Stand and Deliver by Philip Caveney

Today I have a guest post by author Philip Caveney, which I believe will be very useful for any budding writers out there! Personally the description of books as 'head movies' is so accurate for me. I love a good book which allows me to feel like I'm actually watching the events unfold. First of all a bit about Philip's new book, Stand and Deliver. Then on to his great writing tips!

Book Summary

In a time when highwaymen ruled the roads, Ned is reluctantly swept up into a whirlwind of adventure. Whilst escaping the grasps of the thief-takers, Ned soon finds himself stepping into his Master’s shoes and an unwanted life of crime. The pressure is building with new friends and enemies galore when Ned stumbles upon a long-infamous gem, The Bloodstone, which forces him to make an important choice. Can he ultimately escape this new threat and finally free himself from the grips of The Shadow?

Top Tips for Adventure Writing

Writing an adventure story is much like writing any other form of fiction. All the usual rules apply. But over the years I’ve developed some hard and fast tips that I believe, will help guide any budding writer through the process of creating thrilling adventurous prose. Here they are!

1. Create a credible world.

Wherever your adventure takes place - whether it’s somewhere in the real world or a universe you’ve created in your own mind - it must seem real to the reader. You’ll do this through your powers of description. I like to think of books as ‘head movies. ’As readers go through your writing, they need to see a film unspooling on a screen in their head, a projection of what’s in your mind. If you’ve described it well enough, readers will believe the place actually exists and then they’ll be ready to accept what happens there, no matter how fantastic!

2. Show the events through the eyes of the characters.

I cannot emphasise this enough. The three most important words in a writer’s lexicon are SHOW DON’T TELL. If the writer talks about an adventure that happens way off in the distance, it will never come alive for the readers. They will feel like they’re standing at the edge of a very wide playing field watching things unfold through a set of binoculars. Distance can diminish an adventure, and remove much of the potential excitement. Show it happening, as it happens to the people it’s actually happening to - and suddenly we’re talking an entirely different game. Your readers are hooked and you can take them anywhere you like!

3. Know when to cut away.

I’ve sometimes read a piece of fiction where the writer lingers too long over a particular point in the story. Yes, you need to give enough information to inform the readers to ‘show’ them the scene, but knowing when to end the chapter - when to cut away - is one of the most important lessons a writer needs to learn. Try to leave the action at a point where something important is just about to happen. This will make the reader eager to turn to the next page. Do this twenty times or so and you’ve led them through an entire book!

4. Research.

It pretty much goes without saying that if your book is set in a particular historical period then you need to read as much about it as you can - and don’t just stick to the bits that will be pertinent to your particular story. Read around the period and make notes as you go. Pick out little details that will make your story convincing. And don’t use too much of that research! Pick out the nuggets, some little details that will convince the reader that you know actually what you’re talking about.

But… what if you’ve invented the world? All bets are off, surely? Well, no, because whatever you’ve come up with, it will have to operate in the same way as any world does. Perhaps you’ll find parallels with a real place and an actual time period which you can apply to your invented society. Because, no matter how fantastical your imagined world is, it will need to have rules of logic, the things that make it operate. Otherwise, readers aren’t going to believe that you know enough about your own invention - and they won’t trust you to take them through the story.

5. Remember to vary the pace.

And finally, let’s talk about pace. A book shouldn’t be a frantic chase from start to finish - but neither should it be a dull plod. This may sound obvious, but a book is generally a series of chapters, all with their own particular job to do. I often imagine them as a series of doors leading through a huge house - a labyrinth perhaps. Yes, we need some moments of excitement and of course we also need suspense… but at the same time, we need occasional lulls where we can tease the story along to its next instalment.

Always give your readers time to draw breath before you plunge them into the next bout of excitement. And don’t be afraid to keep them waiting…