The Trials Of A Crime Writer: Balancing The Light & Dark

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: BALANCING THE LIGHT & DARK

I've always been someone who is more attracted to some dark aspects of fiction. While there are whole romance genres that deal with that side of things, for me it's more about the crime element. As in I prefer to read dark, girtty crime and mystery. I also love to read the cozy kind too, but I digress. As a writer, I've never shied away from the dark aspects of some of the stories I tell. From murder scenes to death visions, to battles and war, and all of that wrapped up in some parts of the world that are just not light hearted.

But I've always also been someone who likes to have some elements of the light in there too. Like I said, I like both dark crime, but also the light kind too. I want to be able to give my readers the best of both worlds, with some things that are dark and disturbing, and others that are sweet and light. It can be hard to strike the right kind of balance between the two because they can be seen to cancel each other out. On top of which, if you hit the notes right with one, the other might be to jarring to the reader, and that's why it's so important that you find that balance, and make sure it's reflected in your stories.

So here are some of my tips about how to keep that balance just right, with the caveat that for some readers will want more of one than the other, and you cannot ever please everyone, so keep that in mind!

#1 NAVIGATING THE PEAKS AND LOWS
I'm sure you've all seen that one plot outline that looks like a graph, it has highs, it has lows, and when you're trying to work out where your story should be, it can be really useful. The same applies to dark and light. If you call the dark the lows, and the light the peaks, then you need to make sure that they complement each other. For example, if you've had a very dark section, right down in the lows of the graph, then it might be a way to give your characters, and the reader, a break with a small peak. 

By this I don't mean shoot it right up to the top of the graph because that is going to be super jarring, but just enough that there's that tension release, and gives everyone a chance to breathe before going back into the rest of the story. I've done this in a lot of my dark books, one that springs to mind is the Lights Out trilogy where you're dealing with a dystopian hellscape and Lock, the main character, is dealing with a lot of darkness. I've sprinkled in some lightness to help break that tension, and allow Lock to see that things will get better. You can do this however you please, but just remember to keep them complementing each other.

#2 DON'T EVER GO TOO DARK/LIGHT
If your story is one that deals with the dark side of humanity, then make sure you have some idea of how dark you want this to get. The same applies to the lightness in a book with both. You don't want to, going back to that graph I mentioned, have a really really raw and deep low that seems out of place, and you don't want a peak of light that kinda makes the reader think: what the heck is this?

Obviously you know your story and characters best, but it's something to keep in mind, because if you cross this line, you might end up losing some of your readers for it. If they signed up for a dark gritty crime and you're also giving them such big peaks that it's kinda jarring, it's not gonna be the experience they were looking for.

Overall, just remember that when using both, and you will, to some degree, need both, you have to keep them on the same level, and make sure they mesh and blend together well, otherwise your graph is going to look like someone running a marathon.

However you go about it, good luck!

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments! 

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The Trials Of A Crime Writer: Learning Your Limits

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: LEARNING YOUR LIMITS

I've always been someone who knows my own limits. It's helped me write stories, it's helped me keep up with publishing, and it's helped me work out new ideas, and make them work for me. In all the time I've been writing, I've never once tried to push myself past those limits when it comes to stories, plot, or the grisly details of a crime.

I wanted to talk today about learning those limits, because I feel like as someone who reads, and writes, crime a lot, it's good to know where you draw the line. For some writers and readers, they want to know everything. They want details of the blood, the gore, and everything in between. I know that as a reader I can read most things, but when it comes to do much violence, especially when it feels unnecessary, I will be pulled out of the story and not find myself enjoying it.

When I first started writing, I didn't like writing fight scenes. I didn't really know much about fighting, being in a wheelchair and not the most athletic person, and I didn't have a pool of knowledge to pull from. So I mostly shied away from them. It was only later when I started branching out into dystopian and urban fantasy that I realised there would be a need for a lot more action and detail. I even did that in some of my later crime novels, where I had to really find a way to work in the action and have it flow nicely.

It was something I learned with a lot of reading, and a lot of input from editors. Some of mine weren't okay with too much violence, others preferred that graphic scenes were toned down, and each and every time, they usually had a point. I truly feel that some scenes hit harder, and impact the story, and reader, more, when they're not too drawn out and detailed. Others need to be pushed to the limit, mine or the readers, to draw out the feelings and impact you want.

But how do you know which is which? How do you work out where that limit is? I'm gonna give you some of my tips that I've learned over the years.

#1 VIOLENCE FOR THE SAKE OF IT USUALLY ISN'T NEEDED
I found this working with my editor on one of the Dying Thoughts books. She felt like there was too much detail in certain scenes and that because of the subject matter, they would turn readers off, and also draw attention away from the impact. If you're feeling like you need to go into extreme details about wounds, about scenes of assault, then ask yourself is that detail needed, or are you just trying to shock your reader. If it's the former okay, but if it's the latter, you will probably end up upsetting people and losing readers in the process.

#2 SOMETIMES LESS IS MORE
Have you ever read a scene in a crime novel and realised that the terror and uncertainty is impacted more because you're given such little detail? I have, and I've found it works well for certain scenes. If you don't give the reader every single detail, their imagination can probably fill in the blanks, and might end up with something that pulls them into the story even more so.

#3 EMOTIONAL IMPACT CAN BE BETTER THAN PHYSICAL
I've written some scenes that just work better with the focus on the emotional impact of the character. Whether that be not including details of the wounds, or the fight, but rather the pain, the terror, the fear, the loss. All of that can drive your reader to relating to the character and feeling those wounds emotionally themselves. It can be so much more impactful and works really well to draw the reader in.

So there we go, finding out what works for you limit wise is a good thing, but also it can be the difference in a reader's experience with your work.

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments! 

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The Trials Of A Crime Writer: Growing Your Ideas

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: GROWING YOUR IDEAS

One of the many things I've learned over my years of thinking up crime ideas is that you can always go bigger. You can start with an idea that feels like it's more a short story and then end up with one that's more than a novel. I've written nearly fifty first drafts, and the two that will put me at fifty itself are both crime ideas. Some of the ones I've already written are a mix of other genres, but I find that I always come back to crime maybe because it was that genre that got me into writing in the first place, who knows!

Either way, crime is something that encompasses a wide array of things. It can be a private detective, or a police procedural. It can be adults, or teens, or even children taking on mysteries and solving them much to their own satisfaction and also for the readers. While I like the police ones as much as the next crime reader, I've always had a soft spot for the untrained taking on crimes and bringing about that ending. It's probably why I've written so many crime books while also being a young adult writer.

