When a writer has a new story idea, you spend time thinking about your novel before you ever start writing. You’ll do bits of research. You’ll brainstorm how the story will work. You hear the voices of different characters. You think about what the book is about.

This process is an essential part of getting ready to write a story.


Before you start writing, get organized. Get all your ideas down on paper, or virtual paper. Experienced writers know that memory is fallible. And with all the bits and pieces you have created, there are still holes in your story. Writing a novel is a process. Before you leap in while you still have plot holes and unformed characters, get a good grasp of your story.

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Before you start filling in the missing bits and pieces of your story, make sure you have a firm grasp on the story. Create a touchstone target for your story. Everything you write in your novel relates back to this baseline, and it’s only one sentence long.


This story sentence has three parts:

1. The protagonist’s role
2. The protagonist’s situation
3. The opposition that keeps the protagonist from his goal

This is the acorn from which you build the great oak of your story. All the conflicts, characters, and scenes you create relate to this story core.
 
Here’s an example for Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith.  

A Moscow homicide detective investigates a bizarre triple murder and runs afoul of the KGB and FBI.

Write your story sentence in 25-30 words. Leave out character names, subplots, or any other details. You are constructing the core of the story.

Once you formulate the base sentence, everything in your story is stems from and relates to this story seed.

Once you have your one-sentence story idea, you can start to expand it to a paragraph with more details.

You may think that you know your story and have no need to write a base sentence. If so, you should be able to write the sentence in less than a minute.

​Keep writing! 

Zara Altair 
Zara Altair writes mysteries set in ancient Italy. Her course for beginning writers Write A Killer Mystery is coming soon. Get on the notification list.

You can avoid new writer traps that mark you as a beginner. Professional writing is geared toward readers. Anything that draws the reader out of the story and calls attention to your writing is not worth it.

Writing craft takes practice. The benefit for you is that your story is appreciated. The more you write your craft will improve.

Here are 5 writing mistakes that will keep you out of the agent or editor slush pile and garner more readers. Learn to recognize this mistakes to improve your writing craft.

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Learn to recognize and fix these newbie writing mistakes to move your writing to a professional level. As your awareness builds, you’ll be able to avoid them at the first draft level.

1. Your characters bellow, whisper, exclaim, and whine. Don’t underestimate your readers.  Said is all you need, The words your characters say give your readers the clues they need to understand the emotion. Readers mentally skip said. Keep them in the story. Even in long dialogue exchanges, you don’t need to use it often. If you need to emphasize an emotion, insert a character action in a sentence. Craig pounded the table with his fist and said… Stick with said or ask. That’s all you need.
   
2. You use italics for emphasis. Just like exclamation points, you don’t need italics to emphasize words or phrases. If your character is thinking, write the sentence so readers know. Cut italics and trust your reader.
   
3. You head hop in a scene. Each scene has one point of view. Keep your reader in that character’s head. Hopping back and forth between characters in a scene confuses readers. If you want to get into another character’s head, write a different scene from their perspective and keep it in that point of view. Rule of thumb one point of view per scene.
   
4. You weight down nouns and verbs with modifiers.  You are a wordsmith. Choose your words with precision. The more precise you are the less you need adjectives and adverbs. Use strong active verbs and forget the adverbs. Search for “ly” to see how adverbs pop up in your writing. Stop, cut the adverb, and use a strong verb.  
   
5. You show off your smarts. Don’t use big words when a simpler one will do. Skip overwriting complex descriptions to show how much you know about something. Get out of the reader’s way so they can enjoy your story. Simple, clear writing keeps your reader turning pages.
   

Keep practicing your craft. You’ll be way ahead of the novice writers who ignore writing craft and think their story idea is all it takes. Readers prefer a well-told story. Your attention to craft creates a difference. It separates you from the many, many writers who are too impatient to learn.

Your storytelling will improve. Readers will enjoy reading your stories. Craft makes a story a good read.

Zara Altair
Zara Altair writes mysteries set in ancient Italy. Her course for beginning writers Write A Killer Mystery is coming soon. Get on the notification list.

