Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 60

August 24, 2019

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.

Business / Miscellaneous

Attraction Marketing And Tips For Creative Business: by André Chaperon @thecreativepenn
A Writer’s Guide to ROI: @annkroeker

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

India’s Jaipur Literary Fest Announces New York Stop on International Tour: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
German Book Prize Releases Its 2019 Longlist: A ‘Stimulating Discussion’: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
During the Edinburgh Book Festival: Publishing Scotland’s 2019 Fellowship: @Porter_Anderson @PublishScotland @edbookfest
Beijing International Book Fair: Phoenix Publishing’s Global Strategy: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Creativity and Inspiration / Careers in Writing and Day Jobs

Side Hustles for Writers: @RachelleGardner

Creativity and Inspiration / Goal setting

Achieve Your Writing Goals: @jimdempsey @WriterUnboxed

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

Creativity: How to Draw Nothing: @rfishewan @DIYMFA

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

On the Power of Ghostly Narrators: @mamtachaudhry1 @lithub
7 Novels Set in Deserts: by Ruchika Tomar @ElectricLit
How Fiction Fuses the Incompatible Realities of Religion and Comedy: by Randy Boyagoda @lithub
Spurned in Love, Edith Wharton Turned to Poetry: by Irene Goldman-Price @lithub

Creativity and Inspiration / Motivation

Why it’s Important to Know Your Motivation for Writing:

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

Too busy to write? Here’s what to do: @pubcoach
How to work in the summer, when you don’t feel like it: @pubcoach

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

Use These Novel-Writing Tips to Get Unstuck: @NYBookEditors

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

Dealing with Haters: Some Motivation Against the People That Try to Poo-Poo Your Writing: @MichaelLaRonn
How to Manage Criticism: @MADaboutWords @FloridaWriters1
10 Ways to Support Other Authors: @AlexJCavanaugh @TheIWSG
Meditation Techniques and At-Desk Exercises for Writers: by Kelsey Worsham @WrittenWordM
Are You Too Distracted to Write? @pubcoach
8 Ways to Improve Your Writing: by Bucket Siler
5 Tips to Grow Your Vocabulary: @TimSuddeth @EdieMelson
How to Host a DIY Writers’ Retreat: @LisaEBetz @A3writers
5 Essential C’s for Writing: by Orly Konig
When a Story Leaves You Feeling Emotionally Drained: @MegDowell
How To Build a Writing Community: @JamiGold

Genres / Fantasy

12 Times SFF Characters Trained Their Own Duplicates: by Stubby the Rocket @tordotcom
Foodbuilding as Worldbuilding — Creating Fantasy Cuisines: by Karstenberg @mythicscribes
History for Fantasy Writers: Cowboys of Europe: by E.L. Skip Knox @mythicscribes

Genres / Horror

A Brief History Of Folk Horror In Literature: @chris_shultz81 @LitReactor
A Look Back at the Horror Influences of “Stranger Things”: @HauntedMeg @BDisgusting

Genres / Mystery

Crime Writing: Speed Loaders for Revolvers: @LeeLofland
Crime Writing: A Cop’s Duty Belt: @LeeLofland

Promo / Ads

BookBub For Authors: The Ultimate Guide (+ Free Submission Calendar): @ReedsyHQ

Promo / Blogging

Book Marketing: How To Make Your Blog Work For Books And Author Brand: @amyshojai @thecreativepenn
Getting Out Of A Blogging Rut: @KMAllan_writer

Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting

Writing Your Novel’s Book Description: @stacitroilo @StoryEmpire

Promo / Book Reviews

9 ways to use reader reviews in book marketing: @sandrabeckwith

Promo / Images

Ten Free Online Image, Graphic, and Photo Manipulation Tools: @ThDigitalReader

Promo / Newsletters

Why Do Authors Need a Newsletter? @AHuelsenbeck
Email Marketing: Your Secret Weapon: @DavidGaughran

