Are you drawn to the tone of a novel as much as I am? It’s something I pay particular attention to when writing or reading a novel. The tone sets the mood. It’s there when you don’t think it is. Tone often tells me what kind of a novel I will be reading. Tone is so important to a story that it requires more scrutiny.
Every genre of novel must set a tone. Some books require levity and comedy. There’s light comedy and black comedy. Other stories require little to no comedy, like intense horror movies or psychological thrillers where comedy would take away from the reader’s visceral experience. Comedy can be done in these circumstances, but when it happens it must be done properly, and it must come at the right time so as not to ruin the overall tone of the story.
Tone changes from character to character, which is why many writing manuals and teachers shy away from multiple POVs within a chapter. If not done well, the tone can be scattered and inconsistent, and leave readers confused. But experienced writers know how to navigate this technique. In the book I’m currently reading, the writer does this technique frequently, and in a way that gives the reader multiple perspectives, much more quickly. It’s impressive when done right. Rules are made to be broken, but only if you know your craft well enough to keep the tone of the story consistent. Of course, being a New York bestselling author allows a writer to break rulers. But great writing can overcome any rules meant to constrain it.
Tone requires strict discipline. It’s knowing the mood and pace, and when to hold back certain things.
Some books are tone deaf, loose and flabby, and all over the place. You can feel that something is off while reading it. Sometimes it’s apparent and sometimes not so much. It may be that one character is throwing off the tone. Or multiple characters. Too many mood changes. Emotions run rampant. Clunky and uneven dialogue. Or the writing gets in the way because it’s overwritten and over-explained, bogged down description.
Sometimes chapters within a novel can be short and then too long. It’s jarring when this happen. Inconsistent lengths can affect the pace and tone. Some chapters contain too much exposition juxtaposed next to chapters that are dialogue intensive. When things feel unbalanced, that’s bad tone.
Side characters that go on too long can affect the tone. Characters that speak and act differently from the previous chapters. Characters doing or saying things that are out of character for them. Characters who are racist or bigots can turn a reader off, even if they are villains. A good author can get away with this kind of thing and keep the tone consistent, but it’s a skilled author who can navigate these tricky dilemmas. You can have characters say offensive things, but you can’t allow the reader to be offended or they’ll put the book down and never pick it up again.
Tone means that things should be in their place. You can’t put humor in a riveting, heart-pounding scene where it ruins the tension. Or comedy in a heartfelt scene where a beloved character is dying. Well, you can, but it needs to be done with skill and much care.
Satire has a much different tone than realism. Fantasy has its own world building laws. So does science fiction. Some genres like romance require a tone that’s familiar to readers of that genre. A familiar pattern so to speak. Comfort in repetition. Cussing and gory scenes don’t fit into cozies. Mysteries cannot have supernatural natural endings that neatly wrap everything up and deny the reader the pleasure of seeing how everything came together. An ending that comes out of nowhere robs the reader of the reading experience.
I constantly think of tone when I read and write. It consumes me when I’m working on a novel, and also when I’m reading one. I think all good readers and writers do this, either consciously or subconsciously. Do you? Let me know what your thoughts are on tone.
And remember: Watch Your Tone!
Have a great November and Thanksgiving!
Best,
Joe
Kate Flora: A perfect example of how dazed and dizzy I am is that yesterday, I wrote a whole post, pressed the button to have it post on the website, and it disappeared into the ether. That’s how things feel these days. Between the constant barrage of requests for money from everyone in the country, nerves about the election, and the disjointed effect of the time change, at least once a day I’m convinced that my brain has failed.
New England Crime Bake. That should be fun if I can only organize my thoughts and remember how to do a power point. It also says I’m going to moderate a panel on Sunday. It says there’s a dentist appointment, a hair appointment, two more “maintenance’ appointments and then a quick trip back to Maine to preview the marvelous Gardens Aglow at the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden. When, exactly, are those quiet late fall days sitting at my desk writing?
What does that look like? Unlike those of my fellow writers who are plotters or pantsers, I’m a cooker. I don’t write out elaborate notes. Nor do I sit down and start writing and see where the story goes. I start working on the plot and wondering. Wandering around for a few months asking questions. Who was killed? Why were they killed? Who killed them? Who else wanted them dead, and why? What will I put at the crime scene that will help the investigation? And so forth. I often say that, like Paddington Bear, during this process I should wear a little tag that says ‘please look after this author. Thank you.’ And on the back, when I’m found staring blankly at the frozen peas, ‘If found, please return to…’ and my address.
Next week at Maine Crime Writers there will be posts by Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson (Monday), Kate Flora (Tuesday), John Clark (Thursday), and Joe Souza (Friday).