Photo by Jordan McQueen on Unsplash

​Backstory and Dreams are traps for beginning writers. When you’re just starting out, avoid them. Yes, I know Michael Connelly uses war dreams for Bosch. 


Use these two story elements with a light touch. Best to avoid them. If you use them at all, wait until you are at least a quarter into your story. Never start with either. They peg you as a novice. 

Having a dream sequence and then the protagonist wakes up is just a no. Info dumping how he was abused, fell in love and was hurt, or any other backstory is a no. 

Dreams later in the story - if the dream elements reveal character - are just barely OK. 

Try to sprinkle backstory information in dialogue. For example a best friend can mention something and the protagonist can have an emotional reaction right then and there without spelling it out in a flashback. 

These elements need such a light touch beginning writers should avoid them. Just tell the story. 

Like long descriptive passages, dreams and backstory, slow down story progress and jar the reader out of the story. 

Don't let your fears of punctuation, spelling, and grammar keep you from telling a good story. A writer question from this week's Mystery Monday was about giving up writing because she couldn't spell.

Famous writers had the same problem. Ernest Hemingway, Jane Austin, and F. Scott Fitzgerald all couldn't spell. 

Storytelling is a talent. Let an editor fix your shortcomings after you write your story.

Zara Altair
Zara Altair writes mysteries set in ancient Italy. Her course for beginning writers Write A Killer Mystery is coming soon. Get on the notification list.  

Scenes are the building blocks of your story. Each scene moves the story forward. As you build your story alternate between action and reaction.

When you go through the first edits of your story make certain that all scene components are in each scene. You’ll take your reader by the hand to lead them through the story.

Alternating between Proactive and Reactive scenes is a cycle that builds story in increments.

Challenge your protagonist.

• He has a goal
  

• She tries to achieve the goal but obstacles challenge him as the scene moves forward
  

• At the end of the scene he has a setback
  

By the end of the scene, the protagonist has not only failed to reach his goal but has a setback that leaves him worse off than at the beginning.

Checklist for the Proactive Scene

• Who is the primary point of view character (stay with her throughout the scene).
  

• What is her goal?
  

• Keep the goal simple for this one small part of the story
  

• Create the objective of the goal so the reader can visualize the success
  

• Make the goal worthwhile otherwise cut the scene
  

• Make the goal achievable in the protagonist’s view
  

• Make it difficult to achieve
  

• Create the conflict that keeps your hero from reaching the goal
  

• Even with obstacles, don’t let the protagonist give up
  

• Make the obstacle unexpected, but keep it logical within the story
  

Put your hero or heroine in the worst possible situations as they seek what seems like an obtainable goal at the beginning of the scene.

Now that your protagonist is thwarted, it’s time to give him some space. This scene is where your heroine makes a decision about what to do next.

• Begin with the protagonist’s reaction to what just happened
  

• Now, get your hero to figure out what his options are. If the setback was significant he may have no apparent options and he needs to look at his dilemma and choose an option.
  

• In the final portion of the scene, the protagonist must make a decision.
  

• That decision is the goal for the next scene
  

Checklist for the Reactive SceneThese are the basic elements to include in the Reactive scene when your protagonist makes a decision.

• Clarify the protagonist’s vision of the problem. She needs to know what the problem is before she can make a decision.
  

• Keep the reader with the protagonist by visualizing what the character will do next
  

• The decision for the next action should be in line with your character’s personality and values
  

• Show how the protagonist sees success from his decision
  

• Make the decision difficult enough that the reader has doubts about whether your character can do what she decides
  

Reactive scenes provide a way for your character to make really bad decisions which will create even greater conflict later on. She may be blind to the motivations of another character. He may find that getting into the boardroom isn’t a slam dunk. Reactive scenes are your opportunity to build conflict and tension because the following action scene may be based on a very wrong decision that seemed right at the time for the character.

