Misunderstanding and distrust—the predominant elements of a novel—without them, everyone lives happily from the beginning:
Ever
been watching a movie or reading a book and yell at the characters, ‘Just talk
already! Tell him the truth!’? I know I have.
In
real life, we usually don’t allow the man of our dreams to walk out the front
door thinking we’ve been having an affair with his best friend and secretly plan
to leave him, but it makes for a great soap opera, and that’s what that is, a
soap opera.
Yes,
my characters won’t know all the facts, but I’ll make sure they think they do.
That’s the difference between a soap opera and a good mystery, I believe.
Notice, I wrote ‘misunderstanding and distrust’ as my title, not ‘lies and deceit’.
In
my first novel, She Belongs to Me, I
start you out with a bang, ‘literally’ on the first page (By the way, a reader
pointed that out in her review, so I’ve used it ever since), and then I show
you a husband struggling to understand what happened to his marriage of five
years. Why would his wife attempt suicide, or was there something that he didn’t
know about her?
From
there, the mystery spins and turns, revealing suspects, secrets, and truths. The
key in my mind is never to trick the
reader; I hate that. You know everything the protagonist knows and even a
little more, as you get to crawl inside all the main characters’ heads. Yes,
even the proverbial ‘bad guy’. I love being in the antagonist’s head.
So
if you love your novel twined with a perfect thread of romance, mystery, and suspense,
but not filled with lies and trickery…just a few secrets maybe J, please check out my novels. You
can read all about them below.
Until
next time, happy reading!
Carmen
Thank you for stopping by my place and reading my
musings. Remember, these are just my opinions and shouldn’t be
taken too seriously. If you have questions, please feel free to leave
them in the comment section, and I promise you I will answer. If you’re
curious about what I write, please visit one of my author pages, where
you can read all about my novels and short stories. And hey, I’ll even
give you a free book just for stopping by.
If it isn’t
available free in your area, use…
I love romance novels that are more than romance (as you do them Carmen)...otherwise they become a core after a while. The suspense and thrill are imperative to a good story. They keep us handing on to every word.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Wendy! Yeah...I can't sit still too long for just one swooning after another, one throbbing body part after another. LOL!
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