Plot or Characters? What Drives Your Mystery?
Story development on plot and characters enriches reader engagement and helps you write faster.
Story development on plot and characters enriches reader engagement and helps you write faster.
Reading helps you become a better writer. Discover six ways daily reading improves your writing life.
Who, what, where, and action are keys to get your reader into the story from the start. Save narrative description and backstory for later. Now is the time to show your reader you tell a good story.
Subtext is any content which is not announced explicitly. Baffle your sleuth and your reader with suspect subtext.
Create relatable characters by giving them opinions.
Tips to plant clues about your villain but leaving the reveal to your sleuth.
Allowing your reader to imagine character details in the theater of the mind develops connections with your story.
Without an immediate connection with your sleuth, a reader is not motivated to follow them solving the puzzle in the rest of your novel.
How to create a great protagonist, smooth dialogue, keep readers engaged, and trim info-dump to write a novel readers love.
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.