For beginning writers, all this alternating of scenes may seem forced. I know, I was a beginning writer, and thought the same way. But my stories went nowhere and lacked tension. Readers want and expect your characters to have problems and overcome obstacles. Unless you are very compulsive, you don’t need to write these lists down. Just know which type of scene you are writing, create the obstacles either to action or decision making, and write the scene. Your story will benefit and your readers will love your story.

Zara Altair
Z ara Altair writes mysteries set in ancient Italy and coaches mystery writers. 


Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

Photo by Eugeniu Esanu on Unsplash

Writing a first mystery can be challenging as a new author. With all the information out there about writing a story, you may be tempted to get "everything" into your story. 

And, with your creative mind buzzing, it's easy to have lots of ideas for your story and add them all in. You come up with plot twists or add interesting characters to your suspect list. 

In the end you have a unwieldy story that is hard for you to manage, especially closing it all out. And, worse yet, a story that is hard for readers to follow. 

​A fellow mystery writer in Sisters in Crime told me at our last meeting her first book was over 400 pages long and included 26 suspects. Way too long and complicated to gather a solid reader base. She laughs about it now.  

In this week's Mystery Monday I talk about ways to avoid the fog of putting too much into your mystery. 

You will enjoy the writing process more if you organize your thoughts before you start writing the story. 

Get to know your protagonist. Your mystery detective carries your story. Know as much as possible about your sleuth. The deeper you probe the more your readers will engage.

Plan the important details of your storyline. As you write you'll have a roadmap of where you are going. This plan will help you stay on course so you don't end up with a 400-page story with 26 suspects. Instead, you will have a select group of 5 to 8 suspects to develop and keep your sleuth and your reader guessing.

Flesh out your perpetrator. He or she needs to be smart, clever, and able to tell lies well. The more you know about this character, the easier it is to hide important details. Keep your reader guessing.

If plotting sounds intimidating, don't use the word. Develop your storyline to follow as you write scene by scene.

The guys at Sterling and Stone put together a brilliant 40 chapter outline. Here's the sequence to help your build your mystery. If you follow the sequence you will outline your story from start to finish. 

1          Everyday world, everyday conflict
2          Setup for the inciting incident
3          Inciting incident
4          Aftermath of the inciting incident


5          Setup for the first complication
6          First complication                                          
7          Aftermath of the first complication


8          Minor dark moment


9          Setup for the first plot point
10       First plot point
11       Aftermath of the first plot point


12       Second complication
13       Aftermath of the second complication


14       Setup for the first pinch point
15       First pinch point
16       Aftermath of the first pinch point


17       Third complication
18       Aftermath of the third complication


19       Setup for the midpoint
20       Midpoint
21       Aftermath of the midpoint


22       Fourth complication
23       Aftermath of the fourth complication
24       Setup for the second pinch point
25       Second pinch point
26       Aftermath of the second pinch point


27       Fifth complication
28       Aftermath of the fifth complication


29       Setup for the second plot point
30       Second plot point
31       Aftermath of the second plot point, part one:  the dark moment           
32    Aftermath of the second plot point, part two:  the resurgence of hope


33       Climax, stage one:  preparing for battle
34       Climax, stage two:  taking the fight to the enemy
35       Climax, stage three:  first contact
36       Climax, stage four:  war of attrition
37       Climax, stage five:  mano a mano
38       Climax, stage six:  from the ashes of disaster


39       Resolution, stage one:  sweeping up
40       Resolution, stage two:  reconnection
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Fill in the 40 chapters with brief descriptions listing the characters involved. It's a quick, smart way to get your story outlined so you can cut through the fog and start writing.

Zara Altair 
Zara Altair writes mysteries set in ancient Italy.


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Photo by pulkit jain on Unsplash

As a novel writer, the editing process seems mysterious, daunting, and unmanageable when you view it through your creative writer lens. You are right, manuscript editing requires a different mindset and separate skills.

If you approach editing with a perspective that aims to make your story the best it can be and arrange the editing process into manageable chunks, you will find that editing is a skill you can learn to make your story ready to go out into the world so you can be a successful published author.

