WIP Wednesday - Sight

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but when a writer is conjuring the image of a scene in the reader's mind, every word must count.

Though descriptions are comprised of all the senses, the one used the most is that of sight.

At any time, there are hundreds if not thousands of images in front of you. Your mind filters those images so you see what you want to see. But look more closely and you might become more aware of the hard, sleek lines of your computer monitor... The color of your desk and those things on top of it... The walls around you, or the scene outside your window...

You may see the fields in the distance or the uneven bark of the tree in front of you... Lush pink blossoms or the bees and hummingbirds attracted to it... Technology, such as phones, eReaders, televisions, radios, printers... Or papers, calendars, pens, eyeglasses...

What a writer describes in each scene must have significance, either to set the stage or to provide information that will be significant in that scene and upcoming ones. If they describe every little thing, the reader becomes overwhelmed with what they should remember versus what may be insignificant.

Tuesday Teaser - Sam Mazoli

This is the fifth Tuesday in which I'm profiling the main characters in my Black Swamp Mysteries series. Today it's Sam Mazoli, the head of the psychic spy program for the CIA.

There was never any doubt in my mind who would play Sam Mazoli, the head of the psychic spy program for the CIA, Vicki’s boss—and also the man who adopted her—as well as Dylan Maguire’s boss.

I always pictured Robert De Niro when I thought of Sam. Sam is brusque, no-nonsense, the kind of boss that you don’t joke around with and you don’t even attempt to take liberties. He is experienced, jaded, a cynic and a skeptic. He also has an eye for talent, whether it’s taking a 12-year-old girl with psychic abilities and turning her into a spy—or recognizing the opportunistic, chameleon-like qualities of an Irishman who can pretend to be someone else.

There is much to Sam just below the surface but carefully hidden lest people discover his true nature. He can make life-or-death decisions, interrogate suspects, turn a blind eye to torture, and appear bored even during the most sensitive and gut-wrenching missions. But he can also rescue a cat down-on-her-luck, care for angelfish and their babies, recognize an illegal immigrant’s dilemma and give her a job, and help care for a dog who needs a friend.

Sam first appears in Vicki’s Key and continues through the rest of the series, sometimes making life difficult for everyone involved, sometimes lending a hand when it’s least expected… and always arriving with a new CIA mission in hand.

Thursday Thoughts - The Nose Knows

Noses are frequently overlooked when describing characters, but they can conjure up an image faster than almost anything else.

Consider these descriptions and what images come to mind as you read them:

He had a bulbous nose with purple veins;

His nose waggled when he spoke, as if it had a mind of its own;

Her nose was fleshy and soft, and turned down at the end;

Her nose appeared like it was taken off a parrot and I couldn't seem to stop staring at it;

His nose was patrician; perfectly shaped;

His nostrils flared when he spoke;

His nose seemed to have a golf ball shaped lump at the end of it, which reddened as the day wore on;

Her nose was so flat, her nostrils seemed to be lodged in the skin just above the lip;

Her nose turned up at the end, which always made her appear haughty and conceited;

He was much taller than me and I always seemed to be staring up his nostrils when he drew near.

WIP Wednesday - Sounds

Sounds are an integral part of a scene, helping the reader to determine whether the main character is alone, with a few people, or in a crowd.

The character can hear the sounds of laughter or arguing... Feet shuffling when they should be alone in the house... Steady, heavy footsteps on stairs... The sound of a refrigerator kicking on... Or the overwhelming sound of silence when electricity goes dead...

They can hear macaws or monkeys, conjuring immediately the image of a jungle... Or of seagulls and dolphins laughing, transporting the reader instantly to the ocean... The heavy-handed sound of a truck blasting its horn or a train whistle splitting the darkness...

It can be the sound of phones ringing and people talking... of music playing in the background... The sound of something crashing to the floor, but you don't know what...

Sound can draw you in or push you away. It can evoke feelings of security or terror. It can raise the red flag that something isn't right. Or it can lull you into complacency...

It can be the sound of surf hitting the sides of a boat, rolling in at intervals so unevenly spaced that it keeps you on edge...

The sound of the wind in a growing fury as a hurricane nears...

It can be the sound of a lover screaming for help in the darkness, their voice bouncing off the wind and the rain so you don't know from which direction it came...

The sudden, violent sound of thunder...

Sound rounds out a scene like no other sense can do.

Tuesday Teaser - Christopher Sandige

This week, I'm answering the question about my character's backgrounds with information on Christopher Sandige, who made his first appearance in Exit 22 and has remained throughout the Black Swamp Mysteries series. Last week, I profiled Brenda Carnegie; the week before, Dylan Maguire; and the week before, Vicki Boyd.

Christopher Sandige is an anti-hero, a guy who is more at ease behind a desk constructing political strategies for his Congressman boss than he is running for his life through alligator-infested swamps with Brenda Carnegie.

He told himself he didn’t want a woman, a marriage, a typical family life in the suburbs. His hours were long and often began with coffee at his desk and ended with pizza delivery to the office. All that changed when he met Brenda.

The woman awakened in him desires he didn’t think he had—a longing to be with her, a need for romance, a desire for intimacy, an urge to protect her—even when he knew she was quite capable of protecting herself. He’d never really had eyes for anybody other than Brenda and though he knows she is dangerous, he can’t seem to tear himself away from her.

When push comes to shove, it turns out he is quite capable of handling a gun, of fighting off an attacker in hand-to-hand combat, of working in a team that often finds itself at the wrong end of a barrel… and of crossing the line without a look back.

If the Black Swamp Mysteries series was made into a movie, who would I want to play him? My pick would be Tom Weston-Jones.

Next week: Sam Mazoli.

Thursday Thoughts - Body Types

Some body types are often overused in books, while others are rarely encountered.

Women, of course, have vastly different body types than men. They are more often pear-shaped as they age where men's bodies frequently become apple-shaped with age. Either description conjures the image of an older person, at least of middle age.

A description of a waif-like creature conjures the image of a young woman or girl, where a muscled, hard body automatically conjures the image of a man at his peak.

There are also barrel shaped bodies, much like an apple shape, voluptuous, rubenesque... versus stick-thin, reedy, willowy, or slight.

Describe a man as slight with rounded shoulders and stick-thin arms and I have the image of a man whose job is behind a desk... But describe a man as tanned and brawny with arms like pistons and I have the image of someone more likely to be an outdoorsman who earns his living lifting or swinging heavy things - a logger or perhaps in construction.

Describe a man who is as big around as he is tall with pallid skin and arms as soft as a woman's and now I have the image of a man of great wealth who has everything handed to him; one who leads a soft life. His knees might creak as he rises, or one flight of stairs might wind him, or heat and humidity may cause him to perspire heavily.

WIP Wednesday - The Touch

Sometimes I may write a scene in which the main character's eyes are blindfolded, which means they must discover the world around them through their other senses... Or they may be surrounded by pitch blackness, as Mary Neely was in Songbirds are Free, when she attempted to escape the Shawnee warriors who had captured her.

In such circumstances, the sense of touch can round out a scene, making the reader feel as if they are there, discovering their surroundings just as the main character does.

What they touch can be as varied as the velvety soft skin of a woman's cheek... the hard muscles of a man's biceps... the silky fur of a collie or the coarse fur of a short-haired Jack Russell... the uneven, prickly paneling of a wall or the smooth texture of drywall... satiny smooth sheets or rough burlap... the cold, hard feel of handcuffs or the unyielding, abrasive rub of a rope around the wrists...

A touch can be tentative or abrupt... violent or loving... soothing or terrorizing...

Touch can evoke emotion. When using touch in a scene, it has to keep the action moving.