NOT YOUR USUAL SUSPECTS

A group blog featuring an international array of killer mystery, suspense, and romantic suspense writers. With premises and story lines different from your run-of-the-mill whodunits, we tend to write outside the box. We blog several times a week on all topics relating to romantic suspense and mystery, our writing, and our readers. We welcome all comments and often have guest bloggers. All our authors can be contacted separately, too, using their own social media links.

We find our genre delightfully, dangerously, and deliciously exciting - join us here, if you do too!

NOTE: the blog is currently dormant but please enjoy the posts we're keeping online.


Julie Moffet . Cathy Perkins . Jean Harrington . Daryl Anderson . Nico Rosso . Maureen A Miller . Sandy Parks . Lisa Q Mathews . Sharon Calvin . Lynne Connolly . Janis Patterson . Vanessa Keir . Tonya Kappes . Julie Rowe . Joni M Fisher . Leslie Langtry

Monday, October 13, 2014

What Is Your Cadence?

Less than three weeks ago I woke up from a scary dream.  Many authors are inspired by dreams, but the impact of this was so vivid it bordered on absurd. I literally got out of bed and went to my desk (not even stopping in the bathroom, which is unheard of!), and began to write. I wrote like someone posessed--a crazy woman in her pajamas with hair sticking straight up. In just over 14 days I'm more than halfway through a novel! That is as preposterous as not stopping in the bathroom first thing in the morning!

The pace of the writing is an indication of the pace of the book. It's like someone was standing behind me, banging on a base drum. 

We all know that poetry has a cadence, but did you know that books do as well? You may not be consciously aware of it, but if you are reading a book and you find yourself going, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, that pretty much sums up the books' cadence.

The cadence to this book is BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM. Definitely a double-time.

What type of cadence do you enjoy in a book? A marching band? A rock beat? The gentle strum of a cello? 

Or have you read one of those books that possesses the monotonous beat of Newton's cradles?

Maureen (Crazy author desperately wiggling in her seat because she hasn't had time to get up to go to the bathroom)
www.MaureenAMiller.com


6 comments:

Anne Marie Becker said...

Great topic, Maureen. I can feel the urgency (on a couple levels) coming from the cadence of your post. LOL And I love when that happens - ideas flowing willy-nilly and words pouring from your fingers... can't wait to hear how it all works out!

Hope you find the time to go to the bathroom! LOL

Rita said...

For me cadence comes from the characters. Who they are and how they respond to the chaos introduced into their lives. A cool assassin whose moves are deliberate but his heart rate and breathing are increased getting the readers up also. Fun stuff.

Maureen A. Miller said...

Hey Ann Marie - I'm definitely known for wiggling in my seat and saying, "just five more minutes..." :)

Rita - so true! I've read your books and they keep my leg bouncing up and down in time with the action.

J Wachowski said...

Ha! I know how that goes. But what a wonderful feeling to be swept along that way, yes?
Jorge Luis Borges said writing was The work humans could do that was "like flying."
I know I always have to pee the second I get off a plane.
;-)

Maureen A. Miller said...

LOL, Julie. Yes. A window seat on a plane gives you seclusion. It also allows for NO access to the restrooms!

CathyP said...

Yay for the words pouring out!

As a reader, the cadence simply needs to be appropriate to the story. With a thriller, I'm looking for go Go GO while a cozy/amateur sleuth is going to suck me in with chit-chat, characters and community.

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