July 9

How long did it take to write 3 WISE MEN?

I am often asked how long it took to write 3 WISE MEN. The initial idea was in gestation for about a year and the on-location research took a month, followed by nearly a year of part-time writing. The finished manuscript was in review and editing for another 8 months. In all, the book took 20 months to complete. This included the cover design and formatting, etc. for uploading to Amazon. I do believe that my writing has improved dramatically during this process, and I am now very critical of even the slightest mistake – including typos, poor grammar, weak style, etc. If a reader finds an obvious error then please let me know!

July 8

Variety – the spice of reading

Experts agree – the length of sentences must vary to hold a reader’s interest. That is, unless you intentionally want to put them to sleep! Here is an analysis of the first 100 sentence lengths from 3 WISE MEN…
Note: this analysis was flat-lining until I took out the Acknowledgements, Dedication and Chapter index!

July 8

Places of interest – Florence!

Florence – heart of the Renaissance and cultural heart to Europe. Such an innocent tabloid in 3 WISE MEN – or not! What does this city of beauty and art have to do with the plot? How does it relate to our protagonist? Shh…don’t whisper this to a soul –  this city is cloaked in mysteries and secrets too. Did you know that, for one important product, there is a shop in Florence that is among the oldest in the world? Read on, dear readers!

July 6

What makes a protagonist compelling?

protagonist noun: protagonist; plural noun: protagonists
~the leading character or one of the major characters in a play, film, novel, etc.
~an advocate or champion of a particular cause or idea

In 3 WISE MEN, the protagonist is a scientist, and his breakthrough formula is based on a genuine ancient document. He becomes the victim of two unfortunate, and unexpected, events – both of which also cause him some headaches! Therefore, he is vulnerable and flawed, so readers will identify with him. He might well be the guy next door. This makes him ‘compelling’.

Our protagonist is caught up in a web of intrigue and danger. He must use his skills to get out in time to make his critical meeting. But, to complicate matters, he also has to deal with a lady who joined him on the train – and she is becoming rather ‘forward’. How forward will she get?

Perhaps our protagonist is also compelling because his innocent family gets caught up in his dilemma?

Oh, I will have to read more to find out!

July 1

Fixng Erors!

The bain of an author’s journey – fixing errors! Why? Because, as you correct spelling, style and grammatical errors, revisit hanging verbs, and carefully go through sentence starters, connectors and length, you are also likely to add more errors! That’s right – fixing errors can lead to creating new ones. What is the solution? I don’t really know except to put the book down for a few days and then go through it again.