Creating a critical mindset is the first step in the editing process. As an editor, you will examine every part of your story to make it seamless and engaging from the first sentence to the last.

You need to establish a distance to apply your critical eye to your novel.  You can build your critical distance with a few simple steps.

• Put your manuscript away for at least a week. Several weeks are even better. You’ll want to apply fresh eyes to your story.
  
• In the meantime, read for excellence in your genre. Pick three writers you consider masters of your genre and then choose what you consider each writer’s best work. While your novel is set away, read each of these three books while practicing your critical approach. You already know these stories, so practice being an editor for your favorite professional author. Make notes. What improvements would you make? What are the writer’s strengths?
  
• After rereading these works, without looking at your manuscript, make a list of the ways you would like to improve your story and your writing based on the positive discoveries you’ve made in your reading.
  

When you take off time from your own story and practice critically examining other stories in your genre, you get your mind in gear to examine your own story with the same critical distance.
Gather your notes, take a deep breath, and pull out your novel manuscript. You’ll work through the editing process from the big picture down to the tiniest details.

As you prepare to reread your story after your break and critical exercises, plan on making changes. As wonderful as your story is, you can make it better. Your aim is to make your novel as professional as possible.

You’ll be going through your story at least three times. The first pass at editing focuses on the story elements. There’ll be time enough for details like punctuation, spelling, and grammar after you make your changes. The story editing, often called the content or development edit, looks at your story structure, character arcs, dialogue, and scene sequence. Keep asking yourself, does this work in the story?

You’ve just read three great novels in your genre, compare your story to these examples. Know those professional authors, went through this very process before they sent their manuscript off to their professional editor.

Print out your manuscript formatted for lots of white space—wide margins, double spaced. You will hold it in your hands, make marks, and read it as a book. You’ll be entering “track changes” in your word processing software later.

Now you will use your personal editor’s blue pencil. Yours may be red or purple or green or any color that shows up against the black print. Some authors use different colors for different editorial changes—grammar and spelling, character arc, plot, scene changes. If this is your first time editing, pick a contrast color like red and start reading your story. You can refine your system later as you become familiar with the editing process.

In this first editorial read you’ll be scrutinizing your story. If you find smaller issues like grammar or spelling mark them knowing they may disappear as you make editorial changes. Be looking for ways to make your story as crisp as possible.

Does the first page hook you? Does it plunge you into the story? Does it clearly reflect the genre? Do your protagonist’s words and actions introduce his or her character?

Notice pacing like chapters or scenes that rush the story or get bogged down with detail or long descriptions.
Does each scene move the story forward? If not, mark it for deletion. If you need an element from the scene, think about where you can include it in a different scene.

Does the story have a clear three-act structure? Is your protagonist confused and thwarted in the first part of Act 2? Does she take the reins after the midpoint?  Once the story reaches the climax, does it take too long to wind down?

Is the story predictable? How could you improve the twists, turns, and reversals to challenge your protagonist?

Do two characters have names that start with the same letter? If so, find a new name for one character.

If your story feels overpopulated, combine two characters with similar motivations to keep your reader from being confused.

Do your subplots integrate with the overall story? Are the spaced throughout the storyline?

Is the voice consistent throughout the story? Is one passage in a different tone?

Do you need to research a location or an object to give it more punch?

Does each character speak in a recognizable voice? Would your reader know who is speaking by the way the character speaks? Does the dialogue reflect subtext rather than always being on point?

Is the point of view consistent throughout? Is each scene told from only one point of view? If your story is told from multiple points of view, is it clear who is “speaking” in each scene?

Content editing is a long process. Plan to spend at least a week going through your story looking for every way you can tighten your story to give your reader the best experience in your genre.

Before you go to the next stage of editing, rewrite your story making the changes you noted during your critical editorial reading. Take as long as necessary to make your changes. Remember you are doing the hard work of becoming a professional writer.

