Ted’s answer to “Ted- I'm enjoying Elixir very much, but your writing style is quite unique. Was the choppiness inte…” > Likes and Comments

You're most welcome, my friend. Thank YOU for the inside information, so to speak, it's much appreciated and really explains a lot. True, this more direct style certainly isn't common in most YA books, but you see it in certain thrillers. I must say, it works quite well with what you were working with.:)

I'd being interested in additional insight regarding your use of "other elements," if that's not asking too much. If you'd rather keep those to yourself, I'm cool with that, too. I respect your privacy. Hehe, your back ground in screenwriting shines through here!


You certainly have, Ted! And so much more. I'll keep you posted. I'm looking forward to reviewing it.

It's my pleasure Dustin! Two other stylistic pieces of Elixir that aren't common in most books, but are found often in film:

> As the author, I don't narrate character back stories, but rather, let the reader infer character back stories by listening to dialogue and observing behavior. For instance, I don't say things like "Sean has been a genius his whole life," but rather, give the reader the clues needed to make that inference - seeing him on Jeopardy at a young age, watching him easily solve math problems, etc. Again, this is very similar to how audiences gauge characters while watching a movie.

> Instead of being broken into traditional chapters that are a couple dozen pages long, the book is split into chunks that are only a handful of pages in length; these small chunks tend to work like scenes in a movie.

If you have any more questions about the book or its writing style, just let me know. Also, I've done several interviews for Elixir already, where I discuss stuff like this (among other things). Feel free to check them out here: http://www.elixirthebook.com/news.html

-Ted

Yes, your style is very similar to that of a film. And I love that you "show, don't tell." I do enjoy some character back story (I think that some is inevitable,) but whenever possible, it's always best to show their dialogue, traits, likes-dislikes, etc... I admire that, man. I also marveled at the fact that with Sean, you'd develop him from one angle, then come back later on from additional angles. You don't see that often in fiction.. not that I've read, anyway.

It really does read like a script! The short chapters seems to make the reading so faster and smoother, too. I don't mind long chapters, but short ones are nice, too, especially when you don't have a whole lot of time and prefer the finish the chapter (like I do,) before putting it down.

I'm very interested in the interviews, thank you so much for sharing.:) I finished last night, BTW, and should have my review written and posted fairly soon. Thank you, again, for this awesome experience and opportunity!

No problem Dustin! Thanks for the positive comments! It's always great connecting with passionate and perceptive readers : )

It's been a pleasure connecting with you, too, Ted! So are you writing anything at the moment?

I've been weighing a handful of premises for a second book for a while, and am happy to say I've recently decided on one. That's all I can say for now!

That's cool, man. I respect that!