Today I’m privileged to have a guest post from
Jimmy Root Jr.
Author of Distant Thunder
So without further ado…
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Complex Braiding and the Writer
By Jimmy Root Jr
How do YOU tell a good story when you’re sitting around gabbing with family or friends? Do you weave a graphic tail with multiple characters? Do your characters have a reason for being in the story? Do they add to the conflict or plot? I hope so, or your stories would be awfully boring.
The same holds true for writing a fast-paced, brain popping novel. There really should be several avenues of intrigue or conflict that intertwine themselves into with your main characters. This is something that many budding authors miss, yet it is something that can turn your story into a real gem.
While I was tickling my keyboard in the writing of Distant Thunder, something happened that was completely natural. I added three different secondary storylines without outlining them to death. I let the story flow. I allowed those secondary characters to surprise and anger me. I ended up snuffing out their lives in the end and enjoyed doing it. But I was grateful to them none-the-less. Why? Because the prevented my main storylines and characters from getting bogged down. Writing became an exercise in intrigue, and that fact literally kept me coming back to the keyboard for more. The process of intertwining secondary plots and characters into your main story is called BRAIDING. You know, like braiding those long pony tails on your daughter’s head…or maybe even your own.
Heather Sellers wrote, in a recent Writer’s Digest article; “One reason so many books-in-progress die on the vine is because there isn’t enough spark, enough energy in the original design, to drive the project all the way through the middle and close the deal. The middle of the book is often compared to a lonely and vast desert the writer has to hike across. It’s easy to get lost. It’s easy to give up. To get across the middle, your work must involve some element of discovery–something you have to figure out as you write. Otherwise, your writing will feel canned, preplanned, flat. Like stale popcorn.”
The idea is to have two or three things in motion at one time, and then as your story progresses, you can bounce back and forth between them in short segments. This not only keeps the writing crisp, it keeps the reader seeking more. Braiding storylines is like dangling a carrot in front of donkey. Multiple storylines are what creates PACE….and you definitely want a fast pace in order to hold the reader’s interest.
Again, in writing Distant Thunder, I found that using the secondary characters to set the “hook” for the reader worked wonderfully. Each character, complete with tidbits of history and personality added to the value and directions that the main characters were heading. My readers have commented that they hated those characters, not because of the presence, but because of their added antagonism within the plot. When the secondary characters ran head on into their demise, a sense of justice had already been birthed in the reader. For me, that was an accident. It was not planned. But good things happen to those who jump in and take risks. So, go forth and write On oh storyteller!
Jimmy Root Jr., has served as an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God since 1982, including service in Nebraska, Missouri, and a seven year term as a missionary in Colombia, South America. Jimmy is the lead Pastor of Family Worship Center of Smithville, a growing suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. Married to his wife Jean for twenty-nine years, the Roots have three grown children.
Root is a 1981 alumnus of Central Bible College of Springfield, Missouri where he majored in Biblical Studies and Pastoral Theology. He is also an alumnus of Southeastern University, Lakeland Florida, where he majored in Intercultural Studies.
A lifetime student of Biblical prophecy, Jimmy is also the Professor of Eschatology, The Study of End Times, for Berean University through the Northern Missouri District School of Ministry. He is a featured speaker at Churches and other venues, and is the host of “The Bible Uncensored” radio broadcast heard on radio stations around the country.
His writings, both in book form as well as his blog, are purposed to be a wake-up call to a sleepy American church that seems to be losing a truly Christian World View. Distant Thunder and its sequels, A Gathering Storm and Then Comes Lightning, will reveal to the adventure/thriller aficionado the reality of the coming fulfillment of Biblically prophesied events. You can visit his website at www.lightningchronicles.com or his blog at www.prophecyalert.blogspot.com. Connect with him on twitter at www.twitter.com/JimmyRootJr and Facebook at www.facebook.com/jimmyrootjr.
Great post! Love learning more about new to me authors.