhangers
“A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction.” (Wikipedia.net)
Try to end each chapter with a cliffhanger: Put your protagonist in a dangerous situation. Maybe her embarrassing secret is about to be exposed. Or she is about to receive some terrible news. How will she react? Introduce a new, threatening character. How will your lead character handle an upcoming confrontation? Your readers should identify with your protagonist, and will want to find out what happens to him.
Consider this cliffhanger from the last page of chapter one from Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of the Hidden Jewels:
We got out of the car into the wind and rain and hurried toward the house. Crumbling stepping-stones led us through a lawn that was overgrown with knee-high weeds. Dead trees sported black branches that ended in grasping claws. As Victoria Knight fumbled with the key, I saw that the curtains were stained with something that looked like blood.
“Here we go,” she said, opening the tall front door. She let out a loud shriek and ducked.
Why did she scream? What flew out the door and made her duck?
If you end each chapter with a question that begs an answer, your readers will be eager to turn the page and find out what happens next.
Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of the Hidden Jewels is available on Amazon.
If you found this post helpful, I’d really appreciate it if you’d share it with your friends and followers. Thank you!The Mystery of the Hidden JewelsCarrie Cross
Melissa Chier Interviews Carrie Cross
In November of 2014 while I was working on book 2, writer Melissa Chier asked me some intriguing questions about Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of Shadow Hills. She really made me think about my process as a writer, and what’s next for the Skylar Robbins series.
Q: Where did you get the idea for your story?
A: The Skylar Robbins series was initially inspired by an interesting old house. When I was six years old, my parents decided we needed to buy a bigger place. We looked at a creepy two-story in Santa Monica Canyon, and I played hide-and-seek with the little girl who lived there. There were closets and secret hiding places with doors that opened into other rooms. Later, I wondered, “What if there was a clue hidden in one of those closets?” And the idea for the Skylar Robbins mystery series was born.
Q: Did you have the whole idea for your story before you wrote it, or did you make it up as you went along?
A: Some authors like to start with an outline, diagramming their whole book scene-by-scene. This structure doesn’t work for me. I find that it inhibits my creativity if I have to force dialogue, plot twists, and suspense into a prearranged outline. But authors should start their novel with the end planned in advance, so we can write toward the climax. So I began with an idea for the plot, but the farther I got into it and the more I came to know my characters, the more it grew and morphed into something else.
Q: How much work did you put into figuring out the personality of your characters?
A: They almost developed themselves as I wrote the first book. During my first draft, Skylar Robbins was much shyer and more vulnerable. Then when I decided to make her thirteen rather than twelve, I rewrote the dialogue a little to make her more mature. As her sleuthing improved she became more intelligent and courageous. By the final draft of The Mystery of Shadow Hills, Skylar was a fun, fearless teen detective.
Q: Do you see yourself in the personality of your characters?
A: Yes, mainly in Skylar. She sets a goal (solving a mystery) and goes for it. I’m a lot like that. Skylar is also a little shy and introspective, and unafraid to befriend the differently-abled kids in school. In the second book she teaches herself and her BFF sign language so they can communicate with the hearing-impaired—and so they can tell secrets in school. My BFF and I did that too.
Q: How much pre-writing did you put into your novel?
A: Not much! I had the idea for a mysterious hidden garden, a smart teen detective stuck at her bullying cousin’s Malibu estate for the summer, and a new summer friend who claimed to be a witch. So I thought, what if that rational teenage sleuth grudgingly agreed to cast spells with an odd classmate in an abandoned garden–and the witchcraft actually started to work? What if their incantations gave the school bully a serious illness? Or enabled them to grow something unbelievable from seeds they found in a dank cave on the beach at midnight? What would that do to a smart 13-year-old who was brought up to believe that there is always a logical explanation for everything? I decided to start fireworks by pairing up this practical sleuth with a feisty teen witch who started to convince her that magic could actually work. And then I let my imagination go crazy.
Q: Did you know the ending of your story before you wrote it or did you surprise yourself?
A: I knew in my heart that I would have Skylar solve the mystery, but I had no idea what the climax would be, or the final outcome. Those grew out of the writing process, using my imagination–and a lot of trial and error.
Q: Where the people who read your story helpful with feedback?
A: Tremendously. My beta readers included family members and other authors who gave me great constructive criticism, and kids in my target age group, who gave me enthusiastic support. Several groups of “tweens” started their own detective agencies after reading The Mystery of Shadow Hills. There’s no better validation than that!
Q: How effective was the feedback? Did you take any of it into consideration when revising your story?
A: Definitely! It’s been a long time since I was in middle school—in fact it was called “Junior High” back then. So my beta readers caught me up on current terms and trends. More importantly, they let me know when Skylar got a little over-confident, and applauded me when the bullies in the story got what was coming to them. All of this feedback was helpful not only in the current book, but I can apply their feedback to the rest of the titles in the series.
Q: Are you currently working on anything as of right now?
