Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 113

Writing the Cozy Mystery–Whodunit?

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

One of the most important aspects of the cozy mystery is the puzzle itself.  Aside from character development, the puzzle is the most important part of the mystery.  Mystery readers tend to be avid readers who are practiced at looking for clues to the killer.  Here are some thoughts about how to make sure the readers don’t solve our puzzle before we want them to.

Red herrings: To keep readers guessing, we need to provide some false leads for our sleuth. These leads frequently come from other suspects, but they can come from some of the physical (usually not forensic in a cozy) evidence surrounding the crime (something out of place, something missing, something there that shouldn’t be there).

To make it more difficult for our sleuth and readers, the sleuth can try to sort through suspects’ information and find out what’s true, what’s a lie, and what’s just someone being an unreliable witness.

I think it’s less frustrating when there’s a limit for each red herring—when they don’t last the entire length of the book. If we’ve led our readers to believe that it’s all about an inheritance for the whole story and then we change the motive at the very end, if we don’t handle that well and lay a couple of clues for that motive somewhere earlier in the story, readers may feel cheated.

Clues can point to motive and suspects.  To be very fair to the reader, it’s probably best to have a few subtle clues scattered throughout the story.  Clues can be verbal—something that contradicts a suspect’s alibi or that points to a possible motive for murder.  Clues can be physical—a suitcase in the back room. Clues can even result from insights our sleuth gets into the suspects’ characters.  That’s one reason why our investigation isn’t just about the crime—it’s about the people who might be involved.

It’s very tricky to use our sleight of hand with mystery readers. They’re extremely savvy readers who usually read a lot of mysteries each month. They’ll frequently believe any extraneous detail must be a clue (which is why we need to be careful about wrapping up anything that seems like a loose end or a Chekhov’s gun at the end of the book).

I’ve found the best ways to slip clues under the radar are to lay them near the beginning of the story and then introduce things that seem more interesting (the victim’s body, perhaps), and then continue laying them out throughout the book but being very careful to distract from them (maybe with an argument between two suspects, etc.).  It also helps to have an especially well-thought-out red herring near the end of the story to lead the sleuth and reader in an entirely different direction.

This probably goes without saying, but the puzzle has to be fair. Modern mystery readers won’t be happy if the killer is someone who was introduced at the very end of our story, etc. The modern mystery reader expects to be able to solve the mystery alongside the sleuth—it’s an almost interactive experience, or it needs to be.

The murderer: Occasionally, I’ve come to the end of my book and realized that I didn’t care for my choice of killer.  Occasionally, I’ve come to the end of my book, sent it off to my trad pub editor, and she didn’t like my choice of killer.  The good news is that this is relatively easy to change.  Even better, because we set the story to point to one particular suspect, a change (if we leave in the original clues, which are now red herrings) can mean the mystery is harder for readers to solve.

Any tips that I’ve missed for making a good puzzle in our cozy mystery?

Tips for creating a good puzzle for our cozy mystery:
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Overcoming Snags and Blocks. And a Few Updates

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

A favorite blog topic among writers is writer’s block.  I can’t imagine how many articles I’ve seen on the topic…from the debate over whether it actually exists, to how to combat it if it does.

I believe that sometimes I’m experiencing more of writer’s hesitation than a writer’s block. My hesitation usually results from one of a couple of reasons.

One common reason for my hesitation is that my story has hit a snag of some kind.  I’m reluctant to work on the story because there’s something wrong with it.  Since I don’t allow myself to avoid writing, it means I have to immediately diagnose what’s wrong.  Usually I’m finding the scene boring or redundant in some way, or else I realize something is off with my character motivations.  During first drafts, I don’t fix problems.  So I flag the part in the story where I’ve realized things were going wrong, make a note of the change(s) that I’m making going forward, and pick up with the story as if the problem had been fixed in the previous pages.

The other common reason for my hesitation is that I need to hit the reset button with my writing life.  I’m very routine driven…I wake up, get ready, go downstairs, and start writing at about 5 a.m. If any part of this equation changes in the slightest (if it’s summer and no one is getting up early for school and I sleep a little later, if we have houseguests staying with us and I need to be quiet and write somewhere else, if someone is sick, if the school bells schedule changes), it has the ability to mess me up.  I know that makes the whole routine (and me?) appear very fragile, but it really can make a difference.  If the change is creating a problem, the sooner I figure out a workaround, the better I am. Should I go back to waking up at 4:30? Should I work on paper for a while?  Should I just outline in the morning and then leave the house altogether to write at the library or a coffeehouse later on?  The solution has been each of these things before.  Unless I stop the cycle, figure out what’s wrong, and brainstorm solutions, I either don’t hit my goals, I write sluggishly, or else the story comes out all wrong.

A few updates:

There are a few interesting things that I’ve noticed from my sales reports lately.  For one, sales are slightly down on all my platforms—this is pretty normal for me in late-summer, early-fall. I think part of this is that sales are down for most of us. Part of it is due to the fact that it’s a busy time of the year for me and I’m paying less attention to my sales. Whenever I pay less attention, sales fall because I don’t run any freebies or discounts since I’m not aware of the problem.  I should know this by now.  I’ve rectified the issue (once again).

Nook sales are way down.  Wow. By at least 25%.

What’s gone way up, though?  Bizarrely enough, my Amazon India sales.  I went from having no sales from India on Amazon to having about $180 from them in the last 30 days.  This stunned me at first, but once I thought it through, it made more sense.  I’ve done a couple of different things.  For one, I’m on Wattpad and my demographics map shows me that 11% of my readers on Wattpad are from India.  I put calls to action to buy the rest of my series at the end of each chapter. The other thing I did was to take Joanna Penn’s advice: I went into my KDP bookshelf, unchecked the box that said “Set IN price automatically based on US price” and instead put in 150 rupees, which is roughly the same as $2.27 US dollars.  When I had it based on my US price of $3.99 or $4.99, my books weren’t competitive in the Indian market.

Joanna also recommended unchecking the automatic pricing for other markets, Mexico and Brazil among them.  If we Google “Indian currency exchange rate,” (or Mexico, Brazil, etc.) a handy calculator comes up to help us out.

So…that’s got to be it. Wattpad and my pricing.  I’ve done nothing else.