My point today though is that crime is one of those things that can always lead to more dominoes being lined up. If you take a story where someone has died, you can always throw in another body, or someone going missing, or twisting the narrative here and there before you end up with a whole series with an arc that expands the whole thing. That, for me, is the beauty of the crime genre. It grows and grows and grows, and it feels like it never stops, and I love that about it.

But how do you learn how to grow them? I think for me it came about just absorbing ideas in the form of both reading crime books, and also being aware of the world around me. While there are some crimes that don't work for young adult, there are others that work even better for them, and the reason I mention that is simply because that's always where my focus is for growing an idea. You, dear reader, might be someone who's writing adult and in that case, the floor is open to you too.

I read a lot of books. I read a lot of genres. I go from adult to young adult and back again. I'm not someone who really sticks with one genre all the time, and while there are some I don't read, like epic fantasy, I do appreciate that there can be outliers that will pull me into their worlds and make me want to know more. The reason I mention this is there are ways to grow your crime ideas while reading outside of that genre. I've had ideas about thrillers because I've read a romance series. It's been the tweaks here and there that have taken that idea and turned it into something bigger and more manageable for me. You really can find inspiration for your ideas from pretty much anywhere!

Writing has always been an escape for me, and while I've always explored the darker side of fiction both as a reader and a writer, there have been times when it's been those dark sides that have brought me over to the light. I love romance, not really one for dark romance, but sometimes while reading a romance, I can take the setting and the stakes and turn it into a crime thriller with more darkness than the current work I'm reading. The point is that everything, every idea, every plot, can be grown. It's just about finding the right fuel to grow it, and also to know when you need more to it, because while everything can be grown, sometimes they can grow too much and in that case, it's better to start cutting back and seeing what works.

So my one piece of advice for those looking to grow their ideas? Read. Read all the genres you want, and hone in on and focus on the pieces of the plot that would work for you. You'd be surprised at where you can get inspiration from!

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!

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The Trials Of A Crime Writer: Using What You Know

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: USING WHAT YOU KNOW

I've been published for twenty years in August. I've also been writing for about twenty-five years, and I guess at that because I can't quite remember when that writing bug became something that I wanted to spend my life doing. I've been very lucky to be able to all this my full-time job, and also been very lucky to have made connections within the professional scope of what I write.

For those who don't know, I write young adult fiction across a variety of genres. I've done crime/mystery, paranormal, dystopian, and urban fantasy, as well as a few others. My point is that while a lot of my books have some mystery element to them, the crime ones have allowed me to cultivate contacts within my local police. I've also used a lot of my medical connections, from being a chronically ill and disabled patient, and am, usually, able to ask those questions for things from my own doctors, or someone they know. It's been really useful for me as a writer because it means that I'm mostly getting things right.

I know the common advice is to write what you know. I can't claim to have ever solved a crime, or had a psychic gift, or any of the many things that've happened in my works, but I can claim to have used those connections, to make sure that what I write is as accurate as it can be. My step-mum worked in the police on the admin side of things, so I was able to quiz her on some of the finer points. It also led to many discussions over dinner that might be worrying for any other parents should they not realise what I did for a living!

You can't just write what you know. No one can, because even those who have experienced a whole ton in life, they won't have experienced so much when it comes to crafting stories. Now I've always been a writer who likes to flit around genres. I didn't always to begin with, the story ideas I had were always linked somewhat to the crime genre, but beyond that, as I grew as a writer, as I read more, I realised that I had other story ideas and wanted to get them out and into the world.

Some of that involves bringing in specialised people, like sensitivity readers, which I'll talk more about next week, but some of it is simply research and asking questions of people in the right area. Now I do not mean dial the emergency line and ask questions, I feel like that should be obvious to not do, but I don't want to risk people thinking that's a good idea! I mean going into your local police station, explaining what you need, and asking if anyone would be willing, and able, to discuss things with you. But if they're busy, they might say no, and that's okay, and you gotta respect that. Same with medical situations, either calling and asking whether they would be willing to talk, or cultivating contacts another way.

The big thing to remember is that these are people, and careers that have a lot of urgency to them. It might be that they can't spare the time, which is completely valid, or it might be that it's not on your own timetable, and then it's things like google, or talking to other writing friends to see if they can help. For a time I was part of a professionals sharing info group on Facebook where a lot of people with varying specialities joined and then you could post and get answers to your queries when they were able. It worked for a lot of things for me, and I miss those days sometimes.

But my point is, that using what you know can be a powerful tool, just be ready to work at it, and allow people the chance to turn you down and not be difficult about it. Overall, good luck with your searching, and happy writing!

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!

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The Trials Of A Crime Writer: Planning Your Twist

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: PLANNING YOUR TWIST

One thing that always appealed to me as a crime reader, were the twists. The ones that you could never see coming, the ones that seemed to turn the whole story on its side and allow you to view things through a different lens. I always wanted to recreate that with my own work, and while with some stories I feel like I've pulled it off, with others, it's harder to quantify.

At the end of the day, twists are not just for crime fiction. While they may be the main staple of thrillers and the like, it's not the only time a story will have one. I've found through my years of reading more and more different genres, that most books will have something they hold back, and there can still be a lot of twists thrown in there, and you still get that excitement both as the author writing them, and as the reader devouring them.

But today I thought that I would give you some of my insights and thoughts about what you need to be doing when it comes to planning your own twists, whether or not that's crime writing. I will stick to that mostly because it's a subject I know better, but as I said, you can still have twists in other genres, they just might not be seen as common as the tropes in crime and thriller fiction are.

So how do you go about planning that twist? I feel like you have to take a lot into consideration because a good twist is one that people don't guess, but also one that you have foreshadowed in some way. For me, the ones that literally come out of nowhere, when there's been not even the tiniest hint, don't land as well as the ones that you can trace back, to the small pieces of information the author has given you along the way. Of course, your mileage may vary there. I know for some authors, they will create their twist around a popular trope and use that to advertise and sell the book, but for me it's not something I've ever done, so I can't speak of it.

But when it comes to planning, and implementing those twists, there seem to be a few steps you have to follow, and I'm going to try and lay them all out for you here!

STEP ONE: LAY THE GROUNDWORK
Like I said above, you need to have some kind of basis for this twist. It's no good deciding in the third act and in the big reveal that the killer has been the detective all along if you don't leave some hints along the way. If the book is in their POV, then you need to have left some blanks, some things that point to everything not being all it seems. If you don't do that, it smacks of lazy planning and writing, and a way of putting the twist in because you know no one will get it. They won't, because you've skipped the part where people can even start to have some idea and guess. It does not, generally, lead to a happy reader if you don't do this.

