Writing Tips

  • Point of View is all important. There aren’t many original plots but it is the original perspective that the writer gives it that will make a story compelling. Either that or a gimmick or some sort.
  • Focus on details rather than generalities: ‘Golden toast with baked brie and maple smoked bacon’ is more engaging than ‘breakfast’.
  • Use weather. “Don’t just say it’s raining – make us feel the sodden weight of a wall of water driven by winds at sixty miles an hour.” Joseph Hansen
  • Get your readers inside your characters by describing their sensory experiences. What they taste, touch, smell, sound and see puts the reader inside the characters’ body. To do this effectively you must be able to be in your own body.
  • Every character has good and bad qualities. A sunny side and a shadow side. Creating a character that is all good or all bad doesn’t work. It isn’t realistic.
  • Know your characters point of view. How they see the world colours everything they say and do. “A thief believes everybody steals.” E.W. Howe
  • The opening paragraph can capture attention by including something unusual or unexpected; an action or a conflict. The first paragraph should give the reader at least one question they want to know the answer to.

    • “Screams pierced the thin wall between our motel room and the next room over.” Who is screaming and why? Who is hearing the scream? What are they doing in the motel?

  • Once you start writing – keep writing – don’t stop and edit as you go along. Once you have finished your chapter, your book or your day’s work, then go back and look it over. “The faster I write the better my output. If I’m going slow, I’m in trouble. It means I’m pushing the words instead of being pulled by them.” – Raymond Chandler
  • A short story is about one thing only and should have no more than three characters. Begin close to the conclusion.
  • Mysteries are really two different stories twisted together:
    What happened & What appeared to happen. First figure out the straight story and then spin it around, knock it on the head and start telling it from the middle.
    Suspense happens from ‘give hope’ ‘take it away’ ‘give hope’ ‘take it away’ etc etc
    Writing mysteries is actually a combination of two major methods of writing.

    • Method A – using an outline. You definitely want to make an outline if you are writing a ‘fairplay’ mystery or it will be impossible to keep track of all the clues that must be inserted in order for the reader or audience to be able to arrive at the solution.
    Method B – create a group of interesting characters, toss them into an interesting situation and hang on for the ride.

  • Mystery writing advice is scattered throughout the Mystery Factory blog in various postings under that category. http://mysteryfactory.com/category/mystery-writing-advice/