Breaking the Rules

As a writer, I'm constantly trying to improve, be it by taking online classes, doing tons of research, reading informative books and blog posts, or even buying a critiquing program to help me polish my work.

But you know what? Sometimes you just gotta break the rules.

I aspire to write deep third person POV, which means I'm doing all I can writing-wise  to make a reader feel they are the character. And you know what? Lucky Lucklighter splits infinitives. He cusses a lot, and he ends sentences with prepositions. And not just in dialog. That's how he thinks, so that's what appears in the narrative.

Yes, I take pains to form grammatically correct sentences to aid readability, but what if writing out the perfect sentence jerks the reader out of the story because my protagonist has just stepped out of character?

So while my program points out that "ain't happening" is probably not going to get me an A+ on an English homework paper, as long as it helps readers be Lucky for 247 pages, I'll be happy.

Yes, sometimes to tell the story that needs telling, you gotta break those rules.

And speaking of Lucky (and Bo) and rule-breaking, I'm in the home stretch of Redemption (Diversion #5) and am setting a tentative pub date of August 1. Sorry for the delay folks, but I want it to be right.

Also, the covers of the remainder of the series have been updated.

Watch for the Redemption cover reveal in the next few weeks, and I'll leave you with the tentative blurb:

Living is the easy part.

Agent Lucky Lucklighter and his partner escaped Mexico alive, only to plunge into bureaucratic fallout from their mission. Hell, maybe Lucky should have stayed south of the border. Especially when the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau places Bo into rehab, and Lucky’s facing both therapy and an inquiry into a fatal shooting. Watching over his shoulder for a vengeful drug lord or a cartel don calling in favors leaves him scarcely able to imagine a future for them as agents, or as a couple.

Bo Schollenberger once had a vision for their life together, but he’s bowed beneath the fallout of his undercover work. Lucky’s hanging on by his deeply chewed fingernails, clinging to hope by making Bo’s dreams of a home into reality. The last thing he needs is a phone call from a dangerous man who knows too much, summoning him back to Mexico for “an early Christmas present.”

Not when the SNB brass asks tough questions, like “How well do you really know your partner?”