STEP TWO: PLANT THE SEEDS, AND REMEMBER TO WATER THEM
Like the first step, this is something you need to be doing before the twist is revealed. You need to have little snippets, here and there that will allow the reader to start questioning things. It doesn't have to be big things. It can be a piece of throwaway description, or a line of dialogue, or even a scene that doesn't quite fit until you know the full story. Whatever you do, don't water them too much, but also don't mention it right at the start and then never again. Little bits here and there are going to have those suspicions blooming in reader's minds and that's what you want.

STEP THREE: LEAVE ROOM FOR SUSPICION
By this I simply mean that you can make it so that the reader suspects a whole lot, but can't be sure of anything. If you rule someone, or something, out completely, it can close that avenue for the reader, and while that can be a great twist in itself, I've found myself enjoying the stories when I literally suspect everyone and can't quite work out who to rule out in my mind. It allows you to feel like you're right there with the detective or whoever, and might be able to spot inconsistencies that they've missed.

STEP FOUR: DON'T PROLONG THE BIG REVEAL
When it comes times to actually execute and reveal that twist, don't leave it too late. While there's a lot to be said for thrillers that have twists right at the end, and leave the reader hanging, for the main twist, there should be some resolution, otherwise you might leave your readers a tad annoyed. So whatever you do, don't leave everything to the last minute and then rush through it all. That leaves to an unsatisfying experience for the reader, and it makes the ending seem, well, rushed.

So there we go, those are my four steps when it comes to planning your twists. I wish you all the luck with your writing and planning, and I hope these help.

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!

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The Trials Of A Crime Writer: A Break Isn't Bad

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: A BREAK ISN'T BAD

I've always been a big proponent for breaks. I've talked about it a whole ton on my AuthorTube channel, and I've talked about it here too. Sometimes everyone needs a break, and it's not a bad thing, it's not a reflection on you as a writer or the like, you're human, you need time to rest. I will admit that while being a big advocate for breaks, I wasn't always good at taking them myself. The thing where you can give the advice, but just don't know how to apply it to your own life.

That said, I have gotten better at it in recent years. I now have at least two days off completely every month, and with the fact that I only work in the wee hours, it allows me to have a lot of downtime during the regular day to catch up with sleep and rest and books. It means that while I will work a lot during the month, I don't do too much, and I make sure that I have time to get my work done and still have a chance to rest.

Some of that is because of being chronically ill and disabled. Some of it is just my sleep schedule is messed up. Some of it is about having that healthy work/life balance, and some of it is just where the chips fall. I didn't ever set out to work in the wee hours, but my body just decided that wake up time was between 1am and 4am, and that's just the way it happens.

But I've also taken a break from drafting. I sat down the year I turned 40 and realised that I would finish my 40th draft in that year. I worked it out and then realised that if I kept going at the speed I was, I would have finished 80 drafts by the time I turned 50, and that terrified me. Like right now I could not draft until 2038 and I would still have books ready to revise and publish. I don't wanna leave stories untold, but I also don't want to get to a point where it would be physically impossible for me to publish the books that I've already spent time and energy on.

So I took a break, and started working on revising and rewriting older drafts that might have needed a little extra time to get into shape, and so far? I'm loving it. I only vaguely remembered the stories, and when I went back to reread them, I was anxious about how bad off they'd be, and while there are plot holes and pieces that needed to be changed and rewritten, they are, mostly, solid stories. It allowed me to get a new perspective on my writing, on the stories I've told and the stories I will tell in the future.

While yes, I have been hit with new story ideas, and yes I do have plans to eventually go back to drafting, I would, first, like to get to the point where I have a few more of my older projects somewhat revised and ready to eventually go to the editor. It would allow me to spend more time on upcoming projects that need input from sensitivity readers and the like and still manage to hit my own deadlines when it comes to them going to the dev editor and the like.

So while I didn't know what lay ahead for me when I made that decision to take a break two years ago, I'm so freaking glad I did. It's allowed me to fall in love again with stories I'd previously told, and also work things out so that the whole process makes things easier for me in the long run. Taking that break, or this break since it's still ongoing, has allowed me to really branch out and see what needs to be done, and doing it, rather than worrying about it instead.

So yes, breaks aren't bad, in whatever form they take!

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!

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The Trials Of A Crime Writer: When Crimes Change

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: WHEN CRIMES CHANGE

When I first started writing crime novels, it was 2001, and social media was not a thing. The internet was all about chatting platforms like MSM and Yahoo! and others like that. I don't say that because I wanna be old, and moaning about the youth of today, but to basically explain that over my years of writing crime, crimes themselves have changed. There's things you can do today that just weren't possible back then.

Nowadays, with most teens having access to a phone that has all the apps they need, you can have a lot of different kinds of communication and twists that just wouldn't have been possible when I first started writing. At the moment, I am in the midst of rewriting rather than drafting anything new, and one of those projects is a young adult thriller. The things I have to switch around and change because technology has moved on, allow for me to add new issues to the whole manuscript and make things even more tense and scary. That, in my eyes, can be a good thing. It can also lead to lazier writing, which is what I want to talk more about today.

Crimes using the internet, or apps, or smart phones and the like, they're a lot more common, and no matter what age range you're writing for, though my experience is in YA, you'll find that it's pretty easy to get caught up in all the ways things can go wrong, and these crimes can occur, rather than really thinking about whether or not it's realistic for this thing to be possible.

If, like me, you grew up in the 80s and 90s, you might have seen movies like Hacker and think that it's pretty damn easy for someone to hack into whatever website or system and then boom, twist achieved. Only it's really not simple. Just like it's not simple for a teen to know how to code. They might have some experience with it, when Mx. K was at school, they did computer science which involved a lot of learning how to code on a simple level. But that's not going to then have them going in knowing how to create a working, complicated app. You get my point. People these days have more knowledge, and the chance to learn it at their fingertips, but it's the actual learning and applying that knowledge that can't just come in at the last minute and solve it all.

Crimes have changed. The chances of people knowing how to both pull off these crimes, and not immediately get caught have to be backed up in the narrative. While some people in adult fiction will have the skills and learning behind them to do that, when it comes to YA, which as I said is my knowledge base, there has to be a lot of experience woven into the narrative before it becomes believable. Trust me, people will know if you're making it up as you go along.

So how do you avoid doing something that makes it obvious to your readers that you really don't know the subject? I'm gonna give you some tips on what you need to do.