Publishing / Miscellaneous

On Pirating Books: @helpfulsnowman @LitReactor
One Story, Many Paths: @JoEberhardt @WriterUnboxed
How Long Should a Book Be? @shauntagrimes
7 Mistakes to Avoid When Recording Your Audiobook: @GordonRothman @IndieAuthorALLI
Audiobooks’ International Volume: Spanish Audio and US Publishers: @Porter_Anderson @javiercelaya @pubperspectives
Wattpad and Viu in Partnership; Yellow Bird Options ‘Spotify Untold’: @Porter_Anderson @wattpad
Why Do So Many Bad Books Sell on Amazon? @KMWeiland
Serendipity in Publishing: by Richard Charkin @pubperspectives

Publishing / News / Amazon

“Debate Flares Again Around ‘Fake and Illegitimate’ Online Book Sales” at Amazon: @Porter_Anderson @DavidStreitfeld

Publishing / News / International Publishing

Russian Publishers Say Social Media Users May Read Audiobooks on VK: by Eugene Gerden @pubperspectives
Asian Bookstore Forum 2019: The Retail Context in China Today (‘Moving Away from Physical Stores’): @Porter_Anderson
Germany’s Projekt DEAL and Springer; Baker & Taylor Signs McSweeney’s: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Publishing / Options / Self-Publishing

Give Your Self-Published Book Its Best Shot: @lwreyes

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

1 Writer’s Experience Querying and Getting an Agent: @AuthorSAT

Publishing / Process / Book Design

Which Looks Better, Hardcovers or Paperbacks? @ruthbuchwald @ElectricLit

Publishing / Process / Formatting

How to Format Your eBook for Easier Distribution: by Kelsey Worsham @WrittenWordM

Writing Craft / Beginnings

A First Page Critique: @ClareLangleyH @killzoneauthors

Writing Craft / Conflict

Conflict Thesaurus Entry: A Deadline Being Moved Up: @AngelaAckerman

Writing Craft / Dialogue

Real Life Diagnostics: Does the Dialogue in This Scene Work? @Janice_Hardy
How to Write Dialogue: Tips to Captivate Readers: @Roz_Morris @IngramSpark

Writing Craft / Diversity

It’s Time To Face Facts: Diversity Makes Stories Better: @Bang2write

Writing Craft / Endings

Writing Your Novel’s Ending: @Lindasclare

Writing Craft / Flashback and Back Story

Character Backstory: @JulietteWade

Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film

5 Ways John Steinbeck Can Help You Improve Your Writing: @FredBobJohn @standoutbooks

Writing Craft / Literary Devices

How Jane Austen Creates a Theme: @themaltesetiger

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

5 Tips for Writing Violence That Doesn’t Turn Readers Off: by Carter Wilson @WritersDigest
Coincidence in Stories: @SHalvatzis
Story Fundamentals Make A Story Great: by Dawn Field @BookBaby
Tips for Weaving Romance into Your Novel: @LiveWriteThrive
Writers Beware: Micro-managing: @Lindasclare
Story and the Question of Self-Identity: @GoIntoTheStory
Are the stakes too high? @jasonbougger
How to Ensure Readers Won’t Throw Your Book Across the Room: by Laurie Tomlinson

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Outlining

Quick Tip for Writers: Save Your Outlines:

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

Plotting Made Easy: Do You Need the Three-Act Structure? @RidethePen

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

Use Commas and Semicolons Effectively: @AJHumpage

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

How to Tolerate Uncertainty When You’re Waiting for Feedback: @enhughesiasm @emiliewapnick
How to Determine Who to Ask for Feedback to Your Writing: by Bridgitte Jackson-Buckley @WomenWriters

Writing Craft / Synopses

Nail Your Book Synopsis Quickly with These Two Sentences: @Weifarer

Writing Tools / Apps

How to Set Project Targets in Scrivener: @harmony_kent @StoryEmpire

Writing Tools / Miscellaneous

The 8 Best Notebooks for Writers: @TCKPublishing
Best Writing Software: Seven Writing Tools For Authors: by Kelsey Worsham @WrittenWordM

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On Twitterific:
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Published on August 24, 2019 21:03

August 22, 2019

Your Motivation for Writing

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’ve posted a lot recently on writing for an audience and writing to genre conventions. As I’ve posted, there’s been a little uneasiness on my end…because some writers don’t need to worry about these things. There are writers out there that will only be unnecessarily strung-out by this advice. These are also writers who might feel really stressed out by forums and blog posts focused on heavy marketing.

