Over at Backspace, a writers community I belong to, a member started a conversation about chapter endings and beginnings. I’ve followed it closely because in reading the thread I realized a lot about my own endings and beginnings.

You might think that’s backwards–endings and beginnings–but in fact that’s exactly right. Why? Because the first sentence, paragraph or two–your hook, what you open your book with–is more important than any other beginning so I consider that separate. It should be crafted with the purpose of enticing the reader to keep reading. Sol Stein, a famous literary attorney, said that he and a publishing friend once watched browsers in a bookstore. If they picked up the book, they almost always read the first page or two–and either bought it or put it back on the shelf. The cover entices them to pick it up (or the name, or something else), but it’s the writing that makes them buy . . . or not.

We talked about hooks awhile back here and MSW and we’ll probably talk about them again in the future because they are important, but there’s something equally important as the opening hook. And that’s selling the reader on your next book. And part of that–other than of course the writing–is keeping them engaged. Chapter endings entice them to keep reading–just one more chapter before turning out the light. But beginning that next chapter is just as important.

I never struggle with ending a chapter–I intuitively know when to end it. But beginning a chapter? That’s harder for me. I have to think about that opening line, because you’re hooking the reader all over again. Just like you don’t want them to put the book down at the end of a chapter, you don’t want them to read the first paragraph of the next chapter and think, “Oh, this can wait until tomorrow.”

I am such a slacker. I meant to write this last night and use examples from books–and I might to that next week. But I’m sitting here at Panera Bread about to get working on my paranormal novella and realized I had forgotten to finish this post. Grrr. So bare with my off-the-cuff examples!

The end of one chapter segues into the next, but the transition is in itself a hook. For example:

Cliffhanger #1: Same time and place
“Watch out!” she cried. “He has a gun!”

Then begin the next chapter with the next moment in time.

John stared at the approaching gunman, his own weapon out of reach.

You can stay in the same POV or switch POVs, whatever works for your book.

Cliffhanger #2: Same time, different place

“Watch out!” she cried. “He has a gun!”

Then begin the next chapter at a different location. You’ve left one set of characters confronting a man with a gun; now you move to a completely different scene. The reader wants to know what’s happening with the gun, but this scene is also important–or should be. For example in movies when they go back and forth and you don’t know if the hero is going to make it in time to save his loved one.

John slammed on his brakes as the mother and child stepped into the crosswalk. Couldn’t they hear the siren?

Revelation: Dialogue

Dialogue is a powerful tool for raising another question that the reader wants to have answered. One cop turns to another after examining a crime scene.

“Suicide?” John asked.

Jim shook his head. “She was dead before hitting the pavement.”

The next chapter could begin at the same point in time, or maybe the coroner arrives, or maybe it’s the next day at the autopsy, or in the villain’s POV, or maybe the POV of another victim. It doesn’t matter, as long as you eventually answer that question for the reader–how did she die? We know she died before hitting the pavement (obviously they suspected suicide because it was a jumper) but did she have a seizure and accidentially fall from the balcony? Was she poisoned? It could be anything–you answer one question, but raise another.

Revelation: Personal Introspection or Narrative

Internal or personal relevation is often used when a character makes a decision that impacts the story. This is usually in the narrative.

Janet stared at the gun in her shaking hands. She hadn’t held it since the last time, when she’d killed a man in cold blood. Why was she scared? She shouldn’t be. She knew how to use it, she knew how to kill. And John’s life was on the line.

Then why couldn’t she load the damn revolver?

So the question is, will Janet be able to get over her fear to save John’s life? Anything could happen in the next scene, from being in John’s POV (and maybe he’s not in danger–yet) to her POV as she walks to her car and we, the reader, don’t know whether she had the courage to load and bring her weapon. Or we can see her loading it as she remembers the last time she used it to kill her stepfather as he was about to rape her. So many possibilities.

Description

Description is one of the hardest ways to end and begin a chapter–for me. Other writers seem to do this effortlessly. To me, the most effective way is if setting is character. Is a storm brewing? Keep the momentum of the mounting storm building into the next chapter. Or if it’s a contrast between where the heroine is–in the middle of a snow storm–to where the hero is–in a hot office building in NY, show the contrast. I, personally, don’t like too much description, but when done well it gives a powerful feeling to the story, and can be a hook in itself. Weather is just one example. Narrative describing the state of a dead body, for example. You’ve seen shows where an innocent bystander is walking through the woods with his dog and comes across a dead woman. The visual that you see can be translated to the printed page. Then the next chapter may start with the crime scene techs all over tha scene, a contrast from the peaceful morning walk of a man with his dog with birds chirping, to what seems like mass confusion, lights and sirens, shouts and cursing.

