Beginning, Middle & End

What’s the one thing all novels have in common? A beginning, middle, and end. The differences lie in the details. Some books are like fireworks: a dazzling beginning that builds, only to fizzle at the end. Some books start strong but sag in the middle like an old mattress. The best books hook you from the start and hold your interest with steadily building tension leading to a satisfying conclusion. For a writer, it’s a juggling act to create a novel that will hold a reader’s interest from Page One till “The End.” Harder than it looks. But if we do our job well, it appears effortless.

This reminds me of something a former agent of mine once said: “It’s hard to write even a bad book.” Something to consider before you post that one-star review. Whatever you might think of someone’s book, know the author’s sweat, blood, and tears went into the making of it. This is why I never post anything less than a three-star review. If I don’t care for a particular book, I don’t post a review. It’s like my mom always said: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.”

I’m luckier than most. I learned the basics from writing teen romances before I published my first adult novel GARDEN OF LIES. The ugly truth about writing for kids is that kids will read a book for only one of two reasons: a} if it grabs their interest from Page One (preferably the first paragraph) or b) because it’s assigned reading in school. While adults will give a book that might be a bit slow in the beginning a chance if they paid good money for it, or someone else recommended it. So while I was churning out titles for the “Sweet Valley High” series and my own series’ “Seniors,” “Swept Away,” and “Who Killed Peggy Sue,” I was learning how to grab a reader’s interest with a great hook, end each chapter with a cliffhanger, and carry through to a strong finish. Judging from the success I’ve enjoyed in my career, I pulled off my juggling act for the most part. I didn’t drop any balls at least.

Three days ago I typed my two favorite words in the English language: “The End” in completing the most recent draft of my novel “The Tattooed Ladies’ Club of Gold Creek.” I think I did a good job of incorporating my agent’s notes. Mainly, I followed my rule of thumb and the advice I give to aspiring writers: write a book you would want to read. My latest novel begins with a woman on the run from her abusive husband. Along the way, she kidnaps a dog she sees being neglected by its owner. “No barking,” she tells the dog. “If we’re going to do this, it has to be a clean getaway.” Not quite a clean getaway, as it turns out. The owner spies her as she’s making a run for it with the dog, leading to a three-point turn in the parking lot worthy of a stuntwoman filming a car chase. So by the end of Chapter One you, the reader, will hopefully see her as a brave person despite her poor opinion of herself (she sees herself as weak for having put up with her husband’s abuse for as long as she did), and someone you might want to accompany on her journey to redemption.

At mid-point while writing the novel, I had a moment of panic like I always do when I get that part in any work-in-progress. Could I pull it off, keep the tension going without the dreaded sag in the middle? I had lost all perspective at that point. I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. This is where faith comes in. Each scene I created from that point on was written on the wings of my faith alone. The faith I have in myself as a writer. Each day when I sit down at my writing desk, I say to myself “I’ve done this before, I can do it again.”

I suppose it’s like life in that sense. We never knew the outcome of any given set of circumstances. We just have to trust our instincts before taking any action and hope that it will all work out. Usually, it does.