Candice Hughes

After completing “The Woman in White” by Wilkie Collins, I spent some time thinking about the techniques Collins used to create this early thriller/suspense story. CAUTION: May contain spoilers.

First, it was helpful that the novel was serialized. This likely pushed Collins to provide a cliffhanger ending for each installation. When read as a complete novel, the reader still enjoys the roller coaster ride where the hero and heroines are pushed into a tighter and tighter box by one disaster after another. With each set back, the villains gain until the hero and heroines have lost nearly everything and absolute success seems assured for the villains.

While the pace is slower than is currently in vogue and some circumstances could not occur with today’s technology, the plot twits and turns still hold the reader enthralled, pushing on and on to see how the “good guys” could possibly get out of their dilemma. Collins gives the hero and heroines no rest, driving them in one case to the brink of insanity. His characters are well drawn and realistic. His portrayal of society in the 1800′s and of the physical environment seems authentic and sufficient for the reader to feel settled in that time period.

One unusual aspect is Collin’s use of numerous narrators. This technique allows him to give the readers knowledge of the unfolding plot even when none of the heroines nor the hero are present. The alternative would be an omniscient narrator. I believe the unusual choice gives the story more immediacy. In Collin’s hands, these narrator switches are not distracting.

Collins is also adept at understanding the psychology of his characters. This is particularly evident in the “villains” self-justification for their misdeeds.

The only potential flaws are a few situations that one could argue are a bit too coincidental. However, these never stretch the boundaries to the point where the situation would be judged absurd. They are more than balanced out by the novels relentless destruction of the hero and heroines, which progresses from the beginning to nearly the end of the novel.

Recently I read the first two Stieg Larsson detective novels. I had to wait weeks for each one at my local library because the waiting list was pretty long.

I believe one reason these novels are so popular is the female protagonist. Mr. Larsson created a very engaging and unusual female character, Lisbeth. I admit I liked her much better than the male protagonist. What makes her so interesting? I feel the whole constellation of traits, particularly her intelligence combined with her anti-social behavior (bordering on Asperger’s syndrome). Some people debate whether a man can create an accurate female character or a woman an accurate male character. I feel Larsson has done an excellent job with Lisbeth. Lisbeth may not be a “girly girl”, but she is believable as a female character. One aspect Larsson gets right is Lisbeth’s emotional involvement with people in her life. In contrast, his male protagonist (Blomkvist) often seems disconnected with people around him.

I am still waiting for the third book (another long long list of readers). Interest in reading these books is still amazingly strong. I was motivated to read the first book after observing a woman buying five copies of the first book at a large  (to be unnamed) book store.

The saddest part of the story is that Stieg Larsson is no longer with us to keep the story going. I can only imagine what other fantastic books he’d had written if he’d had time.

Bookmarked: The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris and Exit Music by Ian Rankin

Over the past few weeks I’ve conducting a self-guided tutorial on villains. The first villain that came immediately to mind to be included in my tutorial was Hannibal Lecter. The first response I got when I asked people what they thought of Dr. Lecter was that he was “fascinating.” Even though he is a serial killer who has committed numerous heinous crimes, he is still likeable because of his intelligence and dry wit. Both of these are characteristics thought of as making any character likable. I believe people also enjoy reading about him because he is unpredictable, which makes him interesting. Also, he has his own (albeit twisted) code of honor or if not honor at least a highly developed sense of politeness- a characteristic one wouldn’t expect in a killer.

The other villain in the novel, Buffalo Bill, is kind to animals. This is also a characteristic that according to literary experts makes a character likable. There’s not a lot else likable about him, which probably explains why the ending of the book (won’t spoil it) is satisfactory.

It’s interesting to compare Silence of the Lambs to Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot. In ‘Salem’s Lot, the main villain, Kurt Barlow, is in only a few scenes in the book. We learn what he is, but don’t learn a lot about him. He is not a sympathetic character. He has none of the sympathetic character traits (no little dogs, no jokes, no limp, etc). So, why is this novel so successful? My theory is that King developed so many other characters so well, with some being “good” people and others being, well let’s be generous and say not so good, that it doesn’t matter that the villian is not sympathetic. There are plenty of other characters to cheer for or boo.

Back to my study of villians….

CraftFest and ThrillerFest is over for another year. This year’s meeting was as enjoyable as last year’s. I am continually astounded by how generous leading authors are with their time in teaching up and coming authors the tricks of the trade. Today I will highlight a few tidbits that stuck with me from the conference.

