Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 59

How to Handle the Stakes in a Cozy Mystery + Giveaway (Part 4 of 4)

by H.R. D’Costa, @scribesworld

Wow.

We’ve covered a lot of ground in this four-part blog series on how to handle the stakes in a cozy mystery. (By the way, although the illustrative examples are cozy-centric, many of the tips in this series can be applied to mysteries with a harder edge.)

Today, we’re wrapping things up and putting all the tips from Parts 1–3 of the blog series into action. For this post to make the most sense, you should really read the previous ones (if you haven’t already).

If you need to catch up, check out this list of all the posts in this blog series, with convenient links to Parts 1, 2, and 3:

In Part 1, we covered methods to bolster the stakes that emphasize the sleuth.
In Part 2, we covered methods to bolster the stakes that emphasize other storytelling elements that readers care about.
In Part 3, we discussed considerations to take into account when applying these story stake tips to cozy mysteries in a series.
In Part 4, you’ll see these considerations in action when I share a sample lineup of stakes for a hypothetical cozy-mystery series. (You’re reading Part 4 right now.)

All right. You’re properly oriented. You know that it’s a smart idea to map out the stakes in a cozy-mystery series in advance. That’s because doing so will help you avoid escalation problems in the long run.

When mapping out your stakes, there are three operating principles to keep in mind.

Ideally, the novels in your series will be more emotionally intense, as your series goes along.
However, the first book in your series should be engaging enough to lure readers into your series.
Series loyalty can carry readers through books that might not be as exciting as previous books in a series.

With these principles in hand, you should be able to figure out how to maintain escalation across the books in your cozy-mystery series.

However, before you do this on your own, you might like to see these principles in action.

That’s why I’ve created a sample lineup of stakes to use over the course of a five-book cozy-mystery series. This lineup will give you a sense of the reasoning process you might go through when you map out the stakes in your own series.

Bear in mind, this lineup shouldn’t be treated as a cast-iron mold. It’s there to provide guidance on some considerations that are good to take into account when planning your own cozy-mystery series.

One more thing: unless otherwise indicated, the victim in these plots can be likeable or unlikeable.

In the case of an unlikeable victim, an extra set of stakes (or some other source) supplies the reason for readers to invest in the plot. Using these techniques (as described in Parts 1 and 2 of this blog series) is a must.

In the case of a likeable victim, it’s optional. You don’t need to compensate for the victim’s unlikeability—but, by applying the same techniques, you’ll enhance your readers’ experience.

Okay, here’s the sample lineup:

Story Stakes for Book #1 in a Hypothetical Cozy-Mystery Series

The sleuth’s best friend is the prime suspect, and the sleuth must solve the case to prevent her friend from going to jail.

This situation makes your series entry point an attractive option for readers, who’ll be drawn in by the high-stake situation.

At the same time, the stakes don’t quite reach the same level as when the sleuth herself is the prime suspect—so you’ve left yourself room to escalate.

Story Stakes for Book #2 in a Hypothetical Cozy-Mystery Series

Readers are emotionally invested in the plot because they want to see justice achieved on behalf of the likeable victim who was friends (or friendly) with the sleuth.

To deepen this investment, show your sleuth reminiscing about her interactions with the victim. To take it up a notch, show your sleuth reminiscing about interactions that you actually depicted in book #1.

As your sleuth recalls the details, your readers will remember them too, which’ll make your readers even more connected to the story. (It’s almost like an Easter egg for them.)

This is one example of why it can be advantageous to extensively outline the books in your cozy-mystery series. Doing so also enables you to identify (and fix) plot holes in advance—which’ll reduce your revision time.

If that’s something that interests you, check out Sparkling Story Drafts , which’ll show you what to do, step by step. (By the way, this writing guide is recommended by Elizabeth!)

Story Stakes for Book #3 in a Hypothetical Cozy-Mystery Series

Here, the case might not be the main attraction—an ongoing subplot is.

Hence, readers keep turning the pages due to their interest in a major subplot development that occurs in this series installment.

Story Stakes for Book #4 in a Hypothetical Cozy-Mystery Series

Although the victim is unlikeable, readers invest in the case because of their connection to a (likeable) family member of the victim.

Again, if you plan out your series in advance, you can further deepen readers’ emotional involvement. Think about the example with the resident troublemaker and his kindly grandmother (from Part 2 of this blog series).

If you show your sleuth commiserating with the grandmother about the troublemaker grandson over the course of the previous three books in the series, readers are going to care more about the grandmother’s plight in book #4.

If the mystery takes place in a small town, you could even associate the grandson with a refrain like, “If he carries on like that, he’s going to get himself killed one day.”

Now, in book #4, it actually happens, which can add another layer of appeal to your plot. (You might even use it as a lead-in to your book description.)

Although I really like this option, I’m going to suggest an alternative for the sake of illustration. Again, the victim is still unlikeable. However, this time, you’re relying on your series hook to keep readers invested in the story. (Refer back to Part 2 of this blog series for examples of what I mean.)

Despite taking compensatory measures, you might feel that readers’ connection to your plot is, nevertheless, still weak. (Maybe it is—which is why I’m using this as an example.) At this point, you could rely on series loyalty to carry readers through.

But to avoid the impression that you’re coasting and that your series is going downhill, you should really elevate the stakes in the next book, which brings me to…

Story Stakes for Book #5 in a Hypothetical Cozy-Mystery Series

The sleuth is the prime suspect.

Thus, you have saved the most intense situation for book #5.

However, at the same time, the books that precede it aren’t dull either, so your series, as a whole, escalates nicely.

A good balance has been achieved.

More Than 5 Books?

What if your series contains more than five books?

Just adapt this pattern—changing the order and switching out some of the components to avoid accusations of repetition.

For example, your sleuth won’t be the prime suspect again—at least not for a good long while. Instead, to drum up emotional involvement, you’ll make her the killer’s next target.

Moreover, you’re not going to save this intense situation for the last book in the second batch (as you did for the first batch). You’re going to use it in book #9.

Whatever you decide, as long as you keep the three operating principles in mind, you should be in good shape!

* * *

And there you have it. We’ve reached the end of this four-part blog series on how to handle the stakes in a cozy mystery.

You not only know about multiple techniques to keep readers emotionally invested in the plot (despite the unlikeability of the victim) but also how to apply these techniques to maintain escalation across the books in your cozy-mystery series.

I hope that by using these tips, you will build a base of fans who’ll be eager to click the buy button whenever they see you’ve put out a new release!

If you’d like to dig deeper into story stakes on your own, download this cheat sheet with 11 types of story stakes. It might (a) give you additional ideas for how to make readers emotionally invested in the outcome of the case as well as (b) help you generate a variety of motives to match your healthy list of suspects.

You can also check out my writing guide Story Stakes: Your #1 Writing Skills Strategy to Produce a Page-Turner That Transforms Readers into Raving Fans of Your Screenplay or Novel . See below for details on how you could win a paperback copy…

Win a Paperback Copy of Story Stakes

For every post in this blog series, you have a chance to win a paperback copy of Story Stakes  ($15.95).