In other news, I’m going to be at the NINC conference this Wednesday through Sunday in St. Petersburg, FL.  I’ll be talking about Wattpad for writers and also cozy mysteries and how to introduce them to a broader audience. I’m also looking forward to Florida weather after an uncharacteristically gloomy last week in NC.

That’s what’s going on here with me.  What are you working on? Do you ever hit writer’s block or writer’s hesitation?  :)

Dealing with writer's block and Amazon India surprises:
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Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 30,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Searching for a Better Way to Write The End:  http://ow.ly/Srig6 @calebpirtle

Explore the Layers of Conflict in Your Story:  http://ow.ly/SrikI @piperbayard

Is print triumphing over the “digital threat”?: http://ow.ly/SEtcg @philipdsjones @Porter_Anderson

TV Series Binge Watching: A Study in Character Development:  http://ow.ly/Srilr  @SurfCityJames               

100+ Places to Market Your Children’s Fiction: http://ow.ly/Srih0  @booklaunchdemon

On Conjunctions:  http://ow.ly/Sriol  @Jen_328 @writedivas

Tips for cozy mystery settings and sidekicks: http://ow.ly/SEtGv

Counter Perfection’s 7 Most Common Lies:  http://ow.ly/SrieI @cherylrwrites

Crime fiction: investigating the victim’s identity: http://ow.ly/SFVWh @mkinberg

7 Tricks To Differentiating Dialogue:  http://ow.ly/Sriem @geofflepard

Writing the Middle of Your Book:  http://ow.ly/Sriil  @stephmorrill

3 Reasons Novel Writing is Like Building a Start Up:  http://ow.ly/SripK @monicamclark

Want to Be a Writer? It’s Time to Act Like a Writer:  http://ow.ly/SriqG by Noelle Sterne

Why There’s So Much Conflicting Advice About Social Media:  http://ow.ly/Sriju @JaneFriedman

Quick Fix: Make Your Scenes Count:  http://ow.ly/St1fH @lindasclare

Writers on the craft: Theme:  http://ow.ly/St0ZO @gointothestory

Don’t Go Exclusive. Build A Long Term Career As An Author On Multiple Platforms:  http://ow.ly/St1Lt @thecreativepenn @Liliana_Hart

The Importance of Psychological Development in Character Growth:  http://ow.ly/St0Yd @beccapuglisi

Ebook Pricing: 3 Tips For Today:  http://ow.ly/St0OD @angee

Why Writers Need to Fail on a Regular Basis:  http://ow.ly/St0Bz @colleen_m_story

How to Self-Publish Your Book:  http://ow.ly/St1iJ , http://ow.ly/St1l9 , http://ow.ly/St1ms @MsBessieBell

Indie author bookstore success: http://ow.ly/St1TE @ChrisLongmuir

3 Important Things To Remember About The Dramatic Question:  http://ow.ly/St1cn @writers_write

Hollywood or Bust: Tips for Pitch-Ready Loglines:  http://ow.ly/St0Mj @aBookPublicist

How To Write Your Book Sales Description:  http://ow.ly/St1ry @thecreativepenn @bryancohenbooks

On Descriptive Writing:  http://ow.ly/St0Q1 @writingforward

First Draft Checklist:  http://ow.ly/Swl5i @MiaJouBotha

7 Things to Do Before We Get Published:  http://ow.ly/SwlrC  @MadelineMMartin

15 Tips for Achieving Our Creative Goals Every Day:  http://ow.ly/Swmgu @WriterJoMalby

Writing Hands-Free:  http://ow.ly/SwlZZ @robinrwrites

Publishing Industry Etiquette:  http://ow.ly/Swlh5  @hmacgierhart

Should We Delete That Conflict Scene? A 3-Question Quiz: http://ow.ly/SwkWJ @Write_Tomorrow

Creative Fatigue?  Don’t Worry. It’s Not About You: http://ow.ly/Srinj @ozzywood

A prison term inspired one writer:  http://ow.ly/SqDHu @Peggy_Riley

10 Ways To Turn Your Real Life Experiences Into Science Fiction http://ow.ly/SqEik @charliejane

Coffeehouses and Concentration:  http://ow.ly/SqDoX @WriterDiaries

Creating sympathy for the bad guy in our story:  http://ow.ly/SqEgJ from Writing Questions Answered

Character Likability and Subtext:  http://ow.ly/SqDU2 @jamigold

3 1/2 Tips for Fixing an Unlikable Character: http://ow.ly/SqDVf @jamigold

Great Character: Bree Daniels (“Klute”):  http://ow.ly/SqDlY @gointothestory

5 Reasons to Track Questions and Answers in Your Novel:  http://ow.ly/SqDXl @HeatherJacksonW

How to Write Vivid Descriptions: http://ow.ly/SqDvv  @dice_carver

5 Bestselling Fiction Tips: Start With Heart http://ow.ly/SqDuH @angee

The Best Email Service Providers for Writers:  http://ow.ly/SqDte @GaryJMcLaren

Writing tip: men and women characters should have different POVs: http://ow.ly/SqDxp @raynehall

A closer look at the success of A.A. Milne’s Pooh tales: http://ow.ly/Sz2AB @tordotcom @mari_ness

Essentials of a Pitch:  http://ow.ly/SosBL  @ava_jae

How to Find and Fix Your Novel’s Plot Holes:  http://ow.ly/SosnU @shesnovel

How To Become a Better Writer Faster:  http://ow.ly/SotBf @joebunting

Crowd-funding for self-publishing authors:  http://ow.ly/Sosf5 @novelexperienc3

Cut Down on Wrist Pain with a Vertical Mouse:  http://ow.ly/SoueY  @jenn_mattern

Crime Writing: Exceptions to Search Warrants:  http://ow.ly/Sou73 @SueColetta1

6 Reasons to Push Yourself Outside a Comfort Zone With Creative Side Projects:  http://ow.ly/SotEV @DanBlank

Pseudonyms for indie authors:  http://ow.ly/Soump @denisebarnesuk

Does Paid Marketing Work for Authors?  http://ow.ly/Sour3 @OrnaRoss

Police and Fed Terminology for Crime Writers:  http://ow.ly/Soubk @SueColetta1

10 Common Writing Errors:  http://ow.ly/SosIc  @JHUSarah

The 10 Secrets Of Resilient Characters:  http://ow.ly/SosxO @writers_write

How to Become a Columnist: The Importance of Persistence and Practice:  http://ow.ly/Soss4 @LuukKoelman

