Inspiring First Lines by Saralyn Richard

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According to Stephen King, “An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.” Much has been written about the importance of the first line of a novel. And lists of the best first lines grace the internet with abundance.

Here are a few that top lists regularly:

  1. Pride and Prejudice: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. (This line sets the tone for the book, which is witty and dry. The book is going to be fun.)
  2. One Hundred Years of Solitude: Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. (The line suggests setting, particularly time, and invites the reader to invest in the story of a criminal who faces a firing squad.)
  3. Anna Karenina: Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. (The dichotomy of happy and sad families reads like a truism, setting up the reader to enter the life of an unhappy family.)
  4. Gravity’s Rainbow: A screaming comes across the sky. (The mixture of sound imagery—screaming—and the visual of the distant sky, too far to hear any screaming anyway, creates a puzzle that the reader wants to solve. What is causing the screaming, and what must be done to stop it?)
  5. 1984: It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. (April is not typically cold, and clocks can’t strike thirteen, so what is going on in this world?)
  6. Invisible Man: I am an invisible man. (How did you become invisible, and what strange adventures will you take me to?)
  7. Miss Lonelyhearts. The Miss Lonelyhearts of the New York Post-Dispatch (Are you in trouble? Do-you-need-advice? Write-to-Miss-Lonelyhearts-and-she-will-help-you) sat at his desk and stared at a piece of white cardboard. (The word, “his,” knocks this opener into a light and humorous setting and character.)
  8. The Metamorphosis: One morning, as Gregor Samsa awoke from anxious dreams, he discovered that during the night he had been transformed into a monstrous bug. (The foreign-sounding name, anxious dreams, and monstrous bug build tension and raise the reader’s level of concern from the ordinary to the horrible.)
  9. The Nightingale: If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: In love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are. (The author offers wisdom from experience, and the story will be partly about love and partly about war. We suspect the war parts will test us, and we brace for the difficult ride ahead.)

Photo by Kaptured by Kasia on Unsplash

What makes these first lines notable? Each one carries a heavy load. In a few words, it sets the stage and the tone for the story to come. It hooks the reader’s attention, sometimes with an unusual or surprising statement. It provides information, but it raises more questions than it answers. For example, “I am an invisible man,” sets up questions about how the narrator became invisible, what it is like to be invisible, and where this unlikely narrator is going to take us.

The opening line sets up the reader’s first impression of the book. A tentative reader might read the opening line to test whether to commit to reading the entire book. It’s like taking a tiny bite of an unfamiliar food. If the smell, taste, and texture are pleasant, the taster will likely swallow the bite and ask for more. Similarly, if the first line is clever, pithy, emotionally welcoming, or memorable, it bodes well for the reader’s consumption of the whole book.

A strong opening line plants the seed of curiosity and puts the reader in touch with the writer. For example, “One morning, as Gregor Samsa awoke from anxious dreams, he discovered that during the night he had been transformed into a monstrous bug,” startles the reader (because this has never happened to anyone in real life that we know of), and takes him into a fantasy world where people have anxious dreams and face disgusting realities. The reader wonders how this could have happened to Gregor Samsa, and how he is going to reverse it. The reader suspends his disbelief and allows Kafka to lead him into the harsh world he has built.

I’ve done a lot of study about first lines, and this is what I’ve learned. They are really hard to write! The pressure to create something appealing and effective, to introduce the setting-plot-character-tone, and to instill questions in the mind of the reader is often overwhelming.

Here are a few of my first lines:

  1. Quinn’s family often joked about death, but this summer, death stopped being funny. –BAD BLOOD SISTERS
  2. Naughty? Me? I’m just a sheepdog pup who wants to have fun. –NAUGHTY NANA
  3. Late summer had painted the Brandywine Valley green, and dawn was coming up orange, but this early Monday morning in August ushered in the blues—the baby blues. –MURDER OUTSIDE THE BOX
  4. Late summer had painted the Brandywine Valley green, and dawn was coming up orange, but this early Monday morning in August ushered in the blues—the baby blues.
  5. Sundays usually meant good luck. –MURDER IN THE ONE PERCENT

Each one of these sentences probably took me at least five hours to write. I often say it’s easier to write a whole book than it is to write an opening line.

