STEPPING ON MY AUTHOR’S PONCHO

Oh, good grief. You’d think I’d know how to write a novel by now.

But, noooo.

I recently showed my alpha beta-reader, better known as my wife Barbara, the first two chapters of my work in progress (WIP). Allow me to inject here that Barbara is more than a beta reader. A beta reader usually reads a manuscript after its been completed but before it’s been sent to an editor or publisher.

Barbara reads each chapter as it’s completed, so she’s really more like a one-person critique group, not a beta reader. She tells it like it is. Which is what I want. I’m not looking for a cheer leader. (Barb says she too damn old to jump up and down and wave her pompoms anyhow.) But I digress.

After Barb read the chapters of my WIP, she fell kind of silent. Not a good sign.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I don’t know how to tell you this,” she said.

“Like it is,” I said, “like you always do.”

“It’s boring.”

Ouch, an arrow through the heart.

But I yanked out the shaft, began to breathe again, and said, “You know what? You’re right.” One thing a novelist should never do is bore the reader.

The reason I’d stepped on my author’s poncho—and written something boring—is because I’d ignored two of the most fundamental guidelines for thriller writers. I had not started my manuscript at the point of action and then I’d done a “data dump.” In other words, I’d told the reader about all the details I’d gleaned in doing my research.

It’s kind of analogous to my golf game. When I start playing after an extended layoff—like after the winter—I find myself paying close attention to the basics and often shoot a decent score (well, decent for me, not for a decent golfer). Then, after playing a few times, I think I got it down pat, forget about the fundamentals, and start spraying golfballs all over the course, endangering the lives of small animals and innocent groundskeepers.

So I need to remind myself every time I start a novel: (1) suck the reader in with the first chapter (start at the point of action), and (2) don’t do a data dump (the reader isn’t interested in hearing about all the research I performed).

So here’s a big THANK YOU to my ace beta-reader/one-person critique group/tell-it-like-it-is writing coach, Barbara.

Now, if I can just remember to keep my right shoulder down on my golf swing . . .