Writing The Romance with Cynthia Joy

Baiting the Suspense Hook

May 27, 1999

Guest speaker, Gail Gaymer Martin, speaking on suspense

Cynth Joy: ***Welcome to Writing the Romance...

Cynth Joy: ***I am your hostess again...

Cynth Joy: ***Tonight's special guest is...

Cynth Joy: ***Gail Martin...

Cynth Joy: ***And she has graciously agreed to Bait our Suspense Hooks!

Cynth Joy: ***Welcome Gail!!!

MartinGA: <<gg>>

MartinGA: Thank you.

Cynth Joy: ***But first protocol...again....

Cynth Joy: ***If you have a question type ?

Cynth Joy: ***If you have a comment type !

Cynth Joy: ***Again, welcome Gail!!!

Cynth Joy: <><><><><><><clapping wildly><><><><><

Cynth Joy: ***Would you like to begin by sharing about yourself for us?

ga

MartinGA: Yes - sure. I''m glad this isn't vocal. I have laryngitis

MartinGA: I've been very blessed. In my four years of writing

professionally

MartinGA: I've sold way over 100 articles and short stories, plus 10

worship resource

MartinGA: books for churches - short plays, skits, fund raiser

programs, etc. and I am a

MartinGA: contributing editor on the Christian Communicator which

someone asked about tonight. But best of all I've become a novelist. I'm

writing for Heartsong Presents for Barbour Publishing. I write full-time btw.

Cynth Joy: Thank you, Gail.

Cynth Joy: I'm glad you were able to come tonight.

Cynth Joy: Shall we begin our topic? ga

MartinGA: Sure. May I present a few thoughts and examples and then

open for questions.?

Cynth Joy: The floor is all yours.

MartinGA: Thanks.

MartinGA: First of all hooks are important in all genre - not only

suspense and mystery. Everyone loves to read a page turner - something that

hooks us and keeps us up until all hours of the night.

MartinGA: There are a number of techniques a writer can use to do that in

a straight romance as well as suspense. And I'd like to share some of those

thoughts.

MartinGA: First think of a novel as conflict and tension leading to a

crisis

MartinGA: if not, I know we'd all find it boring. When we look at this

type of development

MartinGA: you can think of it (especially suspense) as a roller coaster or

MartinGA: an ocean. Each wave or hill that comes before us is a

mystery, some higher and more

MartinGA: dangerous than the other. And the calm and the high points are all

MartinGA: important. The calm can be used as effectively to build suspense by

MartinGA: giving us small hints, clues, foreshadowing of things to come.

MartinGA: Suspense usually grows form plot - think of North by Northwest or The Firm

MartinGA: or from character - such as Fatal Attracation, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

MartinGA: or place- think of Poe's writings for example - Fall of the House of Usher or a sci-fi

MartinGA: But character is a major factor - because characters in their internal thinking,

MartinGA: dialogue and actions set us up for all kinds of tension. Characaters

MartinGA: must have flaws - and these flaws not only make them more real, but lets

MartinGA: the reader know that they are headed for trouble. The reader waits to see

MartinGA: how this flaw will cause them conflict or make them vulnerable.

MartinGA: Listen to this internal dialogue for example.

MartinGA: Sailing! His heart leaped, knotting in his throat. Not sailing.

MartinGA: Not water. How could he tell them his fear? He wouldn't.

MartinGA: When they suggested sailing in the afternoon, he'd suggest

MartinGA: something else - something away from the water.

MartinGA: Now looking at those lines - we see a lot of things that hook us - that

MartinGA: leave us with questions. Why is he afraid? Will he distract them from sailing? Will something force him into the water?

MartinGA: This is almost a form of foreshadowing - stretching our thinking

MartinGA: Hooks come in different kinds.

MartinGA: The Big Bang - is like the clock ticking - a time bomb under the chair. Or

MartinGA: an explosive situation. It is best when the reader knows about it and

MartinGA: the characters don't. We hold our breath waiting.

MartinGA: In my novel, See Jane Run - the heroine is abucted and the hero knows

MartinGA: that he has a time bomb. He must find out where she is or her life is in danger.

MartinGA: The Jack in the box is another type of hook - impending peril.

MartinGA: In See Jane Run - Jane keeps getting messages in the Dick and Jane primer format

MartinGA: prior to every attempt against her well-being. The reader and she both know

MartinGA: but they don't know what will happen or when.

MartinGA: In my novel, Lasting Treasures - the cat crawls into every open place -- boxes, drawers etc. and the reader knows that somehow this will lead to something.

MartinGA: False scares are hooks - Set up incidents of confidence. A noise in the dark room - it's the cat, then a shutter - and finally it's the rapist.

MartinGA: But what is most effective is to cut a scene at the point of action.

MartinGA: This can be done by something interrupting the character. For example:

MartinGA: "We have to talk, Mary" I've been wiaitng to admit...."

MartinGA: His words were covered by the telephone's blast. When he returned to the room ashen faced,

MartinGA: he bolted for the door. His words sailed over her shoulder.

"Later, Mary."

MartinGA: Obviously the reader hurries along wanting to know what he wanted to say.

MartinGA: I love to stop an action scene at the end of a chapter, so the reader must begin

MartinGA: the next chapter to learn what happened. In my novel See Jane Run

MartinGA: the scene goes like this. -- the end of chpater 11

MartinGA: Then her ears resounded with a paralyzing scream as a body hurled

MartinGA: through the air out of the blackness. Her legs buckled beneath her

MartinGA: and she faded into the darkness.