What do you think? Do the sample opening lines carry the heavy load they need to? What is your favorite or most memorable opening line?

 

Saralyn Richard (https://saralynrichard.com) is a multiple award-winning author of seven mystery novels, a children’s book, and numerous short stories, poems, and essays published in anthologies and magazines. She edited the book, Burn Survivors, which was published by the University of Texas Medical Branch in both English and Spanish.

Saralyn is an active member of Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers, where she leads an international writers’ critique group. She has taught literature and creative writing to high school students and to adults through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Saralyn and her husband live in Texas in the house she grew up in.

 

 

Bethany Maines is plotting at the beach.

Plotting a Murder

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Plotting all the Plots

Recently, I came across a call for a short story anthology focused on murder mysteries that took place in the workplace. However, the stipulation was that the death be dependent on that working situation. As a graphic designer, unless I accidentally stab my business partner to death with my college-era bone folder because she kerned too tightly, I don’t foresee a lot of work-related deaths in my future. So I had to look further afield, or at least into other fields of work, for my murderous plotting.

But having eyed my business partner for death once, I decided that she could be a useful resource – not as a dead body (she was relieved to hear this), but as a contact point for her brother, who works for a railroad. After all, with so much big machinery, a railroad seems a viable location for dangerous deaths.  Now, who to kill and how?

As we took our lunch break on a nearby beach, we discussed the whys and wherefores of offing someone.  I believe we frightened an older couple with a Yorkie.  Saying, “yes, but who should we kill?” is probably not the conversation they were expecting to overhear.  Once we had come up with a viable reason to kill someone, we needed a how.

Don’t Put Plotting on Your Brother’s Work Phone

But we also needed to figure out how to ask her brother, because as it turns out, his work provides his phone.  Which means that, should there be a problem, his tech support can view his messages. Plotting a murder over text is probably not something he would appreciate having on record.  So my business partner accepted the mission to discover how to kill someone at the railroad.  She performed this clandestine operation with the simple application of… a phone call. Fortunately, her brother, once he understood the assignment, was more than happy to share a myriad of ways to off a co-worker.  And whew! did he have some doozies!

So… How does it happen?

I can’t tell you that! However, I must admit that I had not even realized that death in this manner was a thing that could happen.  I was expecting “run over by a train” not baked from… nope, nope, nope, not spilling the manner of death.  I’ll keep it close to the vest until I’ve got a story to go with it.

But if you want something funny and dangerous to read sooner than that, you can check out…

Emergency Exit 3D book mock upEmergency Exit

Release Date: 9/22

Tech investor Asher Valkyrie hired Harper Smoak to be his fake girlfriend for stress-free social events, but the faux-relationship quickly sends real sparks flying. What began as a simple arrangement soon turns into a high-stakes game of love and survival when Ash’s lies begin to unravel.

LEARN MORE: https://amzn.to/3XEL9id

**

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of action-adventure and fantasy tales that focus on women who know when to apply lipstick and when to apply a foot to someone’s hind end. She participates in many activities, including swearing, karate, art, and yelling at the news. She can usually be found chasing after her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel (or screenplay). You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

And don’t forget to check out books from all the Stiletto Gang members:  Books

The Games People Play & the Value of Improvisation

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Donnell Ann BellBy Donnell Ann Bell

For a while now, Lois Winston, Stiletto Gang member and critique partner, and I have been sharing our Wordle and Connections results. Typically, we have no problem with Wordle. (We’re pretty adept at words.) However, when it comes to Connections, it’s a glorious day when I get all four rows right, and there are times I lose altogether. My husband, who is a linear thinker, gave up on Connections completely. He continues to work the New York Times crossword puzzles and Sudoku. My son and daughter, ages 38 and 41, work Wordle and Connections with us and we compare results. It’s a terrific way to hear from your adult kids each day.

I work Connections because, even if I bomb, I like to see where the editor was going with the clues. It’s educational, right?