One Secret to Write a Classic Children’s Book:  http://ow.ly/Skly7  @hodgeswriter

Why we shouldn’t dismiss adverbs:  http://ow.ly/Sklds  by Barbara Baig

How to Use Your Research Without Annoying Readers: http://ow.ly/SknEQ  @hollyrob1

Beware Groupthink: 10 Red Flags When Choosing a Crit Group:  http://ow.ly/SklLX @annerallen

The Magic Number: Why Witches Come in Threes:  http://ow.ly/SkoJb @Paul_Cornell

Don’t Be Afraid To Break Our Story:  http://ow.ly/Skls0   @_JennyMoyer

Deadlines: Helpful or Harmful?  http://ow.ly/Skm24 @HeatherJacksonW

When our publisher declares bankruptcy: http://ow.ly/SklPB @Janet_Reid

How should you credit your editor? Advice from a former publisher:  http://ow.ly/Skm3o @Roz_Morris

4 Ways Being a Writer Teaches You to be a Better Person:  http://ow.ly/SkmeN @booktrib @KMWeiland

Writers, stay true to your standards: http://ow.ly/SklIm @Roz_Morris

2 writers, 1 voice: writing partners:  http://ow.ly/SkliU @thewordmavens

Communicating Indirectly With Readers:  http://ow.ly/StWk4

The State of the Publishing Industry in 5 Charts:  http://ow.ly/SsZr4 @JaneFriedman

Age, Surveys, And Income: The Authors Guild€™s View:  http://ow.ly/SsSjZ @Porter_Anderson @mariraz

Riddles in crime fiction:  http://ow.ly/SsRzZ @mkinberg

Got a Pen Name? Here’s How to Market Your Books:  http://ow.ly/Sh4Zu @CaballoFrances

Tips for Picking Up the Pace:  http://ow.ly/SsNpR @SusanKelley

5 Tips for Success as a Self-Published Author:  http://ow.ly/Sh55r @susankayequinn

5 Out-of-the-Box Writing Prompt Sources:  http://ow.ly/Sh4Fp @EmilyWenstrom

The Problem of Advice:  http://ow.ly/Sh4RO  @CarrieMesrobian

Outlining using a 6 stage plot structure:  http://ow.ly/Sh4L3 from Nova Zero Writing

On creating characters: http://ow.ly/Sh4AY @gointothestory

Take Your Writing Outdoors: 9 Tips for Successfully Working Outside:  http://ow.ly/Sh52R @Kristen_E_Pope

5 Things We Can Do To Improve Our Writing: http://ow.ly/Sh4vs @Savage_Woman

Quick Fix: Tips for Self-editing: http://ow.ly/Sh4Im @lindasclare

Writing for Kids: The Low-Down on Lexile Levels:  http://ow.ly/Sh4lb  @AmyBearce

Screenwriting Basics: Story’s Holy Trinity:  http://ow.ly/Sh4oQ  @ozzywood

How to Break the Rules: Never Start With Backstory:  http://ow.ly/Sh4O4 @notjustanyboggs

Worldbuilding: Using Taboos in a Culture:  http://ow.ly/Se8nW  @cinehead

How Authors Can Use Listopia to Promote Their Book:  http://ow.ly/Sea77 @aBookPublicist

When to Keep Secrets and When to Tell Truths : http://ow.ly/Se7wZ @bstarknemon

Deconstructing Back Cover Copy:  http://ow.ly/Se7YY @betternovelproj

How to use Google analytics as an author:  http://ow.ly/Se83F @nicholesevern

Using Dreams in Literature:  http://ow.ly/Se7FE @kelsieengen

Last week's top writing links on Twitterific:
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Writing the Cozy Mystery: the Setting and the Sidekick

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

This is the fourth part in my series on writing cozy mysteries. Today, I’m covering two important elements of our story: the setting and our sidekick.

Most cozy mysteries shoot for a very closed environment and a closed group of suspects from which to choose from.

You can still maintain a closed environment in a large city or bigger town (I did in my Memphis series), but it’s a little harder, I think.  Although I’ve got a city as a backdrop for the story, I center much of the story action around a barbeque restaurant.  This doesn’t mean we can’t stray from these central locations, but they serve to make the setting seem more intimate (yes, cozy) and create a home base for the sleuths.  Sleuths can interview suspects from there, use it as a place to discuss the case with their sidekicks, and generally interact with the other characters.

In fact, even if you’re writing a small town cozy, it still helps to have a home base for the story, especially if you’re trying to sell the mystery to a traditional press. This is why I have the quilt shop in the Southern Quilting mysteries.  It’s a good way to incorporate the series hook (cuisine, crafts, etc.), which are still (from what I can see) pretty vital to selling our book to trade presses.

Having written both types of settings, I do think that writing a cozy set in a small town is easier.  That’s because you already have your ready-made closed setting: the small town itself.  You also have the chance of an easier “in” with the police since your sleuth is dealing with a smaller police department instead of the NYPD.  And you can easily produce both red herrings and clues in small towns through gossip.  Everyone knows everyone in a small town.  And people are eager/desperate to hide their secrets.  If they can.

Readers typically like an armchair visit to the area we’re writing about.  Writing setting is never my favorite thing, but I like to help readers experience the South (my setting) through food, choice in diction, and cultural customs.

Another important consideration is our sleuth’s sidekick.  Sidekicks helps prevent endless internal dialogue for the sleuth.  It’s not good for our story’s pace to keep our sleuth too much in her own head.    Much better to have her discuss the case’s ins and outs with her loyal sidekick and let them act as a sounding board.

It’s also good for story pace and conflict if our sidekick acts as a foil for our sleuth.  Sometimes they can provide push-back or maybe they have their own ideas as to the murderer’s identity.

It can be helpful (and more realistic)  if your sidekick has a gift or talent of some kind that can complement the sleuth’s abilities.

How the sidekick interacts with the sleuth can also be revealing.  Do they build the sleuth up?  Do they help to ground the sleuth and knock her ego down to size if it threatens to get too big?