Once you’ve made your story changes, it’s time to look at the language you use to convey your story. Now you are looking to refine the language in the text. You are not looking so much for mistakes as the best way to structure your sentences and paragraphs to improve the readability.

You want the language to be fluid, clear, and pleasurable for your reader.

Language Questions to Ask
Are your words precise rather than general? Have you avoided clichés?

Do you repeatedly use the same words or sentences?

Are there run-on sentences? Sentence fragments?

Is the same information repeated more than once?

Does the tone shift?

Is the phrasing natural?

Is the language bland causing readers to skip a passage?

Do you use strong verbs rather than describing an action with adverbs?



After you read through to line edit your manuscript, you can use software tools to help you with your language editing.  Hemingway app helps you with sentence structure to make your writing bold and clear to improve your story’s readability. ProWritingAid examines text for several writing style elements including readability, grammar, clichés, diction, and dialogue. The premium version integrates with Microsoft Word and Google Docs so you can edit in your document.
Other People​
Once you have performed your content and line editing, is a good time to get feedback from other people. It is easy to get lost in your own story. Feedback from other people who read in your genre can help you spot content and language gaps you may miss. The more readers the better at this point. You want as much feedback as possible to catch any places that detract from the flow of your story.

If you are a member of a writing group, you can present your new passages for feedback and comments from members of the group.

This is a good time to get beta readers involved in your story. These are non professionals who read in your genre and will give you honest feedback about your story. You want these readers to share anything that gives them pause while reading your story from a passage that isn’t clear to a typo.

This final editing process and takes a fine eye for detail. You’ll want to do this in small batches because it is easy to overlook details if you spend hours working through the manuscript. You’ll be looking for consistency as well as grammar, spelling, punctuation, and syntax.

The copy edit is what many people consider is editing a manuscript. But, as you have learned, this is the last step in editing your book.

A copy of The Chicago Manual of Style is your guideline for editing a professional book manuscript. Don’t guess. Look up questions you have.

What To Spot in Your Proofreading
Double check spelling, grammar, and sentence construction (syntax).

Make sure your usage is consistent. Throughout your book hyphenation, numbers, capitalization, and fonts appear in the same manner.

Check for ambiguous statements or incorrect facts. Remember how you checked your research during the line edit?

Internal consistency. Is your blonde always blonde? Does your stutterer lose his stutter? Is your setting consistent when it shows up in various places in the story?

Mark your printed copy and then go to your writing software to make changes. The search and replace function will help you spot every use of a word to make it consistent throughout your manuscript.

However diligent you are throughout your editing process, hearing your story read aloud can help you find awkward sentences, repeated words, and typographical errors.

There are several options to help you hear your story. Text to Speech Reader has a Chrome extension that will read your text. Natural Reader provides several voices so you can hear your text read by male and female voices with different tones and inflections.

Open your manuscript so you can make edits as you listen.

Taking the time to edit your novel before you send it out sets you apart as a writer who takes the publishing process as a professional. Every step in the editing process refines your story to appeal to your target audience. They are the readers who love your story and become your fans.

As excited as you are to get your story out there, taking the time to go through the editing process not only improves your story, it gives you a better understanding of what it takes to make yourself a professional.

Keep in mind that bestselling authors take these editing steps and then work with a professional editor to find the spots they missed. Publishing houses assign a professional editor to your book. Using professional book editing services works in the same way as beta readers but with a trained professional focus to give your book the best readability and flow.

The result is a professional book that can lead to you becoming a bestselling author.

Zara Altair
Zara Altair writes traditional mysteries set in the time of Ostrogoth Rule in Italy in The Argolicus Mysteries. Argolicus uses his observation and reason, with help from his tutor Nikolaos, to provide justice in a province far from the King’s court.

Create a mystery that gives your reader opportunities to play and active part in unveiling the suspect. 

Beginning writers often are so involved in the process of creating a novel, they forget the reader. Readers are an author's lifeblood. They post reviews which are critical in getting your book noticed. And, as an author, they send personal messages about your book. 
So, while you are writing, keep your reader in mind.