#1 RESEARCH IS YOUR FRIEND
This one seems obvious because of course you're going to research something that you don't know anything about, right? But you'd be surprised how often people will just google something and call themselves done. I'd advise that you go beyond research and actually try and reach out to people within the field. I don't mean pester them and ask them to read your books and critique it, but approach, respectfully, and lay out your scenario and ask questions. The key here is that some people are going to say no, or not respond, and that's okay. No one owes you their time. I'm lucky enough to have a friend who works in the coding side of things, so I can ask her for things that don't quite make sense for my characters, or for me. It's all about making sure you stay respectful and realise these people have their own things to be doing too.

#2 IF IN DOUBT, DON'T USE IT
If you've done your research and you've talked to someone in the chosen field, and you still don't really completely know if your characters or whatever can do the thing, then just don't use it. It's far better to take a different, maybe easier, route than to put out information that will pull people from the story. Those reading who do know this stuff, they'll know you're wrong, and it will just ruin the whole experience for you. So if you don't know for sure, and if you're thinking it's maybe not possible, then go back to the drawing board and think again.

#3 KEEP IT SIMPLE
Even with crimes changing, and even with the draw to making everything a lot more high tech, the obvious answer is to keep it simple. While yes you can have someone hack into the white house, and then do this cool thing and that cool thing, if they are an everyday person, even a kid, it's just not believable, and also way too complicated if all they really needed to do was something a lot more lowkey and simple. There's nothing wrong with keeping it simple. It helps move the story along, and makes sure you don't stretch the believability of it all.

So yeah, those are my three tips when it comes to crimes in our changing world. I hope this helps and if you have any questions, lemme know in the comments!

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The Trials Of A Crime Writer: Choosing Your Path

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: CHOOSING YOUR PATH

I have been writing crime, to some degree, for almost thirty years. I was always someone who, as a kid and teen, loved reading and listening to crime novels. Whether they were the ones of my childhood in Enid Blyton's Famous Five, or the ones my parents would listen to on audiobook in Dick Francis' books. I loved to write a mystery and try and drop hints and clues and allow the reader to pick up on it.

But when it came to publishing, and it came to writing my first book, I didn't really know what path I would choose to go. Be that indie (which wasn't really a thing to the level it is now back then) or trad. I did send my first book to agents and publishers. I did get back both form rejections and personalised ones. I did try and make it work, but it wasn't to be for me. And that's okay, because I found a way to get my debut out in 2005 and when things like KDP and such came along in 2011, I jumped on that as well.

I never stopped writing, even with the big gap between debut and my next book, there were always stories that I wanted to tell, and the majority of them had a crime lingering through the pages. I went from straight up thriller with BLACKOUT to paranormal/mystery with the DYING THOUGHTS series, and then more crime with my later books. I always knew that I wanted to write crime, and I also knew that if I wanted to take the books that I'd kept writing even without knowing if they would ever see the light of day, I had to keep my eyes on the right path for me. I had to keep writing, but also be ready to pivot and decide whether indie really could work for me.

2011 was one of those years that changed the scope of publishing. It had allowed everyone who wanted to, to write, publish and sell a book no matter whether or not they'd done the due diligence and hard work when it came to covers and edits and the like. That's not me shaming people for doing things a way I wouldn't do now, but just showcasing that because of books that weren't well written or weren't edited, a lot of that change in the scope of publishing became a bad thing to call yourself indie.

I have spent almost 20 years as an indie author, and I have seen a lot of changes down the line. I've seen paperbacks become a thing, I've seen audiobooks open up to indies, and I've seen a lot of differences when it comes to how those new authors in 2011 approached the indie path, to how the new authors now do the same. There's a lot more research done, there's a lot more information out there for anyone wishing to publish, and there's a lot more respect for those who are indie.

There was a period when saying you were indie or self-pubbed got you cut off from marketing routes because people assumed that meant that your book was terrible and littered with editing mistakes and the like. It's really only been the last five or six years where thee are big big names in the indie world, and they're big names for a reason.

Going back to the want to tell and write crime stories, people like LJ Ross, who is very much indie, she's huge when it comes to crime in the UK. She, and others, have paved the way for indies who write crime, and she's set the bar so high because the point of all of this is, that whatever path you choose, you need to show up and do it right.

I'll be the first to admit that I didn't do it right. I didn't do the research, I slapped on old, unprofessional covers, and while I had some success in the start, it didn't carry through because I didn't treat it as my job, which it was. It's only been the last ten years maybe when I've started to really look at being an author as my career. The mindset change is huge and it really just helps you put things in perspective.

So whether you choose to go indie or trad, whatever path you go down, make sure you approach it knowing that this is the start of your career, and you can make mistakes and pay for them many years down the line, or you can do it right, do the research, find your readers, and grow and grow and grow. It really is just up to you.

Good luck!

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!

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The Trials Of A Crime Writer: No Wrong Way To Write

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: NO WRONG WAY TO WRITE

If there's one thing that grinds my gears when it comes to writing advice, no matter what speciality the author is referring to, it's the idea that you have to do it a certain way or you're doing it wrong. The only genre that I can think of that has a proviso that if the author doesn't meet, it's not in that genre, is romance, and that proviso is the happy ever after. If the couple do not stay together by the end of the book, not a romance. Simple, right? But every other genre pretty much can be that genre without any big provisos.

I mean, before someone comes for me in the comments, yes, you need genre standards, like a crime, needs some kind of crime main plot. A sci-fi needs some of the futuristic and science fiction plot. I could go on, but I think you get my point. All of that aside, there is no wrong way to write a crime novel. So long as the plot is there, there's no wrong way to do it. You can tell it from one perspective or several. You can reveal the killer/bad guy at the start and just have everyone else trying to work out who it is. If you can think of it, it's probably been done before, and it's not wrong to do it that way.

The reason it annoys me is that too much of the time, writing advice is framed as: this is my way, therefore the best way, and also the only way. And that's just not true. There are so many different ways to plan, to plot, to draft, to revise, to edit, and that's not even getting into the details within the book. There is no wrong way to do any part of the writing process, except, possibly, skipping over things like the professional edit and the like, but even then, that's a choice you, as the author, make, and your readers will let you know what they think about that.

I've been writing seriously since I was 19, I'm 42 now, and I gotta say, there have been a lot of 'wrong' ways about the way I approach everything from drafting, to revision, to genres, to the fact that I have one name and publish all my young adult books under it, even though they're not all the same genre. I have been doing it 'wrong' for almost 19 years, but you know what? My readers love my work. I'm not going to exclaim that I'm a best seller, because I'm not, but the stories those books were written for, they hit home, they achieve their goals, and they are the exact stories they were meant to be, and that counts for something.