Described as “a must-have in your top 10 books on writing” by one Amazon reviewer, it’ll show you how to use story stakes to elicit the maximum degree of emotion from readers as well as how to raise the stakes (even when they’re already high!).

For a chance to win today, answer this question in the comments: What are other benefits of outlining books in a series in advance?

Elizabeth will randomly select four lucky winners by Monday, August 19.

Note: This giveaway is only open to residents of North America, South America, and Europe.

Good luck and happy writing!

About H. R. D’Costa

A graduate of Brown University, H. R. D’Costa (a.k.a. HRD) is an author and writing coach who specializes in story structure and story stakes.

For practical, actionable writing tips designed to help you keep readers glued to your pages, visit her website scribemeetsworld.com, which is also home to the Ultimate Story Structure Worksheet (downloaded over 37,000 times by writers from around the world).

For practical, actionable writing tips designed to help you keep readers glued to your pages, visit her website scribemeetsworld.com, which is also home to the Ultimate Story Structure Worksheet (downloaded over 37,000 times by writers from around the world).

Plotting Story Stakes in a 5-Book Cozy Mystery Series (by @scribesworld ):
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IMAGE CREDITS: Coffee & book by Amariei Mihai; Misty lake by Dominik Dombrowski; Sunset celebration by Levi Guzman; Elderly woman by Cristian Newman; Female sleuth by Sasha Nadelyaeva

The post How to Handle the Stakes in a Cozy Mystery + Giveaway (Part 4 of 4) appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

How to Handle the Stakes in a Cozy Mystery + Giveaway (Part 3 of 4)

by H.R. D’Costa, @scribesworld

Standalone or series.

It’s a dilemma that many novelists face.

But for authors of cozy mysteries, the decision’s almost a foregone conclusion: series.

By all accounts, that’s what fans of the subgenre enjoy (especially the tropes they encounter again and again). That’s what fans expect.

Plus, as our blog host Elizabeth Spann Craig explains, writing a book for a series is oftentimes easier than writing a standalone because:

Usually everything after book one has already been established…You’ve already developed the main characters and the huge amount of work that goes along with that is mainly finished. The groundwork has been laid and you can focus on other aspects of your story.

In short, writing in a series is a win for you as well as for your readers. However, it does come with a complication that standalone novels don’t.

Before I get into specifics, let me just share a quick reminder. This post is part of an ongoing blog series about how to handle the stakes in a cozy mystery. (By the way, although the illustrative examples are cozy-centric, many of the tips in this series can be applied to mysteries with a harder edge.)

Parts 1 and 2 set the context for this post, so I strongly recommend that you read them first (if you haven’t already) before continuing.

Below, you’ll find an overview of the topics in this blog series, with convenient links to Parts 1 and 2:

In Part 1, we covered methods to bolster the stakes that emphasize the sleuth.
In Part 2, we covered methods to bolster the stakes that emphasize other storytelling elements that readers care about.
In Part 3, we’ll discuss considerations to take into account when applying these story stake tips to cozy mysteries in a series. (You’re reading Part 3 right now.)
In Part 4 (forthcoming), you’ll see these considerations in action when I share a sample lineup of stakes for a hypothetical cozy-mystery series.

Okay, with that overview in place, let’s return to that complication I mentioned earlier—the one you’ll have to face if you’re writing a cozy-mystery series (as opposed to a standalone).

The Special Problem You Face When Writing a Series

With any novel, you need to keep tabs on escalation.

Your plot should become progressively more interesting as it goes along.

If it doesn’t—if say, for example, all your genre elements are front-loaded into the first half of your story—everything that follows will feel anticlimactic in comparison, ultimately creating a dissatisfying reader experience.

But with a series, you have an additional burden.

You have to worry not only about the escalation within each individual book in the series, but also about how the series escalates as a whole. That is to say, based on how you developed the plots of your books, readers may feel like your series went downhill after a certain point.

A Common Mistake Made with the First Book in a Cozy-Mystery Series

Now that you’re aware of the issue with escalation, let’s bring it back to the topic of this blog-post series—handling the stakes in a mystery when the victim is unlikeable—and put all the pieces together.

An unlikeable victim can be advantageous because this situation generates plenty of suspects, which’ll keep your plot lively.

At the same time, it comes with a major drawback: readers might not care about solving the case. Why should they invest in catching the killer of an unlikeable person?

As one solution, instead of building the stakes around achieving justice for the sake of the victim, you build them around saving the sleuth protagonist from terrible consequences—e.g. being charged with the murder herself.

Due to the high stakes, readers will become emotionally invested in the plot.

Indeed, because of the appeal of these stakes, many novelists gravitate toward using this setup (the protagonist is the prime suspect) for the first book in their series.

However, although this can be an excellent way to convince readers to give your cozy-mystery series a chance, you can run into a problem down the line.

You started your series with the protagonist in an emotionally intense situation…which means you haven’t really given yourself room to escalate.

Although subsequent books ARE interesting in their own right, compared to the first book, they might not feel AS interesting.

In sum, readers could feel like your series went downhill after book #1, and abandon your series midway through it. Fortunately, it’s easy to avoid this outcome. Take a look…

3 Operating Principles to Maintain the Appeal of Your Cozy-Mystery Series

How to maintain the appeal of your series in the long run?

Simple. Just map out the plot for each book in the series in advance, and assess each one’s impact on how the series escalates as a whole.

By mapping out, we’re talking broad strokes here, so this is something both “plotters” and “pantsers” can do. Although, it must be said, the more details you know ahead of time, the more you can take advantage of that knowledge in later books.

When you do this, keep the following three operating principles in mind.

Ideally, the novels in your series will be more emotionally intense, as your series goes along.
However, the first book in your series should be engaging enough to lure readers into your series.
Series loyalty can carry readers through books that might not be as exciting as previous books in a series.

* * *

By adhering to the three principles listed above, you should be able to figure out how to preserve escalation across all the books in your cozy-mystery series.

But, before you do this on your own, you might like to see these principles in action, and get a sense of the reasoning process you’ll be going through. Happily, that’s the topic of the next (and last) post in this four-part blog series. See you then!

In the meantime, if you’d like to dig deeper into story stakes, download this cheat sheet with 11 types of story stakes. It might (a) give you additional ideas for how to make readers emotionally invested in the outcome of the case as well as (b) help you generate a variety of motives to match your healthy list of suspects.

You can also check out my writing guide Story Stakes: Your #1 Writing Skills Strategy to Produce a Page-Turner That Transforms Readers into Raving Fans of Your Screenplay or Novel . See below for details on how you could win a paperback copy…

Win a Paperback Copy of Story Stakes

For every post in this blog series, you have a chance to win a paperback copy of Story Stakes  ($15.95).

Described as “a must-have in your top 10 books on writing” by one Amazon reviewer, it’ll show you how to use story stakes to elicit the maximum degree of emotion from readers as well as how to raise the stakes (even when they’re already high!).