They can provide humor or can act as a straight man for our sleuth.

What other considerations for setting and sidekick should we consider…what have I missed?

Tips for cozy mystery settings and sidekicks:
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Image: MorgueFile: Jade

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Communicating Indirectly With Readers

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

At the very start of this blog back in 2008, I tried to figure out who I was writing for.  I’d read a lot of advice at the time that blogging was a good way to connect to readers.

Instead, I decided to stay in my comfort zone and make my blog writer-focused.

I took a class on building a social media platform.  It recommended interfacing with readers instead of writers.

Instead, I decided to stay in my comfort zone and focus on connecting with writers on social media.

Despite my complete disregard of all the excellent advice that I’d gone searching for, this reader avoidance on my part worked really well. I built a large platform online.  Readers could easily find me because of good SEO. They’d message me on Facebook or email me if they wanted to connect and  communicated directly with me. I care a lot about my readers and I answer their messages promptly.  But I was very shy about seeking them out.

It’s been a couple of years now that I finally started thinking about ways to connect with my readers.

I originally went about it the wrong way.   I asked “where are my readers?” and then set out to join them.

The problem with this is that the last thing I wanted to do was to chase down my readers.  I certainly didn’t want them to think that I was following them around the internet, trying to badger them to buy my books. The thought was completely horrifying to me and felt like author intrusion of the worst kind.

I knew my readers were on Pinterest and Facebook.  These are two platforms that I don’t actually enjoy.  I tried to interact more on Facebook through a group I was in…a trad published email loop type thing.  But I was uncomfortable.  And Pinterest I just didn’t get.  So I started avoiding those sites.

Clearly, that approach wasn’t going to work.  I’ve seen other cozy mystery writers doing a bang-up  job on those platforms. They don’t badger their readers at all.  They post recipes, what they’re eating for supper, cute pet photos, ask questions like “what was your favorite lunchbox when you were a kid?” I just wasn’t up to the task.  Even with the computer to hide behind, I’m simply too introverted to interact that way.

I’m likely one of the last authors to jump on the newsletter bandwagon.  I’d heard from day one about the importance of building our list of subscribers.  Even if Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon all somehow went down in flames, we’d still have our list.  We could contact those readers directly and let them know of our new releases.  But, since this was me, I didn’t start doing this on day one because I didn’t want to bother my readers by popping up in their email inboxes.

Fortunately, I finally came around to see sense in this one area.  Although I don’t send newsletters often, they have become my most important way of connecting with my readers.

Other ways of indirect communication (broadcasting) that are important marketing tools for writers:

Author notes at the ends of our books.  We can talk about how we came up with our ideas or characters or what our writing process is like.  It doesn’t really matter what we’re talking about–it’s the fact that we’re communicating with our readers in ways separate from our fiction.

Our Amazon Author Central page.  Are we making the most of it?  Could we film a short video on our phone and upload it to our Amazon page–speaking directly to our readers?

Audio.  If we’re not comfortable with video (I wasn’t comfortable with it, but…I did it), then could we put an audio clip up on our website?  Again, talking directly to our readers.  Here’s my post on how I used SoundCloud (free) to put an audio clip on my site.

If you’re an author who feels a lot more comfortable networking and connecting with other writers, don’t think that you have to chase your readers down.  There are other effective and less time-consuming ways of making ourselves available to our readers.

How do you connect with readers?

Tips for indirect communication with readers:
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Image: MorgueFile: Jppi

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Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 30,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

How Not to Collaborate on a Story:  http://ow.ly/SaMmm @davey_beauchamp

How to Be a Better Writer: Turn Struggle Into Success:  http://ow.ly/SaIAI @hughosmith

Great Character: Karl Childers (Sling Blade”):  http://ow.ly/SaKPa @gointothestory”

Introducing Characters in a Scene:  http://ow.ly/SaMBg @Janice_Hardy

How to Create a Remarkable Villain (Beyond the Clichés: ) http://ow.ly/Se7N6 by  David Villalva @betternovelproj       

On Story Prep:  http://ow.ly/Se7Ip @gointothestory

How to Write a Bio to Turbocharge Our Guest Posts: http://ow.ly/Se898 @RidethePen

Plane Crashes and Writing: 6 Sources of Common Ground:  http://ow.ly/Sea0g @jan_ohara

Is our crit partner worth the stress?  http://ow.ly/Seaj7 @nicholesevern

Effective Ways to Make Characters More Memorable:  http://ow.ly/Se9ES @DeanElphick

4 Benefits of Pre-Writing:  http://ow.ly/SaIK3 @ink_and_quills @shesnovel

Negotiate Contracts Like a Pro:  http://ow.ly/SaHMh @susanspann

Symbolism in our writing:  http://ow.ly/SaI4B @SonjaYoerg

10 Bad Writing Habits to Break:  http://ow.ly/SaKvn @WritersCoach

11 Problems All Writers Face: http://ow.ly/SaLV7  @cheryljmuir

The Dos and Don’ts of Character Bios:  http://ow.ly/SaJP4 @ink_and_quills

100 Writing Practice Lessons & Exercises:  http://ow.ly/SaLu2 @write_practice

3 Steps for Creating Realistic Fantasy Races and Creatures: http://ow.ly/SaJjX @ink_and_quills

Find an Extra Hour Every Day With a 5-Minute List:  http://ow.ly/SnvFN @jenn_mattern

On author surveys: #FutureChat 4pBST / 11aET (now) @Porter_Anderson

A look at recent author surveys:  http://ow.ly/Snvu0 @Porter_Anderson @futurebook

What does it take to be a successful indie writer? http://ow.ly/S8Qkr @ShawnInmon

The appeal of the traditional mystery:  http://ow.ly/Sny5Z @mkinberg

3 Tips for Writing More Concisely:  http://ow.ly/S8PQp @AnneGreenawalt

26 Creative Ways to Publish Social Media Updates:  http://ow.ly/S8PVs @smexaminer @aliventures

Why Change Your Book Cover Artwork?  http://ow.ly/S8QhC @RachelAmphlett @mollygreene