But this isn't about my mistakes or wrongness, but about showing that you can write any way you please, and it's not wrong. The beauty of humanity is that we are all different and we all approach things differently. Like I've said before, you and I could have the exact same idea, like everything the same from plot, to characters, to setting, to genre and tropes, and the books we write? They will be wildly different. Because we do not all think and write the same. Neither one of us would be wrong in the way we told that story, because it's the right way for us, personally, to tell it, and anyone trying to convince you otherwise, they are very much wrong.

I could go on and on about this, and I really don't want to be wasting your time, but it really is something that I want to spread far and wide. No matter what genre, or age category you're writing, you can't write it wrong because that is impossible. I got my start with two wildly different books. One was a thriller, which ended up being my debut, the other was a mash-up of light urban fantasy and contemporary. They were for very different audiences and they both ended up published by me, but the point is that you can't do this wrong. They were the stories I wanted to tell, and I did so to the best of my ability then. Would I tell the same stories in the exact same manner now? Nope, because I have grown as a writer, but those stories haven't been written wrong, they are just a snapshot of where I was in my writing career at that time.

So take a breath, remember that you literally can't do this wrong, and tell your stories, no matter what they may be.

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!

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The Trials Of A Crime Writer: Writing What You Love

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: WRITING WHAT YOU LOVE

One thing that drew me to crime fiction was my love for the kind of stories involved. I loved the grisly, and rawness, but I also loved the humanity, the way that good, usually, triumphed. I loved getting to know the characters, and work out puzzles and get a chance to really lose myself in the narrative. I grew up listening to them on audiobook, and I also delved into them myself as a young reader and as a teen. It got to the point where they were all I read, and in fact I spent most of 2023 reading new crime series and also re-reading older ones. I just have a lot of love for crime fiction itself.

So, of course, it made and makes complete sense that when I started writing my own stories, there would always be some kind of crime or mystery element to it. I wanted to have my readers trying to solve clues. I wanted them to wonder if they were right about who did what to whom and when. I wanted them to lose themselves in my stories and come out the other side surprised or happy to have been right about the whole thing.

So my biggest tip when it comes to newbie writers, is to stick with something you love. Whether that be, like me, crime, or whether that be romance, or fantasy, or science fiction and the like. Whatever it is that makes you excited to open the document and type, then that should be what you choose to write in. I've mentioned before that I grew up reading these kinds of stories, even before there was a YA category, there were books like The Famous Five or The Secret Seven, stories my parents had read and loved, and passed on to me. And that bloomed into my own kind of stories, and YA, for me, is where I love to be telling them.

Now I know that it's not always easy to find that one genre to stick to. After all I am a multi-genre author and I have and do dabble in a lot of them. I go where my stories take me, but the reason I say to start with what you love is because it can then lead to opening doors into other genres that you wouldn't have thought about before. I can't tell you how many times I've had a story idea and slowly realised that it's got elements of the mystery but that is not the main genre, it's just part of the story itself.

The first book I ever wrote to completion was a mixture of urban fantasy and contemporary. It was not good. It was not something that I would ever want anyone to read in that state, because it was terrible, as first books generally are, especially in their first or second draft state. I loved the idea, it had been born of a dream, but I didn't really think about, or know really, what that meant for the genre and the plot devices that I threw into it. It had everything from normal teenage worries to a magic system that made absolutely no sense and was only used when convenient. You see what I'm saying? It was bad!

But when I finally gave up the ghost on trying to make it into something that worked, I decided to work on another story idea, one that had everything I knew I already loved. From danger to intrigue, to betrayal, to dreams, to medical issues, it all worked out for me. I ended up drafting it very fast, and then revising and editing and it eventually became my debut novel.

My point is that out of the two, Blackout was the genre I loved and adored. The other book was more just playing at writing a story rather than actually doing it right, thinking and sitting down and working out how things would go. When it comes to just starting out, write what you love, you'll thank yourself later and there is no reason you can't branch out at another time.

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!

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The Trials Of A Crime Writer: Knowing Who To Kill

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: KNOWING WHO TO KILL

I have been writing crime for a number of years, I've been reading it for even longer, and I gotta say that while some writers will think that you can just kill anyone for no reason other than maybe trying to shock the reader, or make them sad for that loss, that it very much not the case. I'm sure you've heard it from other places, how you need to make sure that every death is done for a reason and means something, and you're gonna hear that a bit from me too.

The reasoning behind this advice is that killing anyone for no reason has no impact on the characters or the plot. If the death doesn't make sense, if it's just death for deaths sake, then readers are going to know about it. They're going to work out that you're after shock value rather than any plot related reason, and that does not have any kind of impact on the reader, if anything, it makes them question the plot more, and wonder if you even really know what you're doing, which is not what anyone wants.

So how do you decide who to kill? How do you weigh up that choice and make that death mean something? I'm glad you asked because I'm going to give you some of my tips when it comes to this topic. I've killed a lot of characters over the years, some had affected me as the writer more than others, and all of them have died to serve the plot and there has always been a meaning behind their deaths.

#1 WHY DO THEY NEED TO DIE?
Ask yourself this. If the answer is, that there needs to be a death and they're not the main character or their not someone that adds much to the plot, then you're probably doing it wrong. I'm not someone who likes to say that someone is writing 'wrong' because my thinking is that there pretty much is no wrong way to do it, but in this case, killing someone because there needs to be a death and they're disposable, it's not going to have the same impact because if a character is disposable to you, they are also that to the reader.

Now if there's a plot based reason that someone needs to be sacrificed for reasons I can't think of right now, then yes, that is a necessary death, but you need to be making sure that whatever character you choose is someone that has, at least, had some other impact on the plot. If you have side characters that can be removed without it having any impact on the story, then that's a sign you've not developed them enough, which is a whole different problem.

So keep in mind, that if a character is disposable, or can be removed from the story completely and nothing changes, you need to be thinking about why, and working out the answer to how to either make them into a more fully fleshed out character, or remove them, and have someone else have that hard choice of being sacrificed to further the plot.

#2 DOES THERE NEED TO BE A DEATH?
I know that a lot of the memes around writers are along the lines of making our readers cry by killing off their favourite character, but there are a whole ton of stories, crime and otherwise, that don't have any character deaths. You don't have to kill someone if the plot doesn't need it, and you don't need to kill just for killing sake. While yes, a good death can have a massive impact, just killing someone because you think you have to will not have that impact.