For a chance to win today, answer this question in the comments: Besides escalation, what are other challenges that you face when writing a series?

Elizabeth will randomly select four lucky winners by Monday, August 19.

Note: This giveaway is only open to residents of North America, South America, and Europe.

Good luck and happy writing!

About H. R. D’Costa

A graduate of Brown University, H. R. D’Costa (a.k.a. HRD) is an author and writing coach who specializes in story structure and story stakes.

Known for her “deep dive” instruction style, she is the author of 8 writing guides including Sizzling Story Outlines , Story Stakes, and the 4-volume Story Structure Essentials series .

For practical, actionable writing tips designed to help you keep readers glued to your pages, visit her website scribemeetsworld.com, which is also home to the Ultimate Story Structure Worksheet (downloaded over 37,000 times by writers from around the world).

One Common Mistake Mystery Writers Make When Handling Unlikeable Victims (by @scribesworld ):
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IMAGE CREDITS: Coffee & book by Amariei Mihai; Misty lake by Dominik Dombrowski; Detective in a trench by Shawn Liew

The post How to Handle the Stakes in a Cozy Mystery + Giveaway (Part 3 of 4) appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

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 50,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Have you visited the WKB lately?  Check out the new redesign where you can browse by category, and sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox!  Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here.

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Anthology Contest, Twitter Pitch, and Writing Challenge Info from @TheIWSG :

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How to Handle the Stakes in a Cozy Mystery + Giveaway: @scribesworld
How to Handle the Stakes in a Cozy Mystery + Giveaway: @scribesworld

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When Poets Don’t Read Poetry: @WritingForward

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Take Two: Creating Multi-Layered Villains You Love to Hate: @jeannevb @WritersDigest
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How to Handle the Stakes in a Cozy Mystery + Giveaway (Part 2 of 4)

by H.R. D’Costa, @scribesworld

Handling the stakes in a mystery with an unlikeable victim isn’t entirely a straightforward affair.

On one hand, when the victim is unlikeable, you’ll have puh-lenty of suspects, which should make your plot more engrossing.

On the other hand, because readers don’t care much for the victim, they might not care whether the sleuth achieves justice on the victim’s behalf.

But if you can’t fuel your mystery with stakes of justice…what can you do?

That’s the question we’re exploring in this four-part blog series on handling the stakes in a cozy mystery. (By the way, although the illustrative examples are cozy-centric, many of the tips in this series can be applied to mysteries with a harder edge.)

To give you an overview:

In Part 1, we covered methods to bolster the stakes that emphasize the sleuth.
In Part 2 , we’ll cover methods to bolster the stakes that emphasize other storytelling elements that readers care about. (You’re reading Part 2 right now.)
In Part 3 (forthcoming), we’ll discuss considerations to take into account when applying these story stake tips to cozy mysteries in a series.
In Part 4 (forthcoming), you’ll see these considerations in action when I share a sample lineup of stakes for a hypothetical cozy-mystery series.

So. It’s agreed. Your readers don’t care much for your unlikeable victim. Even so, there are lots of other story elements that can entangle their emotions.

If you emphasize these elements in your cozy mystery (perhaps saving them for this very book in your series, when you know the plot is going to involve an unlikeable victim), then this emotion may be enough to carry readers forward.

In other words, when readers start to ask themselves—Why should I care about finding out who killed this guy when he’s such a jerk?!—you will have provided them with a satisfactory answer.

Below are three suggestions to get you started:

Focus on Your Series Hook

A great definition of a series hook comes courtesy of our very own blog host, Elizabeth Spann Craig.

As defined by Elizabeth, hooks in a cozy mystery are:

Special themes, meant to appeal to the primary reading demographic, as part of the series brand.

Through personal experience with, or extensive research into, the arena of your hook, you are bound to uncover intriguing details that you know will fascinate your readers.

Save these juicy tidbits for this book, where the victim is unlikeable.

Think of the murder mystery Gosford Park. The exploration of class differences is the hook—and it’s just as interesting as the mystery.

A detail that still sticks with me to this day: servants below stairs are not referred to by their own names, but by the name of their employer because “it saves confusion.”

Here’s another example of what I mean. Cozy-mystery author Ellen Jacobson lives on a sailboat with her husband, and sailing is the hook of her Mollie McGhie cozy-mystery series.

One day, when Ellen and her husband were sailing around New Zealand, a dolphin swam alongside their boat and “sprayed us with something. I think it was dolphin spit and Scott thinks it was dolphin snot.”

Years later, Ellen used their debate in a scene in one of her cozy mysteries.

This is just the kind of unusual detail that your own target audience might enjoy discovering. Thus, it makes sense to incorporate it into the plot—especially when you’re writing about an unlikeable victim. Why?

Even when readers are feeling rather non-committal toward the mystery, they could keep on turning the pages to see how your sleuth and her friends resolve the dolphin debate. Brownie points: the ongoing dolphin debate could give the sleuth the insight she needs to solve the case!

Focus on a Reoccurring Subplot

By the end of the mystery, the case must be solved. But when you’re writing a series, you can leave a subplot open, and develop it over multiple series installments.

Is your sleuth involved in an on-again, off-again romantic relationship?

Consider saving a major development—e.g. after months of absence, the sleuth’s love interest returns on-scene—for this book, where the victim is unlikeable.

Because your readers will be heavily invested in the subplot, they’ll be compelled to keep on reading even when their curiosity over who killed the unlikeable victim starts to wane.

As an added bonus, readers will also be compelled to buy future installments of your series due to their emotional investment in subplot developments. Score!

By the way, click on the following link if you’re looking for tips on subplots. That’ll lead you to an “easy as pie” guide dedicated to this topic.

Focus on Likeable Associates of the Victim (E.g. Friends, Family, etc.)

Emphasizing the effect that solving the case has on the victim’s family is always a good technique to use when developing the stakes in a mystery.

But when the victim is unlikeable, it becomes extra valuable.

Because the victim’s family members are likeable, you can cultivate a relationship between them and your readers. Hence, readers become invested in the case—and keep turning the pages of your cozy mystery—not because they particularly care about the victim, but because they want to see the victim’s family experience closure.

You can even use this approach to create a ticking clock that’ll generate increased urgency. For instance, the victim is the town’s resident troublemaker who, before his death, caused all sorts of headache for the grandmother who raised him.

Before the murder of her grandson, the grandmother’s health wasn’t that great. After the murder, her health took a turn for the worse. The sleuth must solve the case in time in order to provide relief to the grandmother before the grandmother passes away.

The Animal Factor

In cozies, animals oftentimes become characters in their own right, staking their claim on readers’ hearts. So, as another option, you could get readers to invest in solving the case due to their affection for the victim’s pet.

Actually, when you think about it, the pet’s attachment to its owner dilutes the victim’s unlikeability to a certain extent. After all, if the pet loved the victim, the victim couldn’t be all bad now, could he?

To mine this sentiment further, you could have the victim’s pet show up on your sleuth’s doorstep, seemingly pleading with the sleuth to solve the case. Perhaps, due to some twist of fate, the sleuth is even entrusted with taking care of the pet until other arrangements can be made.