There are plenty of other reasons to write and there is nothing wrong with writing for your own enjoyment. Some writers would rather their work and their names remain private. Some writers would rather craft a story exactly as they want it and create their story world as they wish and not have to worry about anyone else. And there are, sure, writers who want to share their work. I’ve mentioned before that I was foisting my writing on my parents’ unsuspecting dinner guests back when I was in elementary school. We’re all wired differently.

I think that it would be incredibly demotivating to read posts urging you to write faster, write to an audience, run ads, and promote when your only interest is in pleasing yourself with writing a story for your own satisfaction.

But I also wonder if some writers haven’t really completely thought through what they want. If they truly want to put their work out there for a broad audience. Or, if they even want to publish their work at all. Maybe, after reading all the online commentary about the writing craft, reaching an audience, book cover design, and advertising, they just blindly start moving in that direction.

Of course, there’s no wrong answer. No wrong direction to take. But I do think it’s important to think about what you want. When I saw this fairly comprehensive quiz on Colleen M. Story’s Writing and Wellness blog, I thought it was a great place to start. Not only may it help guide writers into thinking about motivation-related questions, but it can also help writers realize what does drive them. Some of the listed motivations include achievement and recognition, creative fulfillment and transcendence, and connection and relationships.

Knowing what you want out of your writing means that you may not need to bury yourself in learning about crafting the best BookBub pitch or an amazing query letter. It can help you stay focused on whatever is important to you about the writing craft.

As a writer, what motivates you to write (I think the answer is slightly different for everyone)?

The Importance of Knowing Your Motivation for Writing:
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Published on August 22, 2019 21:02

August 18, 2019

Quick Tip: Save Your Outlines

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Here’s a quick tip for those of you who already like to outline: save your outlines for your older books.

I’m now over 30 books in and I’ve found my memory seriously failing when it comes to remembering non-recurring characters and plots. The problem is most-evident with books published 8-10 years ago, but I may also struggle with details from books I wrote last year. There are just too many books. Or maybe it’s just that my memory completely stinks. :)

Once I had to re-read an entire book of mine before speaking to a local book club about it. I was happy to do it because I would have felt awful if they’d known the book better than I did, but I didn’t really have the time to do it.

In the past, when I’d finished and published a book, I ditched the outline as just another unnecessary file taking up space in Word. Then I realized…these outlines were the perfect cheat-sheets. I could pull them out and they’d jog my memory.

This has helped me not only with book club appearances, but with emails received from readers on particular books, and on Wattpad where sometimes I’m receiving a lot of comments about a book I’m uploading that I’ve written long ago.

An important point: if you decide to use your old outlines this way, be sure to note deviations from the outline on your document or else you’re not going to do yourself any favors. I do frequently diverge from the outline and I’ll make a short note with Word’s comments feature in track changes.

Do you keep your outlines? Any other uses for them that I haven’t thought of?

