Next month’s edition of Writing Magazine includes my regular Beginners page and my alternate-monthly New Author profile.
Beginners first, with a piece called ‘The Ripple Effect’. Not the result of your hero or heroine hurling themselves into a river, beset by grief over lost love, lost money or that hank of a lover’s hair they’d always promised faithfully to keep close to their heart (or, at least, until the next hot babe/dude** (**delete as appropriate) came along.
The ripples I’m talking about are the after-effects resulting from an event, words or action. Essentially, nothing dramatic happens in a vacuum. Drop a plate and people react; it’s an everyday thing and as natural as breathing. But how often do we include these outsider-reactions in our storytelling? Yet in real life it’s always there.
Including this in your story is what is called added value, and lends depth and realism to your tale.
Don’t forget it, otherwise you may leave your reader underwhelmed and wondering why nobody reacted to that dinner plate crashing to the floor. And you don’t want that
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The New Author this month is Matthew Ross, whose debut crime novel ‘Death of a Painter’ was published in April by Red Dog Press.
Set in the construction industry, the story centres on Mark Pointer, who becomes a suspect in the death of a colleague, and has to scramble to to find out how to get out of the nightmare he’s in.
It’s not Scandi-noir; instead, says Matthew, think cosy – like Montalbano (the series by Andrea Camilleri). His sequel featuring the same character, is called ‘The Red Admiral’s Secret’, and
due out in early 2021.
‘Death of a Painter’ – get it here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~