Happy Summer, Dear Readers,
Between Canada’s smoke funneling to Pennsylvania and clouding the sky or the blazing heat when the wind blows the air clear, my garden is confused into what season we’re in from week to week. The strawberries aren’t baring berries, the tomato plants are withering within their cages, and the corn won’t be close to knee high in July. This season the garden’s mixed-up growing season seems more like my novel than produce.
Last month, my Writing Group read my latest work-in-progress. They didn’t know what genre the story was from Chapter One to The End. They mentioned the Tone had too much levity for a murder mystery even if the victims were my carrots and the culprit, the Houdini rabbit who kept finding magical ways into the patch. The underlying story didn’t match the Genre.
They suggested using stronger verb choices to tie the necessary tone with the genre. The Word program’s thesaurus made some of those decisions easier, but I wanted to write better characters traits as well. Characters with flaws and qualities who could portray the same dread I did every morning when another carrot vanished.
With all these options, I’m changing the tone to match the dastardly, thieving hare.
Until next time, happy writing!