Why Outlining Writers Should Keep Their Old Outlines:
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Published on August 18, 2019 21:02

August 17, 2019

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

DSC Prize Chooses Nepal for Its 2019 Awards Venue: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
Frankfurter Buchmesse Calls for ‘Revolutionary’ Book Pitches for Film: @Porter_Anderson @Book_Fair @SydAtlas @pubperspectives
Hay Forum Dallas: Literary Programming Announced for September: @Porter_Anderson
10 Tips for Effective Networking at a Writer’s Conference: @johnpwriter @WritersDigest
Frankfurter Buchmesse Announces ‘Create Your Revolution: Talks’ Event: @Porter_Anderson @Book_Fair @betelhem_dessie @GinaBelafonte

Creativity and Inspiration / Goal setting

How to Measure Your Progress Towards Your Goals and Stay On Track: @KarenBanes

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

What Your Favorite Beach Read Says About You: @knownemily @lithub
5 Novels That Use Small Crimes To Explore Larger Ethical Dilemmas: @LORIROYauthor @CrimeReads
Ten Weird Writers to Save Us All in 2019: @SilentMotorist
Penny Dreadfuls: @JudithFlanders @PassiveVoiceBlg
Ten Favorite Flawed SF Books That Are Always Worth Rereading: @jamesdnicoll @tordotcom

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

Can The Pomodoro Technique Help Your Writing? by Rebecca Langley @standoutbooks

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

How Freewriting Can Help You Get Over Writer’s Block: @GhettoWarlock @pbackwriter

Creativity and Inspiration / Success

Taking Your Writing to the Next Level: Whole-Life Art: @KMWeiland

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

Writing the Next Book: @barbaraoneal @WriterUnboxed
Leaving the Sisterhood of Women Writers: by Lio Min @CatapultStory
Ideation: Where Do Ideas Come From? @LauraDrakeBooks
18 Things Highly Creative People Do Differently: @GoIntoTheStory
Is stress killing your creativity? @pubcoach
Is It Too Late? Successful Publishing After Forty, Fifty, Sixty? @writeabook
The Writing Journey: Should Writing Be Your Permanent Residence? @JenHwrites @EdieMelson
3 Habits for Self-Care Writers Should Embrace: @schreiltalk @WriteToSell
Better Your Writing By Being a Beginner—Every Day: @gooddirt @JaneFriedman
How 1 Mom Found Eliminating a Chore Gave Her More Writing Time: by Crystal Otto @womenonwriting
Should You Start a New Writing Project Right After Finishing An Old One? @MegDowell
Seven Tips for Writers Living With Depression: by Amaya Eckersley @kristen_kieffer
10 Tips to Slaughter Insecurity: @Gabino_Iglesias @LitReactor
Pros and Cons of Writing as a Dream Job: @PeggySueWells @EdieMelson

Genres / Fantasy

What Makes a Monster Scary? @PhilAthans

Genres / Horror

Dressed to kill: In Fabric and horror’s fixation with evil fashion: @steverose7 @GuardianBooks
5 Horror Movie Sub-Genres That Just Won’t Die: @IanFortey @cracked

Genres / Mystery

1 Common Mistake Mystery Writers Make When Handling Unlikeable Victims: @scribesworld
Plotting Story Stakes in a 5-Book Cozy Mystery Series: @scribesworld

Genres / Picture Books

The 3 Levels of Picture Books: @KarenCV

Genres / Poetry

How to Revise Poetry: One Simple Rule: @robertleebrewer @WritersDigest

Genres / Romance

Writing Romance: The Importance of Rapid Release: @RosalindJames5 @pbackwriter

Genres / Screenwriting

Subplots in Screenplays: @GoIntoTheStory

Promo / Ads

Sell Ads to Help Finance Your Self-Published Book or Promotional Book: @FrugalBookPromo @TheIWSG

Promo / Blogging

7 Super Easy SEO Tips All Writers Need To Know: @TheLeighShulman
What To Blog About If You’re Not Published: @KMAllan_writer

Promo / Pricing

How to Run Discount eBook Promotions That Work: @Bookgal @BookWorksNYC

Publishing / Miscellaneous

9 Ways That Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Disrupt Authors And The Publishing Industry: @thecreativepenn
Scholastic and Imagine Announce Film Deal for Hashimoto’s ‘The Trail’: @Porter_Anderson @Scholastic

Publishing / News / Amazon

What the KDP Reports Beta Updates Mean for Authors: @WrittenWordM by Kelsey Worsham