Know something else that’s educational? Improvisation.

Have you ever watched the game show Whose Line is it Anyway? The program ran for twenty-two seasons, beginning in 2013, ending in 2024. In each episode, these talented comedians and actors, featuring Drew Carey, Aisha N. Tyler, Ryan Lee Style, Colin Mochrie, Wayne Brady, musicians Laura Hall and Linda Taylor, along with other guest stars, performed and excelled at Improvisation.

Acting as host, Carey, and later Tyler, gave the crew a scenario in which they were required to act out skits for points. Other times they were tasked with putting lyrics to music. The show, performed in front of a live audience (who often got into the act), was a hit because the members were so outrageously funny and the cast so good at thinking off the cuff and ad-libbing.

 

Years ago, I belonged to Toastmasters and reached the level of Competent Communicator. During meetings there is a section called Table Topics. Table Topics was created to help members get comfortable with public speaking. Members are given an unrehearsed topic and must discuss it in front of others for two minutes. As an introvert, I found Table Topics unbelievably hard, which is no doubt why I was so impressed with Whose Line is it Anyway?

As a writer, I love improvisation, especially when I have time to sit back and think about it. I ran a group a while back in which I would assign five random words and the start of a sentence. I took the words from the Merriam-Webster Deluxe Dictionary and the start of a sentence from a book off the shelf.

The instructions for my game were simple. Create a paragraph or two using the five random words. Participants were free to start with the sentence or further inside their narrative.

I think those who participated found the game fun and muse-inspiring. Several wrote exceptional paragraphs; some created short stories.

Would you like an example? Would you like to play a game?

Here’s how it works:

Finish this sentence:  Nothing explained the. . .

Five Random Words:

Damage

Firepit

Mirror

Plumbing

Stretch

Do you enjoy playing games? Love a challenge?  Be sure to comment here about the games you play. Feel free to work my improv and send it to me at www.donnellannbell.net/contact If I get enough responses, I’ll post three submissions on my next Stiletto Gang blog date, and with your permission, cite you as the author. For purposes of this contest, let’s keep the length to 250 words.

Happy thinking outside the box!

About the Author:  Donnell Ann Bell is an award-winning author who began her nonfiction career in newspapers. After she turned to fiction, her romantic suspense novels became Amazon bestsellers, including The Past Came Hunting, Deadly Recall, Betrayed, and Buried Agendas. In 2019, Donnell released her first mainstream suspense, Black Pearl, A Cold Case Suspense, which was a 2020 Colorado Book Award finalist. In 2022, book two of the series was released. Until Dead, A Cold Case Suspense won Best Thriller in 2023 at the Imaginarium Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. Currently, she’s working on book three of the series. Readers can follow Donnell on her blog or sign up for her newsletter at www.donnellannbell.net.

 

 

 

donalee Moulton

Polishing prose so it sparkles

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by donalee Moulton
 

We’ve been talking about the editing process. We started at 30,000 feet looking at the big picture. Now we’re on terra firma.

In my book The Thong Principle: Saying What You Mean and Meaning What You Say, I discuss the various types of editing – and why they are all essential. For many of us, editing is synonymous with copyediting.

Copyediting is like minor surgery. The impact can be significant, but structural changes and in-depth revisions are not necessary (or have already been done).  This type of editing, the most common for most of what we write, involves editing a document for style, flow, and clarity. It also requires ensuring a consistent tone and pacing. Publishers often call it line editing.

Editors Canada offers the following overview for stylistic editing, or line editing. For many writers, this is what they’re doing when they are copyediting. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what we call it as long as we do it.

Stylistic Editing

Editing to clarify meaning, ensure coherence and flow, and refine the language.

It includes:

– eliminating jargon, clichés, and euphemisms
– establishing or maintaining the language level appropriate for the intended audience, medium, and purpose
– adjusting the length and structure of sentences and paragraphs
– establishing or maintaining tone, mood, style, and authorial voice or level of formality

What’s A Copyeditor To Do

Here are six areas of focus to help ensure your writing resonates with your audience and achieves your purpose.  When you look closely at these elements, you sharpen the writing and the plot. Readers are more likely to be carried along by your words. There will be no head scratching and no rereading to make the meaning is clear.

