Control Your Characters

Control Your Characters

When Characters Try to Take Over The Story Every writer has the experience of characters acting and speaking in unexpected ways. With the most detailed story outline, once you begin writing a scene, characters do something that you hadn’t planned in your outline. When the protagonist or the antagonist speaks pithy words or acts in…

What Makes a Novel a Mystery?

What Makes a Novel a Mystery?

Thrillers and Crime and Mysteries, Oh My! Terminology can be bewildering. New writers need to be clear about their genre because readers of each genre have expectations about what the story will deliver. Knowing your genre facilitates marketing to reach the right readers who will appreciate and enjoy your novel. In thrillers, the clock is ticking. The protagonist is vulnerable and must achieve their goal before time runs out. Whether it’s getting out of a capture situation or […]

The Power of Sleuth Flaws

The Power of Sleuth Flaws

How to Add Empathy to Your Fiction Detective Every fictional detective has skills. Which skills and how they are used are up to you, the author. These skills help your reader admire your detective especially whey he meets confrontations and obstacles. But, your detective’s flaws are the intersection where readers empathize.Readers empathize with shortcomings. Your detective’s skills impress the reader, his flaws make readers care. Flaws give you opportunities to create obstac […]

How Many Suspects is Enough?

How Many Suspects is Enough?

Be Good to Your Reader Choosing suspects for your mystery novel begins when you flesh out your story idea in the planning stages. As you create your character bible adding suspects to your mystery novel you aim for a balance between enough characters to challenge your sleuth and your reader and too few suspects. If your mystery has only two or three suspects your reader won’t feel challenged. You will be challenged creating material to flesh out a novel of 65,000 to 85,000 wor […]