Publishing / News / International Publishing

Human Rights Proponents Hail Mauritania’s Release of Mkhaïtir: @Porter_Anderson @IntPublishers @PENamerica
China’s Book Market in the First Half of 2019: Up 10.82 Percent: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
UK’s Publishers Association Leads ‘Axe the Reading Tax’ Campaign: @Porter_Anderson @StephenLotinga @PublishersAssoc
Promoting Export: UK International Showcase Features LGBTQI+ Content: @Porter_Anderson @valmcdermid @WritersCentre
Liber 2019’s Spanish-American Award Will Honor Mexico’s Juan Villoro: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
IPA Outlines a First Middle East Regional Seminar in Amman: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
AAP Objects to Trump’s China Shift: Only Children’s Book Tariffs Delayed: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
Welbeck Names Malcolm Edwards To Publish André Deutsch Line: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
Latvian Publishers Association Demands a Cut in the VAT Rate on Books: @jaroslawadamows @aldusnet
How to Stay on Top of Publishing Trends Like a Pro: @Jffelkins @write_practice

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing

“You have to be willing to begin again”, A Podcast Interview with Literary Agent Lori Kilkelly: @LKLiterary @DanBlank

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

Freelancing: 7 Nudges to Work Into Your Query Letters: @brotzel_fiction @hopeclark
What NOT to Say to a Literary Agent: @katiemccoach @TheRyanLanz

Publishing / Process / Formatting

How to Format Your Fiction Manuscript: @HankPRyan @CareerAuthors

Publishing / Process / ISBNs

ISBNs For Print Books: @BirdsOAFpress

Publishing / Process / Self-Publishing

Three Kinds of Self-Publishing Author: @OrnaRoss @IndieAuthorALLI

Writing Craft / Arc

Why the Heroine’s Journey Matters: @ragstowritten @StoryGrid

Writing Craft / Characters / Arc

What Is a Character Arc? A Definition, Plus 7 Examples From Movies and Books: @BrynDonovan

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

How To Find The Heart Of Your Characters: @StephMorrill @GoTeenWriters

Writing Craft / Characters / Supporting Characters

Six Stories That Focus Too Much on Side Characters: by Oren Ashkenazi @mythcreants
Writing background characters: 5 uses for minor roles: @nownovel

Writing Craft / Common Mistakes

Writing Craft: Showing, Not Telling: @RaniaBattany @jemifraser

Writing Craft / Conflict

Considering Crucibles: @davidfarland
Conflict Thesaurus Entry: Taking Advice from the Wrong Person: @beccapuglisi
Escalate Your Story: @davidfarland

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

7 Writing Lessons Learned from Dungeons & Dragons: @_HannahHeath
How to Tell a Family Saga: by Chris Winkle @mythcreants
Rogue Characters: The Secret to Compelling Fiction: @RuthHarrisBooks @annerallen
Working on a Novel About an Artist? Write Like a Painter: by Luke Jerod Kummer @lithub
What Fiction Writers Can Learn from Stage Magicians: by Gabriel Urza @lithub
Avoid Long Sentences in Colloquial Writing: @Kid_Lit

Writing Craft / POV

How To Tell If Your Writing Has Slipped Out Of Deep POV: @KMAllan_writer

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Story Concept

Understand Your Premise to Understand Your Novel: @Janice_Hardy

Writing Craft / Revision

How to best kill your darlings: @lhansenauthor
3 Solid Reasons Every Writer Needs to Use an Editing Tool: @HayleyMilliman @thewritelife
8 Editing Tips for Authors: @ebdawsonwriting @phoenix_fiction
Tips and Resources for Editing Your Novel: @riverbendsagas @EdieMelson
Editing: What to Change, Draft by Draft: @writingandsuch