Check for:

1. CLARITY
Look to see if you are using:
– Long sentences that could confuse readers
– Big words readers could stumble over
– Uncommon words that will furrow their brows
– A tone that distracts or conflicts with the content

Bottom line: Make sure the meaning of what you write can’t be misinterpreted.

2. TRANSITIONS
– Between sentences
– Between paragraphs
– Movement in time, place, subject

Transitions aren’t usually complex. They flow naturally moving readers through prose with short, everyday words like “however,” “so,” and “then.”

3. CONCRETENESS
– Facts and figures
– Specific language
– Action verbs
– Active voice

Readers want us to paint a picture for them – one they can see and one they can believe in.

4. REPETITIVENESS
– Are specific ideas repeated unnecessarily?
– Are words used more than once in sentences? In paragraphs?

Tip: Avoid summarizing. Readers don’t require it, and it slows them down.

5. COMPLETENESS
– Are the 5Ws and how answered?
– Are there any unanswered questions when there shouldn’t be?

Have you emphasized the most important question: Why?

6. FLOW
– Does the content make sense
– Do the words move smoothly

Find out for yourself.  Read your writing out loud.

Would love to hear about your editing challenges — and successes.

The Secret to Her Success

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I’m delighted to welcome a remarkably prolific author to the Gang as our guest today. Pamela Fagan Hutchins and I met early in our writing careers. Since then, she has published upwards of 30 books, mostly novels (award-winning romantic mysteries, a couple of children’s books, and some non-fiction, too). Lately, she’s been turning out some modern tales of Western adventure.

The secret to her success? To my mind, it’s that she spins new tales faster than a bullet train, and that her stories engage readers with heart and humor.

Here is her latest OMG work schedule, in her own words:

I’m lucky that I write fast, type fast, and no longer have kids at home or a job outside of writing. I also believe that writing is something you can get more efficient at over time.

After thirty-two novels and seven nonfiction books, I’ve had a lot of practice!

But I am firm about sticking to set writing hours and setting word and page count goals to keep me focused. I eliminate most distractions, and I reward myself frequently… lots of snacks!

Way back in 2020, my agent challenged me to write Big Horn, the Jenn Herrington Wyoming mystery that ultimately won me a publishing contract with Hachette UK’s Bookouture. But my editor wanted me to change it substantially or write a different book. I was happy with Big Horn just how it was. I opted to publish it myself and write a Detective Delaney Pace novel for Bookouture.

Two things happened. First, Big Horn slayed and kept slaying for two solid years. Meanwhile had to write three Delaney Pace books and one Patrick Flint family adventure mystery during the year after Big Horn came out. And move to Denmark for my husband’s work. Then Bakersfield. Then France. Have two foot surgeries. Welcome my first two grandkids.

Ya know—life stuff.

Despite Big Horn having had the best release of any book I’d ever written—better than Delaney Pace did, originally, although it’s picked up a lot of steam!—I did not get the follow-up book out for 18 months. In indie publishing terms, that’s a century. And I had a heck of a time pulling myself out of Delaney’s and Patrick’s worlds and back into Jenn’s.

But I’d already outlined five follow-up books while I was writing Big Horn. So, the book I rolled out next was Walker Prairie. It had the planned plots and subplots and the same gritty-but-kinda-cozy feel which some people love.

Between the time I outlined Walker Prairie (2021) and when I wrote it (2024), I acquired two Alaskan Malamute sled dogs, Willett and Sibley! They seemed like the perfect lighthearted addition to Jenn and Aaron’s world, so I wrote them in, and just like in real life, they proceeded to WOO and HOWL and JUMP AROUND until they’d pretty much hijacked the book. The plot remained the same, but the adventure elements surrounding the climactic scenes changed to feature two beautiful, often-naughty, and occasionally terrifying FLOOFS (my term for fluffy goofs.)

