Questions to Ask about Your Novel from Steven James

Well, it’s one thing to meet an author in the halls of ACFW, or in a workshop, but it’s a whole lot nicer to join an author for lunch. No surprise there. One on one attention and good food too.


Well last Wednesday I had the opportunity to join thriller writer, Steven James, for lunch at a nearby café. We don’t live too far away from each other, and though he’s in the middle of a deadline, he set up a lunch meeting at a wonderful little coffee house just down the street from where I live.

If you don’t know…

Steven James is a prolific writer of all sorts of books, both fiction and nonfiction, but he’s most well-known for his Patrick Bowers Files thriller novels. INTENSE. Books like The Pawn, The Rook, The Knight…all leading up to his most recent one, The Bishop. AHHHH! That book kept me up at night. Whew.

Besides that record, he’s also a charismatic presenter at Christian Writers conferences, as well as churches, universities, schools, and storytelling festivals. This guy stays busy. He has a great sense of humor and a heart for teaching. You can find out more about him at http://www.stevenjames.net/

So…back to MY story.

During our conversation, Steven gave me a few pointers. I thought you guys might benefit from them too. Questions to ask yourself while you create and write your novels. Here are a few of the first tips:

- In the beginning of your novel you are making promises – promises to alter the lives of your characters in some way.

- During the middle and end of your novel, you’re fulfilling those promises.

What does that mean? Well, what you set up in the first few chapters are your promises to the reader about ‘what’ is at stake, what do your characters want, what might keep them from getting what they want…those sorts of things.

Through the middle and the end of the book, we make those promises become reality.

Keeping that in mind, each scene should be a minor ‘alteration’…or altercation :-)

Scenes should not be written JUST to take up space in the book. For example, let’s take a REALLY popular movie scene…hmm….

Okay, sorry, but I’m going to use Pride and Prejudice. (STEVEN JAMES DID NOT USE THIS EXAMPLE) LOL.

And let’s take the ‘movie’ version – Kiera Knightley and Matthew McFadyen.

First scene: New neighbors, a rich, male, and (happily) single neighbor- of COURSE in want of a wife.

- Alteration? Sure. Women who had no prospects, suddenly DO.

A later scene – Lizzie and Mr. Darcy’s first meeting –

- Alteration? Oh yea! Lizzie’s somewhat indifference to Mr. Darcy turns into complete annoyance when he ‘slights’ her.

Readers want promises of danger and anticipation. Promises of CHANGE, and that’s what needs ot happen in each scene. A change inwardly or outwardly – but change that moves the story forward.

So what are some questions to ask yourself while you plot or write?

Here are a few Steven tossed out at lunch:

1. What is the reader thinking, hoping for, questioning, or feeling at this point in your story?

2. Have you ended the scene in a way that is unexpected but also inevitable?

3. Does your chapter/scene move the story forward?

4. Are the characters acting in a way that is believable for them?

5. Is there a way you can make your characters situation worse?

Last thing.

Steven made a GREAT point about NOT writing too many similar scenes. For example, since he writes thrillers, his books are filled with action – but too much of the ‘same’ type of scene will cause the reader to mentally yawn. So he doesn't overdo chase-scenes, because he wants the scene to really COUNT.

For us romance writers, we have to be careful not to have the SAME type of kissing scene, or ‘near’ kiss scene.

It’s kind of like this:

The first bite of chocolate is always the best – each consecutive one is more expected and less tantalizing – but the FIRST is the one that tingles the senses.

Same thing applies for scenes.

Have you made promises in the beginning of your novel?

Do things start out well, but then your characters’ lives alter?

Do you have some ‘screensaver’ scenes in your novel? Pretty to look at, but just take up empty space?