Andrew Gross gave tips for how to keep readers turning the page. One tip was to focus on the essentials of each scene. Don’t get bogged down in unnecessary description, explanation or character definition. Short focused chapters also help. With that said, there is also a spectrum of “pace focus” in thrillers. Some authors voice will call for more description/characterization/atmosphere than others. Writers through exploring their work will find their comfort level in the spectrum. But at the same time writers must realize that the more the book focuses on atmosphere, etc, the more the pace will be slowed down. Readers will gravitate toward authors whose pace is comfortable for them as well.

James Rollins advised writers to set a target number of pages to be completed each day and do it. I find myself that if you focus on a large project in it’s entirety, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. So I agree with his focus on daily small goals to achieve a larger goal.

On marketing of thrillers, attendees heard from Robin Cook about his innovative “prequel” movie that was released in installments before his recent novel (Foreign Body). (Note, this is not an inexpensive undertaking so you may not want to try this at home!)

That’s the wrap up for ThrillerFest. I better get to work on my target pages!

Today, there was a strong focus on structure and plot. I’ll give a brief recap. Start your thriller with action, preferably involving the main character. Move quickly to the inciting incident (within at least the first 50 pages if not the first few pages). From the inciting incident, you need to move toward turning point 1. After the action of turning point 1, a brief respite is needed. Then build to your next turning point followed again by a release from the action. Continue this pattern with each turning point making the stakes higher and higher until you reach the climax of the story. There is generally a short release or denouement after the climax, which some authors may prefer to to be quite brief while others like it longer (several pages or a chapter).

Lisa Gardner also gave a wonderful presentation on how to edit your first draft. She recommends a note card method of laying out scenes on note cards to visualize what happens in your novel. This facilitates seeing what needs to be cut or changed.

Another bonus, I now have a nice sized stack of books from ThrillerFest to add to my “to read” pile so I can see I’ll be kept busy this summer!

Happy writing and reading!

For anyone who has missed it, Elisabeth Sifton has an essay in The Nation this week (The Long Goodbye? The Book Business and its Woes). Her experience in the industry spans decades giving her a rare perspective. She expresses frustration and sadness at the many changes in the industry, particularly the consolidation and transformation to what she describes as a poorly functioning profit-focused model. She declaims the lack of interest of those running publishing companies in their products and product generators (books and writers). Her essay is well worth reading.

I know so many people who are passionate about books. A good number of these people are young- just the sort of readers the industry needs because they have many years of book buying ahead of them. I’ve seen tweens drooling over catalogues of books at libraries. They aren’t shy about putting in requests for book orders with their librarians. Recently when I commented on how teens/children may soon be reading text books on the Kindle, one groaned and told me he certainly didn’t want his books on one.

Books as objects have a special power. Think of magic books like in Harry Potter. Would it work to have a magician’s blog? How about books so controversial they’re banned. I have an early edition Orlando by Virginia Woolf. The cover is stamped, “Not to be introduced into the British Empire.” Woolf’s book provoked thought and discussion. It served it’s purpose. How does one ban a web site or a blog for offending sensibilities? Except for the most egregious offenders, few web sites or blogs are removed. Electronic words are more accessible and more pervasive yet Web sites and blogs simply have less psychological power than books in my opinion- even though all are based on words and all attract readers and discussion. Somehow being intangible dilutes the power of the words. Imagine holding up a print out of a blog as one shouts about its seditiousness. Or maybe one would bring a laptop on the podium and (shudder) display it with PowerPoint?

While I welcome and embrace electronic media (I am a true techie at heart), I think books retain their magic. Why, I wonder, can’t electronic media and books continue to live in harmony? Each will serve it’s purpose.

Bookmarked: City of Light by Lauren Belfer

The swine flu epidemic, grounded in the mixing of bird, human and pig DNA, started me thinking about how sci fi or medical thriller type books are often closer to reality than we might like to believe. I primarily stick with near future or contemporary medical thrillers. I base the likelihood of events in the books on what I know from my training as a scientist and additional research I do.

Sometimes that future is even nearer than it seems. The truth is that science is in many ways an art rather than being fully quantitative. As a scientist, I deal in probabilities. However, nature often tosses a rock in the pond upsetting the carefully organized numbers.

Fundamentally, that’s what’s so frightening about medical thrillers and what’s so thrilling about science. We are forced to look nature in the eye and admit how little we know.

Michael Crichton captured that line between science and nature. It’s the heart of what I try to capture in my books. Any time I lose sight of it, I can look back to Jurassic Park.

