How To Make Your Book A PAGE TURNER

A book is a journey we do not have to take.  

We must be persuaded to do it.

Usually it is the set-up that does that for us: a unique or intriguing situation.

But once the book is picked up, 

it will be the characters who will tug us along to find out what they will do and say next. 

Do they make us laugh?  Do they make us root for them?

As humans, we are driven to seek an understanding of others,

for in understanding them, we come close to understanding ourselves ... 

and perhaps we will not feel quite so isolated, alone.

HOW TO ENGAGE THE READER

1.) EACH STEP MUST TAKE YOU SOMEWHERE 

As I've said: each book is a journey.  Characters, descriptions, or dialogue ... must move that journey along ...

or you are making the reader simply jog in place!

2.) TONY STARK ON A ROAD TRIP

Wouldn't he be a hoot on a road trip to anywhere?  

Your characters must entertain in some form or fashion

or your reader will opt for more enjoyable companions.

3.)  WHERE IS THE DARTH VADER OF YOUR TRIP?

Success conceals; adversity reveals.

Is he looming like a storm cloud on the horizon?

Or is she sitting, smiling like the false friend she is, right beside your hero?

Does his motivation make sense to the reader or does he exist merely to be the Big Bad of your story?

Your reader should see that he/she is just one bad day away from becoming that person.

4.) WHERE IS THE TICKING BOMB?

Imagine a tense company board meeting: 

the founder is being betrayed by his best friend in a hostile take-over.

He is bravely, intelligently fighting for his dream while the Judas is smugly smiling.

Unknown to them both, but known to the reader, a terrorist bomb is ticking beneath the table ...

right in plain sight should someone just bend down to pick up a fallen pen.

Tick ... Tick ... Tick.

Can you see all the various ways that could play out?

Your hero staggers out of the board room, having lost it all as his wife rushes into his arms ...

just as the bomb goes off, killing all those within the office.

The Judas in betraying his best friend ends up saving his life.

5.) WHERE IS THE WONDER, THE MAGIC?

It does not have to be literal magic but the wonder has to be there to draw your readers in and keep them.

SAME OLD, SAME OLD plots can become riveting if you spin them.

Robin Hood is the villain; 

the sheriff is the valiant, misunderstood man of honor 

trying to keep peace in order to prevent the King from ordering mass executions of the peasants.

A simple view out of a stagecoach window can become magical if your protagonist describes it so that the reader views it with new eyes.

My tagline to the front page of 

THE NOT-SO-INNOCENTS AT LARGE is

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but in acquiring new eyes.”

– Samuel McCord

Hope this has helped in some small way, Roland

Why HEART is important in a story

I stayed away from the show RIZZOLI & ISLES 

until earlier this year when I got a deal on Season 1.

The promo photos like the one above had led me to think 

it was a police procedural made shallow by two plastic leads.

But the series had heart, 

humor, and compassion

I decided to try the series of books

on which the show 

was based.

The heart, friendship, and humor 

were not in the books.  

The gory details of the murders were

too dominant for me.

The books literally left

me cold.

The heart of the show was revealed in how it treated the suicide of 

Lee Thompson Young who played Detective Frost.

The show dealt with Lee’s death in a way that was not just respectful to the actor 

and the role that he had filled in the company of actors, but also to his character. 

His desk remained empty except for the action figure he kept there for two seasons afterwards.


Lee's character Frost appeared in spirit in various episodes.


And the sense of his loss was an ongoing theme throughout the remaining four seasons.

If you haven't tried  

RIZOLLI & ISLES,

give it a shot.

HAVE YOU EVER STUMBLED

UPON A TV SERIES

AND LOVED IT

ONLY

TO FIND IT HAD

BEEN CANCELLED?

Surreal Noir: DARK HOLLYWOOD

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N75DRKC

The current series of historical fantasies 

I am writing is the 

DARK HOLLYWOOD CHRONICLES.

The current saga I'm working on spans the globe 

from the fatal mission of an O.S.S. agent in Germany during the last days of WWII 

to the UnAmerican Activities Committee witch-hunt in our capital

to the South China Seas and 

a ghost ship littered with dead sailors with no wounds upon their bodies and then

to a Film Noir movie being shot on location in New Orleans, 

centering upon a stage magician drawn into solving 

 a series of mysterious murders

to prove himself innocent of them.

