Happy Friday. Welcome to Help From My Friends Friday! You know what that means. I invite a friend to blog. Today my very special guest is Author Charlene Bell Dietz who is president of Sisters in Crime New Mexico chapter, Croak & Dagger. This blog is one that I plan to bookmark and flag for future reference. See if you don’t agree. Please welcome Charlene Bell Dietz. ~ Donnell
The Glue Holding our Stories Together
Author Charlene Bell Dietz
By: Charlene Bell Dietz
Donnell, thank you for the privilege of being your blogger today! This summer I’ve been judging books, lots and lots of books, for the NM-AZ Book Awards. During my late-night reading sessions, I read novels by authors who write well but their stories didn’t engage. They ruined their stories by overexplaining, using unnecessary descriptions, avoiding hard conflicts, and giving away all elements of suspense.
Years ago when I struggled as an unpublished writer a New York editor gave me list of tasks to incorporate into my scenes. He had ranked them in order of their strength and encouraged me to rely on the strongest ones, insisting each chapter end with an emotional reversal. He said I should pack the weaker tasks in as appropriate. I’m sharing these fourteen tasks and some examples because the glue holding our stories together comes from scenes and strong chapter scenes that entice us to keep reading pages. The more work a scene does the more captivating the story.
Weak Tasks: description, expositions, explanations, tie up loose ends, makes a point.
The yellow roses in the center matched the walls. Scenes need descriptions.
Usually a cheery room, tonight it picked up the negative energy of distress. Linn reached around Bubba’s immense, rain-dampened shoulders to pour his coffee, averting her eyes from the dark stain on his green polo shirt. Expositions and explanations clarify and elaborate.
The FBI hadn’t even had the decency to let him change it! Tying up loose ends and making a point.
Excerpt: The Dead Saint/Oden
We need these scenes to help ground the reader or provide a breather from intense action. Yet, authors should not rely on these weaker tasks, excluding the tougher ones. Good writing pulls emotional punches.
Medium Strength Tasks: set up a payoff, provide a payoff, set up another scene, and/or create some other esthetic or emotional effect.
These fuel stronger scenes than the first group; however, the next group of tasks provides heavyweight wallops.
Powerful Tasks: conflict, create suspense, reveal character, resolve suspense, emotional reversal.
Note: Scenes grow from motivations—why something happens. See how the subtext helps answers those whys.
Lurching from the shadows, William Keith, smelling of vomit, stood in her path. Conflict
Gingo reared and stumbled backwards. Regaining his balance, he snorted. Margaret patted his neck and whispered for him to stay calm. Nervous smells from the horse’s sweat rose in the damp air. Creating Suspense
“William Keith, I’m surprised to see you here. Are you sick?” She had left his wife and their five children less than an hour ago. Her stomach knotted. He had waited for her. . . Creating Suspense
“Sick of you, I’d say.” He coughed up something, then spat. “Ye’ve no business talking to my wife. She’s got you women plotting agin me. Since I figure you’re their leader, I’m here to see an end to your doings.” Keith cracked a long, black buggy whip toward Gingo. The animal shied sideways, causing Margaret to grab the pommel. Revealing Character, Conflict, and Suspense
“William Keith, please lower your whip.” Conflict
He continued to hold the whip at a threatening level. Conflict
Margaret held her breath and kept a well-practiced dispassionate look . . . Subtext
“Woman, hear what I have to say to ye.” He lowered the whip, and wiped his forehead with his sleeve. “I’ll beat her as long as she stays on with this sham. We’re not high born like you and your family. No one looks the other way for us. If the authorities uncover what she’s doing, they’ll think I approved of her behavior. They won’t fine me. Na. They’ll put us both under lock, take my lands, and we’ll be hanged.” Revealing Character and Conflict
Here stood a frightened, but dangerous, man. . . Revealing Character and Suspense
“William Keith, contemplate what I have to say.” She leaned forward and stared into his eyes. “Even if I never return to your town again, she will continue on with her studies.” Margaret straightened her back, which signaled Gingo to get ready to move. “You may continue to abuse her with words, your fist, or your whip, but I give you caution. You will not change her, but any man who partakes of his wife’s food preparations, or who sleeps soundly beside her at night would be well advised to treat this woman with affection and respect.” Revealing Character and Conflict
