Wodke Hawkinson on style

With six books, dozens of short stories and two blogs, the writing team of Wodke Hawkinson is widely recognized as a force in the independent author community.

Wodke Hawkinson is actually the writing team of Karen Wodke and PJ Hawkinson, two lifelong writers who, after each publishing a book on her own, teamed up to produce the thriller Betrayed, three collections of short stories, the genre-smashing Tangerine and their latest, Zeke, a novel of suspense and sexual tension.

The team not only writes in different genres, their individual works combine genres, cross genre boundaries and indeed invent whole new kinds of fiction. So naturally, I had to bring them back to Written Words to ask about their writing style.

How would you describe your own writing style?
K — I feel like we have a rather direct style of writing. We like to paint a clear picture of what’s going on (usually) and if we are vague about anything, it’s intentional. We like our books and stories to flow; we don’t want reading them to feel like work.

PJ — I agree with Karen. I personally don’t like something that hasn’t been in the story, or is barely mentioned, and then it ends up being a major part of the plot.

Are there any authors whose style you admire? Do you try to emulate them?

K - I admire so many authors; it would be hard to narrow it down. I don’t feel like we consciously emulate anyone, but I’m sure that we’ve been influenced to a degree by some of the great books we’ve read.

PJ - Again, I agree with Karen. While I don’t try to emulate other authors, I think it is nature of the beast that authors can’t help but use someone else’s techniques on occasion. After all, writing is writing, and there are only so many ways to put words to paper.

Are there authors whose writing style you dislike?

K — Without mentioning names, yes. I dislike writing that’s so verbose it’s a chore to wade through. I also dislike pretentious writing or vague writing.

PJ — Also, without mentioning names, I find some writers to be overly descriptive. There’s no reason to beat a dead horse.

How important is your writing style to you? Are you happy with your style, or are there aspects of it you try to change during rewriting or editing?

K — PJ and I have very similar writing styles and this makes collaboration easier for us. I’m pleased with our works. That said, we are always looking for ways to improve the story during editing.

PJ — Karen mentioned the similarity in our writing style but I’d like to also mention the different ways we have at looking at a situation. While we basically think the same on most things, we have also led completely different lives and thus can each bring our own points of view to the table.

How can readers identify your writing style? Are there particular words or kinds of words that you tend to favour? Sentence structures? Or is it more in the story, the pacing or the characters?

K & PJ — We’re not sure we have a style distinctive enough it could be recognized sans our name. We tend to favor an approach that carries the reader along, with just enough detail to set the scene, and with characters who may not always be likeable but act like real people in believable situations.

Do you think writing with a female protagonist and POV, as opposed to a male POV, changes the style, in terms of word choice, sentence structure or other language elements?

K — Yes. Absolutely.

Karen Wodke, left, and
PJ Hawkinson

PJ — I think it depends upon the character you are writing about. Not all females act like one and nor do all males act masculine. Writing style, word choice, and sentence structure all come together with the character, not with the gender. And in my case, I worked with mainly men for many years and believe I can see, at least to a point, their way of thinking.

Do you think your audience responds to your writing style, consciously or unconsciously?

K & PJ — It depends on the book. With a couple of our books, Zeke and Betrayed, audiences tend to have a strong response, either positive or negative. But we believe that has to do with the content (violence) more than our writing style. Not all of our works are suspense/thrillers, but the ones in that genre garner more passionate reviews.

How important do you think writing style is to an author's commercial success?

K & PJ — It could be very important. We feel that style is defined by the way an author handles the telling of the story. That would include many elements. If you gave the same exact plot to ten different writers, the tale would be told in ten entirely different ways. So style does matter. But we also have to say that sometimes the story itself is what matters. Some stories are so compelling they are able to transcend poor writing and appeal to a wide audience.

About Wodke Hawkinson and their books:

Wodke Hawkinson is the name under which writing duo PJ Hawkinson and Karen Wodke produce their collaborated works. The authors have been friends since high school, and began their co-writing partnership in 2009. Before combining forces, each completed a solo project in addition to publishing various short stories and/or articles. PJ published Half Bitten, a novel of vampire revenge and teen angst, and Karen completed her book for young readers, James Willis Makes a Million.


Both PJ and Karen attended school in Kansas. PJ graduated from Hutchinson Community College, and Karen attended HCC and Kansas Wesleyan University. Both reside in different Midwestern towns, and do much of their collaboration via telephone and the Internet. However, they have been known to discuss ideas while casting their lines at a quiet lake, as they both enjoy fishing.

Along with several short story singles, the books they have published as a team include:

Tangerine — Romance and intrigue in a future where space travel is commonplace and aliens a part of everyday life.

Betrayed — Brooklyn is taken captive during a botched carjacking. And so her nightmare begins.