Again, it’d be good to have this development occur right around the midpoint, when the sleuth (and readers, too) are becoming frustrated over all the effort expended to solve the case for a victim who is, through recently uncovered evidence, revealed to be even more of a jerk than originally thought.

Also, it might be a nice touch to bring back the victim’s pet at the climax of the novel, to help apprehend the murderer at the end of the story.

* * *

If you, like many cozy-mystery authors, are writing in a series, you have to be strategic with how you use the story stake tips from Parts 1 and 2 of this blog series. Some work better if they’re saved for later books in a series.

I’ll go into more detail in Part 3, where I’ll share guidelines for mapping out the stakes in a mystery series. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, if you’d like to dig deeper on your own, download this cheat sheet with 11 types of story stakes. It might (a) give you additional ideas for how to make readers emotionally invested in the outcome of the case as well as (b) help you generate a variety of motives to match your healthy list of suspects.

You can also check out my writing guide Story Stakes: Your #1 Writing Skills Strategy to Produce a Page-Turner That Transforms Readers into Raving Fans of Your Screenplay or Novel. See below for details on how you could win a paperback copy…

Win a Paperback Copy of Story Stakes

For every post in this blog series, you have a chance to win a paperback copy of Story Stakes  ($15.95).

Described as “a must-have in your top 10 books on writing” by one Amazon reviewer, it’ll show you how to use story stakes to elicit the maximum degree of emotion from readers as well as how to raise the stakes (even when they’re already high!).

For a chance to win today, answer this question in the comments: Which series hook, reoccurring subplot, or animal character have you found particularly appealing?

Elizabeth will randomly select four lucky winners by Monday, August 19.

Note: This giveaway is only open to residents of North America, South America, and Europe.

Good luck and happy writing!

About H. R. D’Costa

A graduate of Brown University, H. R. D’Costa (a.k.a. HRD) is an author and writing coach who specializes in story structure and story stakes.

Known for her “deep dive” instruction style, she is the author of 8 writing guides including Sizzling Story Outlines , Story Stakes, and the 4-volume Story Structure Essentials series .

For practical, actionable writing tips designed to help you keep readers glued to your pages, visit her website scribemeetsworld.com, which is also home to the Ultimate Story Structure Worksheet (downloaded over 37,000 times by writers from around the world).

3 Tips for Handling an Unlikeable Victim in a Cozy Mystery (by @scribesworld ):
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IMAGE CREDITS: Coffee & book by Amariei Mihai; Misty lake by Dominik Dombrowski; Sailboat by Karla Car; Friendly dolphin by Pablo Heimplatz; Pen nib by Art Lasovsky; Girl reading on a dock by Bethany Laird; Elderly woman by Cristian Newman; Smiling dog by Seb

The post How to Handle the Stakes in a Cozy Mystery + Giveaway (Part 2 of 4) appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

How to Handle the Stakes in a Cozy Mystery + Giveaway (Part 1 of 4)

by H.R. D’Costa, @scribesworld

Here’s the scenario:

You’re writing a cozy mystery. And your victim is unlikeable.

Your suspect list is, as they say, healthy.

You’re having a blast coming up with motives for each suspect.

In theory, as your readers engage in their quest to identify whodunit, they should also have a blast weeding through the suspects.

There’s only one problem.

At their core, mysteries are driven by stakes of justice.

If the sleuth identifies and apprehends the murderer, then a wrong will—to a certain extent—be made right. Justice will be served.

Can you see how this creates a conundrum?

When your victim is unlikeable, readers might not really care whether justice is achieved on his behalf or not. If they don’t care, then there’s no reason for them to keep on turning the pages of your cozy mystery.

Definitely not a good position to be in.

Wait…

What About Curiosity?

Isn’t that sufficient to compel readers to continue reading your book?

Curiosity certainly is important. But around the middle of a story, its effect tends to be outweighed by other factors—including a reader’s less-than-keen attitude toward an unlikeable victim.

That said, you may be able to overcome this hurdle if your readers are, like many cozy-mystery fans, strongly attached to your sleuth and your series.

Still, it’s not the ideal.

The ideal circumstance is to secure both curiosity about the plot and emotional involvement in it.

Essentially, your dilemma boils down to this:

How do you get readers to care about solving the murder of someone they don’t really care for?

One option is to bring in a second victim who is likeable. Again, the midpoint of a novel is a good place for this. Why? Two reasons, mainly.

One, another murder shakes things up, preventing the middle from becoming monotonous. (As a side note, you can find more ideas for how to shake things up at the middle of your mystery in a video in Lesson 2.1 of my online course on story structure. Click on that link to access the lesson for free.)

Two, because this second murder involves a likeable victim, it gets readers more emotionally involved in the plot, right when the effect of curiosity tends to decline.

While killing off a likeable character is a solid solution, there are others that can be used (in lieu of, or in tandem with, it) as well. That’s what we’re going to explore in this four-part series about how to handle the stakes in a cozy mystery. (By the way, although the illustrative examples are cozy-centric, many of the tips in this series can be applied to mysteries with a harder edge.)

To give you an overview:

In Part 1, we’ll cover methods to bolster the stakes that emphasize the sleuth. (You’re reading Part 1 right now.)
In Part 2 (forthcoming), we’ll cover methods to bolster the stakes that emphasize other storytelling elements that readers care about.
In Part 3 (forthcoming), we’ll discuss considerations to take into account when applying these story stake tips to cozy mysteries in a series.
In Part 4 (forthcoming), you’ll see these considerations in action when I share a sample lineup of stakes for a hypothetical cozy-mystery series.

Ready to dive into Part 1? Let’s go!

Put Your Sleuth (Or Someone Close to the Sleuth) in Jeopardy

All right. The victim in your cozy mystery is unlikeable.

Readers might not care two figs for him. By extension, they might not care two figs about the plot, which is all about apprehending his murderer.

However, your readers do care two figs for your sleuth protagonist.

Thus, if you tie the stakes to an outcome that personally affects the sleuth—there’s no way readers will abandon your book. Their attachment to your sleuth, coupled with the stakes, precludes that.

The obvious option (and one which many mystery writers gravitate toward) is to make the sleuth the prime suspect. If she doesn’t solve the case, the murder will be pinned on her, and she’ll go to jail.

With such high stakes as these, is there any way readers will put down your book?

Doubtful, fellow scribe, doubtful.

Of course, when you’re writing a series of cozy mysteries, you can’t use this solution every time. That would strain credibility.

Happily, you can achieve the same effect via different means. The sleuth could be the killer’s next target. If she doesn’t solve the case in time, she might end up dead.

Granted, some astute readers would conclude that if the sleuth went to jail or died, the series would end. So both outcomes are rather implausible.

Nevertheless, many readers are willing to suspend their disbelief on this account and enjoy the emotional roller-coaster ride created by your sleuth’s dire predicament. After all, even if they’re sure she’ll end up alive and well, they still don’t know how she’ll manage to extricate herself.