WORDS OF PRAISE

FOR THE LAST PUBLISHED

INSTALLMENT

TONJA DRECKER:

When I dove into this one, 

I wasn't really sure what to expect...

but whatever it was, 

this story was much better.

The author creates a dark but beautiful and enticing atmosphere in the French Quarter. 

The setting is placed on the first day of the Carnival in 1947, where reality, death and magic interplay and form a wondrous world. 

Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte is portrayed with an exquisite, dark elegance as she leaves a trail of death in her wake. But that's only the beginning.

The characters are vivid with personalities so potent, they jump from the page—

some even taken from well known figures like Cesar Romero. 

The mystery is twined and twisted. The addition of myth and magic add an alluring spice. 

It's a wonderful concoction which pulls in and presents a show all of its own. 

Add the well crafted wording and clever dialogue, and it's an intoxicating mix.

C. LEE McKENZIE:

Surreal enters Stage Left.

 In Razor Valentine you enter 1947 during Carnival where the natural laws don’t exist and where death is a dark and dangerous beauty. 

In this world, unlikely people struggle to live and love. Death is always imminent and confusion is queen.

Many characters return from previous stories to weave their way into this newest surreal adventure. And there are some new, but extraordinary characters based on real life celebrities of the 40s. 

Yeomans captures their essence in this bizarre tale. 

Caesar Romero comes to life as the suave, sophisticated actor he actually was on the Hollywood screen decades ago. 

You can almost hear Jimmy Stewart drawl his way through the story, and the author pays him the respect he earned in real life during the war years.

As always, a lot of fresh and often humorous images lace the story and Yeomans does an elegant dance with the English language. 

Something I always appreciate.

RONEL JANSE vAN VUUREN:

This book is filled with the odd twists and turns that I always imagine New Orleans to be – 

the supernatural as normal as breathing.

I liked the intertwined history, mystery and the odd (and compelling) character that is Lucas. 

And the author’s play with language is quite a treat! 

The world building is intricate, the layers fascinating 

and Irene is clearly insane (though, that is part of the fun) – 

and no-one in this story can truly be sane with everything they encounter.

DAMIEN LARKIN:

 

 The author skillfully pulls the reader 

into the story from the very start. 

Set against the stunning backdrop of the Carnival, the darkness and mystery ooze from every word. 

The well-crafted characters race against time to stop a string of murders, despite danger lingering around every corner.

The action is surprising and fast paced,

and the author skillfully weaves the scenes in between with breath-taking attention to detail and a dark sense of humour. 

Twists and turns keep the reader guessing where the story will lead them, even casting suspicion on the motives and loyalties of the characters themselves.

Razor Valentine is an ideal read for anyone interested in Paranormal Mysteries/Thrillers. 

The author has a stunning command of the written word that will not fail to entertain. 

After reading this story, I look forward to diving into more of Mr. Yeomans' works.

THE PRIOR CHAPTER

IN THE SERIES

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KQ8XMJR

Imagine a Noir 

Supernatural Mystery

set in New Orleans

as if Charles Dickens 

and

Raymond Chandler

had teamed to write it.

BIG RED_ Sureal Science Fiction

From the very first sentence, Damien Larkin hooks the reader.   

The story propels you with mystery and empathy for the narrator. 

Danger you can feel flows through the opening chapters with its back and forth 

from a murky past to a dangerous unknown present. 

The mystery of what happened to the main character, Darrin Loughlin, urges the reader through the next chapters.  

 Big Red is reminiscent of Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War.

If you liked that book, you will totally enjoy Big Red.

Add in a bit of bitter Count of Monte Crisco betrayal, 

a bit of mystical Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles, 

and you have one movie-worthy adventure.

If you are a student of history, you will recognize the Sci. Fi. Version of Impressment   

which was used from as early as Elizabethan times and was last used during the Napoleonic wars 1803-1815.

All the duplicity, callousness, and manipulation of the military mind 

comes through in the pages of this Sci. Fi. Tale with its own unique twist on space travel within the solar system.

Surprises abound in Big Red, and no plot thread leads where you think it will.  

This is one novel you will re-read with relish, murmuring, 

“We have always been here. 

Always.”

Links:
 
Barnes & Noble - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/big-red-damien-larkin/1129887528?ean=9781939844606
 
Kobo - https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/big-red-11
 
Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Big-Red-Damien-Larkin/dp/1939844606/
 
ITunes - https://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/big-red/id1442336848?mt=11
 
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42846453-big-red