What Henry James Taught Me about Writing Suspense

What Henry James Taught Me about Writing Suspense

If you’ve read any works by Henry James, American-born British author (1843-1916), great suspense probably isn’t the first thought that leaps to your mind. Consider the all-important first sentence of his famous novella The Turn of the Screw. The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child. That’s sixty-two words in the first sentence alone. By today’s standards, such writing is “wordy” at best and “frankly hard to read” at worst. But writing styles come and go just like the bell-bottoms of the seventies, and during James’s day, this was cutting-edge stuff. Perhaps the economical writing so popular today…

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What I’m Reading: David Copperfield

I have a confession to make. I’ve probably seen more movies based on classics than classics I’ve actually read. But now I’m hoping to change that. Recently, Audible.com featured a list of free classics for those who have downloaded the free Kindle counterparts. I capitalized on the opportunity and grabbed as many of the free classics as I could (unfortunately, not all of them on the list are still free, but some may still be). Why did I gravitate to this list of free audio classics? For one, I love freebies. (For those of you who know me on Facebook, you’ve probably seen my “Free Kindle Book” posts. I love getting freebies, and I love sharing them.) For two, the list features a number of classics I’ve certainly heard of (Uncle Tom’s Cabin, for example), but few of them I’ve actually read. (I did get through Vanity Fair in high school but…

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