I remember a workshop I took and I swear I can’t remember who taught it. I want to say Jennifer Dunne. It was a STAR workshop. Anyway, she gave a lesson to describe a scene in one way, but leave the reader with the opposite impression. For example, showing the beauty of a setting through the villain’s eyes–red is blood red, ferns have sharp cutting edges, etc. I wrote a scene from the killer’s POV for THE PREY during this workshop without knowing it was going in the book. He walked into a floral shop with the purpose of killing the girl behind the counter, but as he waits for the customers to leave he describes the flowers and plants. Ending a chapter on such a descriptive conflict can be powerful.

Omniscent

I love omniscent POV. This is author intrusion and when used sparingly can be incredibly effective. In THE HUNT, for example, I had a scene in Nick’s POV as he’s walking around a deserted cabin. No one’s there. Then he sees boots, and as he’s reaching for his gun he’s hit over the head. I end the chapter with something like, “Nick was unconscious before he hit the ground.”

In this same vein, I love switching POV just for that last sentence. In my upcoming SPEAK NO EVIL I did that after Nick (now the hero!) puts everything on the line to be involved in the investigation that may prove his brother is a murderer. He is relieved and makes a sly comment to the heroine. He walks off with another character and Carina looks after him, realizing that Nick Thomas’s simply country sheriff act is just that, an act. That there’s more to him than he wants anyone to know, but she’s up for the challenge.

When you use omniscent or switch POV at the end, you can start the next chapter anywhere.

To summarize, you can begin chapters:

* Same time, same place, same POV
* Same time, same place, different POV
* Same time, different place
* Different time, same place
* Different time, different place

Whatever you do, look at the connectivity between your chapter endings and beginnings. Do BOTH want to keep you reading? Pick up a book by one of your favorite authors. JUST read the last paragraph of the first three chapters AND the first paragraph of the subsequent chapters. How do they work together? What techniques do they use? Do you want to keep reading?

There are probably many more examples that I haven’t listed here. In the end, don’t overanalyze your work. I never look at the endings or beginnings until after I’ve written them. The most important thing is your voice and the story that comes from your characters. Then go back and maximize the impact of your hooks.

At the beginning of 2006, I made a resolution I suspected wouldn’t stick. The resolution was to slow down, take a breath, enjoy life for a change. Well, I didn’t slow down. In fact, if anything, ‘stuff’ in my life seemed to pile up even higher. Life sped on, and the year ended with me feeling like Ron Guidry, sliding toward home plate on my belly, arms outstretched.

As 2006 concluded and everyone around me began to proclaim new resolutions for 2007, although very few of them accomplished the ones made at the beginning of 2006, I figured I’d just as soon jump into the mix. I mean, why not? Just because I didn’t accomplish my resolution last year, didn’t mean I couldn’t try again this year, right?

So I sat down with pen and paper and started thinking….if the opposite of what I said I wanted last year came to pass, maybe I should take a reverse stance this year? In other words, if I list a gazillion things I resolve to accomplish this year, maybe the opposite will happen?

Nah. Sounded good in theory, but I have a feeling reverse psychology doesn’t work well on the cosmos. Hell, it didn’t even work well on my children. Scratching that notion, I began to consider something else….I turn one year older in 2007. Why in the hell would I want to slow down now anyway? If I’ve got only one shot at this thing called life, then shouldn’t I shake everything out of it I can while I can? Do I think I need to slow down because someone/everyone says I should? Because ‘they’ said I need to ‘stop and smell the roses’? Hmmm…was that the underlying motivation for last year’s resolution? Did I make it because other people said that’s what I should do? If so, then that could very well explain why it didn’t happen. Last year’s resolution wasn’t really ‘mine.’ The way I see it, I stop and smell the roses fine enough. Sure, I may not come to a complete halt and suck in deep so the rose petals stick to my nostrils, but I do smell ‘em.

Interesting thoughts, but all that philosophizing only led me back to the original question…what do I resolve to accomplish this year? After deliberating and doodling for over an hour, only one word kept coming up again and again—LIVE.

So that’s what I plan to do. Live. Not the kind of living where you simply breathe in and out, but the kind that makes you eager to wake each morning just because it’s morning. In essence, I plan to take on life and shake it down for all it’s worth. That means I’ll play harder, laugh harder, explore new things with vigor, love without purpose, work with purpose, and be thankful for each and every one of those opportunities.

May this new year bring each of you more joy, peace, health, success, and love than you’ve ever known.

Today, January 2, 2007, BEHIND CLOSED DOORS is officially released. This is my second book with St. Martin’s Press. I can’t really tell you what will happen with this book. That’s one thing I’ve discovered. As Allison Brennan told me once, all you can do is write the best book you can. The rest is up to fate. Or fairy dust. So I can’t predict the outcome of this book’s launch. What I can tell you is this.