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

The Value of Writing Critique Groups: @JeriWB

Writing Craft / Tension

Let No Good Tension Go Unstretched: @jamesscottbell @killzoneauthors

Writing Craft / Tropes

Does Everyone Really Love a Bad Boy? @cyallowitz

Writing Tools / Apps

Ten Essential Online Tools for Creative Writers: @themaltesetiger
The Google Docs ‘Compare Documents’ Feature: from Let’s Write Some Novels
Revising Your Manuscript in Scrivener: @Gwen_Hernandez @WriterUnboxed

Uncategorized

Using Story Tropes to Subvert Reader Expectations: @tay_simonds @WritersDigest wkb89

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On Twitterific:
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Published on August 17, 2019 21:03

August 15, 2019

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).

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

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Published on August 15, 2019 21:02

August 11, 2019

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.

* * *

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.

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).

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 .

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

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Published on August 11, 2019 21:01

August 10, 2019

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Business / Miscellaneous

Book Proposal Basics: Synopsis, Series, and Sample: @Tamela_Murray
Where to publish your personal essay: @pubcoach
Should Writers Do Their Own Editing? @Belinda_Pollard
Parts of a Book (2019): Anatomy of a Book: @DaveChesson

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

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

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

What Role Does Learning Play in Your Creative Journey? @erikaliodice

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

20 Horror Books by Authors of Color: @JtheBookworm @BookRiot
5 Horrifying Books Outside The Horror Genre: @teachrobotslove @LitReactor
11 Short Novels from Around the World that You Can Read in One Sitting: by Frances Yackel @ElectricLit

Creativity and Inspiration / Miscellaneous

The Difference Between Imagination and Creativity: @JackPrestonKing

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

A Creative Way to Make Your Word Count Goal: A Word Crawl: @LynnHBlackburn @BRMCWC

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

Stress and the Writer: To All Things a Season: @crazyauthorgirl
“In Defense of My Family Business: The Soap Opera Storyteller”: @NicholasMancusi @lithub
How to Respond to Criticism: @jimdempsey @WriterUnboxed
Earn Your Respect as a Writer: @EdieMelson
Writing should spark joy–in you and the reader: @speechwriterguy
12 Signs You’re Writing the Story You’re Meant to Be Writing: @MegDowell
15 tips for writing from home: @pubcoach
10 thoughts on nearly finishing a long-haul novel: @Roz_Morris
Being Weird Is a Good Thing. It’s Time to Embrace Yourself as a Writer. @losapala
Losing focus? There are reasons you derail your progress: by Jessica Abel

Genres / Fantasy

Building a Democracy in Your Fantasy World: by Oren Ashkenazi @mythcreants

Genres / Horror

6-word horror stories: @Lowenna @Independent

Genres / Mystery

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

Genres / Poetry

When Poets Don’t Read Poetry: @WritingForward

Genres / Screenwriting

The Seven Reasons Why We’re in the Golden Age of Documentaries: @JeffYorkWriter @CreativeScreen

Promo / Blogging

Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Blogging: @annerallen
10 Things You Wish You Knew Before Launching Your First Blog: @ShahidNida1 @WritetoDone

Promo / Images

How to Find Free (and Legal) Images Online: @ThDigitalReader

Promo / Miscellaneous

Raising Your Novel’s Visibility: Blog Posts & Leveraging Library Contacts: by Bonnie Randall

Promo / Social Media Tips

How to Conquer LinkedIn: @CaballoFrances

Publishing / Miscellaneous

Why 1 Writer Agreed to a B&N Exclusive: @barbross @WickedAuthors

Publishing / News / International Publishing

Big Bad Wolf shows us the global demand for affordable English-language books: @TNPS10
HarperCollins Italia Names Rizzo; Mondadori-Reworld Deal Closes: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
China Bestsellers for June: Reading Pavilions Draw Crowds: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
Penguin Random House Children’s Books to Publish Wattpad Books in UK: @Porter_Anderson @AshleighGardner @wattpad
Words Without Borders August: ‘We Are Not English’ in Wales: @Porter_Anderson @wwborders