Sometimes death can not be avoided, but when that happens, it should always be the right character who dies. There are numerous ways to decide that and I do not have the time or energy to go into all of them, but for just a quick breakdown. The character should be someone who makes the biggest impact, it should make sense for them to be in that situation. They should be unable to, by whatever means, get out of it. The death should be pretty much unavoidable, and it should always, always, be someone that matters to the story itself.

So there you go, those are my two tips. I will just clarify that I am talking about main characters and side characters who mean something to the main. Obviously there are minor characters who die all the time, but that is the nature of the beast. When it comes to a death that your readers are going to really feel, it needs to mean something and not just be because you thought you had to.

Good luck with writing!

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!

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The Trials Of A Crime Writer: Balancing Crime With Everything Else

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: BALANCING CRIME WITH EVERYTHING ELSE

I recently got back into writing a crime series. I have always been a writer who likes to genre hop and while it may not be the best idea for everyone hoping to make a career in one genre, for me it works. I spent a lot of time in mystery or paranormal, and kinda drifted away from crime for a period, but then I got the idea for the Disability Detectives series and while you could stay it straddles the line between crime and mystery, for me it's very much more the former than the latter.

The one thing I've always found pretty easy for me is how to balance the crime aspects of the story with all the other subplots. That said, I won't say that I'm always perfect at it, not just because that's impossible, but also because sometimes those subplots start to get bigger and bigger and you realise that you're writing a dual genre book, rather than just crime with something else going on as well.

I especially got to that point as I start the third book in DD which will heavily have a romance subplot. My only concern is that it will explode into the story and I'll end up having to redirect the focus back onto the main plot, which is crime. So I thought I would give you some of my own tips about how to keep that precarious balance when it comes to writing crime with bigger subplots.

#1 DOUBLE CHECK IT'S A SUBPLOT
I say this because sometimes it can be that you do legitimately have a dual genre book, and if that's the case, and it's the story that you want to write, then there's not a problem. Just make sure that it's nicely balanced so that it's not all one, or making it so that the crime element is the subplot, though if you want it to be, that's okay too! But I'd start here because it helps you question and see just what you want your main genre to be.

#2 MAKE SURE THE SUBPLOT STAYS IN THE BACKGROUND MOST OF THE TIME
I say this and it should be obvious, but if you're truly writing a crime novel, with say a romance subplot, then while yes you want that subplot to play out, it shouldn't be always in the foreground. That doesn't mean you can't have it play out in most of the chapters, but that it shouldn't always be the focus of them.

#3 IF FOLLOWING BEATS, HIT THEM FOR BOTH WHEN RELEVANT
Now this is something that I don't have a lot of experience with because while I do plan, a little, I also do a lot of my drafting discovering things as I write them. However, if you're someone who does plan and does use beats, make sure that you're hitting the relevant ones to keep that balance between your crime plot, and whatever subplot that goes along with it.

Like say, for example, I was going to plot out the third DD book with the romance subplot, I would make sure that I was hitting beats for a crime novel, but also making sure that those staples of romance were in the too, like the guaranteed happy ending. It all works in the end.

So there we go, those are my three tips for when it comes to balancing your crime with everything else. I find it easier to do this myself, and so I've never really had to sit down and think too hard about how to do it, so I hope these were helpful, and good luck with your writing.

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!

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The Trials Of A Crime Writer: Petty Crime & Research

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: PETTY CRIME & RESEARCH

One thing that is always in the back of my mind when writing crime is how it's gonna look if I'm ever actually suspected of a crime. We've talked about search history, and that's well known, I think I could easily talk my way out of that. I have those contacts in the police that would, hopefully, vouch for my interest in crimes, especially grisly ones, but there's always the chance that I'd be suspected of something small, and the fact that I know so much about procedure and how it all works, the cops would dig deeper and think I was some criminal mastermind!

Of course I don't intend to commit any crimes any time soon, and I could just show them my books, and hope that they were happy with the depiction of their chosen career, but these are the things that your brain comes up with at 3am after six hours or sleep. You start to wonder, and worry, and then it all spirals down, if you're anything like me, to actual borderline panic. Ah, anxiety, how nice to have you join the party!

I have always been someone who was fascinated by crime. I don't know if that was the crime novels on tape that my mum would listen to on car journeys, or if it's just some part of me that likes the idea of knowing why people do certain things and watching the whole thing play out. Right now I'm in the midst of writing my first straight up crime/mystery for a long while. There are no paranormal elements, it's just a little touch of murder, and four teenagers trying to save one of their own after he's been wrongly accused. I'm loving every second of it, because it allows me to really dig deep into that part of myself that enjoys this kind of thing.

I know that might seem warped, but I promise you I am not the only one. After all, crime writers the world over feel the same way, and then there's all the true crime podcasts and shows, and all the many millions of people who enjoy watching them.

It seems that when things go wrong in our world, everyone, or almost everyone, wants to know the motive, the why behind it all. So it got me thinking about smaller crimes, like I've read a lot of things that talk about career criminals who start small, shoplifting or the like, and work their way up, and I just find that fascinating. I don't condone any kind of criminal act, and while it might seem like I romanticise them, I promise you that I'm pretty straight-laced about this kind of thing. It's not an urge to want to watch these things go wrong, but a keen sense of justice and escaping into a world where, usually, the bad guy is caught and everyone else can somewhat live happily ever after.

That's one of the reasons that I write the genres I do. I know that a lot of them are considered to be dark genres, and as a two-time attending author to the Darker Side Of Fiction, I'd agree that I'm very much a dark fiction writer. I've written lighter pieces, but I do find that I lean more that way. I don't know what that says about me, if anything, but I like to make sure that whatever I put my readers and characters through, there's some light at the end, some nod to the fact that the characters endured and are now out of the woods. Of course it's not always possible, but the intent is the same.

Crime is such a fascinating subject to me, but then again I would say that because I write crime novels, and I'm sure those who write historical feel the same about their chosen subject, and on with others as well. That's the point of choosing a genre and setting your story within it, that you will be delving deeper into the facets of that genre. I'll admit that a lot of my research over the years has made me even more curious about the inner workings of some of the people who commit both minor and major crimes, and I don't see that changing any time soon. It's just how I roll and I gotta be okay with that!

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!

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The Trials Of A Crime Writer: Finding The Right Crime

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: FINDING THE RIGHT CRIME

I've been reading crime novels since I was a little kid. I don't mean adult crime, but what passed for children's and young adult before they were really a proper category. I grew up with a mum who liked listening to audiobooks and loved reading crime novels. She was the reason I got into some of the authors that I did, and I'll be honest, she ignited this love of crime in me, and no I don't mean that I was a little tearaway that wanted to commit crimes of any kind!

