Dark Halo blog tour + giveaway

Today we have author Christopher Kokoski sharing his 5 patterns of a bestselling novel and how he used them in his recent paranormal thriller Dark Halo.

5 Patterns of Bestselling Novels

If you read enough bestselling novels, a series of patterns consistently emerge that provide those popular stories with structure, organization and the sense of organic “reality” that readers subconsciously crave. Once you know these patterns, and how to apply them to your own fictional work, you can create stories that look, sound and “feel” like a bestseller. Imagine that! It’s as if you tap into the unconscious, little known architecture that the mega-authors like King, Koontz, Steele, Roberts, Jordan and many others use in all of their novels. 

Consider a reader opening the first page of your story and, often without knowing it, picking up on subtle signals in your writing that prompt them to think:

I recognize this structure
I like this structure
I’ve read stories like this from bestselling authors 
What could it do for your writing career, if every reader encountered those kinds of thoughts? Again, this probably happens all outside of the reader’s awareness. On the surface, the reader might simply say to themselves, “This book is for me.” However, under the radar, your story hooks them from page one and never lets go. 

Ready for the 5 patterns? Here you go.

Pattern #1: The Story Pattern – While there are exceptions, virtually every story follows an established pattern. Break the pattern at your own risk. It’s possible to break it and succeed, but your safest bet is to stick with the pattern that has served storytellers well for centuries. The Story Pattern, put simply, is:

Something Interesting Happens (Usually something bad that turns characters’ lives upside down) à More bad things happen to characters (increasingly difficult and life-altering complications and challenges) à Things get so bad it seems all is lost for the main character (this is sometimes called the climax) à The protagonist/main character/hero/heroine wins.

Again, there are many ways to adapt this structure to your specific story. For example, for my novel, Dark Halo, my story kicks off with a violent storm at the beginning, followed quickly by ghosts, a demon-possessed boyfriend and an unexpected visit from an angelic being. Events continually get worse as my main characters experience monsters, kidnappings, deaths, possessions and more as they plunge into the middle of an ancient war between angels and demons. You get the picture. Follow the story pattern, and you set your story up to engage the reader from page one. 

Pattern #2: The Architecture Pattern – This is the overarching pattern of your novel that gives structure to your story. Use this structure to guide the story from start to finish. Use it to set the parameters of your story. This is the essential foundation of your story upon which all other patterns stand. Although within this pattern there are numerous sub-patterns (the revenge pattern, the romance pattern, the mystery pattern, the thriller pattern, the heist pattern, the western pattern, the fantasy pattern, etc), choose the one that fits best into your story idea. You can even combine patterns. In my novel, Dark Halo, I chose to blend the thriller, suspense and paranormal/fantasy patterns. 

Pattern #3: The Emotional Pattern – This is the underlying, emotional pattern running through your story. Most of the time, this pattern is more “felt” than recognized by readers, except for perhaps a statement such as, “The story was full of action”, or “That story was so romantic/funny/thrilling,”, etc.  One strategy for inserting this pattern into your story is to ask yourself, “What is the major emotion I want my readers to feel?” or “What one feeling do I want to elicit in this story?” In my novel, Dark Halo, I want readers to feel “thrilling suspense” most of all. On every page, I asked myself, “Does this create suspense? Is this thrilling? How can I make it more thrilling?” By testing each page, each scene and the overall story with these types of questions, my goal was to embed the emotional pattern into my story. You can do the same with your stories.

Pattern #4: The Mini-Story Pattern – Each scene has its own pattern, and different kinds of scenes can have different patterns. This pattern is called the Mini-Story Pattern because most effective scenes contain all the elements of a story (i.e., characters, setting, plot, conflict, etc). Scenes consist of beginnings, middles and ends where motivated characters fight to achieve personal goals. Use the Mini-Story Pattern in each scene to pump structure into all parts of your work. In this way, your story unfolds in the most engaging, captivating manner that readers can’t resist. Once again, the Mini-Story Pattern follows the Story Pattern: 

Interesting event à Challenge/Struggle/Things get worse à Problem reaches a climax where things seem as bad as they can get à The scene ends, sometimes with the problem resolved, but often with another, usually worse, problem. 

