On My Shelf: Chesapeake Bay Series by Nora Roberts

I love Nora Roberts! She writes beautifully and in such a way that I envy. I especially have a passion for her J.D. Robb “In Death” series and her trilogies. I recently read her Chesapeake Bay series, which consists of four books about four “brothers”.

The first three books were published as a trilogy and these three books are exceptional. I felt as though I lived at the Chesapeake Bay and was a part of the family. The three men are described so well that I believed they were real, and wished that I had brothers just like them. The women are as fascinating as can be, and the young boy is remarkable. 

I highly recommend these three books to anyone who wants to learn how to create characters that your readers can fall in love with. I also recommend them because the books are very good! I love the two main characters in the second book “Rising Tides”, and the third book, “Inner Harbor” is where everything finally unfolds. It is the climax of the whole series!

However, there is a slight flaw, which lies in the fourth and last book, “Chesapeake Blue”. This was a book that readers eagerly waited for because they all wanted to read the young boy's story next. But I was disappointed. The book was... boring. It was just another romance story and nothing happened. To me, it seemed as though it was written just to be written, because readers wouldn’t be happy until it was. But as a reader, I wasn’t satisfied with the story. 

TIP: If you’ve written a book or a trilogy and find that another book is expected, the next book that you write must be better than the last. As a matter of fact, it should be better than them all! If it’s not, you don’t just risk lowering the standard of your work but disappointing your readers. Or losing them!

So if you have to write a sequel or add another book to a series, make sure that it lives up to its standards. Think long and hard about what should happen in the story, how you can raise the stakes even more, and whether it will ultimately satisfy the readers when they finish reading the last sentence. 

TIP: Even though you write for yourself, you need to also write for your future readers, because readers make all of your struggles worthwhile. There is nothing better than knowing someone enjoys and appreciates your work!

QUESTION: Do you have a book recommendation for me to read? If I like it or find it useful it might be featured as a book for an On My Shelf post.

On My Shelf: “Forever…” By Jude Devaurux

I really loved reading the book “Forever…” by Jude Devaurux. The two main characters are great together, I enjoyed the light romance, and the bonus was the humor that was nearly on every page. This book was so good that I read it in just two days. The only downside was the ending.

TIP: The end of a book is as crucial as the beginning of a book. You use a hook to capture the reader’s attention and to keep them reading. For the end of a book, you want to do the same thing. You never want the story to fall flat, because it will leave a very bad impression on the reader. A disappointing ending may cause them not to pick up the next book, or not to pick up another book by you ever again.

When I got to the end of this book I was, in a word, angry. During the entire book, the story was leading up to a climax that promised to be exciting, but when that time came the readers were left out of the main event. In one moment, we are in the thick of suspense and in the next moment, we are kicked out of it into another room where the characters, who were not a part of the climax either, are trapped. Literally. Then when one escapes we think we will finally get to read the ending we’ve been expecting.

No such luck! The chapter ends right when we think the good stuff is going to start and all of a sudden it is a year later. So not only are we robbed of the climax, we are given a secondhand (and not even thorough) retelling of what happened.

TIP: When you’re writing a book, never skip the climax. If you build up to it, don’t just take the easy road by giving a secondhand telling of what happened. Go there! Bring the reader there! Write it all out from beginning to end.

For the second book in the trilogy, I was thrown off when one of the crucial characters was gone (with the snap of a finger). Plus, the tone changed from third person to first person. However, I loved the story! It was exciting, funny, and cute. Ultimately, it had a great ending.

TIP: If you’re writing a series, it’s supposed to flow to appear as though the story is continuing. Changing the point of view may throw the reader off. Also, don’t begin a book in the middle of a story. If something happened before the beginning of your story that readers should know about, write it! Don’t drop it on them like: “Oh, by the way…”

As for the third book in the trilogy, I loved it too. I loved it up until the ending. Once again I felt jipped. I was left with the impression that the book (and the trilogy for that matter) hadn’t been thought out completely and that the ending was pulled out of thin air. I expected a different ending because the whole book, as well as the book before it, hinted at what would need to happen for the trilogy to an end. But it seemed as though the author backed out of it at the last minute, or just forgot.

Don’t get me wrong... it’s good to trick your readers every now and then, especially with the climax, but not so much that they are bummed.

TIP: Read and reread what you have written to make sure that you didn’t forget anything you might have told your readers. Forgetting something you mentioned in your book is normal, and it does happen during the course of writing a novel.