So, whether you pick up Walker Prairie because you’re dying to read about or continue with Jenn, her veterinarian husband Aaron, her legal associate Kid James, and Jeremiah Johnson (the loveable skunk), or because you love gritty-cozy romantic legal thrillers, or Wyoming mysteries, or just love books with FLOOFS, I am delighted that the wait is over and Walker Prairie is finally here.

And I love the book! You can get your copy here:

USA Today bestselling author of the Detective Delaney Pace series / Host of Crime & Wine / Silver Falchion Best Mystery Winner

Published by Bookouture/Hachette UK and SkipJack Publishing

Thanks for stopping by, Pamela!

Gay Yellen’s writing career began in magazine journalism. She served as the co-writer/editor for the international thriller, Five Minutes to Midnight (Delacorte), a New York Times “New & Notable.” The success of that book led to her first romantic mystery, The Body Business, Book 1 of the Samantha Newman Mystery Series. The Body Next Door soon followed, and The Body in the News in 2023. The series has won multiple awards, including a Readers’ Favorite Mystery / Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem 1st Place / InD’Tale Crowned Heart for Excellence / Silver Falchion Finalist/ and an American Legacy Best Cozy Award. https//:GayYellen.com

donalee Moulton

In summary

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by donalee Moulton
 

When I completed my first mystery novel, Hung Out to Die, I quickly discovered that the novel would not stand alone. A synopsis was required.

As a freelance journalist and communications specialist, I’ve put together a lifetime of pitches and proposals. Still, I spent some time reading up on what makes a successful synopsis. Then I wrote my own.

My synopsis does not follow the traditional pattern, but most of the required elements are there. I wondered if this would pass muster. Overall, the people I shared the synopsis with liked it. One person didn’t like it at all and said it would never pass muster with publishers. I took a long hard look and, respectfully, disagreed.

This was nerve-wracking. I knew it would be easier to simply follow the path well taken, but I felt I needed to branch out. I entered a shorter version of my synopsis in the Synopsis Skirmish contest – and won. The judge (one of my favorite people) had this to say: The author’s handling of voice in this synopsis is so powerful, it made me want to read the novel right away. The synopsis is unusual and intriguing—a winning combination.

When the acquisitions editor at BWL (another of my favorite people) reached out to me requesting a full copy of my manuscript, she noted, “We were quite taken with your synopsis.”

The synopsis issue has driven home to me the need to listen to yourself, that inner voice that knows you better than anyone. At the same time, it has taught me more about flexibility and being open to feedback. There is nothing as helpful as constructive criticism (whether accepted or not) and editors are worth their weight in gold.

I thought I’d share my synopsis – my very first – with you. I’d love to know what you think.

Synopsis

Hung Out to Die: A Riel Brava Mystery
By donalee Moulton

Hung Out To Die Book CoverLet’s start with the obvious.

Meet Riel Brava. Attractive. Razor-sharp. Ambitious.

Riel, born and bred in Santa Barbara, California, has been transplanted to Nova Scotia where he is CEO of the Canadian Cannabis Corporation (CCC). It’s business as usual until Riel finds the company’s comptroller hanging by a thread. Actually, several threads. It doesn’t take the police long to determine all is not as it appears.

Let’s dive beneath the surface.

Meet Riel Brava. Observant. Cautious. Psychopathic.

Not the Dexter-Hannibal Lecter-Norman Bates kind of psychopath. The kind who live and work among us, mostly unnoticed, often successful, always on full alert their differences will be uncovered. Riel is personable, even charming. He’s keen to understand how the human mind works, so he’ll blend in. After all, his goal is to be president of the United States. (An aspiration that will feature in future books.)

Let’s talk plot.

So Norm Bedwell has apparently hanged himself in his office at CCC. Emphasis on apparently. It takes Detective Lin Raynes mere minutes to suspect the obvious is deceiving and what appears to be death by suicide is actually a murder. Over the course of 13 chapters (there is also an introductory chapter), he works to uncover and discover who would want Bedwell dead and how they could have pulled the murder off.

