midamshaun

Wish me luck. I started sending queries out to agents this week for Terrible Day to Die.

ScottArroy

Hello Shaun
          
          Are you getting an opportunity to read whilst undertaking your writing mission?
          
          I believe you will enjoy my book AUTUMN PANIC set at Gully Heights High. It's a really terrific read. Give it a read if you have time.
          
          I would obviously appreciate it too along with any comments and feedback you might have.
          
          Have a great day.
          
          Scott
          from Melbourne in Australia.

midamshaun

A Long Caress vs. Short Strokes
          
          Nov 1, 2015
          
          Think of writing like playing a cello or violin. A long caress with the bow across the strings can create a smooth and relaxing sound whisking you away in a dream like state, the tension evaporates from your muscles and you ebb into a more restful place.
          
          Short strokes. The bow jabbing across the strings. Like a hand holding a knife stabbing again and again. You feel the suspense in each small note build on the one before. You know something is about to happen. Something terrifying.
          
          Isn’t that the way it always is in the movies? The slow sad music plays and you know they are just about to try and make you cry. Fast music, fast heartbeat. And they vary it too, mixing in slow sweet music here and there, making you feel sad about the guy that went back to save the girl from the killer only for him to be killed. The girl takes a break to morn for him. She’s upset. She loved him. (See the music start to change here? Guess who started watching her cry?)
          
          So if sentence length is the tempo of the music what are the words? Notes. Look at “A long caress with the bow” vs. “Short strokes…Stabbing again and again.”  But Shaun you used "Loved" in a three word sentence, thats a soft note in up tempo.  Yes.  It could be confusing to the reader leading them into an unexpected situation.  Sometimes that can be good but not very often so be careful in those cases. 
          
          Those are things I think of when I’m writing. What made me think of this was reading the start of someone’s story on Wattpad. A lot of her sentences were run ons but she was trying to create suspense (I told her this in a comment, not talking behind her back here).
          
          (This is an entry from The Terrible Blog on my website ShaunYoung.net)