In Dark Halo, the opening scene shows an angel falling out of the sky like a fireball. The angel struggles to stop his decent, and the scene ends with the angel in a heap of burning, black smoke. It’s the Mini-Story Pattern, and I repeat this pattern over and over again with different characters in different settings and circumstances, right up to the end of the novel.

Pattern #5: The Struggle Pattern – Finally, the fifth pattern is a character-specific pattern that plays out in multiple scenes in the overall arc of the story. Bestselling authors use The Struggle Pattern when they dramatize a character’s efforts to achieve a personal goal. Usually, the protagonist and antagonist (the hero and villain) have the most pressing goals. In other words, they are usually the most motivated characters, but minor characters also tend to have their own goals. Sometimes, these goals align with the main characters, sometimes they don’t. Most bestselling novels include a mix of characters, each with their own goals. As a rule of thumb, The Struggle Pattern typically includes a character making at least three attempts to achieve the goal before succeeding or failing. The main characters (protagonist/hero/heroine) usually make many more than three attempts. In Dark Halo, for example, the main character, Landon Paddock, fights to save his family in a town besieged by shadowy, demonic forces. While there are other characters with other objectives, Landon’s goal focuses the story from start to finish. 

In summary, here are the five patterns again:

The Story Pattern – Inciting Event à Rising Problems à Climax à Resolution
The Architecture Pattern – What genre is the story?
The Emotional Pattern – What one feeling do you want to elicit?
The Mini-Story Pattern – Each scene follows the Story Pattern above
The Struggle Pattern – Character goal à 3 attempts à Succeed or fail

If you want to see how all five patterns integrate into a fully formed novel, consider checking out my standalone story, Dark Halo. All five patterns are there, so you could even call them the “Dark Halo” patterns.

Thanks for reading this post. I hope you’ve enjoyed

Dark Halo by Christopher Kokoski 

genre: paranormal thriller 
334 pages 

In a town besieged by shadowy, demonic forces, a father races against time to save his family.

Thirty-five-year old Landon Paddock has deserted his wife and daughter, abandoned his business, and secluded himself in his late parent’s southern Indiana ranch. But he’s barely lapsed into a drunken coma when a mysterious, winged stranger appears during a violent lightning storm, chasing him out into the maddening night with his estranged 15-year old daughter.

As layer after layer of reality is dissolved by a series of violent encounters, the only way to survive might be for Landon to band together with the family he destroyed to make one last stand against a sinister army of unthinkable magnitude.

About the Author:

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Christopher was born in Kansas, the son of an Army Ranger and Black Hawk pilot. He grew up in Kentucky and Germany, and graduated from Murray State University in 2002 with a degree in Organizational Communication. He spent the next three years laboring over his first book, Past Lives, while getting married to his college sweetheart, having a beautiful daughter, and more or less finding his stride in life. 

He currently lives in Southern Indiana and works in Louisville, Kentucky as a national trainer. He has presented at local and national conferences on a wide spectrum of topics including communication, body language, cultural sensitivity and influence. Other notable activities include writing articles, short stories, novels and training materials for national and international audiences. 

Christopher continues his passion and dedication to writing by working on additional novels, including a sequel to the Past Lives series. His most recent book is the standalone paranormal thriller, Dark Halo.

Dark Halo Tour page URL: http://www.firstrulepublicity.com/dark-halo/

 for a list of all blogs on tour

GIVEAWAY

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Guest Post: Debut YA Fantasy author/artist Dianne Lynne Gardner + give away

is this not the coolest?!

Got something special today. In conjunction with First Rule Publicity, I Smell Sheep is kicking off Dianne Lynn Gardner's book tour for her debut Young Adult Fantasy novel Deception Peak. Not only is she an author, but she is an artist. She created some beautiful work to include in her novel. I love it when an author includes illustrations and have always wondered about the process. So I asked Dianne which came first? The story or the art.

