Take A Gander: Prologue To “A Stranger Watches”

Last week I gave a glimpse into my writing process. I mentioned my work-in-progress, a Thriller novel entitled, “A Stranger Watches,” focusing on a serial killer. Today, I thought I’d take a little leap of faith and let you folks have a look at the Prologue to my novel. This is a first draft version, so keep that in mind and don’t let any editing issues get in your way of the overall reading.

I’m now over 60,000 words along. At this point, I’m thinking my first draft will probably end in the mid 80,000 word range. Then, I’ll be going back and doing more research to fill in spots that need some authenticity. You’ll see an example of how I bracket these areas, highlighted below in red, as I described in my process last week. During my rewrite, the word count will go up and down, but I hope to end up closer to 100,000 words.

Please be aware, this is about a serial killer. In the prologue below, there are graphic depictions. If you have a weak stomach or are easily upset, you might want to skip this. Also remember, any vile things this guy says are the character speaking. These are his feelings and opinions, not mine. I share none of his beliefs.

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Did I Tell You The One About Writing My Novel?

Hi Folks! Thanks for stopping back by my blog. Up to this point, I haven’t spent much time talking about my current novel-in-progress, much less my writing process. After a writing break over December due to some health issues (and the need to quickly crochet some Christmas gifts), I’m happy to report I’m back to work on my book. My Thriller, “A Stranger Watches,” is now over 50,000 words and going strong. That translates roughly to about 179 pages in book format. So, YAY! I’m moving right along, one murder after another!

Today, I thought I’d go through the process I follow when I write. Each writer has their own, of course, and we all might share some similarities and lots of differences. There is no one right way. We find what suits our personalities and our brains mostly through trial and error. There’s a lot of discussion about writers being either a pantser or a planner, as if there were a clear cut line between the two. There really isn’t. Many pantsers actually have a rough mental outline to guide them, while lots of planners fly by the seat of their pants through portions of their manuscript.

GRAPEFRUIT – The Killer Fruit!

This is a good warning to heed. Both my doctor and my pharmacist long ago warned me off grapefruit because of the potential drug interactions. If you’re on any of these types of medicines, double-check the list of drugs that interact. Keep yourself safe.

Take care,
Linda Williams Stirlig

Prescription For Murder

Occasionally, I hear news reports regarding the dangers of eating grapefruit while on certain medications. This is not new information and I have to remind myself that many are still unaware of this very serious drug-food interaction.

The medical community identified this harmful interaction at least ten years ago and now pharmacists routinely attach alert notices to certain prescription medications involved in these interactions.

The new information here is that the number of drugs that can cause such a deadly interaction with grapefruit has doubled in just the last few years.  At present, more than 85 drugs interact with grapefruit to cause injury, 43 of which cause serious or deadly interactions.

The list of drugs that interact with grapefruit now includes many blood pressure medications, most of the cholesterol-lowering drugs, certain cardiac drugs, some anti-seizure medications, specific chemotherapy drugs and a few antibiotic medications.

Sometimes a news anchor…

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Are Some Humans Born to Bully? Born to Be Victims? Can It Be Changed?

Bullying is a continuing problem in our society. Why has it gotten worse? What happens when a bully grows up? How do we deal with it? These are some of the questions Kristen Lamb takes on in this important post. No one likes being bullied, but it happens everywhere: school, church, work, online. Kristen offers some great insights and ideas.

Kristen Lamb's Blog

One of the reasons I am SO HAPPY you guys take the time to comment and share your thoughts is your insights often highlight areas I might not have thought to address.  A commenter Mr. Dandylion replied to my publishing predictions for 2014 with darker thoughts, which included this phrase:

“A new author will commit suicide after a sustained online bullying campaign, most likely stemming from Goodreads; it will cause major headlines and public anger.”

Those words hit home and made me think. Granted, as a writer, I’ve experienced my share of trolls and (gratefully) only two LOONIES. But I have too many author friends (including NYTBSAs) who’ve been victimized by flash mobs of cyber-bullies. I’ve also had blogger friends who wrote on very innocent topics randomly victimized by gangs of trolls for seemingly no reason.

Oddly, when I tried to research bullying and bullying resources for yesterday’s post, I…

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