You know how it is, when you’re on a date, and the person on the other side of the breadsticks has that certain something that drives you to ask more and more questions because you don’t really care what they’re talking about, just that they’re talking?
It’s the sound of their voice – the way they form their words. It’s the authority with which they tell their own story. It’s the way they guide you through their adventure, with details so charming you would swear you were there with them.
It’s one of those dates you wish would never end, where the restaurant closes down around you and you don’t care. Time has flown and you have to get up early tomorrow and you don’t care because the person beyond the breadsticks is simply the most fascinating person in the world.
When the date is done and you’re by yourself, you think about that person, replaying the things they said in your head.
It’s because that person has something about them, a special thing.
I’ve been on plenty of dates where the beyond the breadsticks person was drop-dead gorgeous, but they didn’t have the thing. Interesting, sure. Fun to look at, oh yeah. Compelling? Nope.
My oldest dog is not a well fellow. At almost 17, he wants to cuddle, and my spidey-sense tells me those opportunities are fading.
Sitting next to him on the loveseat in our three-book library, a copy of my third book, Adventures of a Sawdust Man, came to hand.
I just flipped it open (it was a copy I’d printed for my wife to read) and began to read.
The writing was good, concise. Dialog was funny in the right places and flowed smoothly. Words were well chosen.
Compelling?
Not in the least.
The novel on the other side of the breadsticks was pretty to look at, but so uninteresting. It was genuinely…oh, don’t say it! Don’t say it! Oh, here it comes…
Dull.
Now I understand why agents line up to take a pass on it.
I, of course, think it’s really good. But those are complements from the parents. No, you don’t look fat! Of course not. You’re not dull as a brick. Not my kid.
It’s the command of the circumstances, the sincerity in the words, the flat-out honesty in the feelings that bubble out of the characters that compels you to keep reading. I think.
My guys seem like cardboard cutouts.
The plan from here is to read a bestseller to identify that Thing. To go on a date with a really good book and see if I can pin down what makes it so compelling.
And then apply that to my novel.
From disaster comes opportunity.
The movie ain’t over until the credits roll…
John D Reinhart 