IT MAKES SENSE - by Kathy Ivan

A lot of you may not know, but I had surgery on my left eye this past Monday (cataract removal).   It had progressively gotten worse for the past few years, and I really didn’t notice the decreased/foggy/cloudy vision right away.  I have a degenerative retinal condition which is under treatment, and when the vision started deteriorating, I (wrongly) assumed the retinal condition was the culprit.  Boy, was I wrong!  Things had escalated to the point that when I finally saw my retinal specialist in March, he did my usual retinal scan, and couldn’t do the procedure on my left eye, which was worrisome, so I had to have an additional test – an ultrasound on my eyeball. 

Once I’d had all the tests done, he told me that he had good news and bad news.  The good news was my retinal condition had improved markedly, and he was extremely pleased with the progress I was making.  That’s awesome news, right?  Then he broke the bad news.  “You’ve got cataracts—really BAD cataracts.”  So thick they couldn’t do the scan through the density of the left lens.  He couldn’t understand why I burst out laughing at his pronouncement.  I had to explain that cataracts were actually good news, because that was something that could be fixed, and my vision might improve markedly.  I’d been dreading the news that I was going to lose my sight completely, and be legally blind within a very short period of time. 

Anyway, I had the first of two procedures this past Monday, and the difference is astonishing.  Unbelievable.  Mind-blowing.  There aren’t enough adjectives to describe the vividness of the colors, and the intricacies of patterns.  Watching television has become a whole new experience.

But, this also got me thinking about our senses and how they pertain to the craft of writing.  Have you every fully contemplated being without or losing one of your senses?  Try it sometime.  Walk around with a set of noise-canceling headphones on for a few hours.  What is it like around you?  Yet as writers, we often forget how important it is to include these senses in our stories.  How boring would it be if we had to read a book that never mentions what the characters hear?  Not just the dialogue, but also the other sounds around us.  Birds chirping.  Car tires squealing as they race away from a scene.  Even the sound of music playing softly which our characters share a romantic dance. 

The same thing applies to our outer senses, like smells and scents.  Try cooking your food without being able to smell what you’re fixing.  It’s a lot harder than you’d think (I tried doing this with cotton stuffed up my nose, but that’s a whole other story.)  Cooking really doesn’t work the same.  But utilizing the scents around us can add a subtle nuance to a book that would otherwise be lacking. 

Most of us try to utilize the five senses (or six if you write paranormal) throughout our work, but maybe I’ve inspired you to try a big harder to make sure the story has that extra little oomph with sight, sound, scent, touch, and taste.  A little bit goes a long way. 

And I'll have the surgery on the right eye on May 15th.  Honestly, I can't wait.  

Kathy Ivan can be found most days at her computer, working on the next romantic suspense in her bestselling New Orleans Connection Series.  You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and BookBub.   And you can pick up her latest book, Fatal Intentions, at the links below: 

Amazon:  http://amzn.to/2kKs7WL

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fatal-intentions-kathy-ivan/1125581075?ean=2940154167953

Kobo:  https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/fatal-intensions

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=UqkDDgAAQBAJ

iBooks:  https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/fatal-intentions/id1200301796?ls=1&mt=11 

I SPY: Danger

Join the authors and friends of Not Your Usual Suspects for an occasional series of posts about their world of reading, writing and publishing.

Short and sweet, hopefully both informative and entertaining - join us at I-Spy to find out the how's and why's of what we do.


TODAY'S POST: I-Spy something beginning with ... Danger

Using the Five Senses in Danger Scenes

It's a running joke at my house that I write suspense and mystery. The humor behind this fact is that I am basically afraid of my shadow. I'm a timid, timid lady. That said, my incredible fear of absolutely everything keeps me in touch with what terror feels like. When I begin a danger scene, my heart knows and it races in solidarity with my poor heroine.

As writers, we're told repeatedly, "show, don't tell." Don't say she's frightened, show us she's frightened. The best way to show fear is to describe those sensations. They are intense, trust me. If you're like most people and not a big chicken like me, then this could be tougher for you. I realize not all my readers understand what it's like to see a monkey pop up unexpectedly on television or at carnival on a little leash, and need a valium. *puffs air into paper bag* I HATE monkeys. *icky shiver* They all want to kill you, you know that, right?

For the braver souls in this world, I need to add more details than hot necks, and cheeks. More than a pounding heart and thickening throat. They might not identify with the steady rush of blood between your ears or the shimmer in periphery that accompanies the too familiar I'm-gonna-DIE feeling I live with daily. Some readers might not connect with that moment when I realize I'm going down in a dead faint in 3, 2, ...

So, I explore the other things involved in my scene. You know, a little something for everyone :) How do I do this? Well....Have you ever wondered why, in hostage scenes, when the heroine has a sock stuck in her mouth...why doesn't she just spit it out already!? I did. Or...What kind of wrist ties are the easiest to bust out of? On that note: How much can your heroine-in-distress really accomplish with both hands behind her back? Can she get up? Nose-dial a cell phone? Walk with a chair tied to her legs? I can answer all those questions and more because I've tried them all. My family doesn't even blink if I ask them to lock me in the basement, attic or garage these days. True story. But, how else will I understand? I want to know if it smells like dry heat and campfire remnants in attics or faint motor oil and dirt in a garage like I imagine. It doesn't always, by the way. My in laws garage smells like bleach and Pine Sol. Not very scary.

The more details we add to danger scenes the better. It gives the reader more opportunity to connect and engage with the stress and fear your character is experiencing. Try thinking in terms of the five senses and ask your MC what they can see. If they're blindfolded, what can they hear? Traffic in the distance? Perhaps a rescue team that doesn't know she's there and may not find her? What do things feel like? The walls, if it's dark, the temperature, extra details add to the tension and that's what makes a danger scene so terrifying.

If that doesn't work, feel free to throw in a bird or an oompa loompa or something else that might scare them to death. What? You aren't afraid of those things either? Just me again. Figures.




********************************

FUTURE POSTS will cover:
Kindlegraph / the art of research / writing male/male romance / rejection and writer's block / building suspense / writing love scenes / anti-piracy strategies / audio books / interviews with editors and agents / using Calibre.
We welcome everyone's constructive comments and suggestions!

Senses and Sensibility

It's no secret that everyone has a physical response to fear. For the mystery/suspense/thriller author, peppering in several senses heightens the reader's experience. By writing what the body experiences in moments of terror, we can show what's going on in our character's head and avoid telling our audience the emotion.

Nearly all our senses react to strong stimuli like someone threatening us with a weapon. If the protagonist has sweaty hands, a dry mouth, a rapid heartbeat or chills up and down his spine, the reader recognizes these feelings from his own moments of fear.

This works fine in a point of view character, but what if the POV character isn't the one we want to portray as afraid? Then we add the visible cues of fear. We might see the frightened person tremble or widen their eyes. We could hear them gasp or scream or maybe their voice rises to a higher pitch. If we are holding one of their hands, we'd feel it trembling. Some say they smell fear, although I think that's figurative.

Using these techniques and building them to a fevered pitch can create wonderful tension and panic for your reader. And in our line of work, that's what it's all about. When a reader or reviewer says they were terrified during part of my story, I know I've done my job.