Two More Chapters

Cliffhangers still work.

The copy of The Warsaw Protocol by Steve Berry that my wife brought me from the library was labeled Rapid Read. Instead of three weeks, I’d have to complete the 384-page novel in just one.

That wasn’t a problem. Berry had used time-honored techniques to keep readers engaged. First, he used multiple point-of-view characters, alternating between their perspectives — with one … Continue reading

The Danger of Washboard Prose

Will your readers enjoy the journey?

The other weekend, I started reading two novels. I’d not meant to begin the second so soon, but after several attempts to engage with the first, I gave up.

They were both mass paperback international thrillers. Despite my interest in plot of the first, its prose reminded me of a bad gravel road.

I’d recently encountered such a washboard road … Continue reading