A: Right now I’m getting ready to publish Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of the Hidden Jewels (the sequel to The Mystery of Shadow Hills). This book is interactive; Skylar Robbins fans can fill out the Secret Agent Application Form (S.A.A.F.) on my website (www.skylarrobbins.com) and post guesses as to what they think the clues in the story mean. The new book will be available on December 9, 2014, which is Read Tuesday.
Q: Are you planning on writing any more books in the future?
Yes. The Skylar Robbins mysteries are a series. After she solves her second big case, The Mystery of the Hidden Jewels, the Skylar Robbins Detective Agency tackles The Mystery of the Missing Heiress, and I am currently at work on my fourth Skylar Robbins novel, The Curse of Koma Island.
Thanks so much, Melissa, for the interesting interview questions!
~ Carrie Cross
Q: Where did you get the idea for your story?
A: The Skylar Robbins series was initially inspired by an interesting old house. When I was six years old, my parents decided we needed to buy a bigger place. We looked at a creepy two-story in Santa Monica Canyon, and I played hide-and-seek with the little girl who lived there. There were closets and secret hiding places with doors that opened into other rooms. Later, I wondered, “What if there was a clue hidden in one of those closets?” And the idea for the Skylar Robbins mystery series was born.
Q: Did you have the whole idea for your story before you wrote it, or did you make it up as you went along?
A: Some authors like to start with an outline, diagramming their whole book scene-by-scene. This structure doesn’t work for me. I find that it inhibits my creativity if I have to force dialogue, plot twists, and suspense into a prearranged outline. But authors should start their novel with the end planned in advance, so we can write toward the climax. So I began with an idea for the plot, but the farther I got into it and the more I came to know my characters, the more it grew and morphed into something else.
Q: How much work did you put into figuring out the personality of your characters?
A: They almost developed themselves as I wrote the first book. During my first draft, Skylar Robbins was much shyer and more vulnerable. Then when I decided to make her thirteen rather than twelve, I rewrote the dialogue a little to make her more mature. As her sleuthing improved she became more intelligent and courageous. By the final draft of The Mystery of Shadow Hills, Skylar was a fun, fearless teen detective.
Q: Do you see yourself in the personality of your characters?
A: Yes, mainly in Skylar. She sets a goal (solving a mystery) and goes for it. I’m a lot like that. Skylar is also a little shy and introspective, and unafraid to befriend the differently-abled kids in school. In the second book she teaches herself and her BFF sign language so they can communicate with the hearing-impaired—and so they can tell secrets in school. My BFF and I did that too.
Q: How much pre-writing did you put into your novel?
A: Not much! I had the idea for a mysterious hidden garden, a smart teen detective stuck at her bullying cousin’s Malibu estate for the summer, and a new summer friend who claimed to be a witch. So I thought, what if that rational teenage sleuth grudgingly agreed to cast spells with an odd classmate in an abandoned garden–and the witchcraft actually started to work? What if their incantations gave the school bully a serious illness? Or enabled them to grow something unbelievable from seeds they found in a dank cave on the beach at midnight? What would that do to a smart 13-year-old who was brought up to believe that there is always a logical explanation for everything? I decided to start fireworks by pairing up this practical sleuth with a feisty teen witch who started to convince her that magic could actually work. And then I let my imagination go crazy.
Q: Did you know the ending of your story before you wrote it or did you surprise yourself?
A: I knew in my heart that I would have Skylar solve the mystery, but I had no idea what the climax would be, or the final outcome. Those grew out of the writing process, using my imagination–and a lot of trial and error.
Q: Where the people who read your story helpful with feedback?
A: Tremendously. My beta readers included family members and other authors who gave me great constructive criticism, and kids in my target age group, who gave me enthusiastic support. Several groups of “tweens” started their own detective agencies after reading The Mystery of Shadow Hills. There’s no better validation than that!
Q: How effective was the feedback? Did you take any of it into consideration when revising your story?
A: Definitely! It’s been a long time since I was in middle school—in fact it was called “Junior High” back then. So my beta readers caught me up on current terms and trends. More importantly, they let me know when Skylar got a little over-confident, and applauded me when the bullies in the story got what was coming to them. All of this feedback was helpful not only in the current book, but I can apply their feedback to the rest of the titles in the series.
Q: Are you currently working on anything as of right now?
A: Right now I’m getting ready to publish Skylar Robbins: The Mystery of the Hidden Jewels (the sequel to The Mystery of Shadow Hills). This book is interactive; Skylar Robbins fans can fill out the Secret Agent Application Form (S.A.A.F.) on my website (www.skylarrobbins.com) and post guesses as to what they think the clues in the story mean. The new book will be available on December 9, 2014, which is Read Tuesday.
Q: Are you planning on writing any more books in the future?
Yes. The Skylar Robbins mysteries are a series. After she solves her second big case, The Mystery of the Hidden Jewels, the Skylar Robbins Detective Agency tackles The Mystery of the Missing Heiress, and I am currently at work on my fourth Skylar Robbins novel, The Curse of Koma Island.
Thanks so much, Melissa, for the interesting interview questions!
~ Carrie Cross
