A. B. Carolan’s confession…
Towards the end of Intolerance (a complete “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” novel available as a free PDF download—see my “Free Stuff & Contests” web page), A. B. Carolan meets with his old friend, the Irish copper Michael O’Hara, for drinks at a Donegal pub. There A. B. confesses to having a bit of writer’s block. Michael gives him some advice to cure it.
That advice is basically to remember all the tools a novelist possesses for writing a good story. That list of tools is as old as storytelling: plot; themes; characterization; dialogue; direct or internal; bacground and flashbacks; and so forth. Perhaps more importantly, a meta-tool if you will, is a guiding rule, the Goldilocks Principle: Not too much, not too little, but just enough. How much a writer should use each tool or stortytelling element depends ultimately on the story but also on its intended audience and, I hate to say it, genres. I use the plural “genres” only in the sense of categorizations or descriptors. Writing coaches often try to limit writers to one genre, but good stories can often be described in many ways. For example, A. B.’s Origins had mystery, thriller, romantic, historical, and sci-fi characteristics. So, what Michael’s advice comes down to is to use those tools appropriate for those characteristics, following the Goldilocks Principle.
There’s a bit more to the discussion between A. B. and Michael in the novel. A. B. did a fine job with Origins and his previous novels in the “ABC Sci-Fi Mysteries” series (on sale this month—see below). He’s worried about the rest of the “Denisovan Trilogy” novels he wants to write. (To simplify its description, the trilogy is planned to be something akin to Battlestar Galactica in reverse: hominids were stolen from Earth and taken to the stars, and the protagonists, the remainder of some Denisovans found on Earth, want to return to the stars.) He just needs to get to the writing. Just do it, A. B.!
***
Comments are always welcome. (Please follow the rules on the “Join the Cnversation” web page. If you don’t, your comment will go to the spam folder.)
The “ABC Sci-Fi Mysteries.” These novels for young adults (and adults who are young at heart!) are on sale at Smashwords for 99 cents each! Give your tweens or teens young adult novels to read this summer, providing them with a head start on next fall’s book reports. The Secret Lab (KU26R), The Secret of the Urns (HQ66E), and Mind Games (MG73K) are all on sale at Smashwords. (Or, if you prefer, each novel has a print version, and you can find those wherever quality print books are sold, but they’re so inexpensive that they’re not on sale.) If the ebook’s sale price doesn’t appear when you check out from Smashwords, use the indicated promo code following the title. All these books’ protagonists are young adults (except for Mr. Paws, the mutant cat in the first novel), but adults can enjoy these futuristic tales as well.
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