5 Hacks to Create a Good Writing Habit:  http://ow.ly/S8Qbm @joebunting

How to Plot a Romance Novel:  http://ow.ly/S8Q53 @nownovel

6 ways to work past blogger’s block: http://ow.ly/S8PYY @the writersasst

5 Absolute Dimensions of Character Personality:  http://ow.ly/S8PSU  @writingeekery

Legality of pseudonyms:  http://ow.ly/S8Qsh @Janet_Reid

The Second Draft:  http://ow.ly/S8PPw @mbtinsley

Tips for Building A Winning Social Media Marketing Strategy:  http://ow.ly/S8Q39 by Elna Cain

Tips for starting a newsletter:  http://ow.ly/S8Qeu @bookgal

How To Get Back Into Writing (Once You’’ve Lost Your Groove):  http://ow.ly/S6AXa @MudpieWriting

The Authors Guild Survey’s Self-Selected Sample: More Fuel On The Fire?  http://ow.ly/Sk2XU @Porter_Anderson  @barryeisler

Writing Strong Scenes: 5 Tips http://ow.ly/S6BAX @angee

Writing Your Book’s Back-Cover Copy: http://ow.ly/S6BPr  @JRHwords

5 Ways to Make the Most of Your Writing  Workshop:  http://ow.ly/S6Bx7 @BernadetteMung

How to Set Readers Up For Success:  http://ow.ly/S6AAU @denisedrespling

Growing your vocabulary by using etymology:  http://ow.ly/S6BNc  @kseniaanske

8 Things to Know (From a Former Journalist):  http://ow.ly/S6AKe  by R.G. Belsky

17 Screenwriting Scenes To Use In Your Novel:  http://ow.ly/S6Bmy @writers_write

What Writers Can Do When Writing Advice Conflicts:  http://ow.ly/S6BIL @MandyCorine

Use Facebook to Sell Books: http://ow.ly/S6zPS  @pbackwriter

5 Things Productive Writers Do Differently:  http://ow.ly/S6Bse @joebunting

How to Choose Amazon Keywords:  http://ow.ly/S6Ahy @davidpenny_

AuthorEarnings: With a Dose of Hype:  http://ow.ly/Sheyt @Porter_Anderson @ThoughtCatalog

4 Key Ways to Ramp Up Tension and Pacing in Our Fiction: http://ow.ly/S1EK5 @CSLakin

Which are the Best Email Service Providers for Writers? http://ow.ly/S1F44 @GaryJMcLaren

Worldbuilding for Urban Fantasy:  http://ow.ly/S1Go2 @howtobeamazing

7 Ways to Become a Better Writer in 7 Days:  http://ow.ly/S1H9A @marcykennedy

Should Indie Authors Worry About Piracy?  http://ow.ly/S1F6U @BookWorksNYC @stapilus

Villains: The Real Stars:  http://ow.ly/S1GVU  @willvanstonejr @K8Tilton

18 steps to a successful book marketing campaign: http://ow.ly/S1FhN  @WesJThomas

Where Indie Authors Should Sell Their Books: 7 Retailers:  http://ow.ly/S1FXH @MSaintGermain

21 Writing Quotes on Getting Started:  http://ow.ly/S1EST  @GaryJMcLaren

Self-Publishing for Author/Illustrators:  http://ow.ly/S1GKJ @Skipper_Bay

5 Reasons Authors Need Goodreads:  http://ow.ly/S1FPN @terrywhalin

Growing Our Character Relationships to Grow Our Character:  http://ow.ly/S1Gxk @Saboviec

Soundtracks For Books: How One Novelist Is Using Booktrack:  http://ow.ly/S0pgn @ADStarrling @thecreativepenn

Is it Time to Say Goodbye to Microsoft Word? http://ow.ly/S0p1u @GaryJMcLaren

How to Write 5,000 Words a Day:  http://ow.ly/S0bVF by Bamidele Onibalusi

No time to Write? A 3-Step Solution. http://ow.ly/S0bJM @RuthanneReid

The Fairy Tale Formula: How To Write A Case Study In 3 Easy Steps: http://ow.ly/S0bN4 @AnthonyEhlers

15 Compelling Reasons to be a Writer:  http://ow.ly/S0oMc  @GaryJMcLaren

Quirky Sources to Make Your Story a Winner:  http://ow.ly/S0bsu  @diannmills

A-Z Social Media Prompt:  http://ow.ly/S0olt @JayArtale

Does an Author Really Need a Website?  http://ow.ly/S0osF from Fix My Story

A Book Promo Cheat Sheet:  http://ow.ly/S0bzR  @JBennett111

How To Think about Multiple Points of View: http://ow.ly/S0c5s @patverducci

Scrivener: Re-outline, Reorder, Rewrite:  http://ow.ly/S0oAw @YK_Greene

Fast Writers and Slow Writers:  http://ow.ly/ScQiV

Why Scene Making is a Great Idea:  http://ow.ly/RVe3f @lindasclare

Do You Still Need a Website as the Core of Your Online Platform? http://ow.ly/RYlch @karencv

The Socially Awkward Writer:  http://ow.ly/RYl7Q @sarahcallender

Issues with the Audiobook Market: http://ow.ly/RYlJ6  @inkbitspixels

AI assesses the tone of our writing:  http://ow.ly/RYlSo @bookworksnyc @roncallari

22 Ways a Blog Can Sell Books:  http://ow.ly/RYm2n @JFBookman

How to Tackle List Building:  http://ow.ly/RYlzw @KathleenGage

Remember that what you’re linking to on Twitter needs to be professional:  http://ow.ly/RYlfT @booklaunchdemon

Define and Attract Your Target Audience: http://ow.ly/RYkQx @writerplatform

Should You Hire a Professional Book Cover Designer? http://ow.ly/RYl1W @ericaverrillo

4 Reasons Readers Don’t Buy Our Books:  http://ow.ly/RYmae  @Nick_Stephenson

The Harsh Truth Behind Print Sales:  http://ow.ly/RYkMZ  @lgoconnor1

7 Reasons Twitter is Great for Writers: http://ow.ly/RYmeZ @CaballoFrances

The links I shared last week:  http://ow.ly/S8T39 .All the links (30K+) I’ve ever shared, free and searchable: writerskb.com

