Robert Walker - Author & Speaker

New Book! Free Preview

Catch the first 14 chapters of Roberts New book, Titanic 2012 - Curse of RMS Titanic Click here to download ...

Main Menu

Home

Interviews With Robert

Between the pages, Past
A Mystery Column
By Dennis Collins
Click Here

Charleston Gazette Feature Article on Rob Walker: Click Here

Virtual Sitdown with Rob Walker
by Angela Wilson

NETDRAG EPISODE 9:
AUTHOR ROBERT W. WALKER

Wanna hire THE KNIFE for your next project?

Robert W. Walker is offering his services as experienced Book Doctor. Currently employed by the College of Dupage, Dupage, Illinois, he gives anyone who needs it a good nose job or gall bladder removal from the guts of their story if it's causing a cancer over the entire work. (He's been known to cut out whole chapters from his deep cutting for good reason.) He's listed with Denlinger's Publishing and have recommended Robert to their clients. Contact him for pricing information. �

Shadows in The White City

Robert's new book is set against the backdrop of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, "EXPO." Find out all about it in the following film narrated by Gene Wilder.

Fleshwar & Other Books

Get Robert's serialised short, FLESHWAR. Download it for just .49 from Amazon through this link.

Many of Robert's out-of-print eBooks are available for download from FictionWise.com; Floaters, Scalpers and Hunting Lure. Don't be without these limited edition titles. Order now!

Children of Salem Preview

Get a 1st chapter preview of Robert's book, Children of Salem. Click here to download a PDF for your reading pleasure.

Home

Tools & Tips

Getting a Story Underway...

Tools and Tips #1 -- Dialoguing

Hello all -- on the subject of dialogue: I once heard a panelist say to a roomful of prospective writers and readers, and I quote, "Dialogue stops action." I was immediately on my feet, defending dialogue as "Dialogue IS action."

Dialogue is not just the words between the quotation marks. It involves facial features, how the speaker looks when saying the words, where his eyes are cast, what his hands are doing, where the ticks are. If he blinks repeatedly when he says it.

Section 1.

Begin a story opening with your character's hands; focus on where the hands are, what they're doing (what kind of `pie' are the hands deeply into -- involved with?) As you pull back from the busy or idle hands, and the story begins to unfold, allow this character's name, age, occupation or career to enter into the mix...allow setting perhaps some music to filter in. In other words, after the intense focus on the hands, the other body parts -- constituting character description and movement -- movement of legs and other limbs -- are put into motion (a built in dynamo for your beginning). With this initial body in motion, you can then easily focus on the main story of WHO did what to whom -- who's story is it anyway? WHAT -- what's happening? When -- year, night, day, date, time -- what time is it and do you have a ticking clock operating in the story? Where -- setting; we're not in Kansas anymore?

BEGIN a Story with a pair of hands in or on something, fingers clutching whatever as a boy rolling a tattered old baseball around in his hands...

Everyone must hear this question before a single word of your beginning is committed to paper: How long should it be? Pure melody such a question. Shows a thinking mind.

Section 2.

Let's give it a framework of from 1-3 pages or more if you so choose. A piece of writing in fiction is only as good as the effect it leaves on readers, and only as LONG AS IT HAS TO BE, yet every necessary sensory detail must be present to achieve this magic, this graceful lie, this artful irony of language.

We only learn by DOING, so now GO LEARN DO and have FUN with it in the bargain. If you get blocked by this assignment, or freeze up, do a bit of research -- search newspapers and magazines for a photo of someone doing something with his/her/their hands and use the photo to jump-start your opening pages and strive for five but settle for one page on the hands-on project.

Or seek out any one of my books and find opening passages describing a character and you will often find the hands as per chapter 2, pg. 12 of PURE INSTINCT when we are in the psychic hands of Dr. Kim Desinor. �