In Conclusion: If you tell your readers one thing, you shouldn’t do something else. When this happens to me I feel as though the writer had lied. It’s important for the sake of your work, and for your relationship with your readers, to end your story how you hinted you would. Doing anything else will cause disappointment, but that doesn’t mean you still can’t provide a few twists or shock them with the identity of the killer.

With that said I still greatly enjoyed reading the trilogy and may even read them again. If you like light romance with heavy humor and psychics then give this trilogy a look!

Writing The Last Chapter

Here it is ladies and gentleman the chapter we have all been waiting for!

Chapter Twenty (or the final chapter of any book) is what you have been building up for ever since Chapter Ten (the middle of the book). This is when the climax is at its peak, all the secrets that your characters have been keeping are out in the open, and the bad guy is finally revealed!

Now is the moment to unleash that big, final event that you have been keeping locked up in her mind. Let your fingers run free upon the keyboard. Let your pen spill excited ink all over your paper. Set your muse free!

For a mystery, your detective knows, without a shadow of a doubt, who the culprit is. And they are taking him/her down! Make this event something that will make your readers catch their breath and hold it until your detective has the murderer in cuffs. This may be the end, but that doesn’t give you permission to skimp on the suspense now. Add as much suspense, fear, and gore as you want.

For a romance, have your lovebirds declare their love, if they haven’t already. Let them shout it from the rooftops! After everything that has happened in your book, and all that you put them through, they deserve their happily ever after!

For a thriller (horror, supernatural, etc.), bring on the battle! Now is the time for the protagonist and antagonist to have their final duel to the death. Use the action tips from blog # 25 (How To Write Action) to help you write an epic fight. Let blood spill and bones break. You can even trick your readers into believing that the protagonist may not win after all.

In other words, light the fuse for the deadly explosions and/or romantic fireworks because this is it! Do not hold back! Make your readers proud to have found such an excellent book, and make your characters proud to be in your novel.

How To Write Action

SHARE: A few details about the climax of your book.

Review Your Story; The Finale Is Coming

You’ve finished writing the chapters that lead to the big finale of your book, and you can’t wait to dive right into the ending.

But wait! Take a brief pause before continuing so you can review what you’ve written thus far. You don’t have to read every sentence from the beginning, but checking your plot to make sure your book is on track, and that you haven’t left anything important out, is great practice.

It would be disappointing for a reader if your story suddenly jumped from one story to a different one midway through the book. Make sure that every event, big or small, links together perfectly to create a whole. 

The story needs to flow from beginning to end. There can’t be lazy detours to reach the end faster that leaves questions unanswered, or roads that became a dead end. Once you start writing a plot twist or event, finish it and make sure the rest of the book hasn’t forgotten about it.

Reviewing your work is a great way to find things that you might have forgotten you added, or even characters that were in the beginning but faded away. Now is a great time to incorporate those characters back into the story and expand on parts that need more attention. 

Don’t forget that everything you have written, and everything you add or fix, has to make sense to the story and the ending you need to write.

Now hustle. Your characters are waiting for the climax.

QUESTION: Are you happy about the outcome of your book so far? You should be!

Reaching "THE END"

When you sense that you are getting closer to writing “The End” and according to your plot, you only have a few more events to write, then this is the moment when the intensity of your book must heighten to new and higher levels.

Chapters Seventeen, Eighteen, and Nineteen are meant to do just that. These chapters contain the last blasts of excitement before the finale, which is Chapter Twenty.

(Remember: your chapter numbers do not have to be identical with my previous statement. This is just a simple format for most books. Regardless of what chapter number your book will end on, the role of the two or three chapters before it is to raise the suspense, thrill, and/or romance. The first book in my series actually ended on Chapter Thirty-One. There are no rules for how long/short or how many chapters you can have in your book. It is your choice!)

For a mystery, your detective at this point is right on the heels of the suspect that has been murdering people during the course of your book. During these last few chapters your detective should be at the murderer’s doorstep, maybe even literally. The danger must be so intense that the book will pulse with a heartbeat in the reader’s hands.

For a romance, your two characters at this moment should finally accept their feelings about each other, even if they don’t exactly voice them yet. If they already have expressed their undying love for one another, perhaps something happens that could threaten to tear them apart forever. Until the last chapter that is. Unless you’re one of those romance writers who like tragic endings...?

For a thriller (horror, supernatural, etc.), the protagonist must be on the cusp of conquering his or her goal. Now is the time for battles. Now is the time for good to come face to face with evil. Now is the time for the world to hang on the balance of extinction.

But save the fireworks and explosion for Chapter Twenty!

QUESTION: What book(s) have you read that had the most exciting chapters leading up to the climax?