Scene Science
The six basic scene components and how they help you create a tight, focused scene for your novel.
Enrich Your Characters with Opinions
Create relatable characters by giving them opinions.
How to Keep Your Mystery Villain a Secret To Surprise Your Reader at The End
Tips to plant clues about your villain but leaving the reveal to your sleuth.
Give Your Story Reader Room to Imagine
Allowing your reader to imagine character details in the theater of the mind develops connections with your story.
How to Introduce Your Detective to Devoted Mystery Readers
Without an immediate connection with your sleuth, a reader is not motivated to follow them solving the puzzle in the rest of your novel.
What to Write in Your Author Newsletter Before Your Book is Finished
Ideas for how to talk to your reader fans when your first book isn’t finished. Share your writer self.
First-Time Writer Mistakes to Avoid So Readers Love Your Story
How to create a great protagonist, smooth dialogue, keep readers engaged, and trim info-dump to write a novel readers love.
Keep Time in Your Mystery
Don’t overlook time elements in your story. From time of day in a scene to the timeline of the entire story. Tips to keep time in your mystery.
The Chapter Writing Adventure
As you build your mystery chapter-by-chapter be prepared for characters arrive with unexpected actions. Evaluate these actions in relation to the chapter and to the story vision. Trust the process.
Know Your Mystery Ending Requirements
Readers and Tropes Drive Mystery Endings Readers have expectations about mysteries. In order to give readers a satisfying mystery, your mystery needs certain elements. A baffling crime, usually a murder. An investigator committed to solving the crime. A concealed killer. The killer’s cover-up. Discovery process and elimination of suspects. Evaluation of clues, sorting the true…