The Rollercoaster and the Collision

Two of my major influences are Clive Cussler and Mary Higgins Clark.

I credit them, along with Walter Farley, for giving me a vision of how I wanted to write.

I've talked about Walter Farley before. He's the first author I ever read that made me stare at his name on the books and think, "How did he do that? How did he drag me into that horse race."

With him I could smell and see and hear all that was going on around me. His wrote action that moved and I was right in there with it all happening around me.

But I know I've said that before and I'm sure I've mentioned Cussler and Higgins Clark, but I want to try and go into a bit more detail about them and why I consider them influences.

And btw, why I think the best way to study writing is to read great books instead of reading 'How To Write' books, 

Of course it took me ten years to get a book published, so what the heck do I know, huh???????

First Clive Cussler.

Clive Cussler begins all his books in a style that is, to me, almost completely unique. I can't think who I've read who is like him.

Cussler usually takes three or four stories, that honestly seem to have NOTHING TO DO WITH EACH OTHER.

It's so random. But at the same time, they are all gripping stories. 

President Lincoln being kidnapped.

A red moss spreading across the ocean from Africa.

A cave found deep in the ice in Antarctica

A plane crashing into a lake in Colorado in the 1930s

Now these are different random things not all from the same book. But you get the idea. Random. Each exciting.

And these stories build through a chapter to a cliffhanger. 

The the next chapter JUMPS to another story. And the reader is mentally screaming, "No, don't leave him there hanging from that cliff."

The the next chapter starts and you REMEMBER THAT A PREVIOUS CHAPTER LEFT SOMEONE ELSE HANGING FROM A CLIFF and you are OFF, reading madly until this NEW chapter builds into a cliffhanger.

Then JUMP again.

This style of writing is so fast paced, so exciting, it is almost impossible to ever put the book down.

I tried to imitate this in some of my books, but one thing you HAVE to remember is, EACH STORY HAS TO BE AS POWERFUL AS THE OTHERS.

I've read other books that do this jumping thing and found myself only liking ONE of the story lines. Then you just spend your life impatiently wanting...even skimming...to get back to the story that caught you. And if you're doing that, then the story if a failure.

Cussler builds and builds and jumps and jumps until finally all his stories COLLIDE.

All the sudden your eyes are wide open, you see exactly why the Titanic sinking has something to do with an obscure doctor in Ireland. And at the moment the story just explodes and all the separate parts just zoom along together.

Now to Mary Higgins Clark.

Her style has a similar impact but she doesn't take four random stories, rather she'll jump to other parts that are clearly from the same story. But she does the same thing. She'll have different characters, all in their own trouble, cliffhanger after cliffhanger.

With her books I honestly always felt like she grabbed me by the front of my shirt and dragged me onto a roller coaster.

I would finish one of her books at about 4:30 a.m., disgusted with myself for not sleeping AGAIN and just try to figure out how she did it. Not just the brilliant writing, but they way she'd make me feel like there was NO escape. I had to read the next chapter. I had to know what happened next.

I've learned to hook chapter endings.

Try to make subplots as compelling as the main story.

Try to use the senses, combined with action to keep ahold of a reader and allow them NO ESCAPE.

I guess my very brief advice amounts to, "Who do you love to read?"

Who writes books that grab you and tear your heart out, or make you laugh, or make all your sense come to life?

You can also think about books that HELD you, then somehow lost you. What happened? When did they get boring? When did they let you slip out of their nets?

Read those books for entertainment, but then THINK. Re-read them. Study them. Figure how how they grabbed you and hung on.

Is it action like it is for me? I love romance of course and I also love books that make me laugh.

Or is it tears? How does Karen Kingbury do that? What...and I mean clinically....WHAT is she doing to make you cry your head off.

Tell me what books catch you, then let's talk about WHY and how you can tap into that appeal for your own work.

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