• Leave clues throughout your story. Sprinkle them in from the beginning. Don't wait until near the end. The reader loves going along on the hunt with the detective.
• Create red herring. Lead your reader down the wrong path along with your detective. 
• Use supporting characters - the other suspects. Some will be truthful and others will lie. Your reader will need to fathom who is telling the truth.
• Have multiple suspicious characters. Give each one a secret so your reader can puzzle out who is hiding something important as a clue to the murder.
• Create an empathic sleuth. Give her flaws that make her feel human to the reader. Use psychological, physical, and moral flaws to deepen your protagonist.

Readers, including agents and editors, need to puzzle along with your sleuth. Give them problems to solve. 

Zara Altair
 Zara Altair writes traditional mysteries set in the time of Ostrogoth Rule in Italy in The Argolicus Mysteries. She coaches writers on story, especially mysteries. 
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Supporting characters are rich tools for misdirecting your sleuth. Characters because of their secrets, lies, and coverups lead the sleuth down trails that are dead ends.

When you observe people, you'll notice actions and dialogue that you can use in your mystery. Keep them in your notebook, because there are ways to make your innocent supporting characters look guilty.

Obvious Motive - the character inherits the estate, or business or wanted the victim as a partner or was being blackmailed by victim or had been jilted by the victim. 


Vanishing Act - the character can’t be found when the sleuth comes to question him. He may be innocently off on vacation or a business trip or a romantic tryst. Because your investigator can't find him, he'll appear to be deliberately avoiding contact.


Stonewalling - the character can’t remember or refuses to tell where they were at the time of the murder. 


Contradictory Behavior - A character who claims to be clueless about guns has an NRA membership card in his wallet, a character who claims to have been in love with the victim was having an affair with someone else.


Eavesdropper - the character is overheard telling the victim "drop dead” or threatening the victim. 


Emnity - the character hates the victim. They may be  business rivals involved in a nasty lawsuit or the victim stole their spouse away.


Overeager - the character goes to the investigator and provides tons of information that implicates someone else. But, only some of the information turns out to be true.


Bad Reputation - the character is known to be a liar, or a swindler, cheats on girlfriends, deals drugs, etc. 


Guilt by Association - the character hangs out with unpleasant or unsavory characters or is married to someone who hated the victim.


Previously Suspected - the character was convicted of a similar crime though he always claims he was innocent.


Skeleton in the Closet - no one knows it but the character was once or still is a compulsive gambler, pedophile, alcoholic, drug addict, etc.


Crack in the Veneer - a kind, generous, flawlessly beautiful character, kicks a dog, slaps a child, or grinds an expensive piece of jewellery under his heel. Any action that seems completely out of character.


With these as starters you need to give the characters a secret and the lies they tell to cover up their secret. Building on secrets creates puzzles for your reader and sleuth to solve. Done well, the sleuth will solve the puzzle before the reader.

Zara Altair
 Zara Altair writes traditional mysteries set in the time of Ostrogoth Rule in Italy in The Argolicus Mysteries. She coaches writers on story, especially mysteries. 

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 must be worthy of your story.

Know the victim’s secrets
create at least two and up to four secrets 
secrets revealed through the story
physical clues and dialogue from other characters
some secrets may be red herrings that make another character look guilty
at least one will turn out to reveal the villain’s identity

Create at least two and up to four secrets about the victim. Then reveal them through the story through physical clues and dialogue from other characters. 

Some secrets may be red herrings that make another character look guilty and at least one will turn out to reveal the villain’s identity.

Q: I have a story idea.
​Q: I've finished my manuscript, now what?

Get a personal notice from Facebook Messenger before the show goes live.  http://bit.ly/JoinMysteryMonday
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I had fun with the first Mystery Monday. With an Ask Me Anything base, I answered a few questions as well as covering the topic for the day - Basic Mystery Tropes.
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Ten ways to hide clues in your mystery. 
The One Important First Step to Write a Killer Mystery

Have a question? Post it here in Comments.

​Zara