My friend, and author, Kate Tenbeth has an exciting new release! Here is the official story from her publisher:
Hello everyone! GMTA Publishing has a new YA novel set to come out on October 1st by Kate Tenbeth! Here's your first look at the amazing cover by UK artist Elizabeth Eisen!
About the book: There are always high stakes to play for in the world of gambling, but it’s a world 15 year-old Holly Maddon knows nothing about until her step-mother tries to kill her. The race is on as she tries to discover what her step-mother is up to and whether her father was murdered. She comes up against gangsters, multi-million pound land deals, treachery and deceit, she’s kidnapped, shot at and loses just about everything she loves – it’s a rollercoaster of a ride and Holly's intent on turning the tables.
About the author: I live in Essex with my son, who is studying at University, and my two cats, Puzzle and Bud. I’ve always loved writing and in January 2011 I got together with some friends and set up a writers’ group at our local library. One of our first guest speakers was a young lady called Penelope Fletcher who talked to us about self-publishing – I was so inspired I went back home, found some stories I’d written for my son when he was young and started the process of learning how to self-publish. I published 3 books in the
Burly & Grum series and then in July 2012 was lucky enough to be signed up by GMTA. I’ve enjoyed every single second of my journey so far, learnt an incredible amount and I’m looking forward to the future!
About the artist: Elizabeth Eisen is a 23 year old freelance illustrator from North London. She graduated from the University of Westminster with a BA Hons in Illustration in 2011 and has since worked on commissions ranging from album artwork to editorial. Further examples of her work can be found at
www.elizabetheisenillustration.co.uk Get Unlucky Dip by Kate Tenbeth today!
ONLY $3.99 on Amazon Kindle
(FREE to Prime users)
Jill Corcoran blogged about
ways to activate your story recently, using Gayle Forman's novel,
If I Stay, as an example of a great beginning. She wrote:
Gayle does not start the book at the moment of the car crash. We first see the family together, we actually fall in love with the main character and her family so when the car crash happens, we are devastated along with the main character. Gayle starts the first line of the book with an intriguing sentence….a sentence that activates us to pay attention to this first meeting with the main character’s family. That foreshadows the doom and gloom to come:Everyone thinks it is because of the snow. And in a way, I suppose that’s true.
But the reason that sentence works, really works, is a tiny little piece left out of the quote. Here's how the novel really starts:
7:09 A.M.
Everyone thinks it was because of the snow. And in a way, I suppose that’s true.
Do you see it? It's there in big bold letters. The ticking clock.
Because that clock is there, we know to combine "it" with a timeline. We know something is going to happen soon. We know "it" is bad, because why bother with a clock that precise if it isn't a countdown of sorts. And we know it has to do with the snow. Sort of. So now, we're hooked. We have to know what "it" is, and why it wasn't completely to do with the snow. And we have an implied promise that it isn't going to take the author long to get there.
As readers, we haven't thought through any of this. It's simply there, in the back kitchen of our consciousness, if I may borrow the phrase from Kipling. And once it's there, it has a hold on us.
Even a reader who wouldn't normally read a book about bow-tie-wearing dads, or little brothers who let out war whoops, or mothers who work in travel agent's offices--who cares about all that stuff at the beginning of a book, right?--is going to be curious enough to read a little further. Sure enough, Forman delivers on the promise. At 8:17 a.m., a dad who isn't great at driving gets behind the wheel of a rusting buick and.... Well, we know we only have a few more pages.
Even after the accident, the clock doesn't stop. It continues until 7:16 the next morning, because Mia is trying to make her decision, and all along, all through the twists and turns and intricately woven scraps of memory and medical magic, that clock keeps us focused on the fact that something life-changing is going to happen. Soon. Soon. So you can't stop reading.
Building Suspense with a Ticking ClockHaving an actual Jack Bauer 24-style ticking clock only works if something momentous is going to happen:
- An event, accident, or necessary meeting
- A deadline given to prevent consequences
- An opportunity that can, but shouldn't, be missed
- Elapsed time from a precipitating event
The Clock
The clock is mainly a metaphor. You can use any structural device that forces the protagonist to compress events. It can be the time before a bomb explodes or the air runs out for a kidnapped girl, but it can also be driven by an opponent after the same goal: only one child can survive the Hunger Games, supplies are running out in the City of Ember....
