Today Sondra Allan Carr, author of The Beast, stops by to share a guest post and an excerpt from her book.
Guest Post: If You Want to Learn to Write, Listen
Stephen King said if you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.
Good advice, but I would add one more to that list—you need to listen a lot. It was a lesson I learned more or less by accident, but one that has helped my writing tremendously.
When I first started writing, I studied other writers to figure out their craft. I dissected their methods. I outlined entire novels and filled notebooks with passages that I wished I had written. It’s true that once you become a writer, you will never read the same way again. I continually mine other people’s work for examples of how to improve my own. I have learned a lot from others.
Then I got a job with a commute. To keep my sanity, I started listening to audiobooks. Traffic jam? No problem, I’d tell myself, I wanted to hear the rest of that chapter anyway.
Avoiding road rage is a good thing, but eventually I realized that I was reaping unexpected benefits from my drive-time listening. By experiencing these novels as spoken stories, rather than printed words, I found they took shape in my imagination in a way the written word does not. Listening to books made me much more aware of the sounds of the words coming off the page. In part, this was due to the skill of the reader. Professional audiobook readers are usually trained actors. They can bring the different characters to life by changing their pitch and delivery, giving each one a unique voice.
But even the best actor can’t make up for a tone deaf writer. Ideally, we want to be able to capture our characters’ voices in a way that comes through the printed word as well. This can be a challenge, to say the least. One generally accepted piece of advice that can help is to read your work aloud as part of the editing process. However, the problem with reading your own work aloud is the same as reading your own work on the printed page. You tend to fill in the gaps, adding emphasis or a pause to enhance the meaning you intended, a meaning that may not be readily apparent to anyone else.
A friend of mine has been auditioning readers to record the audio editions of her books. She says the process has been a revelation. Mistakes, clunky wording and slow pacing leaped out at her in a way they never had before. As a result, she now makes it a practice to have someone else read her work to her. If at all possible, try this. On hearing someone read your work aloud, you may find it as much a revelation as my friend did.
And if you haven’t already, try listening to some audiobooks. To get you started, I’ve made a brief list of ones that are both superbly written and read. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Read by Allan Corduner
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, Read by Lenny Henry
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, Read by John Lee
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, Read by Jayne Entwistle
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, Read by Simon Vance
Excerpt
Nekros observed his vigil that night in solitude. Outside his window, the stars had faded. The horizon appeared as a faint outline in the distance, where the dawning sun whispered the first hint of its arrival.
On the table beside him, a single candle guttered, then weakly pulsed back to life, its flame nearly spent. Much like a human life, he thought, brief and readily devoured by darkness.
The screams from the room across the hall had ended. The long months of waiting were at last near fruition.
They would come for him soon.
It had been a most enjoyable way to pass an evening, sitting in the dark room, listening to her cries of agony—anticipating the moment of his revenge. No one betrayed him without suffering the consequences. No one thwarted his will. Especially not a woman.
A timid rap at the door interrupted his thoughts. Nekros waited until a second knock sounded before giving the command to enter.
There was a whisper of well-oiled hinges followed by silence. Nekros remained with his back to the door, allowing his visitor time to struggle with the dilemma of whether permission to enter constituted permission to speak.
“Joyful news, my king.” The woman strained to deliver the words with the proper enthusiasm and sadly failed; her fear of him, along with her advanced years, robbed her voice of its strength.
Nekros languidly turned to face her.
“You have a son,” she ventured. “A healthy boy.”
He had a son. Ha! Bitter laughter danced inside his chest, trapped there by the fury constricting his throat.
“Clean him and bring him to me.” His words came out in a hoarse whisper, powerful nonetheless for the venom they carried. The midwife dropped a hasty curtsy and hurried to do as she was told.
Nekros rose from his chair, stretching the stiffness from his body, then reached for the candlestick and carried it to the window. He waved the candle back and forth several times, moving slowly to protect the flame. His guards, watching for their signal, would arrive within moments.
“Sire?”
The midwife had returned quickly. Nekros smiled to himself. Even the feeble find swiftness in fear.
He waited, his back to the door. The old woman’s discomfiture grew until it became a palpable presence, as real to him as the ugly crone herself. He relished her fear, deliberately prolonging the silence.
The Beast (2012)
When Armander learns a neighboring king has plotted his assassination, he demands the king’s daughter as reparation. Immediately captivated by the beautiful princess, Armander discovers it is he, in fact, who has become hostage to her charms. As his love for her grows increasingly apparent to those around him, Armander fails to realize Princess E’laiahna has powerful enemies within the palace, men who will stop at nothing to keep her from becoming Queen. Yet only one man can drive her away forever—the one people call The Beast.
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About Sondra Allan Carr
Sondra admits to being a bit of a late bloomer, only recently discovering that she would rather write than eat. She hopes you will buy her books so she can continue to do both.
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About the Author:
I was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England and have always been a bookworm and enjoyed creative writing at school.
In 1999 I created the Elencheran Chronicles and have been writing ever since. My first novel, Fezariu’s Epiphany, was published in May 2011. When not writing I’m a lover of films, games, books and blogging.
I now live in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, with my wife, Donna, and our six cats – Kain, Razz, Buggles, Charlie, Bilbo and Frodo.
David M. Brown – who has written 876 posts on Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave.