When I sat down to pen the words of my début, Blackout, I had some idea of what genre it would be, but also at nineteen, I didn't really know enough about genres to be sure of where it would fall. I knew it was crime somewhat, but not in the true genre specific tropes. It was actually more a thriller, and I loved writing it. I loved finding the twists I could use and the way it all came together was perfect for me. It had all the hallmarks of stories I love, teens, medical issues, betrayal, weirdness, and finally a nice twist and showdown with a killer. I won't give spoilers, even though the book has been out for over a decade now (almost two in fact) but I will say that it always has a special place in my heart because it opened up the door for me to branch out into proper crime stories as well as other genres and the like.

Now, over twenty years later, I sit down and plan out books and always try and have the crime match the story. A book I'm working on right now is pure crime and mystery, and I'm loving getting to tell the story and weave things into the plot that make it all the more hard for the characters, and the reader, to guess where things are going to go. This book will be the first in a new series for me, and I've already worked out what the second book's crime will be, and I'm excited to be back in the saddle and dealing with these kinds of sceneries.

That said, there is something about trying to find the right crime for that story. If you're trying to go for light hearted, there's really no point in throwing in a dead body here and there. If you want something dark and dismal, then talking about someone stealing a backpack isn't going to work, unless said backpack holds something very very important. You have to match the crime to the story and the plot, and the feel of what you want to have at the end of it all.

Crime novels are generally classed as dark fiction, but they don't have to be. You can always slip in a crime/mystery sub-plot into a light hearted genre and you don't have to go with nitty, gritty crime to be able to do so. I love thinking up crimes when it comes to the books I write. You know that I love the job I do, and working with the stories I do, and you also know that I have penned a lot of drafts, and now have twenty books out, all of which have some semblance of a mystery sub-plot, even if it might not be obvious from the chosen genre. It's in my blood to write crime and mystery and when I got the ideas for my two newest projects, I loved that I was going to back to where I started with one, and focusing solely on the crime plot rather than anything else.

Part of being a crime writer is knowing what to put where and when. You need to know your characters, your setting, you need to know whether things are going and where they will make sense to happen. I say that as if I'm no ardent planner and I'm really not, but you need to be aware, even if it's only in your head, of where you're heading so that you hit the right beats on the way through your draft. Yes, everything can be fixed in revisions, but sometimes it becomes such a headache that you lose interest, and this can be avoided by having some clues as to where you need to go and end up.

Overall, choosing the right crime is half the fun, and I wish you the best of luck in doing so!

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!

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The Trials Of A Crime Writer: Small Talk With Strangers

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: SMALL TALK WITH STRANGERS

One of the things I've learned over the years of being a writer, and then a published author, was that there are always going to be times when you have to try and make small talk with strangers. Whether that's about your job, or whatever you're working on, the questions come, and sometimes you avoid them by being vague and making noises about just being a writer with books out and everything and other times it's just not possible.

I have plans to talk about the awkward questions of being an indie author next week, so I'll avoid some of the big ones here, but I do want to talk about the questions and small talk that come about from writing crime, mystery, thrillers and other similar genres. Now you may not know this about me, but I don't get out much. Usually my months pass along in a similar fashion. I write, I record videos, and I take time off to read in bed and the like. I go to my monthly hospital appointment and that is, usually, that. However, these past few weeks I had a friend staying and we went out quite a lot, so I got all my socialising done for the year!

When most people see me, they see the wheelchair, the oxygen and they automatically assume that I'm either unable to work (which I am in a conventional job) or just unable to do much. I've been really lucky in that writing has been such an amazing passion of mine, and has also allowed me to work while not having to put in the hours and time that I would need to do in a conventional job. I set my own hours, I work when and if I'm up to it, and if no work gets done for a week or more, then no one is going to fire me. I am my own boss, and while it has its downsides, it's also a big positive.

But because of the visible disabilities and because I generally have B, my best friend and carer, with me when I'm out and about, people make a lot of assumptions, and then it inevitably comes up that I'm a writer and published author. I get the usual questions about what kind of books, and whether any of them have hit the bestsellers list, but when I get to the point of saying that I write young adult and also crime, some of them get really really quiet.

I don't know if it's just the fact that I'm writing young adult and am in my forties, or whether it's because people don't realise that teens love the crime and mystery genre, or some other factor that I've not thought of yet, but people really do start to wonder *how* an innocent looking disabled woman could be thinking up stories and plots about dead bodies and killers and all of that stuff. They don't understand how I could think, and write, such dark stories, and actually enjoy it.

I've gotten some strange looks. I've gotten some weird questions. I even, years ago, got asked if I realised that by writing about a drug overdose in one of my earlier novels, that I might be perpetuating the idea that teens should do drugs. It didn't make sense to me then, and it still doesn't make sense to me now, but it sure does make things awkward when I'm trying to just pass the time and hold a conversation with someone. Now 90% of the time, they are the ones that ask, and I'm always happy to talk about being an author and the books I write, but I have gotten to that point after seventeen years published and over twenty as a writer that I start to inwardly wince when said questions come up, because there are only so many times you can be asked whether you like writing dark fiction, say yes, and then get that weird look because of it.

As I've talked about before here, (piece found here) I honestly believe that we need to be writing about the dark sides of humanity. I don't mean there should be graphic scenes for the sake of it, and of course not everyone likes that kind of thing, but there are always going to be people who need those stories, who need to know that their struggle and such have not be stricken from the record and ignored. I will keep writing my dark stories and celebrate them because I'm not ashamed of having written them.

Now there may be some who disagree and think that while of course it's okay for me to write them, I shouldn't be doing so to the audience that I do. I remember once while I was getting my hair did, one of the helpers was talking to me about this and that, asked what I did, and winced at the thought of kids reading about crime. She even said that she didn't think it was appropriate. I smiled and nodded, because it wasn't the place or time for me to be saying that crime happens to teens too, and they love solving mysteries too, and that I'm not trying to recruit them to a life of crime.

Either way, you all know my stance on it. I will write the stories that call to me, and there are those readers out there who need to hear them, who need to feel seen and assured and get the ending that they want. I will say I suck at small talk though, I mean, I don't think anyone actually likes it, but for me it's just not fun, and maybe that's another reason why staying inside and talking to friends is the better way to do things for me!

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!

