Doug Sahlin's Blog

Pay attention to what���s happening around you. Those snippets of��conversation��you overheard in a restaurant or supermarket, the car you saw going the wrong way down a one-way street in the busiest part of town during rush hour, the elderly man limping down a dark alley humming a song, all of these could be the impetus for a story. Jot these events in your notebook. This stuff doesn���t have to be extraordinary, just interesting.

Notice what���s happening around you. As you go about your daily routine, notice the exciting, the mundane, the insane. Jot it down to remember the moment or person that got your attention. You can use your phone to record the information, or if you���re old school like me, carry a notebook and two pens with you. Yes, a writer should always have a backup in case one pen runs out of ink. The act of jotting things down helps you remember to focus and be in the moment. Good writers are keen observers.��

 

Write about something you love, a subject you���re passionate about.Make sure each scene in your novel has a clear beginning, middle and end.Create a cliffhanger at the end of each chapter to keep the reader turning pages.

I enjoy reading haiku. And I enjoy writing them. Haiku is a short poem. Haiku originated in Japan and were composed of 17 sound units. People who write haiku in English write poems comprising 17 syllables.

If you write haiku regularly, you observe nature and beauty. And you also learn the economical use of words. You can write a haiku when you���re out walking your pet, or communing with nature. Haiku is a great exercise to be more aware and become a better writer. Here are some of my haiku.

mountain brook gurgles
under a ceiling of pines
Yosemite high

rainy afternoon
chasing clouds and sand hill cranes
old friends who���ve just met

Ernest Hemingway said to write what you know. I don���t think he meant this in the autobiographical sense. He meant to weave things you know into your fiction. I���m a photographer. I���m also a geek. So bits of those facets of my life are woven into my Yale Larsson Private Investigator books. I���ve written three so far and am working on number four.

Another bit of wisdom I take from Hemingway���s advice is to write about places you know. I live on the west coast of Florida. The books I write are set in the Sarasota area. My first book, The Myakka Murders was set in Myakka River State Park, a place I���ve visited hundreds of times. My second book, Sarasota Sour Grapes takes place in Fruitville, which is on the outskirts of Sarasota. The opening scene for Overexposed on Bird Key takes place on Bird Key. The stories wind their way through downtown Sarasota and nearby locales. Yale Larsson and his half-brother Jayson live in a beach house on Longboat Key.

To find out more about my Yale Larsson books, scan the following QR�� code with your ��cell phone.

The West Coast of Florida is a wonderful place to live and write about. Here are some pictures from the area.

 

Sarasota Bay

Sarasota curing a thunder storm.

Myakka State Park

My favorite authors are James W. Hall, Robert Crais�� and Lee Child. They write novels that keep me turning pages. I also learn a lot about writing fiction from these authors.

James W. Hall creates compelling stories about a loner named Thorn. For Thorn trouble seems to crop up at any moment. But he always finds a way out of the fix.

Robert Crais writes compelling stories about a private investigator named Elvis Cole. Cole had a sidekick named Joe Pike. Talk about your yin/yang characters. Crais writes stories that grab you by the throat in the first chapter and have enough twists and turns to keep you turning the pages.

Lee Child writes about another larger than like character, Reacher. Reacher���s ex-military and a drifter. Reacher sees something wrong when he arrives in a new place and does his best to make it right.

Sometimes you need to prime the pump so to speak before writing the next chapter in your novel, or starting a new story. Something I often do is open the dictionary to any page, find a word and start writing. Another idea is to take a line from a book you like, and flesh out a paragraph from it. Or you can choose a writing prompt and go to town. Reedsy’s website has a page devoted to writing prompts, 1100 of them to be exact. https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/

Whether you���re on vacation, or walking in your hometown, you���ll see people. If you spot someone interesting, write a brief description of the person in your notebook. You do have a notebook with you at all times, don���t you? This person could be a prototype for a character in your next novel or short story. If possible, take a picture of the person. But be cautious when photographing people on the street. If someone looks at you after you take a picture, shrug your shoulders and smile. If someone asks you to delete the image, delete it. The goal is to find characters for your novels, not to put yourself in danger.

Another excerpt from the first draft of my upcoming novel: A Pocketful of Euros. Enjoy.

Backstory: An innocent man has been arrested. Yale Larsson, my protagonist won’t rest until he’s set free.

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Picked up my cell phone. Called the hospital. Spoke to Evans and told him what we���d discovered. He told me he���d make it happen. I thanked him and disconnected the call.

���Major Evans will grease the wheels. Good work, Janet. Thank you. Can you stay for dinner?���
���I���d love to Studly, but I have a date. How are things progressing with your social media page?���
���May have another fish on the line. Lady who wants to paint me.
���Reel her in.��� She fist bumped me and found her way out.

Walked into the kitchen. As usual, Jayson was cooking. Smelled wonderful. He put something in the oven, poured two iced teas and sat at the dining room table. I joined him.

Jayson sipped his tea. ���Productive day?���
���Major Evans, my old nemesis, greased the wheels. Janet Brown broke into Demetrius Robinson���s house.���
���Exigent circumstances?���
���Yup.���
���And?
���Found a Glock with two rounds missing. She���ll run it through ballistics in the morning. Also found a diary. Robinson put his girlfriend and her daughter through hell.���
���And if the ballistics match, Roscoe Love will be a free man.���
���Yup.��� Sipped my tea. ���Anything else from our social media pages?���
���Yup. You have a meeting at the Big Chill after school lets out tomorrow.���
���Great.���

Jayson went back to the kitchen. Grabbed my cell phone and called Perkowski. Filled him in on what I needed. He told me he and his nephew would be ready to rock and roll tomorrow afternoon.

 

 

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To learn more about Yale’s previous capers, scan the following QR code with your phone.

An excerpt from the first draft of my latest Yale Larsson Private Investigator novel.

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Called Perkowski and asked him to meet Keith and me at the Big Bucks in Sarasota. Before I left, I asked Jayson to post on my MyLife page to lure Sykes out in the open again.At the Big Bucks, we had coffee and bagels. When I told Perkowski Keith was going into the belly of the beast, he fitted a wire to my friend, and gave me a portable recorder with ear buds.���You���ll be close at hand in case it goes wonky?��� Perkowski said.Keith grinned and said, ���Trouble is my middle name. If it gets wonky, I can take care of myself.���Perkowski wiped cream cheese off his lips and met Keith���s gaze. Keith grabbed his coffee cup. Perkowski watch the muscles in his arm ripple. His eyes opened wide. ���Wow. No doubt about it. Good luck guys.���Traffic was light as I guided Lady north on the Interstate. But there was still the obligatory slowdown. Purple Toyota hybrid vs a bad in black SUV. SUV won. Turned onto I-4. The skyline of Tampa loomed in the distance. A few puffy clouds dotted the horizon.�� Took the Ybor City exit.�� Beb�� Magnifique was located in a nondescript brick office building. No shingle on the door. Parked Lady. Entered the brick building and looked for signs of life. Restaurant on the first floor. Smelled spicy Spanish food. Spanish music wafted through the air. Murmur of quiet conversation. Early lunch crowd. Made our way to the second floor. Filthy threadbare carpet led us to the office of Beb�� Magnifique. Did a sound check to make sure the wire was working.���If you can get to the main man, keep him talking. Get the lay of the land as well.���Keith nodded and walked in the door. Went downstairs to the restaurant and ordered a soda.

 

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My goal is to publish the novel before Thanksgiving. Stay tuned.

This is the fourth novel in my Yale Larson Private Investigator series. To learn more about Yale’s earlier exploits, scan the following QR code with your phone.