Tuesday, April 05, 2016

Comments: 1

SO, DO YOU WANT TO BE AN AUTHOR?

Greetings to all my faithful followers and friends. I have to apologize for not writing to you for almost 2 weeks. Frankly, I have no excuse (other than I have been sick in bed for most of it). But, now I'm back.
Have you "Liked" and "Shared" this blog post on Facebook yet, or "Retweeted" it on Twitter yet. Also have you signed up for my email letters on my Blog Site? I would love to see you there and have you introduce yourselves and give comments to my posts. And also keep in mind "Bridgetown High" is still available on Amazon and Barnes&Noble. You can read some GREAT reviews on both of them.



I think I ended my last post, explaining about how I began "Bridgetown High." If you remember I had a college professor who taught me to define a beginning and ending and work the story toward the two.

I also read a book by Dean Koontz called "How to Write Best-Selling Fiction." It's a great book for anyone wanting to write best selling novels (though his methods in today's book markets are a bit obsolete.

But back then (30 or so years ago) I started with trying to work out an opening scene. It needed to plunge my main character into some kind of trouble. My first idea was to have Mark sitting in his classroom, watching the clock tick off the minutes 'till the end of class. He is nervous. Sweat drops from his underarms and he hopes he's not going to be offensive when he asks Charisse for a date. It's kind of exciting, but after further consideration I felt that that was too far into the story and I needed to begin earlier. That's when I came up with the ending. I felt that would be more enticing, and at first I put it as the opening scene. Then, I still needed an ending, but I did come up with something you'll have to read for yourself (no spoilers allowed on this blog site). It was only at the insistence of my former critique group members, that I put the beginning at the end -- again, you'll have to read the book to know what I mean.

To say the least, "Bridgetown High" went through many revisions and edits before it was ready for publication.

More next week.
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About Paul West

Paul West is a freelance writer and novelist. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Paul claims to be a "Prune Picker," though he now makes his home in Taylorsville, Utah.

You can follower him on Twitter: @PaulWWest

Published: Tuesday, April 05, 2016

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1 comment

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