Find The Victim’s Secrets in Your Mystery The victim is a strategic character in your mystery. Spend just as much time developing this character as you do your protagonist and the villain. Even though your victim is dead or soon dead, they are the character around whom the story revolves. The crime against the victim…
Why Read? You read long before you started writing. You probably started writing because you are a reader. Jane Friedman, writing and publishing coach/blogger underscores reading as the basis for good writing: Establish a reading habit that matches roughly what you hope to write and publish. Make it as important as anything else you schedule…
The Detective Finds Clues in the Killer’s World Let the complications roll! Your detective screws up, asks for help from the wrong people, stumbles over his weaknesses. If it’s bad, bring it on. In the final section of Act II (Four-Act Structure) your detective dives deeper into the killer’s world as the ultimate exploration of…
How knowing the basic storyline will help you write faster.
Why understanding each suspect’s relationship to the victim, builds suspense in your mystery novel.
Tips on using characters, twists, and clues to keep your mystery reader guessing until the end.
