Terry Odell's Blog, page 75

My First Gift to You

Last night began the celebration of Hanukkah, a holiday that lasts for eight nights. I saw the following on Facebook, and thought it was worth sharing.

What is Hanukkah?

Here’s what it isn’t:

Jewish Christmas Anything about Jesus All about the presents Upstaging Christmas because it’s 8 days.

Here’s what it is:

A celebration of maintaining one’s minority identity in the midst of an overwhelming majority A celebration of triumph over religious and political tyranny A celebration of the...

Naming Characters Leads to Shocking Realization

Finding the ‘right’ names for characters—heck, finding names, period—is always a challenge for me. Back when I was beginning to toy with writing, I attended a seminar where the professor said, “Character names should sound like their parents named them, not the author.”

One very important thing to consider is to avoid having similar names, especially names similar to main characters. Readers “see” the names and often it’s the first letter that triggers the connection. To avoid repeats, I keep...

Worst Openings – Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest

Worst Openings – Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest

We all struggle with our opening lines/paragraphs. We have to hook our readers from the start. But what about the clunkers?

Perhaps the most infamous is this one, from “Paul Clifford,” by Edward Bulwer-Lytton:

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops,...

Let the Editing Begin

Let the Editing Begin

Draft One of the manuscript is done—although I still have one niggling question, but I figure I will find the right place to insert that information on the first full read-through.

As I approached the final chapters, I used my white board and sticky notes to jot down threads I wanted to make sure I tied up, and as I said above, I think I’ve addressed all but one. As long as I’m aware of it, I can deal with it.

I’ve talked about my editing process before, but I have some...

Travel Challenges

Travel Challenges

No matter where you travel, staying in hotels comes with its own set of challenges.

On our anniversary vacation, our travel agent booked us at elegant hotels. It didn’t take long before I was comparing the little luxuries. Plush robes. Magnifying mirrors in the bathroom (old eyes here). Heated towel bars. Some even had self-lowering toilet seats.

One of the first things I did in a new hotel room was play “Find the Hairdryer.” In Europe, they don’t live in the bathrooms. You...

Reground Your Readers With Transitions

Reground Your Readers With Transitions

When we write, even if we don’t know where we’re going next, we know where we’ve been. Although I’m all over my crit partners for not establishing the who, when, where, and maybe the what, in every new scene or chapter, I’m as guilty as they are in assuming they’re going to remember what happened last.

While we hope we’ve enticed our readers to keep turning pages—let’s face it. They might have put the book down for a while. A day. Two days. A week....

Avoid Gratuitous Plot Twists

Avoid Gratuitous Plot Twists

Last week, I talked about ways to keep readers turning pages, and a technique I mentioned was to make sure each chapter or scene ends with some kind of question that the reader will want to have answered.

Often, in an effort to end a chapter on a page-turning hook (which one of my critique partners refers to as “landings”), we throw in a surprise. Given I’m not a plotter, usually these are as much of a surprise to me as I hope they are to the reader.

What’s...

British Isles Potpourri

British Isles Potpourri

I’m still going through vacation pictures. Here’s an assortment of images I liked. (More via the link at the end of the post.)

Dublin street

Belfast Light

More photos here.

The post British Isles Potpourri appeared first on Terry Odell.

Keep Readers Turning Pages

Keep Readers Turning Pages

Words authors love to hear (or read): “I couldn’t put the book down. I stayed up all night reading.” I once had an email from someone who’d read Finding Sarah. She said she normally reads only “literary fiction” but she was reading my book while she was traveling, and during a layover between planes, she totally forgot to get dinner.

It’s important to make readers want to keep turning pages. If they’re reading “between doing other stuff” or in bed, the author’s goal...

Don’t Forget the B Plot

Don’t Forget the B Plot

First, I hope everyone who celebrates had a good Thanksgiving. Hard to believe we’re in the final month of 2019.

When I started writing, one comment I got was that I should add more depth to my stories if I wanted to sell them as single-title novels. My mentor said I needed a “B Plot.” Something outside of the main story arc—but related.

In my Mapleton mysteries, Gordon, the police chief protagonist, has an “outside the job” life—his developing relationship with Angie....