A writer I've been working with on an on-going basis picked a unique time in our country's history to write about. Built into this time frame is an event where nature colluded with industry and for five days led to the deaths of many in the community.
It's an age-old dilemma -- what brings a livelihood to everyone in an entire community ends up killing them. Unwilling to admit to what is right there in front of them, people trust the "powers-that-be" -- they would never knowingly poison an entire community in the name of profits, or would they?? Issues specific to this time in our shared past have been repeated countless times before this specific event and will be repeated countless times in the future = creating a thematic universality to her story.
The event lasts five days and serves as a perfect antagonist. Every step the engaging cast of characters take toward their own personal goals is thwarted by the event. Page-turnability is built in as the events unfold.
Years of research and the author's own passion for the time have contributed to the authenticity of the project.
As the days pass, the situation worsens. The built-in "ticking clock" creates tension and conflict and challenges all the characters, though in the end the protagonist is affected the most and is transformed at depth.
I've always been a sucker for a great historical. Hers has got all the elements. I wish her loads of luck in writing the next draft all the way through, taking care to treat the event as a major character and plotting out each and every turn the event itself takes as it destroys everyone around it.
Great post! :)
I loved that book. I think what made that book great was how the author managed to make us understand what was at stake depending on the decision the MC made at the end- how hard it was going to be for her. And you're right, we totally did fall in love with her family in the first few pages.
Suspense and the build up takes a lot of work. Some authors plan it out, while others are naturals. This post made me want to read more.
Great post. You're right. However we do it, we've got to keep raising the tension in our story.
I think this is also a good tip for writing queries and synopses. If you can give a sense for the ticking clock (whether real or metaphorical) in your summary, it's going to be a lot more gripping. People are going to want to find out whether the clock can be beaten.
Great post!
Thanks, ladies! Meagan, I have a ticking clock (of sorts) in both the ms I am querying now and my WIP. (Actually my WIP has two.) I do reference it in my query letter, and I hope you're right. (So far so good, anyway.)
Clearly I love writing with a clock, but I also love reading with one. Those books, so long as they are also character-deep and rich in visuals and details, are usually my favorites. Books like Rachel Ward's NUMBERS, or Melissa Marr's RADIANT SHADOWS where faerie is falling apart because the queen is sleeping, or any of Cassandra Clare's books, are hard to put down once you pick them up.
Oh, and I shouldn't forget Beautiful Creatures. Definite ticking clock!
Nice trick!!! Instant tension.
Yes, I've heard this trick at an SCBWI conference! Good stuff. I have a timeline, tho not an actual clock, in my WIP, where I'll gradually be tightening the tension as MC's week goes by...
Love the ticking clock. That always pulls me into a book. Just finished Insatiable--loved it and I'm not a vampyre, werewolf kind of reader, but a good story is a good story.
And yes, your post was very helpful.
I just flew through this book this past weekend and you're so right. I knew something was going to happen and it was going to be bad but I was still mortified when it did! I actually had to stop and marvel at how the author did it. It was pure writing magic!
Great post, neat trick, awesome book.
Very interesting. Something I've noticed in many of my stories is the compressed time in which the events take place. I'll have to go back and figure out whether there's actual "ticking clock" pressure, or if it is something else...
Great post - interesting - has me thinking.
Definitely the clock technique is one of the most successful ways to create instant tension. Good stuff!
Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse
My WIP takes place over the 12 days of Christmas, so it's a finite amount of time for my main to accomplish her goals. And then she loses time due to illness. It sort of made me think of Labyrinth when Jareth removes several hours based on Sarah's pride, making the challenge almost impossible.
BTW, Raquel Byrnes also blogged on the Breakout Novel.
Great idea. I've always wondered how to do the ticking time clock without the actual clock. Your examples were perfect. :D
Great post! And I swoon over IF I STAY. Loved it.