Keep in mind, because readers care about characters whom the sleuth cares about, you don’t have to limit yourself to jeopardizing the sleuth. To get readers emotionally invested in the plot, it’s equally effective to put a sleuth’s loved one in jeopardy.

For example, let’s say that your sleuth is finally marrying her love interest…only he’s become the prime suspect in a recent murder. Clearly—even though the victim is unlikeable—the plot of this book is going to entangle reader emotions.

Readers will want to see the sleuth solve the case so the wedding can go on, as scheduled!

The best part is that this situation also creates an automatic ticking clock. The sleuth has to solve the case before her fiancé is arrested. Otherwise, there’ll be no wedding.

With this built-in deadline, the urgency is increased, which, in turn, intensifies the reader experience—and makes your book even more addictive.

If you’re writing and/or publishing your own cozy-mystery series, you can play around with these options, using different ones for each book. In the pro column, you’ll achieve variety, and at the same time, avoid straining credibility.

However, depending on when you use each option, you might inadvertently create an escalation problem, where later books in your series feel lackluster compared to earlier series installments. We’ll discuss this issue in more detail in Part 3 and Part 4 of this blog series.

For now, let’s move on to another solution to make readers care about the plot of your cozy mystery even though they don’t care about the unlikeable victim…

Show the Impact the Unsolved Case Has on Your Sleuth’s Everyday Activities

You don’t always have to put your protagonist in extreme jeopardy in order to get readers to invest in the plot. As an alternative, you can explore stakes of access.

In this specific application, the sleuth protagonist will lose access to a place she cherishes if she fails to solve the case. Readers’ desire to see her maintain that access keeps them emotionally involved in the story.

Let me show you what I mean. Say your protagonist is a mystery writer (how meta *wink*). Whenever she has writer’s block, she goes to a local café whose spicy chai tea and calming sitar music unleash her creative muse.

Unfortunately, the town’s snobbiest resident fell dead at the café—and all signs point to murder. Now, the café is avoided like the plague, and its owner says he’ll have to shut it down if things continue the way they are.

Thus, the sleuth has to solve the case. Otherwise, she’ll lose access to her safe haven. Otherwise, she’ll be looking at permanent writer’s block.

Did I mention the sleuth has a publishing deadline to hit?

If she doesn’t make it, she’ll have to return her advance (which she already spent on home repairs). Again, like the wedding example above, this situation creates an automatic ticking clock that’ll intensify the reader experience and turn your book into a real page-turner.

* * *

The tips in this post emphasized readers’ relationship with your sleuth protagonist. However, in the next part of this blog series, we’ll take another tack. We’ll explore options that don’t depend as much on that relationship.

In the meantime, if you’d like to dig deeper on your own, download this cheat sheet with 11 types of story stakes. It might (a) give you additional ideas for how to tie the stakes to an outcome that personally affects the sleuth as well as (b) help you generate a variety of motives to match your healthy list of suspects.

You can also check out my writing guide Story Stakes: Your #1 Writing Skills Strategy to Produce a Page-Turner That Transforms Readers into Raving Fans of Your Screenplay or Novel . See below for details on how you could win a paperback copy!

Win a Paperback Copy of Story Stakes

For every post in this blog series, you have a chance to win a paperback copy of Story Stakes  ($15.95).

Described as “a must-have in your top 10 books on writing” by one Amazon reviewer, it’ll show you how to use story stakes to elicit the maximum degree of emotion from readers as well as how to raise the stakes (even when they’re already high!).

For a chance to win today, answer this question in the comments: What characteristic made you fall in love with one of your favorite sleuths?

Elizabeth will randomly select four lucky winners by Monday, August 19.

Note: This giveaway is only open to residents of North America, South America, and Europe.

Good luck and happy writing!

About H. R. D’Costa

A graduate of Brown University, H. R. D’Costa (a.k.a. HRD) is an author and writing coach who specializes in story structure and story stakes.

Known for her “deep dive” instruction style, she is the author of 8 writing guides including Sizzling Story Outlines , Story Stakes, and the 4-volume Story Structure Essentials series .

For practical, actionable writing tips designed to help you keep readers glued to your pages, visit her website scribemeetsworld.com, which is also home to the Ultimate Story Structure Worksheet (downloaded over 37,000 times by writers from around the world).

Handling Unlikeable Victims in a Cozy Mystery by @scribesworld
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IMAGE CREDITS: Coffee & book by Amariei Mihai; Wide-eyed cat by Simone Dalmeri; Roller coaster by Mark Asthoff; Misty lake by Dominik Dombrowski; Female sleuth by Sasha Nadelyaeva; Fashionable groom by Mélanie Villeneuve; Red clock by Katarzyna Kos; Fancy café by Seemi Samuel

The post How to Handle the Stakes in a Cozy Mystery + Giveaway (Part 1 of 4) appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

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 50,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Have you visited the WKB lately?  Check out the new redesign where you can browse by category, and sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox!  Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here.

New Stuff

C.S. Lakin of Live, Write, Thrive is launching a new course, Emotional Mastery for Fiction Writers.  The code for half off the price of the course is EARLYBIRD.

Business / Miscellaneous

6 Steps to Break Into Newspaper Writing: @JLavenderwrites
What is the Best Way to Brand a Self-Help Series? And Other Questions Answered: @OrnaRoss @MichaelLaRonn @IndieAuthorALLI
How To Be An Unskippable Author: @JimKukral @thecreativepenn
What You Need To Know About The Costs Of Self-Publishing Your Book: by Rebecca Langley @standoutbooks

Creativity and Inspiration / Careers in Writing and Day Jobs

“How Working at a Marketing Agency Has Helped My Writing”: by Sara Crawford @A3writers

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

5 SFF Books Set In Contemporary African Locales: @IAmSuyiDavies @tordotcom
13 Books That Wouldn’t Be Published Today: @helpfulsnowman @LitReactor
Terrify Yourself with These Ten Horror Novels: by Brian Evenson @The_Millions

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

Do You Fall Out of Practice if You Don’t Write Most Days?

