Julia & Julia Type Journal for Cooking up a Gritty Suspense or Mystery Novel by Robert W. Walker

At Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, yes, you can follow me as I blog on the progress and success or failure of putting together my 50th novel. Without a contract, written on speculation only in my head and faith in the material and myself—I am keeping a dairy-type Journal about the process of crafting the novel.

This is like getting a creative writing course from Professor Walker. Follow me as I write a Suspense Novel Before Your Eyes, and no matter what category or genre you are working in, there is so much you can pick up from following this process. Imagine if you had the opportunity to look in over the shoulder of a veteran author and watch his hand at work. There can be no better classroom, and you are not limited in asking questions or offering comments.

Thus far Dirty Deeds has had two installments, but the first, like this, was mostly informational and descriptive of the whole idea. This week at http://tinyurl.com/ykch9vf you can see firsthand how I handle research, opening lines, opening scenes. What questions one needs ask to determine where in the story to begin. It’s all there along with an example from the novel being built from scratch: the re-telling of the story of Titanic; in fact, a rewriting of history with an answer to precisely why Captain Edward Smith intentional rammed Titanic into that iceberg. Aside from being historical in nature, the historical chapters will alternate with futuristic chapters (science fiction) wherein a dive team will actually enter the shipwreck to pillage it—all but one of the divers who is there to reawaken the horror that caused Captain Smith to scuttle his own cruise liner and take down thousands of lives with himself to the deep (horror elements tossed in). The bottom line is I’ve placed a monster and the killer plague it spreads onto the deck of Titanic. You begin with a “killer” premise, a major “what if” and starting from there, you do a great deal of research, and for me, even before the research is done, you start writing in the throes of passion for the story.

I hope you will come over to Dirty Deeds to have a look-see and follow me as I cook up a layered, complex multi-generational suspense thriller with elements of horror, romance, science fiction, and historical accuracy turned on its head. Again the site is instructional and the instructor is moi – Professor Robert W. Walker at http://tinyurl.com/ykch9vf

Do hope you’ll leave comments either here or at Dirty Deeds!

Rob Walker