Which came first? The art or the story? 

I've been an oil painter ever since I was small. My mom painted in oils and taught me how, and it’s been my passion ever since. But I also wrote when I was young too, pouring my soul out in poetry and random musings. Scribbles adorned the pages, a little calligraphy here, more bleeding heart words, more scribbles. Everything seemed to make it to the paper simultaneously. And in a sense it still does though I can’t paint with oils on my computer screen, nor can I type on my canvas. But the process of writing a novel is both a visual and a written journey for me.

And what came first in the Realm?

Well, I knew I wanted to paint a dragon. That desire has been a driving force in the creation of the Trilogy. And as I painted the dragon, I knew I had to create a character that was challenged by it. Hence, Ian.

I realized I knew people who fit the description of my characters and with a few model release forms in hand; I painted portraits of Abbi, Ian and Alex. 

Portraits are my forte in my world of art. I love them. I love all the little nuances that make someone who they are. 

The same thing is true when developing a character in a book, too. For example, Ian in Deception Peak is a fifteen-year-old boy, too shy to step out and be himself, but rather content to walk in his father’s shadow, Ian has a tendency to hide behind his thick bangs and peer out at the world from under his cover. But in this portrait, after his father disappears, though he’s still innocent and somewhat frightened, he’s beginning to not only conjure strength from within, but there’s a touch of anger brewing. That resentment. I believe is portrayed in this painting—not in any stereotype way. That wouldn't be human. But the slight narrowing of his eyes, his stance, looking over his shoulder as if questioning his capabilities—those are subtle signs of Ian’s character. 

I’ve painted many portraits for some pretty important people, like J.R.R. Tolkein’s great grandson Royd Tolkein. His agent bought two portraits for a birthday present for him—and Bruce Hopkins who played Gamblin in Lord of the Rings who helped auction his portrait at RingCon a few years back. (As much as he wanted it he didn't want the hassle of taking it back to New Zealand with him). The portraits opened another door, people wanting to be ‘in my book’. 

Children and young adults love the idea of being a star in a book as much as they love their portrait being painted. Even though the thrill is for a specific few, still having people pose for my paintings seems to make it easy for readers to identify with the characters. That’s important to me, especially because of my themes. I hope my YA fantasies are an encouragement to kids. I want them to know life isn't perfect, but you can still overcome the hard things that are thrown at you. Not because you are a super hero—on the contrary, because you’re human.

Deception Peak by Dianne Lynn Gardner Genre: YA Fantasy 
228 pages 

Teenage Ian Wilson follows his father through a portal into a deceptively beautiful Realm, where horses run free, the wind sings prophetic melodies, and their computer avatars come to life.

But separation from his father puts Ian in peril as he’s abducted by a tribe of dragon worshipers and forced to find his courage.

As he struggles for his freedom and embarks on a perilous search for his father, Ian meets the true peacekeepers of the Realm and learns of a greater purpose for his being in there.
(This is the first novel of the Ian’s Realm Saga)

About the Author:

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Dianne Lynne Gardner is both an author and illustrator. She’s an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and the National League of American Pen Women. She has written Young Adult Fantasy novels as well as articles for national magazines and newspapers and she is an award winning artist.

Dianne spent many years living out in the desert wilderness of the American Southwest, lived in a hogan made from adobe and cedar for thirteen years, co-owned 25 horses both pure bred and Native American ponies, traveled horseback and by wagon throughout the Navajo reservation, herded sheep and goat, worked in the forest planting trees and piling, farmed on barren soil and even lived in a teepee for a short while. She spent many long years using survival skills as a way of life.

Later she studied pastoral counseling and was a Pastor’s apprentice at a mainline church. She and her husband have been feeding the homeless for over twelve years. Today she draws both her survival experiences and her love for people, especially young people, into her writing seeking not only to give her readers a firm understanding of her stories’ characters, but a rich appreciation of nature.

this trailer shows a lot of the illustrations including the dragon