Betrayed — Alternate Ending — Written especially for readers of Betrayed, this publication begins at chapter 49 of the original novel and takes the story in a completely different direction.

Zeke — A dark novel of sexual obsession and psychological suspense. How could a man who looks so good be this wicked?

Catch Her in the Rye — Selected Short Stories Volume One — Thirty-one short tales from various genres.

Blue — Selected Short Stories Volume Two — Eighteen short stories, three of which are novelette-sized. A cross-genre reading experience.

Alone — Selected Short Stories Volume Three — Eighteen genre-spanning works of short fiction that include drama, humor, sci-fi, and paranormal.

Website: http://wodke-hawkinson.com/

Readers' and fellow indie authors' site: http://findagoodbooktoread.com/

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Wodke-Hawkinson/e/B00572KLX2/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Smashwords author page: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/wodkehawkinson

Barnes & Noble page: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/wodke-hawkinson

Yahoo Contributor profile: http://contributor.yahoo.com/user/1167577/wodke_hawkinson.html

Twitter ID: @WodkeHawkinson

On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wodke.hawkinson  

Guest blogger: JD Mader on writing

The critically-acclaimed author of Joe Café, The Biker and other works, JD Mader is swapping guest blog posts with me this week. Read about the best and the worst that JD Mader ever did as a writer, and then check out his blog, Avoiding the Stairs.

 

 The Best and Worst Things I’ve Ever Done (as a writer)

Let’s start with the bad. I majored in Creative Writing. My focus was short fiction. I had no aspirations at being a novelist then. One could focus on Novel, Poetry, Playwriting—and everyone had to take a few classes outside their interest. This was fine with me. I don’t dig poetry, but I spent years writing lyrics for my bands, so that was easy. I like novels and that was a fun class. Somewhere there is a plan for a novel and a good chunk of writing (terrible, I’m sure).

The playwriting class…ugh. At the time, I hated writing dialogue. It took me many hours of eavesdropping and transcribing random peoples’ conversations to get comfortable with dialogue. I knew the importance of good dialogue. Anyway, guess what there is a shit-ton of in a play?


I was pretty serious about writing when I was in college. I was also pretty serious about killing my brain cells and playing music and working and…you get the idea. I knew I could write a play that would get me an A. But I didn’t try. I copped out. The play I wrote all took place between two people trapped in an elevator.


It was a smart-ass move. I got my grade, but I didn’t get the point. I wish I could go back and try again. My teacher was a very accomplished playwright. It was an opportunity I blew.

I started writing professionally when I was 14 or 15, as a sportswriter in San Diego. When I moved to San Francisco for college, I just left. No thank you, no goodbye. I would do that over again, too. I didn’t appreciate the majesty of that opportunity until a decade had passed. (Bonus screw-up.)

What’s the best thing I’ve ever done?

The best thing is easy. For six years I worked with low-income, at-risk youth in San Francisco. I wore a lot of hats, but the best part was that I got to teach writing workshops to kids who did not read, did not write, and had little interest in doing so. I designed the workshop…or I should say we did.

The interest came quickly, and a lot of the kids were amazing writers. They weren’t emulating Kerouac like I did when I was in high school. They had original, unique voices, and I got to help them realize that.


We wrote as a group all the time. I was writing all day long with my students. We all produced an amazing amount of work, and we wrote in many forms. I didn’t shy away from any of them. And I shared my regret about my “play” with my kids.



We became very close, and they had some very intense stuff to write about. After the first couple of classes, the kids would come to class fired up and ready to write. They wrote on their own and brought me things to read. We wrote for the pure joy of seeing what could come out of our brains. They learned a lot. I probably learned more.



That was the most fun I have ever had with writing. Not only was I writing all the time, but I got to talk about writing all the time. And I can talk about writing forever. It also surprised me how much I knew. I was very, very lucky to get paid to do something as wonderful as writing with kids.

Since I threw in a bonus bad one, here’s my bonus good’un. My friend Pat and I have been writing and recording music together for twenty years. When I ask my four year old daughter what music she wants to listen to, she always says, “Dadda and Pat! Dadda and Pat!” That makes me about as happy as any writer has a right to be.

JD Mader is a writer and musician living in the Bay area. He is also a husband and a father. He has written countless short stories (many of which have been included in the collection Please, no eyes). He is the author of the critically acclaimed Joe Café and, more recently, The Biker (A Matt Stark Novel) — the first in a trilogy. In addition, Mader is a staff writer with www.indiesunlimited.com, and co-founder of the mighty www.blergpop.com where you can find fiction, ramblings, and even a profanity-laced advice column. Mader likes to fish in his off time…he also likes to sit on “Francine and Dadda Rock” and talk about “stuff.”

Check out JD's website, where you can see him bending baseball bats with his bare arms; YouTube channel and Amazon author page. This week, I'm his guest blogger on Avoiding the stairs.