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

Why the Blank Page Is So Intimidating (and How to Fill It Anyway): @MegDowell

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly

Writing: How Fast is Too Fast? @ScholarlyFox

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

Nearly finished a draft? Can’t quite write “The End”? You’re not alone: @emma_darwin
23 Things to Do for Your Writing Self: @EdieMelson
How to Stop Procrastinating and Get Back to Work: @KathyEdens1 @ProWritingAid
How to Use a Notebook to Write Your Novel: @KathyEdens1 @ProWritingAid
Panta Rhei — What Moving Has Taught Me About Writing: @Peter_Rey_
Are you spending too much time on your phone? @pubcoach
Tips for Better Writer Self-Care:
How to Build Your Confidence When Nothing is Going Right: @TheLeighShulman
Tips for the Well-Mannered Writer: @jamesscottbell
“Yard Work Makes Me a Better Writer”: @JMcCannWriter
Writer’s Guide To Dealing With Haters: @jakonrath
The Inherent Power of Words to Describe Oneself: @VampAly @LOHFiction
The Post-Acceptance Process: by Rejectomancy
How Shortcuts Cheat the Writer: @AnneJanzer
What If Your Novel is Losing Steam? @SnowflakeGuy
Why Writers Should Embrace Their Weird Side: @SarahJSover @WritersDigest

Genres / Fantasy

7 Tips on Writing Characters with Healing Factors/Regeneration: @cyallowitz
7 Ways To Create A Spectacular Magic System For Your Novel: by Christopher Dean @Writers_Write

Genres / Miscellaneous

Writing Amish Fiction 101: @JanDrexler

Genres / Picture Books

How to Submit a Picture Book to Publishers: @JillWilliamson @GoTeenWriters

Genres / Screenwriting

Screenwriting: “The End” – The Importance of the Right Story Ending: @RayMorton1 @scriptmag
Brokeback Mountain: The Foolscap Breakdown: @valerie_francis @StoryGrid

Promo / Book Reviews

3 Dos for Getting Reviews (and 4 Don’ts) : by David Kudler @JFbookman

Promo / Miscellaneous

Marketing to Your Reader: @KarenHWhiting @EdieMelson
5 Book Marketing Strategies All Authors Need to Try: @BarbaraFreethy @BookBub

Promo / Newsletters

14 Content Ideas for Author Newsletters: @inkbitspixels @JFbookman
How You Can Improve Newsletter Results: @ph_solomon @StoryEmpire

Promo / Social Media Tips

Twitter Lists: What They Are, Why They’re Beneficial, and How to Use Them: @madalynsklar
8 Ways to Share Links on Instagram: @corinna_keefe @SMExaminer

Promo / Websites

Build a Successful Author Website: 6 Key Elements: by John Burke @WritersDigest

Publishing / Miscellaneous

Is It Worth Publishing Your Writing In A Zine? by Robert Wood @standoutbooks
4 Challenges of Writing for a Modern Audience: @KMWeiland

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing

How to work with a literary agent on edits: @NathanBransford

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

Just Because You’re Not Getting Manuscript Requests Doesn’t Mean You’re a Bad Writer: @ReeseHogan1 @WomenWriters

Publishing / Process / Book Design

Should authors have more control over their covers? @NathanBransford

Writing Craft / Beginnings

Flog a Pro: would you pay to turn the first page of this bestseller? @RayRhamey @WriterUnboxed

Writing Craft / Characters / Antagonists

Favorite Villains and Lessons Learned From Them: @ClaireFayers

Writing Craft / Characters / Arc

Designing a character arc: @AuthorMarilene

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

Occupation Thesaurus Entry: Professional Athlete: @beccapuglisi
Character Development Questions to Ask and Answer: @Kid_Lit
Bad People Make Better Stories: Crafting the Perfect ‘Unlikable’ Character: @KristenLambTX

Writing Craft / Common Mistakes

Your Bones Are Showing: Too Little Story, Too Many Problems: @AuthorCoH @mythicscribes

Writing Craft / Endings

Ending Your Novel: @davidfarland

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

Tips for Engaging Readers: @writingandsuch
Will Readers Feel They Missed Out After a Big Time Jump? by Chris Winkle @mythcreants
5 Ways to Earn Your Audience’s Loyalty: @KMWeiland
The Easiest Way to Fix a Novel’s Sagging Middle: @Janice_Hardy

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

Can Passive Goals Ever Be Good for Our Story? @JamiGold
How To Plan Your Novel: @osborne_bella @WomenWriters

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Story Beats

Writing a Novel With Save the Cat: @cinapelayo @LitReactor
Downloadable Beat by Beat Comparison of 6 Disney Animated Classics: @Zhangarang @savethecat

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

Hyphens in Ages: @GrammarGirl

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

How to Organize Writing Feedback so You Can Rewrite With Confidence: @DavidHSafford

Writing Craft / Tropes

Four Problematic Tropes to Drop: by Oren Ashkenazi @mythcreants

Writing Craft / Word Crafting

Altering the Reader’s Perspective: @TheRyanLanz

Writing Craft / World-Building

Introducing Otherworldly Elements Without Confusing Readers: @beccapuglisi @mythcreants

 

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On Twitterific:
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The Practice of Writing

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

It’s easy to read a bit of self-righteousness into posts where writers tell other writers to write every day.  Or maybe it’s smugness. Or maybe it’s not really there at all, but I’m just reading it into the post.

That being said, I do write nearly every day.  I’m not going to say that I necessarily write when I’m sick or on Christmas morning or every day when I travel.  But I do write most every day.  Even on the above-mentioned days, I’ll likely still write, but I’ll write less.  I’ll call it a successful writing day if I crank out 100 words.

The reason I push myself that way is simply because I get rusty really quickly.  And, if I write, even a tiny amount, every day, then my writing practice is almost like muscle memory. This makes it sound like autopilot, which it’s not, but it’s pretty similar to it–I just sit down and immediately hop right back into the story.

But it’s different for every writer. There are some writers who, with all of their personal responsibilities,  couldn’t possibly write every day. There are some who just don’t need to…they can write as much once a week as I write every day for a week and without feeling rusty.

For me, writing daily is a time-saver.  It would take me longer to try to recapture my voice, my storyline, my direction, etc. after a few days off than it would to simply push out a few words.

Oddly enough, it works the same for blogging. If I get ahead on my editorial calendar for the blog, that’s fine…but I still need to write posts several days a week or else I have a harder time getting back into it.

There are a lot of different opinions on this, though, and I thought I’d share some of them.  I think it’s good to evaluate what sort of writer you are: is it hard to hop back into your story after breaks? Is it easy to?  Does it mess up your writing routine to step away from your book for a while or does it give you a needed refresher?

These posts may help (it’s also interesting to read other writers’ takes on the subject):

6 Benefits of Writing Every Day by Lynda R. Young

Flip the Script: Write Some Days by Jael McHenry

Why You Need to Write Every Day by Jeff Goins

Maybe You Don’t Need to Write Every Day by Annie L. Scholl

How to Be Inspired to Write Every Day: 10 Ideas by Bridget McNulty at Now Novel

How about you?  Do you write every day? Most days? Or whenever you can?  Do you have a hard time getting back into your story’s world after breaks?

Should You Write Every Day, Most Days, or Only Sometimes?
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Writer Self-Care

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Sometimes it’ll seem like I have a streak of weeks where I really don’t have any free time at all. The days are somehow eaten up with writing, promo, errands, and other responsibilities. This works for a while, but then comes the inevitable burnout that follows.

I’ve learned to (most of the time) create more of a balance in my life. But it’s more than balance: it’s also keeping an eye on my health.  As I found out years ago when I ended up in physical therapy for months, a health setback can impact my writing time more than devoting time to preventing it.

Stretching. This saves me a lot of problems. I’m just doing my PT exercises for my back, but there are many different stretches that are helpful. There’s a great book, The Anatomy of Stretching by  Brad Walker, and I’ve found that the wrist, hand, and arm exercises are also helpful when I’ve been typing a lot.