Cynthia Crossen in The Wall Street Journal recently wrote about when and what triggers her to give up on reading a book. From her comments and from those of the person writing into her column, one gets the impression that a lack of enthusiasm or just not feeling “hooked” is a trigger to stop.

Cynthia says she has gotten as far as 300 pages into a book and been unsure of whether to continue (this was a 720 page book- for many other books she’d be closing the back flap by then). Her reader says after page 50 she would stop, although she’s heard some people stop at page 1.

This column and reading a book that I was unable to get through got me thinking about what really makes me or anyone else stop reading. I agree with the lack of enthusiasm concept but it’s so vague I find it entirely unsatisfactory. What causes the lack of enthusiasm? I’ll give you my thoughts. For one thing, it could be plot. A meandering, muddy plot without constant tension and action is a sure book closer for me. Sometimes, the plot has tension but it’s either a totally unbelievable circumstance or it’s the sort of tension that has no resonance with me. For example, a woman stands in front of a pair of Manolo Blahnik’s and a pair of Prada’s and is down to her last $500.00 and what on earth does she do? Sorry, but I’d rather worry about the clerk handing her the shoes who works part-time as a janitor in a nuclear power plant and found the reactor control code in the boss’s trash can last night.

But sometimes, it’s not the plot. Sometimes, it’s the characters. Either I just don’t like them or I am so neutral as to be unconcerned about whether they get blown up in chapter 6 or not. Sometimes, the characters themselves who are unbelievable. For instance, what about  five-year-old who speaks in complete sentences with multisyllabic words and tries to advance new equations for Einstein’s theory of relativity when he’s not in nursery school? Sorry, don’t buy it.

I think some of the reasons people stop turning pages are universal but others are unique to the reader. As a writer, I try very hard to not put in universal stop signals. But, I believe other stop signals are coded in the reader’s DNA- unknowable and unavoidable since the next reader may love that part of the book. For example, some may love reading about shopping crises and some may attack a 720 page book with enthusiasm whereas others may run from the room screaming….

Happy Reading!

Bookmarked: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler and Let it Bleed by Ian Rankin

One of the thing that readers love about books is the cover. I am instantly attracted to certain books when some aspect of the cover or spine catches my attention. Often an image jumps out at me but sometimes it’s the shape and color of the words or the words themselves. If the cover doesn’t speak to me, I’m much less likely to pick up the book. I suspect many readers have the same reaction.

To learn more about how book covers are created, I attended a fantastic lecture yesterday. Anne Twomey, Vice President and Creative Director at Grand Central publishing showed us some of the book covers designed by her and her team. She explained how designers and authors work together to develop a cover. Cover design starts a year before publication and sometimes before the book has even been written. Usually, the designer creates a concept, which is then reviewed by the author. Some authors give a lot of input while others may give minimal input. When the idea has been refined, physical comps are made to bring to meetings at the publisher.

Anne was joined by executives from A and A Studio Solutions, a company that produces comps for many publishers. A number of comps were available at the seminar. You need to really see and touch these comps to understand how creative and wonderful they are. One book cover was designed using a textured paper that felt like flannel. Another had the look and feel of an X-ray. Others had gold or silver foil, embossing or stunning photographs. Not all these comps are mass produced. Sometimes the ideas are fantastic but production costs are too high.

It was amazing to see the intense level of passion and effort that went into creating book covers so gorgeous, you want to display them in your bookcase at home. At the very least, they’ll stop you dead in the store and whisper, “Buy me.” And that’s what every writer wants, right?

Bookmarked: The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers

Yesterday while trolling about on the Internet for information for novel 2, I came across a fascinating web site on DNA analysis for crime investigation. If you’re interested in this topic, visit www.dna.gov. This site offers a broad overview of what can and can’t be done with DNA evidence. It’s worth a look!

To hone my thrillers and make them even more thrilling, I’ve been listening to the 2008 Thrillerfest lectures I couldn’t attend in person. Those CDs they offer for sale are fantastic because short of cloning oneself, you just can’t attend every lecture you want to with so many excellent ones to choose from.

I found the best way to listen to these CDs is while driving around running errands. I’ve heard a couple of lectures by Dr. D. P. Lyle where he deconstructs The Terminator and makes it easy to see why it keeps audiences on the edge of their seats. Over the summer I had also read Dr. Lyle’s book, Forensics: A Guide for Writers. For anyone writing thrillers, especially medical thrillers, I recommend learning from Dr. Lyle. His lectures and book are all entertaining and easy to understand. Pondering the Terminator also helps put the current economic situation in perspective.

Happy Reading!