Head Popping
Before I get started, I want to let you know that my publisher, Black Rose Writing, and I are offering you a deal! My book, Betrayed, will be on sale from Sunday, July 2 through Wednesday, July 5 for $0.99 on Kindle through Amazon! Betrayed has won eight awards, and earned a notification as Best Seller on Amazon! Now is your chance to get it on Kindle through Amazon for only $0.99. https://amzn.to/3i2dxDz
Okay, Head Popping.
I am not referring to menacing and mayhem that takes place in most any thriller-crime-mystery book, although there is a fair amount that takes pace in between those pages. Pick up one of my books or a book by David Baldacci or John Sandford and you will certainly find that. The Head Popping I’m writing about is a point of view (POV) change from one character to another. My short chapters, like the chapters in any James Patterson book, lend to that effectively.
For example, in my book, Betrayed the opening chapter has Brian reflecting on death and the sacrifice he is about to make in order to save his brothers. The chapter begins with this:
It was still. No breeze. The air, dead, smelled of red dirt and decay. A hawk circled overhead, cawed once, and glared at him. At least Brian thought it did. He wondered vaguely if it was an omen, a message from the spirit world George often talked about. A warning, perhaps. Fitting if it was, Brian thought. If they survived, he would ask him.
He lay prone in the dirt and glanced behind him. Brett was not visible. That was good. He wanted his brother safely behind the big boulder. Hidden.
Brian wasn’t afraid to die. He just didn’t want to die. Not yet, anyway. Fifteen was too young. However, he made a promise to watch over George and Brett, and that he would do. If it came to it, he would protect his two brothers any way he could, including sacrificing his own life.
—
The reader is smack dab in Brian’s head. You feel his worry, but also his determination, his resolve. And as a reader, you wonder what the heck is going on? A fifteen-year-old protecting his two brothers? From who? Why? Of all my books, this might be my favorite opening. It hits the reader not only between the eyes, but squarely in the heart.
But the very next chapter’s POV shifts to a different character and scene altogether:
They stood in the driveway of an expansive ranch home made of brick and glass that was out of place on Navajoland. When one had money, one could build whatever one wanted and as big as one wanted it. It was big and beautiful, almost obscene in comparison to the abject poverty most of the Dine’ lived in. There were several of these monstrosities dotting the desert landscape, one competing with the next in size and expense. No matter. He had money and power and used both to his advantage. He liked what he had. His only disappointment was that he didn’t have more.
“Have you found that kid yet?”
Two men looked at the red dirt and shuffled their dusty boots.
“Why the fuck not?” he shouted. His anger grew in proportion to their non-answers.
“We’ve been watching the girl and her old man hoping they would lead us to him.”
“That isn’t good enough, goddammit! For chrissakes, we need to find that kid. We don’t have time to sit and watch.”
—
A different character and different scene. The reader is no longer on a mesa inside a fifteen-year-old’s head. The reader now is in the driveway of a fancy house owned by a wealthy and ruthless man. One antagonist- Betrayed has several, one worse than the next. At this point in the book, Brian does not know this conversation is taking place. Worse, he does not know who this guy is and why he is after “the kid”, whoever “the kid” is. And more importantly, the reader doesn’t know either.
This is an example of Head Popping. You will find that this takes place in each book I write, along with short chapters that move the story along quickly, leaving the reader no chance to put the book down without wondering what will happen next. This is a definition of a “page turner.”
Sometimes readers complain there are too many characters in my books, but the more you read them, the more you know who they are and are not bothered by it. The way I think of it, ask yourself the question: how many people do you interact with during any day? Your spouse, your boss, your kids, the friend you encounter at the gas station or grocery store. That’s four characters or more (depending on how many kids you have) already. As you progress along in your day, you encounter even more. Some play a bigger role than others, but they play a role.
My books reflect life and the world I create in life. As such, you can expect multiple characters.
Let’s look at one more example of Head Popping from my book, Blaze In, Blaze Out. The first three chapters involve Detective Pat O’Connor and his partner, Detective Paul Eiselmann, and three lawyers who make up the prosecution team. O’Connor went undercover and helped put the head of a crime family in prison. He and Eiselmann thought the guilty verdict was the end. Ahh, not so much.