“Do not threaten me.” He waggled the whip in her direction. Conflict
She waited for him to find the words she expected him to say. Subtext
“If she poisons me or stabs me in my sleep, she’ll be off to prison and the gallows. She’d never do something dumb as that and leave her children without their ma and pa.” Conflict
“Except, as God’s way, your wife’s rounded stomach tells me she’s carrying your sixth child. No matter how she chooses to serve her Lord, you must be kind to her. If you continue to incense her emotions to a high level she might dismiss her pious ways.” As drunk as he appeared, Margaret saw he still attended to her words. “Then if you are done away with, she will plead her belly in court. The odds say she’ll be home in no time, tending to the five other young ones. Your eldest son will inherit all your goods and earnings. He will care for your wife, and she will enjoy what your hard work has provided. The best part, your wife will no longer have to endure your cruelty.” She snapped the reins and Gingo lurched ahead. Keith leaped aside. Revealing Character, Resolving Suspense
“Good evening, William Keith. I am late.” Emotional Reversal
Excerpt: my work in progress: historical biographical novel set in England and Pre-Colonial Maryland 1638-1648
This scene includes many of the weaker tasks, too. Remember more tasks and stronger jobs make powerful scenes. Let’s give readers a flashlight, under-the-covers experience that comes from cracking these literary whips.
About the Book: 
Beth Armstrong, a Denver biomedical scientist, wrestles with the impossible choice of saving her sabotaged, groundbreaking cure for multiple sclerosis or honoring an obligation to care for her cantankerous old aunt. Playing nursemaid ranks just a notch above catching the plague on Beth’s scale, yet her ex-flapper aunt would prefer catching anything deadly to losing her independence under the hands of her obsessive-compulsive niece.
While a murderous culprit runs loose in the science institute, Beth finds her whole life out of balance. Unpredictable nefarious activities at the institute–which is rife with suspects–cause Beth to wonder if she can trust anyone, while at home her chain-smoking aunt entertains Beth’s neglected husband with nightly cocktails and raucous stories from the Roaring Twenties. The Flapper, the Scientist, and the Saboteur creates a compelling mystery intertwined with a generational battle-of-wills story between a dedicated professional intent on fighting chaos and restoring order, and a free-spirited aunt who insists her niece listen to her heart and learn to live in the moment.
About the Author: Charlene Bell Dietz writes science-suspense and historical-suspense award-winning mystery novels and short stories. The Flapper, the Scientist, and the Saboteur combines family saga with corporate espionage and was named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2018, winning a Kirkus Starred Review. The Flapper, the Impostor, and the Stalker propels readers back into 1923 frenetic Chicago and was also named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2018, winning a Kirkus Starred Review. Her latest novel, The Scientist, the Psychic, and the Nut, gives readers a frightening Caribbean vacation. Her award-winning short stories have been published in the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers 2016 Anthology and SouthWest Writers 2019 Anthology. Her current work in progress, a biographical historical novel, starts in England in 1638 and ends in precolonial Maryland. Charlene, a retired educator, traveled the United States as a consultant for Houghton Mifflin Publishers after a career of teaching little ones, older ones, and college graduates. Surrounded by forests and meadows, she currently lives in the foothills of the mountains in central NM several miles from the small village of Torreon. Charlene is the current president of Croak & Dagger, New Mexico Chapter of Sisters in Crime. She belongs to Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, SouthWest Writers, Rocky Mountain Mystery Writers, and Mystery Writers of America. Connect with Charlene on Facebook, https://inkydancestudios.com/ or chardietzpen@gmail.com
Charlene, Thanks so much for assembling these great tips and reminders about setting up and delivering great scenes, and building them into a successful story!
Charlene, thank you for being my guest today! Not only do I think your post shows great insights, from your excerpts, I can’t wait to read this book! Thank you for sharing your expertise.