He’s not alone. In an unusual pairing, Raynes and Riel work together to chase down leads – the bully who tortured Bedwell’s son at school, the mysterious orange truck that belongs to no CCC employee but was parked in the company lot the night Bedwell was murdered, the employee, who despite stringent security measures, has managed to steal weed from CCC and start a healthy little illegal business.

Raynes manages to engage Riel, albeit reluctantly, in the hunt for Bedwell’s killer, and in the process, the seeds of an unexpected and unusual friendship are sown. (These seeds will blossom in subsequent books.)

Various motives are explored through a number of suspects – revenge, fear, greed – but ultimately, it’s love that becomes the reason Norm Bedwell no longer lives. Unfortunately, the evidence is circumstantial. Raynes and Riel concoct a scheme to draw a confession out of the killer, but that plan is never put into place. Instead, Riel finds himself on the receiving end of a rifle in the ribs and a long drive to the middle of Nowhere, Nova Scotia.

Let’s look at the core cast of returning characters. You’ll like them all.

Tiffany Brava. Riel’s wife and loyal supporter. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind, Tiffany knows Riel is not quite like everyone else – and why. For now, that door is closed. What’s openly obvious is her affection for her husband, her loyalty, and her acumen. Don’t count Tiffany out as the dumb blonde. Oh yes, she’s vegan.

Franklin Raynes. The Halifax Police Department’s lead detective on this case is Black, quintessentially Nova Scotian, and a consummate charmer. He can read the room and respond accordingly. He takes a shine to Riel, and also realizes how helpful the psychopath can be in solving this case. (Yes, Lin Raynes is privy to Riel’s deepest secret, but he doesn’t admit it to his new friend – just yet.) Oh yeah, Raynes also does this thing with his left eyebrow.

Senator John Williams. Tiffany’s dad | Riel’s father-in-law is the Democratic Senator for District 19. A seasoned and senior politician, Williams is a co-owner of CCC, although it’s not an asset he talks about with constituents. He’s brusque, except where his daughter is concerned, and well connected, even in Canada.

Zahra Bashir. A practising Muslim and savvy TV reporter who’s always on the lookout for the inside scoop. Bashir makes many of the other characters very nervous despite her friendly demeanor.

David Clements. The recreational cannabis sector in Canada is heavily regulated. Clements is the federal DOJ’s contact for Riel. Their relationship is one of power and powerful expectations. Clements holds that power. A minor character, Clements plays an important role. He’s the first person to use a special word.

There are other characters introduced in this book who will also return but play a smaller role in this mystery.

Let’s look at the cast of characters in the book. You won’t like them all.

–  Faye Bedwell, distraught and disrespected wife of Norm Bedwell.
–  Bran Bedwell, the Bedwell’s 12-year-old son who takes a liking to Riel. Good grief.
–  Thorne, media consultant and very protective of Riel.
–  The bully and his parents.
–  The poor sod who owns the orange truck.
–  The killer.

What’s familiar about Hung Out to Die to make mystery fans feel at home.

–  It’s fast-paced.
–  It lays out a path of breadcrumbs that lead, ultimately, to the killer. First, of course, the path branches off in several misdirections.
–  It creates suspense.
–  It builds understanding and affection for key characters.
–  It leaves readers wanting more.

What’s novel about the book to make the mystery stand apart and readers turning pages.

–  It introduces a unique character that, ironically, we empathize with
–  It’s funny as hell
–   It’s written by an award-winning journalist who knows both how to tell a story and how to use words to maximum effect

Riel Brava: Vital Statistics.

Height: 6’1
Weight: 165 pounds
Waist: 35 inches
Age: 37
Spouse: Tiffany, the vegan
Job: CEO, Canadian Cannabis Corp.
Location: Elmsdale, Nova Scotia, Canada
Ambition: President of the United States of America
Favorite food: Donairs (definitely not vegan)
Top personality trait:  Psychopath
Burning question: What the hell’s a chunderf**k

 

Synopsis Workshop

If you’d like to learn how to craft a successful synopsis, sign up for donalee’s online workshop on February 11 & 18, 2025.

