Mystery novels are like puzzles.
I haven’t had so much fun writing, since I was in high school. Thirty years have passed since then — the usual, college, marriage, children, pets, work, travel — and now thirty years later, I can begin my novels.
I do believe you have to have some experience behind you to write about something. But, really, I waited because I lived life. I wrote. Just not novels. I wrote in college as a reporter. My first job after college? A reporter and editor. Then I moved into public relations. Technical writing became my next profession and then I moved into marketing writing, and then into management. So, from past tense to future tense, my life’s work revolved around words.
And now? I create my own words to build a puzzle that my readers will be able to solve. I start with ideas that morph into protagonists –with lives. Do they live? Do they die?
I guess it depends on how the story flows. Once my fingers hit the keyboards, the story changes as the characters show me the way.
I’ve finished my first novel — Hijacked Glory, and I’m moving on to my next, a murder at West Point.
I’ve joined a writer’s group, attended my first author panel, and enjoyed my first writer’s conference. My blog is also another step.
So, I will write my tips, my struggles, and my hopes. My first hope is that no one figures out the end of my novels before they reach the last page. I want my readers to laugh, cry, and feel their heart beats as my characters plot their demise.
I hope my readers feel what my characters feel and hate them or love them as much as I do. Most importantly, I hope my readers enjoy my worlds that I create. I hope my novels create more interest than a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle of a purple blanket. I don’t want my readers to know how many times I rewrote a chapter, or changed a word, or shut my laptop in disgust because I couldn’t get my character;s thoughts on paper. However, I’ll probably discuss that in my blog because this is where the real story will be.
My first tip: don’t start sentences with infinite (non-finite) verb phrases. For e.g., “Running to the car, George tripped…” Just say, George stumbled to the car among a cacophony of chirping criquets. Not sure if cacophony has been over-used?