Sitting. This is where the bulk of writer problems come from, I’m sure. Sitting is what writers who are writing do.  The sitting that I was doing before physical therapy involved my sitting on a sofa with little support with my feet on a coffee table. Not good, as the physical therapists explained.  Now I do a couple of things to prevent a recurring problem: sit in a good chair, with good support, and move around to different locations in my house. I do try to stand and write sometimes too, since I have a tall kitchen counter.

Moving/Exercise.  This is to counteract all the sitting. For years, I’d been going to the Y daily for exercise.  My son explained that, since I only really used the treadmill at the gym, I should really just get a small treadmill for home. I was surprised to see that I could get one from Amazon for right around $300.  What’s more, it’s very small, has wheels, and folds up when it needs to be folded up. It was a good purchase because it paid for itself in just a few months.  And, because it’s so handy, I’ve been able to use it more frequently than I was when I was having to drive to the gym and try to hunt down an available treadmill.

Hydration.  We all hear about the benefits of this one.  I think I must have been operating partially-dehydrated for ages, but I’m doing a lot better about always having a glass of water nearby. And I feel a lot better.

Sleep.  Unfortunately, I can’t do much about the poor quality of my sleep (I’ve had sleep issues since I was a child), but I can turn in early to try and counteract them as well as I can.

Filling the Well. I’ve written a good deal about this one, especially here.  That burnout happens quickly when I’m not enjoying the creative work of other people. You may fill the well in other ways…spending time in nature or with family or going fishing.  For me, it’s reading, watching well-curated films and television and fostering my creativity.

For more information on writer self-care, see Colleen M. Story’s blog, Writing and Wellness, which focuses on writer health in a variety of ways.

Do you get caught up in life and ever neglect self-care?  What kinds of things do you do to stay healthy as a writer?

Tips for Better Writer Self-Care:
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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 50,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Have you visited the WKB lately?  Check out the new redesign where you can browse by category, and sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox!  Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here.

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

The UK’s World Book Day Names a First Chief Executive: @Porter_Anderson @cassiechaddrton @WorldBookDayUK
Booker Prize 2019 Longlist: ‘Without Ever Considering the Passport’: @Porter_Anderson @PeterFlorence @woodgaby
UK’s National Centre for Writing Turns to Eco-Crime for ‘Noirwich’ Fest: @Porter_Anderson
New Sarraounia Prize Opens for Entries in African YA Titles: @oliviasnaije

Creativity and Inspiration / Careers in Writing and Day Jobs

How to Balance Your Job and Writing: by Phoebe Quinn @TheRyanLanz

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

Find Inspiration to Write Your Book With These Tips: @NYBookEditors

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

The Head-to-Head Book Club: @Hiveword
8 Of The Best New Horror Books In 2019 To Freak You Out: by Silvana Reyes Lopez @BookRiot
7 Novels That Take You Inside Truly Messed-Up Minds: @LaurenAcampora @ElectricLit

Creativity and Inspiration / Motivation

Five Tips For Finding Writing Motivation: by Heather Currie @kristen_kieffer

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

Put a Stop to Procrastination: @ShannaSwendson
How to Declutter Your Brain to Welcome More Ideas: @MegDowell

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

Writing With the Door Closed: @MegDowell
Why One Writer Will Never Stop Writing About Mental Illness: @LisaLisax31
I Might Have Commitment Issues as a Writer If… @EdieMelson
Tips for Growing as a Writer: @rxena77
Are Writers Born or Made? @MaeClair1
Dealing with Anxiety as Writers: @authorkristenm
Writing For Two: Coping With Pregnancy and the Writer’s Life: @katekrake
The Importance of Stepping Away: @NatRusso
Are You A Healthy Writer? 4 Questions You Need To Answer To Improve Your Writing Health: by Brent Wells @thecreativepenn
Is Writing A Book A Real Priority for You? @AllyNathaniel @BookBaby

Genres / Horror

Where is the Jordan Peele of horror literature? @jefrouner @SFC_Datebook

Genres / Memoir

Writing Authentic Dialogue in Memoir: @LiveWriteThrive

Genres / Miscellaneous

Paying Attention to Genre Expectations:

Genres / Mystery

Writing Conflict In Crime Fiction With Detective Adam Richardson: @WritersDetctive @thecreativepenn

Genres / Picture Books

Writing non-fiction for children? Think multiculturally: @moiraworld

Genres / Science Fiction

101 Sci-Fi Tropes For Writers: @Christo96795532 @Writers_Write

Genres / Screenwriting

9 Times the Movie was Better than the Book: @AnnieNeugebauer @LitReactor

Promo / Ads

5 Mistakes To Avoid in Your BookBub Ads Designs: by Melina Hsiao @BookBub

Promo / Blogging

Why Do an Indie Author Blog Tour? @JayJayBus @IndieAuthorALLI
Do You Want More Readers? Write like Yourself on Your Blog: @crsmihai

Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting

How to write good jacket copy: @NathanBransford

Promo / Book Reviews

How To Score Book Reviews: @cleemckenzie @TheIWSG

Promo / Connecting with Readers

From Strangers to Super Fans (Podcast): @DavidGaughran @cksyme
Reaching Younger Readers: VidCon teens and tweens on video platforms : @petersontee @Digiday

Promo / Miscellaneous

Should You Promote Your First Book in a Series? @kikimojo

Promo / Newsletters

Five Tips for Creating a Phenomenal Newsletter: @ajthenovelist @hopeclark

Promo / Social Media Tips

Why Writers Should Be on LinkedIn: @DebraEckerling
Writing Tips: How to Promote Yourself on Instagram: @brimorganbooks
Instagram Growth Hacking in 3 Easy Steps: by Megan O’Neill @Animoto

Publishing / Miscellaneous

Richard Charkin: In Praise Of a Quiet Publishing Leader: @pubperspectives
Preparing for the Mueller Testimony: An Enhanced Edition of the Report: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
PRH Completes F+W Media Buy, MIT Reports Boost in Journals: @Porter_Anderson
Public Libraries: How Authors Can Increase Both Discoverability and Earnings: @JaneFriedman
When Teen YA Authors Hire Ghostwriters: @jenniferbanash @JaneFriedman
Scotland’s ROAR Program: New Numbers on Women in Publishing: @Porter_Anderson

Publishing / News / Amazon

Dean Koontz’s Jump to Amazon Publishing: Will Other Authors Follow? @Porter_Anderson @AmazonPub
Germany and the UK Now Have Amazon Charts, Fiction and Nonfiction: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
Amazon Publishing on Wooing Dean Koontz: @Porter_Anderson @JuliaSommerfeld @graciedoyle

Publishing / News / International Publishing

Russian Ebook and Audiobook Player LitRes Opens Sales in Poland: @jaroslawadamows @pubperspectives
BISG Seats New Board; UK’s Exact Editions Digitizes Turkish Magazine: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

