Practiced Mastery with Joan Swan

PRACTICED MASTERY: Refining the art of craft...by example.

Last post, I discussed creating conflict for primary novel characters, specifically about internal conflict, external conflict and how to weave them together to amp the tension and the stakes. I used examples from Sandra Brown's thriller CHILL FACTOR, a novel so rich in character I keep thinking about them now, so intricate in conflict I sat in the car after I'd gotten to my destination (it was an audiobook) because I wanted to know what happened next.

Today, I want to deepen the understanding of conflict by demonstrating how Brown utilized secondary characters to both enrichen the story overall and intensify the conflict for the main characters, creating the intricate type of read that makes blockbuster bestsellers.

PRACTICED MASTERY: Refining the art of craft...by example.

Conflict has to be of my favorite aspects of a novel second only to foreshadowing. When I plot, one of my main concerns is developing both internal and external conflict, but I don't stop there. I take those two differnt types of conflict and twine them. When I'm able to blend the two in such a way that each draws on the other increasing the tension and the stakes for my characters, I know I've hit that sweet spot in my story.

Sandra Brown's thriller CHILL FACTOR does a beatuiful job of blending the characters' internal and external conflicts to create an intruiging plot, intricate characters and an unputdownable read.

I discovered Tami Hoag's work somewhere in the middle of her career with the romantic suspense thrillers Ashes to Ashes and Dust to Dust.

Her stories are vivid and fast paced and I've always found her ability to craft deeply difficult, violent, even gruesome topics fascinating.

When her work shifted to mainstream suspense with Kill the Messenger, I wasn't sure if I'd like it. Up to that point I'd always been a die-hard romance fan, so the prospect of a novel with no major romantic thread left me with my fair share of doubt. But Kill the Messenger changed my outlook on mainstream suspense, resulting in a broadened awareness of and appreciation for suspense outside the romance genre.

I'm not writing about Kill the Messenger this month, though I will at another time. This month I'm looking at a more recent of Hoag's thrillers, Secrets to the Grave.

By any stretch of the definition, Dean Koontz is a master author. Not simply because he’s been writing for decades. Not simply because he’s produced over 80 literary works or sold over 375 million copies of those books. Certainly not because he’s accumulated such wealth from those sales.

Just the opposite.

His mastery of the writing craft has allowed him to write successfully for decades, produce over 80 books, sell over 375 million copies of those works, and ultimately accumulate his wealth.

After studying the writing craft for over a decade now, I’d have to honestly say, I’ve been ruined…at least as an objective reader. I can no longer slide blithely through redundant description, dawdling action or blah characterization. I find myself constantly searching for more, silently challenging the author to give me a reason to keep the book open, to ignore the push of real life and remain lost in their fictional world.

And while charming, shocking, seducing or even scaring a reader into maintaining interest has a place in commercial fiction, as a reading-writer, I expect more.