Not every indie writer finds success: looking for truth in time of hype:  http://ow.ly/S8MME @Porter_Anderson @writerunboxed

What to Avoid in Our Cover Copy:  http://ow.ly/RVf3d @ceciliaedits

The Hot Sheet:  industry newsletter for authors (30 day free trial):  http://ow.ly/S8KyU from @Porter_Anderson & @JaneFriedman”

10 Tools to Keep Writers Out of the Doctor’s Office: http://ow.ly/RVeSy @colleen_m_story

Writing mistakes to avoid:  http://ow.ly/RVfoc  @rxena77

14 Points To Consider Before Writing The Ending:  http://ow.ly/RVdRf @writers_write

7 Things Learned about Day Jobs and Writing:  http://ow.ly/RVeX8 @MRansomBooks

4 Reasons to Write Non-visual Description:  http://ow.ly/RVeI3 @mrJRPatterson @thePenleak

29 Plot Templates:  http://ow.ly/RVehy @fictionnotes

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Writing the Cozy Mystery—the Victim

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

This is the third in my cozy mystery writing series.  Today I’m taking a closer look at our victim. Parts one and two can be found here and here.

Handling our victim’s demise: As I mentioned in an earlier post, you can handle this a couple of different ways.  You can show the reader the likely suspects and why the victim might have been killed during interactions between future suspects and future victim at the start of the book (victim is still alive as the story opens).  Or you can open the story with the victim’s body and have the sleuth figure out who the suspects are and the motive (slightly trickier, I think).

Another tricky victim area: likeability.  If the victim is too unlikeable, readers may not care if his murder is solved or not.  Although it does make it easy in terms of motive. If you’ve got a very unlikeable victim, might be a good idea for the sleuth to remind others that justice is still important (as Hercule Poirot did in Agatha Christie’s mysteries). Or we could consider having someone close to the sleuth or the sleuth herself under suspicion to give the reader extra incentive to find out whodunit.

If the victim is too likeable, it can be hard to realistically imagine 4-5 people who would want to do away with him.  In that case, you might want to uncover backstory on the victim that shows him in a new and unflattering light.  Or show that the victim’s life is a carefully constructed lie.  This can be a fun approach and one that typically adds a lot to the word count, for you short writers out there.

The suspects are never strangers to the victim in a cozy.  The victim’s death has a purpose.

The victim’s death. There are lots of different ways to murder someone.  If this is a cozy, the murder should be offstage and not described in graphic terms. Since forensics doesn’t play a heavy role in these books, the information you do supply (particularly in terms of guns) needs to be accurate.  There are good resources available to help you with the crime itself.  Crime writer Sue Coletta has a great blog and nice list of resources,  doctor and writer D.P. Lyle has helpful information for writers (see his sidebar near the middle of the page for searchable categories),  and crime writer Fiona Quinn has informative interviews on her blog, along with a nice list of resources.  Another good roundup of resources is provided by Klariza (who, in the bizarre tradition of Tumblr…sigh… goes only by a first name).  Crime writer Clarissa Draper has a nice series of poisons on her blog.

An additional victim?  I like two victims in my books.  The second body shows up about halfway through the book and is frequently one of the suspects who seems most likely to have murdered the first victim.

We probably should avoid (particularly if we’re trying to sell the book to traditional cozy publishers):  having children as victims in the cozy mystery (unless the child is particularly unpleasant or a much older child. Even then, I’d think twice).  And, if you’re contemplating killing a dog or cat in a cozy mystery…I’d seriously reconsider.

What other aspects of the victim do you mystery writers and readers like to consider?

Tips for creating a better crime fiction victim:
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Image: MorgueFile: Dodgerton Skillhause

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Fast Writers and Slow Writers

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

The prevailing advice for better sales seems to be to write faster.  I think this may be true.  I did find that my self-published sales really picked up after book three so why not get to book three faster, right?

But this is frustrating advice for writers.  Some writers have  demanding schedules in which it’s tough to schedule in writing time.  Some are just thoughtful writers who take either a lot of time to warm up or who are deliberate about their word choice or story direction.

I read a post by Ken Rahmoeller last week on his blog: “Being a Slow Writer in This Day and Age.” Ken expressed his worry about being a slow writer when the trend is to fly through writing and production.

As many before me have pointed out, this business is a marathon, not a sprint.

You are not behind. If you feel you need to catch up, it may stress you out more.

One book is better than no book.

What you probably shouldn’t do if you have only one book:

Facebook ads

Long-term free book strategies

Extensive social media platform building.

What you might want to consider if you have only one book:

Ways to get more reviews/reads.  Consider Goodreads giveaways and short term free promos (some will disagree with me here, but I do think the reviews are worth any loss of sales).

Put time into building a decent website instead of updating on every social media platform. See industry expert Jane Friedman’s post, “The Basic Components of an Author Website.”

Build up subscribers to your newsletter by having the link in your email signature, on your website, and in the back of your book.  Another nice article from Jane Friedman on the how-tos: “Email Newsletters for Authors: Get Started Guide.”

But do reserve your name on various social media platforms for later.  We need to build our online profile around our name, not our book.

Continue setting time aside for both reading and writing.

Make manageable goals for the writing.  And I mean manageable.  Set the bar low.  It’s more important to build the habit than it is to score a bunch of words.

Never try to catch up.

Remember…even if it takes you more than a year to write a book, you’re still on par with trad published authors.  My books were in production forever.

If you want to write faster, here are some tips:

Consider outlining.  Might mean that you need to fluff up any flatness later, but if you try this approach, you may find your speed increases dramatically.  Results vary, but might be worth a go.

If you don’t want to outline, consider just a two sentence directional prompt for the following day at the end of your writing session.

Get your head into your writing before you open your laptop.  Think about your story as you’re getting your coffee in the morning, eating your breakfast, pulling out your laundry, driving home from the store.  Prime the pump before you sit in front of your text.

If there are particular elements of writing that are bound to slow you down (character naming, research, writing description), bundle those together to knock out all at once and after the first draft is completed.  Mark the omission in your manuscript so that you can find it later (track changes comments, highlighter on Word, or using ***).

Learn how to write in short blocks of time.  Learn how to write when surrounded by distractions.  Learn how to write when on the go (dead time in doctor’s office waiting rooms, carpool lines, during commutes).  Upload your book to Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive so your book and/or outline will always be with you.