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The Trials Of A Crime Writer: Tropes I Love

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: TROPES I LOVE

One of the things I've really enjoyed about being a crime writer, is getting to explore tropes. You find that there are some you just love playing with time and time again. I thought that today it would be fun for me to give you some idea of those tropes that I love when it comes to dealing with crime itself. As you all know, I write a bunch of different genres, but usually, there's some crime or mystery element to the stories. I've always been a lover of crime fiction so it made sense for me to branch out into it when I first started writing. Of course, this will be with a young adult focus because I write young adult, but here we go!

#1 THE GANG OF DETECTIVES
I really do enjoy having a group of friends, never more than four or five, who like to solve mysteries. They usually always have different parts to play, and they all bring their own strengths to it. Whether that's a twosome like Tara and Kaolin, or group, like in Cramping Chronicles which isn't technically a mystery but does have those elements to it. I like a group of friends all working together, maybe even for different reasons, and solving this huge mystery. It's great fun, and it's also good to see just where the story will take you, it's one that I've written time and time again, and one that I see myself writing in the future too.

#2 THE LONE DETECTIVE
This might seem like a contradiction considering my first trope, but I also love having a character on their own, being the only one to pick up on the problems going on around them. Like a teenager thrown into the deep end with a murder, or a disappearance and being the only one who works out that something ain't right there. I adore getting to watch them grow, and learn, and pull out clues for this place and that, and be able to bring it together into a nice resolution.

#3 PSYCHIC ELEMENTS
Now if you've read any of my books, you'll know that I like writing some psychic elements to the story. Whether that's in straight up paranormal or whether it branches out into the urban fantasy, either way, I love there being some kind of unknown benefit to the protagonist. Like with Tara in the Dying Thoughts series, she had the ability to see the last moments of someone's life when she touches something that used to belong to them. It gave her an edge when it came to solving murders and the like. But at the same time, it wasn't the only way that she could approach things. Sometimes she found other clues and put things together, other times she was relying on help to get her the answers she needed. I just like there being some kind of otherworldly, or psychic part to the story.

#4 THE MENTOR
This was a big one in Dying Thoughts, with DI Mike being the one that helped Tara along her journey. I adored writing his character, the offset between him and her father, and also just being there to believe Tara and help her where he could. I don't think I've done many others where there's some kind of mentor, but I do like to have this in the story somewhere.

#5 THE TWIST AT THE END
I've put this as one rather than listing out what twists I like to write for two reasons. One, I don't wanna give away the endings of any of my books, and two, there are so many to mention that I would be here all day! I do love getting to lead the reader, and the characters down a certain path and then find out that something they didn't see coming is about to hit them around the head. I love writing twists and I adore the places that they'll take you.

So there we go, those are five of the tropes I love writing when it comes to crime and mystery. I know that some of them branch out into other genres as well, but that's how it rolls when you're a multiple genre author! If you've got some favourites, feel free to lemme know them in the comments!

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The Trials Of A Crime Writer: Ideas Fun

 

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: IDEAS FUN

Over the years, I have thought up a lot of different crimes, and the execution, clues and ways that the bad guys will get caught. I've also read a whole ton of crime novels and generally find some that surprise me with the way they do things. It's something I've loved about writing in that anything is possible, you can pretty much choose any kind of plot and if you can pull it off, it'll work and the readers will eat it up.

That said, I do want to enjoy my work. Someone, many years ago now, told me that because I wrote young adult, and because, at the time, one of my main genres was crime/mystery, I shouldn't have the 'bad' crimes included because that would be detrimental to my readers. I laughed it off because as a teen, nothing interested me more than a mystery or a crime novel. I wanted to devour them all and learn all the different ways things could be done, and yet I've grow up to be a, somewhat, respectable human being. I've certainly never committed any crime!

So when it comes to being a crime writer, I've always wanted to make things fun. Yes, I write mostly dark fiction, but that comes with the territory of dealing with the genres that I do. I've found that over the years I'll think up a new twist here and there and find myself having a lovely time doing so. Now, before you close the browser and back away thinking that I'm some kind of weirdo, I am only talking about fictional crime here. I don't condone anything bad that happens in my books. Sometimes the characters go places that I never would, but that's the beauty of fiction. You can see how things work, and never actually feel the need to experience it first hand yourself.

I know it sounds like I'm some deranged individual, locked up in my office and thinking of new and interesting ways to kill people, but I promise that's not the case. Having fun with your work isn't something everyone gets to do, but when I became a writer, all those years ago, it was one thing that always helped me look forward to getting up in the morning and doing my own thing. I enjoyed getting to put pen to paper and actually write out the scenes that were clambering up in my mind. I still do enjoy that.

But how do you keep that spark to your work? When you've drafted as many books as I have (almost forty to date), and while all of them haven't been crime related, you start to wonder if the ones you do write will be stale and uninteresting by the time you're done and they make it to the bookshelf. I've always been very strict with myself when it comes to plot and such. I don't want to be predictable, I don't want my readers to see the killer or villain a mile off. I want to give them that spark of astonishment when it comes to the big reveal. If I can't do that with the majority of my readers, then I kinda consider that I've failed at my job, and that's not something that I can ever aspire to do.

So I make sure that when I'm plotting (if you can call what I do plotting, but that's a piece for another time, if you're interested, here's one here) I have a clear idea of three things. The crime, the victim, and the bad guy. If I don't know all of that, then I can't be sure to be able to leave in those clues along the way. While yes, I have changed course mid-story, those are always a pain to revise, and I like to avoid doing so when possible. It has happened, and I have managed to achieve my objective that way, but I'd rather not have to go through all the drafts to do so.

If I have a clear idea of the victim and the crime, then I have my starting point. I know what to do to lead up to that crime happening, and I know who it is that I'm going to be writing about. I will also, generally speaking, have some idea of who will be investigating since the majority of my books are written in first person. Since I'm a planster - a mixture of a planner and a pantser - I know that along the way I will discover new bits and pieces that strengthen the case against the bad guy. Sometimes I find other things that will help me build a stronger argument for someone else being guilty and other times I just find little snippets as to the real motive of the crime. Either way, I'm having a whole lot of fun doing it, and it's one thing I do love about diving into a new project, especially when it happens to have an integral mystery to it.

That said, I do, sometimes, find out along the way that the initial bad guy was actually a red herring, and that someone else makes more sense. If that happens, then yeah, it's a lot of work with revision, but it gives me that same spark of astonishment that I'm looking for in my readers. I adore my job, I love getting to tell stories for a living and I love getting to explore and create new worlds and all of that. But at the end of it all, I am just someone who loves crafting a good mystery and getting to discover all the ins and outs of it as I write.

After all, if you can't have fun while literally making something up, when can you?

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments below!

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