My Novel.

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Hi guys i am currently writing my own book, i have a few chapters written but i want to share my introductory chapter with you guys to see if you think it sounds good and if you would be interested in reading the rest. i am taking my time in writing it and i am forever changing things so it will take me a while to finish. I have decided to call it The Specialist but i may change it to The Devils Footsoldier if i think the rest of the story would effect the title name.
Any comments are welcome including harsh as i would like an honest opinion.
Here goes...

Chapter 1.
Introduction of a professional

It was October 3rd 2014 11:12pm in southern California, Mr James T Darwin had just finished work. It was a long 14 hours at the office and he was so exhausted he just wanted to go home. Long telephone calls to business partners, endless meetings with clients and such. He had felt a slight headache appearing and couldn't wait to go home and be at peace. His 45minute journey home was calm, he listened to the local news on the radio and occasionally sung along to a few tunes that were played. Upon entering his driveway as always the lights were off, because Mr Darwin was so into his work he felt he had no time for a family. the sensor light on his driveway shon brightly at his presence. It was a fairly large house, the kind you would expect a successful business owner to have. He parked his car in the garage and pressed the button on his remote to close the garage doors. He dragged his tired body out of his car and proceeded to the front door. As he opened his front door he noticed some mail on the floor, so he picked it up and took it to the kitchen while muttering "Nothing but bills, bills and more bills". As Mr Darwin opened the fridge for an alcoholic beverage he felt a weird feeling that he was being watched. the kind of feeling of being stared at from behind that the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. He quickly shook of the feeling and put it down to him being tired, or the stressful long days of work were getting to him.

He decided to sit down on his leather massage chair with his ice cold beer and proceeded to open up his mail. As he had just opened up the first letter a big hand with a soft leather glove had tightly nipped his nose and covered his mouth, while an excrutiating pain in his neck was causing him to try and wriggle and scream. A deep and calm voice had said "Please stop trying to struggle, as this knife on your neck will cause more pain if you continue". The solid cold steel edge of the knife was pressed so firmly on Mr Darwins neck, that it had slightly pierced the skin and caused a small flow of blood to trickle down onto his chest. The man with the leather gloves gradually released Mr Darwin, and while slowly moving to the front to face him the man pulled out a silenced gold plated 9mm pistol. "Mr Darwin i strongly advise you do not try anything stupid" the man explained. "my client has asked that i show you a picture of this woman". the man slowly reached into his inner pocket and pulled out a photo of a beautiful young brunette woman. Mr Darwins heart skipped a beat as soon as he saw the photograph, it had triggered certain flashbacks in his mind.

The flashbacks were of one drunken night Mr Darwin decided to drive home. He was well over the legal limit, but didnt care for the safety of others and carried on as though he was the king of the world. He decided to speed up as he thought in doing so he would get home quicker and not get caught. At this point the beautiful woman from the photo had started to cross the road Mr Darwin was speeding on. Suddenly a loud tire screech shocked everyone at the scene and the woman looked on in disbelief that Mr Darwins car was skidding towards her at a tremendous speed. Before she had time to react it was too late. The woman was struck by Mr Darwins car and died on impact. Mr Darwins face went pale, he immediately felt as though he had sobered up quickly with the sudden reality at what had just happened. He was in a terrible state of shock and panicked so much he just put his foot down and drove off, running the dead womans body over as if it was just a bit of roadkill.

Mr Darwin quickly snapped out of the brief flashback and stuttered "Wh wh what does she have to do with this? sh sh she was a ****ing nobody". The man holding the silenced pistol replied in a sharp tone "That nobody was your business partners wife". Little did Mr Darwin know was that his buisiness partner was stood on the sidewalk waiting to greet his wife. He had saw how fast Mr Darwin was travelling and he witnessed the brutal accident of his beloved wife. The man was enraged when Mr Darwin had no respect and drove over his wife to get away. He was so hurt he did not mention it at work so Mr Darwin did not know it was his wife he had run over. His business partner wanted revenge, but sought after professional skills too achieve it.
"****, ****" Mr Darwin screamed. "I didnt ****ing know it was his wife, i knew he had become funny with me recently but i thought it was to do with us being busy at work or the stupid disagreements we had over business deals". Mr Darwin was shaking, he knew he could not call for help as his house was to big and the neighbours would not be able to hear. The neighbourhood was focused around privacy. "S s so what happens now?" Mr Darwin asked anxiously. "Well my client wanted me to show you this picture of his wife before i killed you, so you know why he hired me" "Nooo please god no" Mr Darwin pleaded. "I will pay you double, i will give you anything you want please please just let me live i will leave the country". The man with the gun sharply replied "It is non negotiable, once the client pays i do not retract my decision to terminate... i always finish my job". "Well who are you? what is your ******* name? you pussy". Mr Darwin shouted out of fear. "I do not have a name, but my clients call me....The specialist".

