Today I am homoured to have a guest post from an Author that I love. I have read many of his books, and given them all brilliant reviews. (I will link the reviews and book links below).
DJ Swykert is a talented Author who writes gritty novels involving criminals, drugs, prostitutes and gripping plots. His characters are always fully explored so I feel like I knew them properly. DJ Swykert’s books are page turning brilliant. So, as I started off saying, I am pleased to bring you today a guest post from this Author, where he describes how he writes his books.
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One Way to Write a Novel
I’m pretty straight forward as a person and a writer. I’m a former 911 operator, and in 911 you don’t have the luxury of a lot of pondering, you need to get to the essence of a problem in a hurry.
It was good training for resolving conflict in a story. I also use a tip a literature teacher gave me:
“Never use a ten dollar word when a ten cent one will do.”
I’ve tried to do that, keep my writing direct, succinct, and understandable. Too many writers try to impress readers with their massive vocabulary, but few readers, including me, want to read a book with a dictionary on their lap. If I have to look up definitions to understand a sentence, it closes my interest in the story, and the book.
I don’t use detailed outlines to write a story. I have the character, conflict, and the ending in my head before I begin. I put the character into conflict, and since I know how it will be resolved, the chapters always move forward to that ending.
My idea for a first draft always begins with the characters. My protagonist Ray in Children of the Enemy was a man I saw who ran a salvage yard, which could also be described more simply as a junkyard. He was sitting on a chair outside of a house trailer, smoking a cigarette, with virtual mountains of scrap metal pieces and junk appliances surrounding him. I imagined in real life he was perhaps a cross between Dirty Harry and James Earl Jones. It was just how he impressed me. Once I have a few characters I like I put them into a situation,this is the conflict.The next step is I frame in my mind how I intend to resolve the conflict. The rest of the book consists of chapters that point toward the resolution.
I’ve had a lot of conversations about the best way to write a book. I have long believed there is no one system that works for everyone. It’s whatever process works for you; whether it’s outlines, daily word requirements, black boards, however you frame your story and get a draft onto paper. I write a story like you’d watch a movie, chapters being scenes, the end result being me as adirector, assembling the chapter-scenes into a coherent story consisting of characters, conflict and resolution. Then I edit it. Someone asked me once how do you write a poem? I told them I write it down and then I edit it for the next thirty years. This is a slight exaggeration, but there’s an elementary truth in it, good writing requires good editing. Your imagination creates the story draft, editing is where you shape it into a book. Working with a good editor is a real plus.
Bio:
DJ Swykert is a former 911 operator writing and living in North Carolina. His work has appeared in The Tampa Review, Detroit News, Coe Review, Monarch Review, the Newer York, Lunch Ticket, Gravel, Zodiac Review, Barbaric Yawp and Bull. His books include Children of the Enemy, Sweat Street, Alpha Wolves, The Pool Boy’s Beatitude and Maggie Elizabeth Harrington, The Death of Anyone, Three-fingered Jack Davis and Nude Swimming.
Thank you very much DJ for that guest post. I think any insight into how Authors write their books is really interesting, and I quite agree that if you need a dictionary to read a book, then the enjoyment is taken out of it. I love the idea that the books are written as a film might be.
Here are the books I can recommend with my reviews and links to each book
The Pool Boy’s Beautitude is next on my to be read from this Author. I’m sure I will enjoy it as much as I have his other books.
You can find out more about Author DJ Swykert and his books here.
With 8 books published and 3 best sellers, I recommend you check out DJ Swykert and his books. Thank you for the guest post DJ.
Have you read any of these books? Let me know your favourite and your thoughts on the books and DJ’s writing ideas.
Tags: blogging, book review, chocolate pages, dj swykert, familial dna, guest post, sweat street, the pool boys beautitute, Three-Fingered Jack Davis
Sweat Street is the second book I have read by Author DJ Swykert. The first book I read of his The Death of Anyone was brilliant and I loved how the Author really knew his stuff as a previous 911 operator. You can read my review of it HERE!
Sweat Street follows the same kind of gripping crime thriller that I was hoping for from this Author, so I certainly wasn’t disappointed and this book just confirmed what I already knew about DJ Swykert being a talented and knowledgeable Author.
Description:
Yuki, a young street girl, witnesses Jack Delgato murder another police officer and an informant. Yuki runs for her life as Delgato relentlessly pursues the only witness to the killing.
Published January 18th 2016 by Magic Masterminds LLC
My Thoughts:
Sweat Street is a short story that is packed full with thrills and grittiness. Yuki is a street girl who is wise to the underworld and knows how to get to what she wants. One night she accidentally is witness to something she wishes she had never seen.
Again the Author writes a realistic believable story of life on the street, the American underworld, the corruption, drugs and prostitution and all this is packed into a short story with a big impact.
I got a full impression of the type of character Yuki is, and for a street girl she was surprisingly likeable. The Author described her looks and characteristics so well that I have developed a picture of her in my mind.
I really like the writing style of the Author, the tale is written with knowledge but also easy to follow while gripping and thrilling for for me to want to read it all in one go. I really enjoyed Sweat Street, and I highly recommend Sweat Street and this Author and his other books.
Links:
Tags: bookblogger, chocolatepages, dj swykert, jack degato, short story review, sweat street, the death of anyone, yuki