This workshop will explore:
* what should go in a synopsis and why
* why and how to break the rules with care (and flair)

https://donaleemoulton.com/crafting-a-synopsis 

About donalee

donalee is a professional writer from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her byline has appeared in over 100 publications across North America. Her most recent book Conflagration!  won the 2024 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Historical Mystery Suspense. Her other books include a murder mystery based in Nova Scotia and a non-fiction book about effective communications, and she has more coming out this year. She is a longtime educator and currently offers a variety of editorial services and workshops to help authors hone their writing and get it published. 

You can catch up with her on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
donalee Moulton

Writing good – and evil

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by donalee Moulton
Heroes and villains lurk in mysterious places. I realized this more fully than ever before when I was asked about my own leading lights and their nemeses. Here’s some of what I learned about my characters and breathing life (and sometimes death) into them.


Heroes, Heroines, Villains. Which are your favorite to write?

I like it when good wins out over evil, so I tend to embrace heroes and heroines. I can sympathize with the villains, even understand their impulses, but in the end, I want the victory to go those with purer hearts. That said, I am not a fan of what I call the hero at all costs. The person who disobeys the rules because they are morally above them, the champion who charges in because they know best, the defender who goes to the ends of the earth to solve an injustice to the detriment of their friends and family. Excess does not appeal to me.

How do you find your heroes? Do pictures, real life or plain imagination create the person you want every reader to love?

Do they come before the plot or after you have the idea for the story?

For me, heroes (and in the case of a few short stories anti-heroes) do not have the same origin story. Riel Brava, the main character in Hung Out to Die, started with a bath. I’m a big believer in bubbles, candles, exfoliating scrubs, essential oils, and music with birds chirping in the background. One night immersed in a lavender cloud I realized it was time to begin writing my mystery. Get off the pot kind of thing. That led me to a litany of possible characters and crimes. Through the mist Riel emerged. Not fully formed but outlined enough that I wrote down my ideas before I even moisturized. My second book, Conflagration!, was a different book and a different process. The book is a historical mystery and follows the trial of an enslaved Black woman accused of arson in Montreal in 1734. I discovered the level of detail in court transcripts and the timelines set by the trial process meant I had a detailed blueprint for the book before I even began. My fictional character, court reporter Philippe Archambeau, had to fit into this world.

Heroines. How do you find them?

I have just finished the second of two new books that feature three main characters, all women – my first heroines. They meet at a yoga studio and the crime unravels mid-downward dog. Like all my characters, these women started as ideas and blurry images. They became more well-defined – and more real – as the stories unfolded. I am always amazed at the unexpected direction characters take me in. I am acutely aware at times that I am not in control of the writing. Villains or villainesses or an antagonist, since they don’t always have to be the bad guy or girl. They can be a person opposed to the hero’s or heroine’s obtaining their goal.

How do you choose one? How do you make them human?

Three-dimensional characters are important. They’re more challenging to write, but they are also more realistic. I usually start with motive. If I can understand why someone would commit this crime or act in this way, then I can begin to understand the person I want the character to be.  
donalee Moulton is the author of Conflagration! — a historical mystery that won the 2024 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense (Historical Fiction). Her other books include a mystery novel based in Nova Scotia, Hung Out To Die,  and a non-fiction book about effective communication, The Thong Principle: Saying What You Mean and Meaning What You Say. As a freelance journalist, donalee has written for over 100 publications across North America. You can catch up with her on X, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Trolls: Character vs. Caricature When Writing Suspects and Antagonists in Mysteries

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What do trolls have to do with writing suspects and antagonists in mysteries?

Trolls?

 

Trolls: Nasty creatures who live under bridges.

Trolls: Nasty people who bully others on social media.

Trolls: Weird looking collectibles from the 1960s (now the stars of animated movies.)

Trolls: Kristoff’s fun-loving adoptive family in Frozen

Trolls: Amazing works of art from recycled materials by Thomas Dambo.

I first learned of Thomas Dambo’s work when I saw a news story about him and his art installations made of recycled materials. He’s considered the world’s leading recycling artist with his work appearing throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. His more than 125 larger-than-life trolls were created to share his environmental message throughout the world in outdoor installations that use trash to create art within nature.