I was inspired, today, on the second day of 2007, to believe. To believe in this story, in the characters, in my ability to tell a good story. I’ve been pretty nervous, so I can’t say exactly what happened to inspire me. Maybe it was the fact that my revisions on the second Jenny T. Partridge book went well. Or maybe it was the fact that the tough revisions on my third book for St. Martin’s suddenly became so clear that a bell might as well have been ringing over my head–suddenly I knew exactly what this book needed.

But it happened. Inspiration hit, and I realized that this, this writing profession, is a walk of faith. It really is. You have to believe in yourself, in the writing. And you also have to understand that sometimes it isn’t going to be so easy to believe.

Sometimes the faith will waver. Sometimes you will doubt yourself, and everything about your writing. But in the end, you have to come back and believe. You have to have faith that in the end, you will pull it off, because you believe in it.

Of course, to do that, you must believe in what you have written. And I do. I know this is a good book, with strong characters and an intense storyline. In BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, I tell the story of Jannie Fox, a domestic violence counselor who herself has forgotten how to live. She’s fighting desperately for other women, but when it comes to herself, she is paralyzed. It takes the disappearance of her best friend Melissa to jolt her from this frozen state, and face up to her demons.

Jannie is a strong character. She just doesn’t always realize it. Sort of like me, I guess. I have to believe.

I have to take the walk of faith. I believe BEHIND CLOSED DOORS is a riveting and suspenseful read. I hope you will agree.

But everyone once in a while, that demon goes away. Is that good? I don’t think so. And I lost it. For the past few months, I forgot to believe in me. I fell prey to the “compare” boogaboos, and I compared my success to the success of other writers. I have to ask myself today, why? You are you. You got here for a reason. WHY do you compare? And yet I do because I lack faith. Writers have to have FAITH in themselves. And yet we don’t. And maybe it’s because this business robs it. It is a faith carnivore. It is a merciless thief, sneaking out in the night, whispering innuendos, and fears, and filling our heads with hints of failure and desperation.

I have seen it happen to all my published friends, in ways that those still seeking publication cannot and will not understand–until they stand there, in these shoes. Shoes that can suddenly disintegrate and turn to sand. Shaky shoes, that will disappear when the carnivore comes calling.

Where we once believed in our talents, with all of our hearts, things have changed. Now we don’t believe. We knew we had a good book. So did the editor. So did the agent. And yet, there are sell throughs, and advances, and numbers, and lists that you don’t make. There are bad reviews, or no reviews, and people who have never heard of you. It’s like being back in junior high or high school, and not being invited to the big party. And it doesn’t MATTER that you got invited to the big party last week, or last month, or that you were dating the hot guy just two days ago.

Everything can change and turn on a dime. Success. You make it, you finally succeed, you are finally one of the popular kids… now who wants to go back? No one, and yet we all realize we can be back there, that quick. Just like that.

This business is a walk of faith. We can’t lose that faith. I know how easily it happens. I have seen it. I have experienced it.

But I want to send now, to my fellow murdershewrites comrades, a shout out. I know you have it. I KNOW you do. I believed, and still believe in all of you.

Jennifer Apodaca, Allison Brennan, Deborah LeBlanc, and Karin Tabke (in alphabetical order, because you all mean so much to me, and I couldn’t possibly rank you)….. You have kept me grounded through some pretty rough times. This walk of faith is a hike of major intensity.

I find myself lost, alone, crazy, nervous, and then one of you steps up and builds me up again. And I know I’m not alone. This walk of faith is a tough one. But I will get there. I will be there with you.

Happy New Year! Someone please tell me where the time is going? All of a sudden, time is flying by. My kids are growing, but butt is growing…

Never mind, I’m off track. Back to the topic—reading in 2006. What Are Your Memories? I thought I’d toss out a few questions and we could all have fun answering them.

1) What new-to-you authors did you discover in 2006?
2) What are the three most memorable or surprising books you read?
3) What is the one book you didn’t get a chance to read but wanted to?
4) What is the one book you wish you hadn’t wasted your time or money on?
5) Do you have a New Years Reading Resolution for 2007?

My answers come with a caveat. While I’m a voracious reader, but I don’t keep the books I read. I give them away, I always have. So I’m going to end up naming books I’ve read recently because my memory isn’t all that great.

1) JR Ward and Holly Lisle spring to mind.
2) VANISH by Tess Gerritson, DARK LOVER (and LOVER ETERNAL and LOVER AWAKENED) and THE TURNING by Jennifer Armintrout.
3) DARK FEVER by Karen Moning.
4) There was one that sticks in my mind. It was a erotic book that went way beyond my comfort zone. It was like a traffic accident—I couldn’t look away but was pretty grossed out while reading it. Too bad I’m not going to tell you the title or author! (NOT one of the MSW gals, I love all their books!)
5) Read more books just for fun!