MartinGA: Opening of chapter 12

MartinGA: When Jane opened her eyes, she swallowed a gasp. A scarecrow

MartinGA: leaned above her, peering into her face. With an ashen tinge, Celia gaped at her form the

MartinGA: small circle of onlookers. And above her hanging from the rafters,

MartinGA: someone bounced from the end of a rope wearing a dress --

MartinGA: a dress that looked like one of hers.

MartinGA: Okay -- now don't you think someone would start the next chapter for that? <<g>>

MartinGA: I have some more info - but lets go with some questions and I'll

MartinGA: give some other points as we go along. ga

Cynth Joy: Okay, don't be shy

MartinGA: Oh, oh - they fell asleep or I've scared them!

Cynth Joy: Okay, Gail. Who was wearing her dress? ga

MartinGA: Not telling -

Cynth Joy: Be that way then...

MOgal435: ?

Cynth Joy: ga, MO

MOgal435: Do you plan out these hooks ahead of time? ga

MartinGA: Some yes - I know what's happening - and I try to find the most

MartinGA: effective place to make a break - or leave the reader hanging. sometimes

MartinGA: the incidents are inspired. They hit me and I use them.

MartinGA: I think one mistake beginnings writers do in any story is to tell too much too soon.

MartinGA: We give all our info in the first couple of chapters and then sit there and ask ourselves

MartinGA: Okay - what do I do now.

MartinGA: Keeping pieces of information tucked away - keeps people wondering what the

MartinGA: secret is? Why is he afraid? What isn't he telling her? After a while you can drop hints.

MartinGA: I ususally do this in internal thinking -- I wish I could tell her the truth - but I

MartinGA: can't. What would she think of me? etc. you get the pictures. ga

Cynth Joy: Do you ever have your characters internally ask themselves questions? ga

MartinGA: Yes - often. I think questions are great for setting up suspense.

MartinGA: In SeeJane Run again, I have numerous people who might be the

MartinGA: culprit. The hero reviews the list - earlier in the story, the heroine even wondrs

MartinGA: if he might be the person who is stalking her.

MartinGA: Later it's obvious he's not - but at the beginning, he could be.

MartinGA: ga

Cynth Joy: Do you answer them? Or leave the answer hanging? ga

MartinGA: Certain questions can be answered.

MartinGA: For example, the hero might say, Why can't I tell her the truth?

LynColeman: ?

MartinGA: Then he responds. Because - if I tell her the truth she'll not trust me.

MartinGA: But you see - both question and answer still leaves the reader wanting to know more. ga

Cynth Joy: ga, Lynn

LynColeman: In suspense do you sometimes have your h&h have wrong conclusions to answers they are

LynColeman: looking for. To help build the suspense/tension? ga

MartinGA: Definitely. In the novel, Secrets Within which is with Heartsong

MartinGA: a female often comes to visit the hero (he lives in a home on the lake next to the heroine.)

MartinGA: The heroine begins to wonder why the woman always comes when she's not around

MartinGA: And shopping with her niece one day, she accidently spots the two in a small

MartinGA: restaurant - naturally the heroine comes to the conclusion

hat they are having a romance or

MartinGA: relationship of somekind. But the hero can't tell her who the woman is, even if the heroine would ask. He would

MartinGA: have to lie to cover his tracks. Because they all would be

in danger if she knew. ga

Cynth Joy: More questions?

SALLYLAITY: ?

LynColeman: ?

Cynth Joy: ga, Sally

SALLYLAITY: Did any of your characters ever take off in a direction you hadn't planned? ga

MartinGA: Yes, I think most of us have had that happen. I'm always amazed when

MartinGA: a character does something that I hadn't intended. If it appears effective, I

MartinGA: let him/her get away with it. And I've often been pleasantly suprised. I've

MartinGA: found these incidents sometimes foreshadow a bigger event that is to come

MartinGA: or adds a new dimension to the character that I hadn't considered.

MartinGA: ga

Cynth Joy: ga, Lynn

LynColeman: Do you feel that word choice helps to create the suspense as well? And that authors should

LynColeman: spend time with there words to see if they can

LynColeman: create the mood and pace building up to a scene? ga

MartinGA: Positively. I just noticed a scene I had jotted down to illustrate

MartinGA: multiple suspects - but the language there does a little of what you're

MartinGA: saying. The hero is going over the facts and he thinks :

MartinGA: Then he pried names from his mind. Celia, Len, Malik, Keys. Anyone else? The principal

MartinGA: came to mind. Skylar? He seemed far-fetched but Kyle shrugged and added the name to his

MartinGA: list. Somewhere in his memory other phantom characters jogged through

MartinGA: his thoughts, but he couldn't put names to the faceless people. He'd have to

MartinGA: ask Jane. You see words like phantom, pried, faceless, etc.

MartinGA: I often have scenes in dark attics or shadowy parking lots, etc.

MartinGA: ga

Cynth Joy: ***Oh my! This is wonderful! But I hate the mention the clock...

Cynth Joy: ***Have you got some words of wisdom to wind down with? ga

MartinGA: I suppose a couple of things to remember.

MartinGA: Keep secrets. Don't give all the info out in one blast. Give hints.

MartinGA: Foreshadow - have a small incident that reflects a bigger one later.

MartinGA: Use a variety of suspects, and show don't tell! Does that sound familiar. And have fun baiting your own suspense hook. ga

Cynth Joy: ***What is your latest release? ga

MartinGA: Dreaming of Castles -romance comedy is out this month.

Cynth Joy: ***Thank you so much for coming, Gail!!!

MartinGA: Your very welcome.

Cynth Joy: Excellent information!

Cynth Joy: <><><><><><><><>clapping wildly><><><><>< >>>>