But…you don’t have to write faster.  Especially not if it means writing faster makes you not want to write at all.

Do you consider yourself a fast or slower writer? What do you think of the advice to write faster?

 

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Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 30,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Auto mechanics in crime fiction: http://ow.ly/S4ROM @mkinberg

Pottermore: a look at the site’s changes and new focus: http://ow.ly/S71lP @Porter_Anderson

How to Raise the Creative Bar:  http://ow.ly/RNYi7 @ArtistThink

5 Things Every Protagonist Needs:  http://ow.ly/RNXUm  @larin20         

Breathing life into our characters:  http://ow.ly/RNYmL @shalvatzis

A chart for budgeting your writing time by tracking activities:  http://ow.ly/RNYc2 from Writing Questions Answered

5 Keys to an Effective Query:  http://ow.ly/RNYpM  by Claudia Cangilla McAdam

Writing Research: How to Do it and Use It: http://ow.ly/RNXzw @SandraDanby

Print Book Production for indie authors:  http://ow.ly/RNXg4 @JALangAuthor

5 Favorite Free Fonts for Interior Book Design:  http://ow.ly/RNX9g @JFBookman

11 Ways to Ask for Writing Advice (And 10 Major Mistakes to Avoid): http://ow.ly/RNXRW @CordeliaCallsIt

The 120 Most Helpful Websites For Writers in 2015:  http://ow.ly/RNWJC @geediting

Flat book cover design: Why do all the summer novels have the same look? http://ow.ly/RNWZX  @heathertwit

10 Tips to Get Things Done (for Writers):  http://ow.ly/RNYac @monicamclark

Writers shouldn’t fear online reviews:  http://ow.ly/RQQXm by Tara and Stefan Tobler @guardianbooks

How YouTube Can Help Self-Published Authors: http://ow.ly/RQQLx @DigiBookWorld

Worldbuilding in Star Wars:  http://ow.ly/RQQwv  @authorjsmorin

Naming Your Characters: Mistakes to Avoid:  http://ow.ly/RQQQM @mossifer

The Myth of The Lazy Writer:  http://ow.ly/RQQHs @HughHowey

The Lure of Romance Writing (and Earnings) for the Literary Set:  http://ow.ly/RQQuB @JaneFriedman

When we have a lack of plot and motive:  http://ow.ly/RQQON @glencstrathy

Do We Have What Publishers Really Want? http://ow.ly/RQR3d from The Writer’s Society

5 Reasons We Can’t Build Our Author Platform on Amazon, Facebook, or Google:  http://ow.ly/RQRaQ  @DIYAuthor

Make lists to advance your story:  http://ow.ly/RQQJy @kayedacus

Dimensional Characters: —Beyond the Wound & Into the Blind Spot:  http://ow.ly/RQQTu @kristenlambtx

Script Analysis: “Birdman”: Scene By Scene Breakdown:  http://ow.ly/RQR4X @gointothestory

How to Tell If Your Character Has Dependent Personality Disorder: http://ow.ly/RVeBW @writerology

Is something missing from my story?  http://ow.ly/RVebn @gointothestory

10 Tools to Keep Writers Out of the Doctor’s Office: http://ow.ly/RVeSy @colleen_m_story

The Micro Story:  http://ow.ly/RVeME from Shawn Coyne

Is Our Manuscript Ready to Submit? Tips for Knowing: http://ow.ly/RVevd @fictionnotes

Macro And Micro Editing Tips:  http://ow.ly/RVe7a @angee

10 Ways To Create A Near-Future World That Won’t Look Too Dated:  http://ow.ly/RM6ot @charliejane @io9

Fears About Ideas Being Stolen:  http://ow.ly/RM6uC from The Writing Cafe

Using the Fallacy of Memory to Create Effective Memoir:  http://ow.ly/RM61m @wendymfontaine @JaneFriedman

How to Create Tension in Writing:  http://ow.ly/RM66P @nownovel

7 Brutally Honest Self-Publishing Tips:  http://ow.ly/RM5in @TherinKnite

Tricks to Use to Pace Your Novel:  http://ow.ly/RM5qW @ajhumpage

16 Query Tips From Literary Agents:  http://ow.ly/RM6k8 @AskATechTeacher

Creating multi-layered writing: http://ow.ly/RM5Zx from Writing Questions Answered

The simple story of a dog and why it makes you cry:  http://ow.ly/RM5G6 @speechwriterguy

8 reasons why blockbusters are meta-stories: http://ow.ly/RM5Tr @speechwriterguy

3 Technologies Dropped for Breaking the Show:  http://ow.ly/RM69S @cinehead

3 Easy Steps to Crafting a Language for Your Fantasy Novel:  http://ow.ly/RM6qM @lucid_ghost

When the agent is the author: Andrew Lownie:  http://ow.ly/S0pJe  @andrewlownie  @Porter_Anderson

15 Common English Words That Are Still Trademarked:  http://ow.ly/RLtON @io9 by Katharine Trendacosta

Memoir Writing: Top 5 Things to Expect after You Launch Your Book:  http://ow.ly/RLq7p @pmilana

6 Ways to Make Ordinary Protagonists Extraordinary: http://ow.ly/RLsFu @emily_tjaden

Book Discovery Strategy: Social Media Events: http://ow.ly/RLrEj  @amcbooks

4 Surefire Ways to Bore Your Readers to Death:  http://ow.ly/RLqd1 by Melissa Chu

Between First Draft and Test Readers:  http://ow.ly/RLqqC @artofstoriesAB

10 Ways to Improve Your Writing While Thinking Like a Comedy Writer:  http://ow.ly/RLrTD @lajfun

How to Write Horror Fiction and Avoid Typical Horror Genre Clichés:  http://ow.ly/RLsat @crisfreese

Science Fiction Writing: a Choice of Futures:  http://ow.ly/RLqNu  @nevalalee

How to Deal With Harsh Criticism of Your Writing:  http://ow.ly/RLt66 @io9 @charliejane

Crisis is conflict on steroids:  http://ow.ly/RLpRR @stephenwoodfin

Understanding Screenwriting (with Films as Examples):  http://ow.ly/RLq0b by Tom Stempel