Upon hearing him say those final words Mr Darwin tightly closed his eyes which forced tears to begin to stream down his face. The specialist whispered. "May you rest in peace, it is up to God to judge you now". He slowly and calmly pulled back the trigger and shot Mr Darwin in the forehead, leaving the back of the chair and the walls covered in blood and brain matter. The force of the bullet had pushed Mr Darwins body back into the massage chair, the job was a success. The specialist had left the house exactly how he entered, without any sign of forced entry and no evidence of him being there. Apart from the obvious signs of murder.

This is the story of a professional killer, some say he was born to kill. Others state he is a highly trained government project. these are infact myths and rumours, this is the story of what made the man, and this is the story of THE SPECIALIST.
 
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i would appreciate a reason of why it is awful and what would you recommend i change? bearing in mind i have no gcse's and dropped out of school at 15 i have no skills in writing but i wanted to get my ideas down. thanks.
 
The intro is a little bland and your writing is just...not great. It really doesn't read well.

Must say I agree, a minor point perhaps but I have always read and write myself with speech on a seperate line to anything else. Its a little lost in the rest at the moment.

Very brave of you though, I am writing something of my own and would never put it on these forums! :p

Keep working at it though, mine has been on and off for about 5 years due to work commitments and other such excuses. About a third of the way through now though :)
 
Have you read it aloud to yourself?

I'll give better feedback later if I can find the time.
 
Descriptions are too common; 'solid, cold, steel edge', 'soft leather gloves'.
Sentence structure is poor.
What will make this book different from all the others that tell a similar (identical?) story.
My favourite book is 'The curious case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'. Read that for, IMO, exactly how a mystery novel should play out.
 
Thanks Fus i will give it a look. I have not read many books only about 4 and 3 of them were sports books (Rocky Marciano story etc). I just written this down as i saw it in my head more like a movie than a book, i have not brainstormed or worked out characters names etc i just written down what i saw in my head. Thanks for the tips though, i may just scrap this altogether until i have read a few books and guides.
 
Dialogue needs to be a lot snappier and realistic. It looks like a first draft so some serious editing is needed for a lot of the descriptive sentences, which also need to flow much better.
I don't have time to go into it in too much depth but if you're really serious about writing then joining a creative writing course may help you a great deal. Reading a lot more books of the genre that you would like to 'break in to' may also help you to tighten up your writing style.
 
Not being patronizing at all, but it's great that you're taking this on. Keep at it and don't get discouraged!

My advice would be to digest as many classic books (in your area of interest) as you can. A creative writing course (as mentioned above) is also a great idea.
 
I wouldn't worry about doing classes or reading guides. Just read more and you will understand how books work. If you have inspiration that's the best start I started writing when I was very young and I am sure my writing would have been similar (no offence intended) the more you write the better you will get.

Also dont be afraid to edit what you have done, my own writing has been through multiple drafts and is better for it.
 
It was October 3rd 2014 11:12pm in southern California, Mr James T Darwin had just finished work.

Right from the start we're bombarded with a list of facts, most of them probably unnecessary unless the exact time and date are pertinent to the rest of the story in some way. I want to be introduced to these things subtley not presented them as a checklist. He had a 45 minute journey home, right? That's important because it shows not only that he has a tiring drive after a long day of work, but that he probably works in the city and lives in the suburbs. OK, maybe you didn't have to state exactly how long it took but anyway... Why not work into that a couple of Southern Californian landmarks he passes rather than stating outright it's Southern California? But don't do that, it was just an example. What I mean is, let the reader work things out.

On the flipside, there are things that need to be said. You can't just put 'It was a fairly large house, the kind you would expect a successful business owner to have.' I can't imagine a 'fairly large house' because it's all relative, and I can't even begin to tell you how frustrating the latter part of that sentence is because you just expect me to know what you're talking about.

You need to strike a balance between these things. Add what's needed and take out what isn't.

I don't have time to address any other points right now, but there's lots, including whether or not you already have ideas for a beginning, middle and end, any real knowledge of the subject matter, or if the story presents anything original for the reader.
 
Not being patronizing at all, but it's great that you're taking this on. Keep at it and don't get discouraged!

My advice would be to digest as many classic books (in your area of interest) as you can. A creative writing course (as mentioned above) is also a great idea.

I don't think reading classics is pertinent to writing books.

I think the thing the OP needs to bare in mind is that inspiration comes from everything, films, music and TV all count. Reading any book will help make you a better writer, but reading classics is not absolutely required. If anything that's likely to put you off from writing.

Trainspotting is a brilliant novel and Irvine Welsh has openly stated that he wanted to write a novel which was influenced by pop culture as opposed to the "classics". Similarly, the whole novel is a kickback against the novel as an art form anyway.

It's still a great book, and while you may or may not agree with him when he says that notions of "classic" novels or linear books are a middle class thing, it does show that there is no one hard and fast proof way about how one should go about writing a novel.

OP: you could do better. I'd definitely try and get some pieces workshopped in creative writing classes or workshops. Having done so myself, it's helped me no end.

Most importantly, you're DOING it. That's important. Keep at it.
 
Hmmmm. Why the swearing?

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