The trolls have noticed that “small people” (us humans) are harming the planet. The goal of these giant trolls is to educate humans, whereby they’ll rediscover nature and become thoughtful, caring stewards of our planet. A more positive message than those other trolls who frequent social media, right?

Six of Dambo’s trolls took up residence within the gardens, trees, and wooded areas of the Cheekwood Estate & Gardens in Nashville during this past spring and summer. I was lucky enough to have the chance to visit with them. They’ve since moved on to spend time at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach, VA through Jan 20, 2025. If you have a chance to visit with them, tell them I said hi.

So what do these trolls have to do with writing mysteries? Actually, quite a lot. When we think of trolls, most of us think of ugly, nasty creatures, either real or fictional. But both Thomas Dambo’s recycled trolls, Kristoff’s adopted family, and those weird bygone mini collectables showed us that not all trolls are nasty and that ugly is subjective.

Also, the best villains or antagonists are multi-layered. If they weren’t, they’d be caricatures rather than characters, and no author should be writing Snidely Whiplash-type cardboard villains. That’s why it’s so important to spend as much time developing the goals, motivations, and conflicts of our suspects in our mysteries as we do our protagonists.

We’re often asked who is our favorite fictional sleuth, but who is your favorite fictional suspect or antagonist? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free download of any one of the first eleven audiobooks in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series.

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USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter and follow her on various social media sites.

Luckless Love epub & print editions from co-writer team Bethany Maines & Juel Lugo.

Can I be a Co-Writer?

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A Co-Writer Spills the Beans

Co-writer team Bethany Maines & Juel Lugo present Luckless Love.In my upcoming release, Luckless Love, my heroine is returning from a year long road trip and searching for someplace to belong.  Wanting to belong to a community is a universal theme that I think appeals to readers, but when I started to write the book, I didn’t immediately leap to that theme.  I had to explain my reasoning for using it to my co-writer—Juel Lugo.

Luckless Love started out during COVID when Juel who is my business partner in real life and I took a script writing seminar on how to write a Hallmark movie.  We both felt that we could write one, and with too much time on our hands and since we were in each other’s COVID pods, we gathered around a computer and took notes on how to write a Hallmark movie.

What Are Your Co-Writer Goals?

Juel is not particularly interested in being an author.  She doesn’t want to do the work of putting words on a page, but she is endlessly interested in stories and structure.  As a life-long reader, and marketing expert, she knows that stories are what move the human psyche.  So our deal was that she would do the bulk lifting on inventing the plot. I would walk her through how to outline and then I would do the actual writing.  But that meant that we had endless discussions on our characters, their motivations and how to get them to fulfill their plot obligations.

I don’t know how other co-authors work together, but with over ten years of experience in working with each other, we managed to make it through the outline with very little disagreement.  Having both taken the seminar we both could recognize when we were deviating from the Hallmark pattern.  And then we could also agree when we were fine with leaving that path.  Hallmark has a lot of constraints about how serious or realistic things can be (don’t mention divorce or cancer!), which is understandable for their brand, but for writing a novel it can feel like the characters are lacking in depth.

Did We Make it the End?

So did we make it through the writing process with our friendship and partnership intact?  Absolutely. It was a fantastically distracting project during a time when we very much needed one.  It was also fun to take on a challenge that neither of us had done before.  The script version achieved a PNWA Literary Contest Finalist ranking and we are quite proud of our little romance novel.  We’re looking forward to it’s upcoming release on November 18.  Check out the links below if you’re also interested in a sweet romance, all about wine, second chances and finding some place to call home.

AMAZON: https://amzn.to/4dfmAO6

GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216958888-luckless-love

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Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of action-adventure and fantasy tales that focus on women who know when to apply lipstick and when to apply a foot to someone’s hind end. She participates in many activities including swearing, karate, art, and yelling at the news. She can usually be found chasing after her daughter, or glued to the computer working on her next novel (or screenplay). You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

 

Remember to check out all of the Stiletto Gang’s catalog on our book page!  www.thestilettogang.com/books/