Who am I?

A friend of mine just became the president of the Color Country Nightwriters. It's a writing group, and a branch of the League of Utah Writers.

From the sounds of her opening letter, she's got some good energy to help the members push forward with their writing goals.

One of the first things she asked is for members to create a short bio. These are some questions she asked to help get the autobiography juices flowing. I'm sure she wanted the writers to get creative, but I'm just going to straight up answer them. What  can I say? I'm lazy.

- What is your name/pen name?

Derrick Duncan

- What do you write?

Science Fiction/Fantasy

- What have you written in the past that you're most proud of?

I wrote a Science Fiction novel that takes inspiration from Little Red Riding Hood and Star Wars. According to the agents, it seems that it's really nothing to be proud of, but I still like it.

- What have you written in the past that's most embarrassing?

I wrote a short script that my buddy made into a short film. I'm mostly embarrassed by it took my writing in a different direction than I wanted to go.

- What kind of books do you like?

Fantasy, Sci-fi, pseudo philosophical non fiction

- Who is your favorite author and why?

I like Shakespeare, though strictly speaking he was a playwright and not an author. I enjoy that he took stories from everywhere and applied his own genius to them.

- What kind of styles (first person, third person limited, stream of consciousness etc.) do you like to use?

I think each style lends itself to very different uses. Since I see writing as a tool for communication, I prefer to use the style that the widest audience will easily understand. Currently that's either third person limited. First person has really come in strong in the past few years though and it creates a fun sense of immediacy. I'd love to be able to pull off third person omniscient, but it's a bit out of vogue. Other styles are pretty limited and I'll probably use them only for short sequences.

However, I do have plans for writing a second person novel based on a suggestion my buddy gave me.

- What is your goal with your writing?  (Why do you write what you write?)

I write because I know some stories that deserve to be told. I've had both profound insights and moving experiences with these stories in my mind, and they deserve to give those experiences to other people. But I also write because of my extreme narcissism. I want other people to find joy in something that I wrote. And I want them to know it was me who wrote it. 

Suspense, Mystery, and Cheaters

Writing a good suspenseful story will nearly always compel readers to keep going. Sometimes keeping a certain amount of knowledge hidden will excite the reader to find out just what they're missing. But keeping useful information from a reader JUST to keep them reading is usually cheating.

When you're writing, take a look at what you are keeping from the readers. You might be surprised how much not keeping secrets adds to the story.

When Shakespeare has two people in love with each other, he often lets us in on the secret but keeps his characters in the dark. This is called dramatic irony. When we as an audience know something that the characters don't it can help increase tension because we know that they are making a poor decision because they don't have the knowledge we do. "Oh if only Romeo knew that Juliet wasn't really dead!" The action of the story is compelling because we know that there's another choice. If you're like me when you read Romeo and Juliet you find yourself trying to telepathically give Romeo some help. This happens to me every time, and it works for comedy and drama just as well. Shakespeare was a master of suspense.

Another time that you can help the reader is when your characters have a plan. We often try to keep our readers in the dark so that they can be amazed by how we solve problems when if they knew our crazy answer they would be compelled to find out if it worked or what our characters did when the plan failed.

Any time you have a mystery though, it should be the kind that the reader could solve on their own by the time your character does. The reader should either be saying, "I should have guessed." I know that I am always caught up in stories when I say, "I knew it!"

But there's a caveat. You need to give your reader the clues along the way so that they say, "I know what happened" just before or even while your character is making the connection. You'll need to find the balance so that readers don't get bored because they figured it out three chapters ago and the character (given the same hints, not using dramatic irony this time) is so dense they just don't get it.

Last but not least, if you're building up some great suspense, you better make sure your solution is just as great. Unless you're trying to screw with your readers' heads, don't hold a simple solution ransom just to make your readers watch. Nothing turns me off to a series more than reading or watching a story that is keeping one stupid secret. Your story should be engaging to read whether the reader knows the ending or not. I watched the Sixth Sense plenty of times even though I knew the ending because the whole movie is good. Don't mistake secrets for good mystery.

Create suspense and mystery by giving out knowledge at the right times. Don't ever hold a piece of knowledge ransom just to keep your reader reading. They should enjoy the story just as much as the revelation at the end.

So in the end ask yourself. Do I need to keep this secret? If you do, then make the whole journey up to that secret enjoyable too. If you don't need to keep the secret, then tell it as early as possible and see where your story takes you.

(NOTE: I'm going to be consolidating my blogs soon. I've just got too many. I'll probably put them all here so keep a look out.)

Send and Recieve

A writer's plight is common among human kind; the frustration of true communication. Whereas most people will speak and accept reply, the writer, or in truth all artists, will create an entire discussion and wait with bated breath for a response. But when the reader completes their half of the discussion they often have no method of response. The conversation is dead, and the symbol of the writer's idea has no life until one day two readers meet. But then the writer still has no more part in it.

Truth be told, many writers may prefer to avoid this discussion. After all, what kind of replies do they get? Just like any conversation it is important to find the right kind of partner.

But when a writer creates and their discussion finds place in the fertile mind of the right reader every once in a great while the reader and the writer may connect. And then, when the discussion continues, the experience is a kind of nirvana. It is then the ultimate irony that a writer struggles in solitude when their only goal is communication.