Welcome
to Louise Rose-Innes who writes about a subject that will relate to many
members.
They say you should write what you read, but what if
you love two distinctly different genres? I fell
Then as I matured, I moved on to crime. I read a
Sydney Sheldon that my parents had in their bookcase and I was hooked. I sped
through all of his books, then went on to Robert Ludlum, Michael Connolly,
David Baldacci and the list continues…
Funnily enough, when I finally sat down to pen my own book,
it was romance that I tried first. I signed up for a romance writing short
course and loved it. I was addicted. After many false starts I finally finished
a 50K word romance novel – and boy was I proud of it. I knew it wasn’t a work
of art, but it was a fine starting point. It motivated me to write harder,
learn more about the romance writing craft, delve into conflict, relationships
and resolutions. I devoured every book I could find on the topic. I joined the
RNA and went through the New Writer’s Scheme. Words cannot express how valuable
that lesson was for me. Eventually I got a romantic suspense novel published
and self-published some of my older works, that I’d reworked. I was a bona fide
romance author. Woo-hoo!
Then the inkling began… If I could write romance,
surely I could conquer crime thrillers too? My reading tastes became more crime
oriented over the years and now I rarely read romance anymore. I’d been writing
romantic suspense for a few years, so I was ready.
I outlined a suspense novel, tentatively, after
reading in-depth about creating suspense, conflict in crime novels and
analysing all the hundreds of crime novels I’d read in the last ten years. Then
I outlined it a second time, and a third. I left the outline for a while and
wrote another romance. Then went back to it and fleshed it out, worked on some
of the more complicated plot points and ironed out some creases in the story.
Now I was ready to put pen to paper.
It took me three months to finish the first draft. I
wrote every day for about 3 hours. That was the only time I had available.
Luckily, I’m a fast typist and if the story is flowing I can hit 6000 words per
day with relative ease. I sent the draft to my mother, who is a big crime
reader too. She made some valid points and I reworked the manuscript a second
time, smoothing the rough edges and building in deeper conflicts, past traumas
and adding tension.
I think the hardest part for me was the plotting. With
romance, the story is more character driven. So while there is a plot, it’s the
personalities of the characters that drive the story forward. While this is
true to a certain extent in crime, a good, well thought out, intricate and
clever plot is worth it’s weight in gold. The idea behind the story that hasn’t
been done a thousand times before – that’s what really got to me. I laboured
over the plot for ages in the outline, slept on it, researched certain angles
and added more layers. This is an art in itself and is way more difficult that
I expected.
When it came to writing the novel, layering on the
suspense, foreshadowing and building tension required a great deal of thought.
Often, I’d reach a point in the book, and go back and add in some foreshadowing
earlier in the novel before continuing. Or I’d set something up and then it
wouldn’t materialise… and I’d have to go back and rework that section.
On the flip side, the development of the characters
came easily to me. Their past traumas, the psychology of the villain, the
developing love interest between the main characters were all things I’d done
before, practiced and got right. I felt this was a strength that I’d carried
through from writing romance.
The danger, of course, is adding too much romance into
a crime novel – and this is something I am aware I may have done. Old habits
die hard. But since this is my first attempt, I’m not being too critical of
myself. My second thriller, set in the United Kingdom, will be grittier as I
get a handle on the tougher nature of crime novels and the lack of demand for
romance. I’ve already outlined it and am waiting for the moment to sit down and
let it take me on it’s journey.
What
I’ve Learned:
1.
Writing romance will set you up nicely for developing
characters in crime novels. Your additional insight into what makes people tick
will give your characters depth and hidden layers that will be useful in other
genres.
2.
Building suspense is a multi-layered process and (in
my opinion) impossible to get right in one draft. As your story changes and
develops, tension will escalate, but foreshadowing and plot points will need to
be reworked.
3.
Plotting is crucial to a fast-moving story. There
can’t be any holes, and to drive a 80K word story, it has to be complicated or
intricate or else it won’t sustain the novel. Plot twists are hard to get
right, as so many things have been done already and you don’t want your reader
finding the book predictable.
4.
Reading thrillers and analysing what other successful
writers do is a worthwhile pursuit. I’ve made notes on countless other books
and learned from them. Be your own teacher, if you want to try out another
genre.
5.
Give it a go. As a storyteller, there is no reason why
you can’t tackle another genre, especially if you read it and enjoy it as well.
I took ages to work up the confidence to write my first thriller, but I’m so
glad I did.
UNDERCURRENT is the new
suspense novel by Louise Rose-Innes, and is currently under review with various
publishers. Sign up to Louise’s newsletter to be notified of it’s release date.
Blurb: Ex-special
forces private investigator, Munro Crane, is forced to betray the man who saved
his life in order to see justice served.
Links:
Thank you Louise and good luck placing your latest work.
If you would like to write for the RNA blog please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com