But Chapter Four deals with one of the antagonists. Just like Betrayed, Blaze In, Blaze Out has multiple antagonists, one worse than the next. The reader will discover that fact in this chapter:
He had left New York and arrived in Chicago one day previous. Late in the afternoon on the same day O’Connor and Eiselmann had eaten their lunch at TGI Friday’s, he drove to the Richard Daley Branch of the Chicago Library system, where he picked up a thick legal-sized envelope from a woman sitting at a computer station behind one of the stacks. He had been told to look for a redhead in a blue windbreaker.
He had shuffled around the library twice at a leisurely pace, and then doubling back once to see if he had a tail. No one had paid any attention to him.
Why would they? Thick black-framed glasses, a prosthetic nose, a rubber fat pad around his middle. He looked like a dumpy man on the backside of life. He wasn’t. He was a muscled and well-maintained man in his thirties.
He sat down at a table in a corner and scanned the contents. He placed everything back into the envelope and shuffled back outside just the way he had strolled in- slowly and hunched over.
He stood at a bus stop, and then caught a bus traveling east for three blocks and got off. He headed into a small diner for a cup of hot tea. He sat at a window seat and looked for anyone watching him. After, he stood at the same bus stop and waited for a different bus that would take him north four blocks. He back-tracked two blocks to a four-story parking garage and rode the elevator to the third floor. He shuffled to his dented late-model green Ford Fusion, got in, and drove off.
North of Chicago in Skokie, he drove to a storage facility, punched in a keycode, and drove to his garage. He punched in his personal code, rolled up the steel door, and drove the Fusion inside. He shut the door, stripped off his prosthetics and changed his clothes to black leather pants with a matching black leather jacket. He pulled on a black helmet with a darkly-tinted visor, and backed his bright blue Yamaha YZF-R3 out of the garage.
He took I-94 north to highway 41 to Lake Forest, and then drove east towards Lake Michigan. At a fashionable condo, one of his residences, he pulled up in the driveway letting the beast idle under him. He pressed the garage remote and the door opened. He drove in quietly, his bike purring, and he shut the door behind him.
He swung himself off the bike, took off his helmet, and set it on the saddle ready for the next ride, which wouldn’t take place until the job was over.
The first thing he did was inspect the trips he had placed on or near his door to see if any had been disturbed. They hadn’t, so if anyone had entered his condo, it would have been either through the front door or slider in the living room.
He reached under the workbench at the front of the garage and slipped the SIG Sauer P365 Pistol from the Velcro straps holding it in place. Then he unlocked the door and entered the kitchen. He stood and listened, waiting and watching.
None of the trips he had in place in the kitchen had been disturbed.
He moved to the front door and none of those trips had been moved. Finally, he inspected the slider and found those trips in place. Last and not the least of importance, he walked through the condo and cleared each room. This was his usual pattern of behavior. It had kept him alive several times.
Satisfied, he relaxed.
He poured himself two fingers of scotch, unzipped his jacket, and took out the envelope that contained his newest assignment. He sat in a soft brown leather chair and read over it twice before setting it aside.
—
At this point, the reader does not know who this guy is, other than he is careful, takes great caution to protect his identity and make sure he is safe. The reader doesn’t know who this is. I only refer to him as “he” and “he” can be either a protagonist or an antagonist. The reader has an idea, but doesn’t know for sure.
This is another example of Head Popping. And as I said, you will find it in all of my books, and certainly in others. Something to look for, and if you write, something you might want to experiment with.
For your convenience, I included the links to both Betrayed and Blaze In, Blaze Out for you if you want to check them out. They are below. As always, thank you for following along with me on my writing journey. I would love to hear your thoughts. Please feel free to use the comment section below. Until next time …
Betrayed:
What begins as a hunting trip turns into the hunters becoming the hunted. A late-night phone call, a missing kid, a murdered family. No one willing to talk. Three 15 yr. old boys caught up in it and facing death. They don’t know why and can’t get help. https://amzn.to/3i2dxDz
Blaze In, Blaze Out:
“You do the things I’ve done, you have the things I’ve got. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, especially you.”
Detectives thought the guilty verdict was the end, but it was only the beginning. Their lives and everyone they love are now targets because revenge doesn’t worry about collateral damage.
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