In every book the prime aim of a good author is to keep the reader enthralled. Whether you’re writing romance, suspense, vampire or a good old scary ghost-story you have to capture that book lover. But do your scenes have to be completely over the top to be a gripping read for your audience?
I asked a few author friends to give me some examples of things they’d written in some of their books which they thought captivated their readers.
Nestling on the black velvet was an exquisite ankle bracelet made of heavy silver. The stalker fingered the smooth worked metal with a tender touch and then turned the bracelet over. On the inside were the sinister words that had been inscribed earlier, “Mine, all mine.”
Each victim had been given such a bracelet, and they had worn it with pride, not knowing that the gift singled them out. It was as befitting as a gift could be. They were the chosen ones.
The stalker gave a smile and lovingly replaced the bracelet in the box. It was almost time. Soon, very soon, the final one would receive her gift. Faith Mortimer, author of this blog and The Surgeon’s Blade. Available at Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk
I asked a few author friends to give me some examples of things they’d written in some of their books which they thought captivated their readers.
Nestling on the black velvet was an exquisite ankle bracelet made of heavy silver. The stalker fingered the smooth worked metal with a tender touch and then turned the bracelet over. On the inside were the sinister words that had been inscribed earlier, “Mine, all mine.”
Each victim had been given such a bracelet, and they had worn it with pride, not knowing that the gift singled them out. It was as befitting as a gift could be. They were the chosen ones.
The stalker gave a smile and lovingly replaced the bracelet in the box. It was almost time. Soon, very soon, the final one would receive her gift. Faith Mortimer, author of this blog and The Surgeon’s Blade. Available at Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk
Bang! Bang! Bang! Clint was back and pounding on the door. “Okay, okay, I’m coming.” Eyes half open, Samantha lifted the bar and flung open the door. She’d decided to give him a nasty piece of her mind upon his return. “Clint we neeee…”The man standing there wasn’t Clint. Instantly his foot was in the threshold preventing her from slamming the door shut.
“Well, well. What do we have here?” He took another step inside the cabin while she took another step back. Lisa Day, author of The Stepbrothers. Available at Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk
http://lisaday.weebly.com/
“Do you fear for your life?” Without waiting for her answer, he added. “You should, because it means nothing. You are a mere plaything, but she is a friend.” Without warning, he bit into her neck tearing through the skin until the copper taste of blood touched his tongue. The bitter taste of taint disgusted him and deepened his anger. Two thousand years of bitterness well up inside of him rising to the surface until he ripped through Bronwyn’s artery in his rage. Charity Parkerson, author of The Danger with Sinners. Available at Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk : http://charity-thesinners.blogspot.com
I'm crashed out in the bed and I'm dreaming. Full colour. Full sound. It's a summer's day. Children are playing, shouting, somewhere off in the distance and I'm looking at this one kid sitting under an old oak tree. There's something familiar about him. Those round spectacles on a 10-year-old kid. He's using them to look intently at something he's holding in his hand. My heart races. It's Ersmith as a 10-year-old boy. What's that he has in his hand? I zoom in. He opens his hand. It's a spider, quite big, about two inches across. And the spider's running away but just before it can make it, Ersmith picks it up again by one of its legs. He's smiling. He's looking intently, observing the thing through those 20/20 specs. He pulls off one of the spider's legs and places the animal back on the ground. He's watching, seeing how the spider manages with just seven legs. He's smiling again. He's picking up the spider and pulling off another leg. He's watching again, looking to see how the animal now copes. It's asymmetric now. He's pulled off two legs from the same side to see how the spider moves lopsidedly. He's pulling off another leg. Another smile. He's watching, waiting. Another leg. Another smile. Another look of intense concentration. He leaves the animal with just one leg. The spider is lying there, waving that one long leg aimlessly in the air. He doesn't kill it. He watches for a long time. He smiles once more, stands up and leaves the animal there, unable to move.
I wake. I'm sweating. My heart is about to burst. Seb Kirby, author of Double Bind. Available at Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk: http://noveltakenomore.blogspot.com
I don't really do bloodthirsty, but I do recall a reader getting in touch to say she'd had to put this book down because one scene was giving her nightmares. A monster appears in a child's bedroom and holds him helpless while the child's mother watches. The scene is tense and is the reader's first real view of the bad guy. Sarah Barnard, author of The Portal Between. Available at Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk. http://sarahbarnard.co.uk
Robert had broken their necks while they were asleep. Cowardly, perhaps, doing it while they were asleep, but far less bothersome. He had then laid each out, one at a time, on the large kitchen table, a relic from some farmhouse Mrs Wilkinson had said, drained the blood from them and then carefully butchered the bodies into manageable portions. Kristen Stone, author of DayStalker. Available on Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk
http://kristen-the-writer.blogspot.com/
Just a few short excerpts from authors who write in very different styles and genre. Do you agree that letting your imagination do the work is best or do you prefer full-on gore? I’d be interested to know. Do check out these authors as there is some fine work here.
Thank you for dropping by…have a great week!
Faithx
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