The scary part revolves around a ghost-dog wailing in the night. I’m not sure why it scared me so much, because by then, I’m going to guess I was around 10 or 11, I was reading plenty of mysteries and horror without any adverse effects, but even seeing the cover now gives me a chill. I guess it’s the combination of something frightening and unexplained up against the need to do what’s right and vulnerability? The heroine was trying to save an abused horse owned by scary crazy person on a neighboring farm. The ghost must’ve been written in a way that made it terrible and inexplicable. I don’t even remember and I still can’t say. I do remember the feeling it gave me. As kids, we had a habit of reading out loud to each other. I’m not sure how this happened in our otherwise unruly and cranky group, but we did up into the early teen years of us older kids, when it faded away. Anyway, I have a vivid memory of being in an upstairs room on a summer night with the window open and hearing my brother, on the patio below, reading the book to our younger siblings. I’d already read it, and I knew what the resolution was, and I still had to shut the window.
The only thing that compares is a few years later, when I was 14, and inexplicably home alone on a chilly, dark fall day. For hours, I read “In Cold Blood,” by Truman Capote. Our dog kept barking for no reason and I several times got up to look out the windows and make sure there were no mass murderers lurking out there. I even locked the doors, which we never did at our house in Augusta, since there were so many of us coming in and out at all hours (including the occasional stranger, a post for another day). It’s one of the few times in my life that I remember being happy when people returned home and I was no longer alone in the house. Boo!
Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson: I don’t remember being scared by any book when I was a child (movies, yes–the cyclops in The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad had me looking over my shoulder for weeks after I saw that one.) but I do know what book terrified me most as an adult. That was Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, with his Salem’s Lot as a close runner-up. Much as I admire him as a writer, I’ve never read another of his books except for the On Writing. He’s just too darned good at evoking terror. This was the novel, by the way, that King said scared even him and I believe it. As an aside, years later, an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer made use of the same, shall we say unsettling possibility, but in televised form I found it much less upsetting. Go figure.
te Flora, had a hundred acres of fields and woods, and our house was set a quarter-mile from the road, a driveway that was only passable on foot in the winter. We had wood stove heat only. The only running water was cold. And the house was built by my father, who’d never even built a birdhouse before. In the chill of the winter, the wind whipping the zero-degree temperature into minus digits, I was reading this fine book by myself, huddled on the couch, probably because I was too lazy to add a log to the fire, when I came to the part where the large demonic pig, Jodie, is seen outside the house, looking in with large glowing red eyes. I will swear to this day that I looked up at that point, across at the window, and saw those two large glowing eyes staring at me. I’m not sure if I ever finished the book, as I blacked out most of the next two years of my life in sheer terror that Jodie was hunting me.
Kait Carson: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. I don’t remember how old I was when I read the book, but it terrified me. I grew up in Rutherford, New Jersey, home of the then main campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University, and Iviswold Castle. Built in 1869, the Castle, as we called it, was originally known as Hill House. Despite the subsequent name change, and despite the building’s use as classroom space and administrative offices, the legend stuck. Generations of Rutherford kids dared each other to sneak into the ‘dungeon’ where all manner of horror, and certain death, awaited.
In spring and into early summer, South Florida streets disappear into a riot of color. Red royal poinciana trees, yellow tabebuia, and lavender orchid trees burst into bloom. The scent of orange blossoms perfumes the air. Jasmine runs riot. Bell shaped angel’s trumpets fill backyards, and all varieties of crepe myrtle turn the landscape into a crazy quilt of color.
a speaker at our conference in Wales,” they say. “We want you to a featured guest at our book club.” “I’m organizing a festival and want you to be on a panel.”
urgency to become a standout in the psychological thriller space. Your premise taps into fears that are painfully real, and that’s exactly what makes readers unable to put it down. With the right visibility strategy, this book can reach the audience that’s actively searching for exactly what you’ve written.
Sigh. Sometimes they’re so tempting. For example, how do I know whether this one is genuine? I’d love to talk about A Good Man with a Dog, but alas…One clue is that the Vermont Book Club (book club not bookclub) has its own website and she would have been writing from that.
e-book and trade paper. I was waiting to finalize the trade paperback of #4, Lethal Legend, until I could do another careful proofread of the text. So, I did that, made corrections to the e-book text already sent to D2D, and proceeded to go through the regular process for launching the print-on-demand version. I checked. I double checked. I clicked “approve.” The only thing I didn’t remember to look at was the release date. The print copy setup took everything I’d already chosen for the e-book . . . except for the release date. I totally forgot that unless I change it, that date automatically comes up as either the current date (e-book) or a date a week or so after approval (POD). So, dear readers, although it won’t be out in e-book format until December 8, the trade paperback of Lethal Legand can be ordered from all the usual bookstores NOW. Fortunately, book three, No Mortal Reason, will be available on November 10, so those collecting print editions of all four won’t have long to wait, but boy do I feel foolish!
Maureen Milliken will be at the Thompson Free Library Authors and Artisans Night Market, 4-7 p.m. today (Saturday, Oct. 24), at 186 East Main St., Dover-Foxcroft. The event includes local authors, vendors of crafts, baked goods, pottery, soap, fiber art, visual art and more. There is also hot food and hot drinks. Authors will be inside the library selling and signing books, vendors are outdoors and in the basement is the library’s 10 cent book sale. Come on up to beautiful Dover-Foxcroft, enjoy the last great days of fall in Maine, find some cool stuff and books, and help support a fantastic library.