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

How to handle multiple protagonists in a query letter: @NathanBransford

Publishing / Process / Formatting

Formatting book text in Word: How to save time with the Styles tool: @LouiseHarnby

Publishing / Process / ISBNs

What Is An ISBN, And How Do I Get One? by Rebecca Langley @standoutbooks

Writing Craft / Beginnings

Real Life Diagnostics: Does This Opening Page Feel Slow? @Janice_Hardy
Writing In Medias Res: @jamesscottbell @killzoneauthors
A First Page Critique: @laurabenedict @killzoneauthors

Writing Craft / Characters / Antagonists

Take Two: Creating Multi-Layered Villains You Love to Hate: @jeannevb @WritersDigest
To the Villain, It’s a Zero-Sum Game: @SPressfield

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

Occupation Thesaurus Entry: Conductor: @beccapuglisi
Writing Better Books by Interviewing Your Characters: @AneMulligan @EdieMelson
7 Questions To Ask When Creating Character Goals: @StephMorrill @GoTeenWriters
List of character strengths and weaknesses: @NathanBransford

Writing Craft / Characters / Emotion

Identify Your Character’s Emotional Triggers: @LisaHallWilson

Writing Craft / Drafts

Before And After: Does Your First Draft Look Good Naked? by PJ Parrish @killzoneauthors

Writing Craft / Flashback and Back Story

How to Write Effective Flashback Scenes: @kristen_kieffer

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

Why it works: “Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson: @NathanBransford
The Secret to “Writing What You Know”: by Barbara Linn Probst
How To Write A Good Leader: by Mark Alpert @killzoneauthors
Critique: 4 Ways to Write Gripping Internal Narrative: @KMWeiland
How Can I Make Gods Work as Characters? by Chris Winkle @mythcreants
How to Write Revenge Stories That Thrill and Satisfy Your Readers: by Joslyn Chase @write_practice
Solving The Loneliness Problem In Your Story: @davidfarland

Writing Craft / POV

Deep POV Secret: Strategic Setting: @LisaHallWilson

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

Story Structure in a Flash : @SeptCFawkes
What Does “Plot Reveals Character” Mean? @JamiGold

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Story Concept

Sifting through Mythology: Finding the Grains of Your Story: @Marc_Graham @WritersDigest

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

Punctuation Series: How to Edit En Dashes: @tishmartin1416
The Easiest Explanation of Semicolons: @SeptCFawkes
That v. which: a grammatical throwdown: @PhilipHensher @lithub

Writing Craft / Scenes

Building Your Scene-Quality Map: by Dawn Field @BookBaby

Writing Craft / Settings and Description

Character Descriptions: Avoiding the Boring Stuff: @AngelaAckerman @JamiGold
Characterize Your Character: @ZoeMMcCarthy
How to describe a character (with free character development crib sheet): @amabaie
How To Get the Most Impact From Your Setting: @ZaraAltair
204 Words That Describe Colors – A Resource For Writers: @Writers_Write

Writing Craft / Synopses

5 Steps to Writing a Captivating Nonfiction Book Synopsis: by Melissa Drumm @TCKPublishing

Writing Craft / World-Building

Understanding Appropriative Worldbuilding: by Chris Winkle @mythcreants
Worldbuilding Your Horse Breeds: @dancinghorse @tordotcom

Writing Tools / Apps

Markdown: The Easy Way to Write, Edit & Format Your Book: @carlaking @BookWorksNYC
Google Docs Add-ons for Writers: 6 of the Best: @nownovel

Writing Tools / Miscellaneous

Writing Tips: 11 Tools To Capture Your Creative Ideas: by Trevor Carss @thecreativepenn

The Top Writing Links From Last Week Are On Twitterific:
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Published on August 10, 2019 21:03

August 8, 2019

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).

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 .

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

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Published on August 08, 2019 21:02

August 4, 2019

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.

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).

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 .

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

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Published on August 04, 2019 21:01

August 3, 2019

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

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.