Hi, folks. My name is T. Briar and I write action adventure suspense thrillers. Thanks for stopping by and visiting with me. I really appreciate it.
Lisa was kind enough to present me with a few topics to choose from. Five to be exact. The first and last on the list intrigued me the most so I’m going to reveal to you the process of my novel writing, as well as how I packed Isle of Savages full of twists and turns.
To start with, I must admit that I never thought I’d ever write a mainstream action suspense thriller. Even though I’ve always loved reading the genre, I just didn’t think I had anything to add to it. Then, as it happened, the idea for a shipwreck/deserted island type story wouldn’t leave me alone. As hard as I tried to push it away, the harder it kept coming back. So I finally decided after some months of telling myself that I would never write it to at least give it a second thought.
I first considered what kind of adventure tale I’d want to put my name on. By default, being the type of guy that I am and liking what I like, I decided that the story would have to have real tension, which meant that the characters would have to be in real imminent peril throughout the story. The kind that would make the reader squirm. It would also have to be fast-paced—none of that fifty pages in and nothing happening yet. Yeah, read way too many of those in my time. Anyway, to stay true to what I’ve always believed makes a memorable story and wanting to make sure the story twisted and turned on the way to its climatic conclusion, I ultimately decided upon five revolving POVs combined with cliff-hanging chapter endings and full speed ahead action.
I next considered the kind of characters I would want in the story. I quickly came up with seventeen- and eighteen-year-old scholarship kids for the good guys and a despicable captain and first mate for the bad guys. But that didn’t exactly give the story enough tension for my liking, so I conjured up some cannibals to give the story extra zing. The cannibals quickly evolved into subhuman pygmy cannibals during the writing process. Yeah, they’re creepy as all get-out to me. Scary, too.
Next came the plot, which I only had a vague idea about until I saw the opening scene in my mind’s eye. That’s how every story I’ve ever written happens for me: from seeing the opening scene in live and living color in my imagination. Since I’d already decided on the characters and structure of the story, I started writing from there to find out exactly what was going to happen.
Throughout the writing I somehow kept all of the details of who did what and why they did what they did straight in my mind with the help of only the barest of notes. Just not a good note taker, I reckon. In the end, after I cleaned up the writing and centered “The End” at the bottom of the manuscript, I was happy with the result of my efforts.
So that’s how Isle of Savages came into being. It was just one of those stories that demanded to be told. And I’m really glad that I wrote it all down.
Oh yeah, one last thing. No matter where this post falls on this tour, it’s the very last of my writings. I stopped all of my fiction endeavors some weeks ago. So I’d like to sincerely thank anyone who has ever bought one of my books (or will buy one in the future). It’s been a wild ride writing for you but I’ve recently opened up the most exciting chapter of my life thus far. I couldn’t be happier and I wish you all the happiest of lives also.
Thanks again for visiting with me!
Recommended Article: Isle of Savages – a Review
Thanks for hosting Tom!