How to follow agent query guidelines for novels: @jasonbougger



Writing Memoir And Marketing Under A New Author Pen Name: @tobywneal @thecreativepenn

Publishing / Process / Services to Avoid

The Seven Most Prolific Vanity Publishers (Plus An Honorable Mention): @victoriastrauss

Writing Craft / Beginnings

How to Write a Strong Opening for your Novel: @_KimChance

Writing Craft / Characters / Antagonists

What Marvel Can Teach Us About Writing Powerful Villains: @Bang2write
Gaslighting and Writing Villains Who Make Your Spine Tingle: @AmyMJones_5 @WritersDigest

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

Occupation Thesaurus Entry: Nurse: @beccapuglisi
6 Requirements for Writing Better Character Goals: @KMWeiland
How to Stay in Touch with Your Character: @SueBEdwards @womenonwriting
Digging Deep: The Psychology of a Layered Story: @SloanTamar

Writing Craft / Common Mistakes

7 Common Mistakes New Writers Make: @alexadonne
Trying to Make Your Story “Unique”? Beware of These Common Pitfalls: @JustinAttas @JaneFriedman

Writing Craft / Conflict

The Best Way to Use Conflict and Tension in Your Narrative: @TheWritersAlly

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

4 Elements of Narrative That Anyone Can Learn: by Alan Gelb @JaneFriedman
3 Reasons You Should Use Timestamps in Your Novel: @TraceyDevlyn
Avoid Long Sentences in Colloquial Writing: @Kid_Lit
Showing = Reader’s Experience: @Vie_Herlocker @ZoeMMcCarthy

Writing Craft / POV

The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Writing Multi-Pov Narrative: @SophieMasson1 @WriterUnboxed

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

How To Create An Effective Mind Map For Your Book: by Rebecca Langley @standoutbooks

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Story Concept

How to Have an Effective Novel Brainstorming Session: @laina_turner
How to Generate and Critique Story Ideas: Genre-Bending: @GoIntoTheStory

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

How to use semicolons in fiction writing: @LouiseHarnby

Writing Craft / Revision

Declutter that Novel! Is it time to Marie Kondo Your WIP? @annerallen
Eight Things to Cut or Reconsider When Editing Fiction: @kristen_kieffer

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

Your Writing Group and You: How to Get the Most Out of What Can Be a Challenging Experience: @DonnaLevinWrite @WomenWriters
How to Guide a Critique: @fireplusalgebra

Writing Craft / Series / Series Bible

Why Writers Need a Story Bible: @Ellen__Jacobson @TyreanMartinson

Writing Craft / Synopses

How to Write a Synopsis: @brimorganbooks

Writing Craft / Voice

Real Life Diagnostics: What Do You Think About the Voice in This Scene? @Janice_Hardy

Writing Craft / World-Building

Can I Use a Real Language for a Fictional Culture? @mythcreants

Writing Tools / Apps

Protect Your Writing with Scrivener Backups: @Gwen_Hernandez

Writing Tools / Books

Resources for Writing a Compelling Mystery: by Chelsea Thomas

Uncategorized

What Is Book Metadata, And How Can It Improve Your Sales? by Robert Wood @standoutbooks

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On Twitterific:
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Resources for Writing a Compelling Mystery

by Chelsea Thomas 

Hello! My name is Chelsea Thomas and I’m the author of the Apple Orchard cozy mystery series. When I started writing this series, I learned a lot about the various elements that go into a cozy, including the mystery, the romance, and the recipes! Still, the foundation for every good book is the writing. I’ve found a lot of helpful resources for creating a compelling mystery, here are a few of my favorites.

Techniques of the Selling Writer

By Dwight Swain

Plotting a mystery is a complicated and challenging process. But even if your premise or mystery is phenomenal, readers will lose interest if the writing is lacking. That’s why starting with a solid foundation for your writing is critical. I recommend Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain to build core writing skills. The book itself has a fun, flippant tone. As I read it, I imagine Dwight Swain with a cigar in his mouth as he reads the pages out loud. Techniques of the Selling Writer helps with writing prose. Some of the most useful tips are about writing clear sentences. By keeping your sentences short and specific, you ensure that your readers don’t get lost in the writing. Keeping your syntax short and specific, you can set a scene and appeal to your readers’ senses. The best way to get readers hooked on your book is create a world so real, they can see, smell, hear and feel it. (And ideally taste it too!)

One trick I use from Swain for mysteries specifically is his React, Dilemma, and Decision structure. RDD is basically a building block for scenes, where your character react to a situation, struggle with what to do, and then reach a conclusion. I found RDD especially helpful after the discovering-the-body scenes in my books. How do our sleuths react to the body? Are they scared? Relieved? Disgusted? Then arises the dilemma: should they investigate or call the cops? What should they do with the clues? The comes the decision. In cozy mysteries, of course, the decision is always to investigate! Our amateur sleuths can’t resist a good mystery.

How to Write a Damn Good Mystery

By James N. Frey

Once you’ve honed your writing skills, the mystery plotting can begin. How to Write a Damn Good Mystery by James N. Frey is everything you could ask for in a How-To for mysteries. At the very start, Frey discusses The Good, the Bad and The Ugly of murder mysteries. The Good Mysteries suddenly strike the writer, making her say “I can create a mystery out of this.” The Bad mess with the mystery formula. The Ugly have a weak main character. Throughout the book, Frey instructs on setting up the murder, the murderer, the sleuth, and then setting up the entire backstory and plot. He gives every author the tools to start building her own mysteries.

Writing the Romantic Comedy

By Billy Mernit

Cozies sometimes have a romantic subplot mixed in. Romance can be a great addition to your story and help flesh out characters and their private lives. A bad love story, however, might be distracting and clunky, taking the reader out of the mystery. The book I reference to help craft a good love story is Writing the Romantic Comedy by Billy Mernit. I first discovered this book as a screenwriting tool, and my husband and I write screenplays when we’re not writing cozies. But Mernit’s advice is helpful in cozies too. Romance is tricky by itself because the plot points aren’t obvious like they are in mysteries. Most of a good romance is internal and character-based. Writing the Romantic Comedy teaches you how to identify character flaws and bring thematic relevance to the story. A good romance is its own story, and Mernit’s book suggests ways to avoid cliches and other romantic pitfalls.

Chelsea Thomas is technically two people… Married writing team Chelsea and Matthew Thomas. Matt and Chelsea write cozy mysteries set on an apple orchard in upstate New York. They also write television and film. As screenwriters, they have worked with several studios, including Nickelodeon, SONY and CBS. Chelsea and Matt are graduates of Duke University and they are members of the Writers Guild of America. Chelsea enjoys spending time with animals and practicing yoga. Matt loves playing music. They both enjoy spending time near the water. Join the Chelsea Thomas Reader Club at www.chelseathomasauthor.com. 

Book 1 – Apple Die

Book 2 – Cooking the Books

Book 3 – Candy Apple Killer

Book 4 – Berried Alive

Book 5 – Granny Smith Is Dead

Helpful Reference Books for Mystery Writers:
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