9 Questions To Ask If Writer’s Block Has You By The Throat:  http://ow.ly/RJtuF @10MinNovelists

Troubleshooting When You’re Stuck:  http://ow.ly/RJtQd by Chris Winkle @mythcreants

Don’t Over-Describe: Leaving Room for the Imagination:  http://ow.ly/RJv0q @ShanDitty

Want To Do More Creative Work? Focus On Your Support System:  http://ow.ly/RJtfW  @DanBlank

How to Craft a Page-Turning Plot:  http://ow.ly/RJuQU  @cathyyardley

10 Tips for Writing:  http://ow.ly/RJtpA @_JamieK_

Using empty words in a story:  http://ow.ly/RJutj @calebpirtle

Quick & Dirty Edit Tips:  http://ow.ly/RJuyl @ChristaDesir

Resources for writers:  http://ow.ly/RJuIy @ava_jae

Show, don’t tell:  http://ow.ly/RJulh @C_Herringshaw

6 Simple Ways To Stay Inspired As A Writer:  http://ow.ly/RJtdO  @paperbackbird

The Business of Screenwriting: Everything you wanted to know about specs:  http://ow.ly/RJvn0 @gointothestory

Audiobooks: listeners and how to market to them:  http://ow.ly/RU2q1 @jimhbs

Writing Cozy Mysteries: Researching Your Town:  http://ow.ly/RTRDE @camillelaguire

5 things to check before you sign that publishing contract: http://ow.ly/RGjLK @Creativindie

3 Tips to Avoid Writer’s Anxiety:  http://ow.ly/RGjxr @write_tomorrow

The poet’s paperwork: http://ow.ly/RGjVu  @nevalalee

3 Questions to Ask When Writing a Book Proposal:  http://ow.ly/RGjAe  by Rachel Scheller @writersdigest

Does one character “own” each scene? http://ow.ly/RGjJ0 @gointothestory

How Our Peer Group Can Help Our Writing:  http://ow.ly/RGjim by Juliet Marillier

7 Ways to Build Our Writing Confidence:  http://ow.ly/RGjFc @writing_tips

6 Narrator Types:  http://ow.ly/RGjuI @nownovel

A Tip for Writing Fiction In Scenes:  http://ow.ly/RGjQS @angee

A Helpful Proofreading Technique:  http://ow.ly/RGjZ5 @McgannKellie

A 2-Step Method For Finishing Our Novel : http://ow.ly/RGl8n @shesnovel

6 tips for handling rejection: http://ow.ly/RGl8j @kaylee_kendall

What Should a Novelist Blog About? Dos and Don’ts for Author-Bloggers:  http://ow.ly/RERaZ @annerallen

How to Use the Rule of Three in Children’s Books:  http://ow.ly/RERDG @hodgeswriter

Free Scrivener Templates:  http://ow.ly/RERx0 @Jenn_Mattern

A Practical Guide to Eliminating Excess Words:  http://ow.ly/RERXk @karenmarston

3 Components to Writing a Successful Collaborative Novel:  http://ow.ly/RESr3 @KLHCreateWorks

Depressed? Anxious? Stressed? A Must-have Guide to Resources For Writers:  http://ow.ly/REReA @annerallen

Keep Your Inbox Cleaner By Unsubscribing to Blog Comments:  http://ow.ly/RERpB @jenn_mattern

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Writing the Cozy Mystery: The Suspects

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

This is the second in my cozy mystery writing series.  Last week I focused on writing better sleuths. Today, I thought I’d take a look at another vital element for a solid mystery: good suspects.

How many suspects?  Fewer suspects can be easier for readers to keep up with, but can also mean that the murderer’s identity isn’t as much of a surprise.  If you have more suspects, you can more easily maintain the element of surprise at the end, but you have to be careful not to confuse the reader.  I usually prefer 5 suspects, killing one of them during the course of the book.  If you choose to have a lot of suspects, you can reduce confusion by making sure their names are very distinct or by giving them a casual reintroduction when they appear “onstage” again in the story.

How to introduce the suspects?  I do this a couple of different ways.  A quick setup is to have our sleuth witness interactions between the victim and the suspects before the victim dies.  This can be especially helpful when the sleuth is trying to figure out who the suspects are after the murder.  Another way of handling this is to have a couple of people provide information about likely suspects in the case (non-suspects as informants). It may also be useful to have suspects implicate each other.

Pacing and location of suspect interviews:  This, to me, is an unexpectedly treacherous thing.  We can either really bog the story down or fly through the interviews too quickly.  I think it helps if we have very different settings for each suspect interview to provide variety and avoid that sense of sameness and if we weave subplot through the interviews so they’re not all back to back. That’s going to be a matter of personal preference for the writer, though. A couple of nice resources on subplots: Allen Palmer’s “The One Subplot You Really Need” and Amanda Patterson’s “Six Subplots that Add Style to Your Story.”

It’s best for pacing and for the length of the story for suspects to generate false leads (red herrings) or act as unreliable witnesses.  Each suspect could tell a lie and a truth and then our sleuth could figure out which is which.  The lies could be alibi-related, or they could even be accidental lies…simply incorrect information or hearsay.

The interviews don’t need to be merely business as usual clipped exchanges, either.  These stories are very character-focused. It helps if we learn more about the suspects’ characters or the victims. If we think about making our story more engaging. If the interviews also reveal more about our sleuth or sidekick.

Suspect as a second victim.   As I mentioned earlier, I do like eliminating one of the suspects, usually halfway through the book. I frequently choose to murder the suspect who seems most likely to have murdered the first victim.

Suspect motives.  If possible, I like to ascribe a variety of different motives in the story. My editor at Penguin liked that, too.  She would have me make changes if the motives were too similar.

Need help with motives?  Camille LaGuire has a nice list in her article “The Big Wheel of Crimes and Theories” and Margot Kinberg has collected some interesting examples of motives for the second murder in our books in her post “I Know That I Will Kill Again.”

This was another mystery-related post, but I hope there is information in there that other genres will find useful, as well (check out those subplot links).  What have I missed?  Any questions or thoughts from mystery writers or readers?

Tips for better suspects in a mystery novel:
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Image: MorgueFile: Nino Andonis

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