Plotting Exercises – Read First Chapter.com

From Story Engineer to Author

From Engineer to Author: The Many Hats of a First Draft

The biggest hurdle for new writers isn't a lack of ideas; it’s the pressure to be an "Author" too soon. If you sit down at a blank page expecting to produce polished, rhythmic prose on your first try, you’ll likely stall before Chapter Two.

The secret to finishing a novel is realizing that "Author" is actually the very last hat you’ll wear. To get to the finish line, you need to cycle through a whole wardrobe of different roles first.

1. The Story Engineer (Brainstorming)

Before the first sentence is written, you are an Engineer. You aren't worried about the beauty of the bridge; you’re worried about whether it can hold weight. During brainstorming, your job is to stress-test your concept. Does the plot have enough tension? Is the protagonist’s motivation strong enough to power 300 pages? You are building the foundation.

2. The Location Scout (Setting the Scene)

Next, you become the Location Scout. Writers often forget that a setting is more than just a backdrop—it’s a silent character. You must decide where your scenes take place and how those environments "speak." A tense conversation feels different in a crowded elevator than it does in a vast, empty cathedral. Scout your locations and make sure they are working for your story.

3. The Investigator (The Crime Skeleton)

If you are writing a mystery or a thriller, it’s time to put on your Investigator’s hat. You are working backward, looking at the "crime" and deconstructing it. You need to know exactly how the deed was done before you can hide the truth from your readers.

It's important to pick clues that wll point to no one or everyone in the beginning. It's important to know what will give rise to each suspect. This is all part of the spine of the story.

Often, this stage will look like a maze, with each suspect dead-ending at a different point, until only the True Culprit is revealed.

4. The Producer & Director (Plotting & Pacing)

Once you have the skeleton, you become the Producer. This is where you organize the elements. Where will the clues drop? Who will they point to? As the Director, you decide the "camera angles" of each scene—whose perspective we follow and how the information is revealed to the audience.

5. The Town Crier (The Rough Draft)

This is the most critical phase. Now, you put on your Town Crier hat. Your only job is to blurt out the story as fast as you can.

Ignore the Grammar: The Town Crier doesn't care about commas.
Forget the Spelling: If you know what the word meant, move on.
Don't Look Back: If you realize you changed a character's name in Chapter 4, don't go back to Chapter 1 to fix it. Just keep going.

You are simply shouting the story onto the paper. It will be messy, it might be loud, and it will definitely be "rough," but it will be done.

The Final Reveal: The Author

It is only when the draft is finished—when the "The End" is typed and you finally sit back to review the context of the entire journey—that you finally put on your Author hat.

Now, you can worry about the cadence of the sentences, the perfect metaphors, and the correct verb tenses. You can’t "author" a vacuum. You can only author a story that actually exists.

The goal of a first draft isn't to be good; it's to be finished. Keep writing, stay in character, and don't let the Author in the room until the Town Crier has finished his job.

Brainstorming a Storyline – Pt 2 – The Next Four Questions to Answer

Where Do We Begin?

In the last blog entry and video, I covered a list of six initial questions that should be asked in order to raise up an initial storyline. In my experience, within a story with multiple suspects or a mystery that needs to slowly unravel, the suspects, motivations and clues need to connect first to create what I call a crime spine or a mystery spine.

Once you have all of these story parts connected, this is the easiest time to take the characters from stick figures into two-dimensional characters. The characters will be transformed into their final three-dimensional states during the actual book-writing process, so the goal in this brainstorming process is to sculpt two-dimensional characters.

So the next set of questions is designed to take your story idea from this crime/mystery spine to a second dimensional level. This is the point where you can add realistic character traits and motivations that will fit inside the plotline. I assure you, there won't be any more trying to fit a fully-fleshed out round character into a square plotline. This process will avoid that.

So let's get into the second set of questions which cover the main characters, the suspects, the antagonist, and the motivations.

THE SUSPECT LIST - WHO ARE THE SUSPECTS AND/OR THE ANTAGONIST?

In a crime or murder mystery, pick two to four suspects and assign them each a motivation. If you are writing a different type of story, you will need at least one antagonist. Name the antagonist and/or suspects and choose their motivation. Do this for each suspect or antagonist.

Here is an example: A man is murdered in his house during a birthday party and there are four people at the party, all of whom can be a suspect: One of the guests is the man's child who is at odds with the father for some reason, and the child has recently been threatened with being cut out of his/her inheritance. The second suspect is the long-suffering wife who has just found out her husband is cheating again, after promising never to be unfaithful again. The third suspect could be the mistress who is not happy that her lover now wants to save his marriage and has ended their affair and cut off her mistress pay. And of course, there could be an old college buddy who is in attendance at the party, looking all innocent, but inside he is being eaten alive by a desire for revenge because of something that happened in their past. Knowing all of these characters and their motivations ahead of time will make sculpting the main character, the detective or amateur sleuth, much easier.

When I was new and watching writing video after writing video, the advice was the opposite. It was suggested over and over again to start by fleshing out a main character and plotting a story around him or her. What I found was that a fully-fleshed out character is not very flexible. You can't place a fully-fleshed out character into any storyline. For example, a quirky detective like Monk would be out of place playing James Bond. He would also not fit into any gothic story about family secrets. Nor would James Bond fit into a small-town mystery novel. A Columbo character would be out of place in a James Bond script as well. I'm sure you get the point.

QUESTIONS FOR ANTAGONISTS OR SUSPECTS:

Go down the list or diagram of all the suspects you have chosen in your story. Ask yourself the following questions about each suspect. These questions also work in a story with only an antagonist.

What would be their motivation for the crime, mystery or story conflict be?
Is this suspect the most likely suspect? What is the first clue that will point to them?
Will this suspect appear at the scene of the crime? And are there witnesses to that appearance?
What is the relationship between this suspect and the victim?
Will this suspect hide background information or tell some other lie to hide the truth and for what reason?
If this suspect is lying or hiding something, how will said lie or secret be exposed in the story?
Who or what fingers this suspect?
Which of your suspects will be the actual culprit? How will you hide this throughout ¾ of the story?

Once you have answered each of these questions about each suspect or antagonist, you will have enough clay to now sculpt an interesting and riveting main character and storyline.

SEVENTH QUESTION: The Protagonist

Unless you are writing in a series where the main character is already fully developed, it's best to wait until after choosing the antagonist, suspects, and motivations for each of them to infuse the main protagonist with human traits. Why? Because the protagonist will need to have a character arc and this will need to be developed over the action of the story and in relation to all of the different suspects.

The action of the story will be triggered by the victim, what happened, what the investigation needs to solve the mystery or crime, and the main character will need certain skills and traits to make all of this happen.

For example: If you come up with a business entrepreneur as a main character first, and give him a family, a certain job, etc., how will he have the skill set to uncover all the clues that are already in the plotline? It's easiest to look at the completed crime spine and realize that you will need a bold computer wizard who is motivated by justice more than a lucky or wealthy businessman.

Once you know who, what, when, where and how the story will proceed, now you can choose the type of protagonist needed to solve the mysteries. Now it is time to sketch in more character traits and details. This process will take your stick figure and raise it to a level of a two-dimensional character.

The Protagonist List of Questions:

There are many questions to ask about the protagonist, aka the hero or good guy in the story. Below I have posted many of them to get your creative mind going.

Why is the protagonist in a position to solve the mystery? Who brings them into the story? Are they a professional detective and just get hired? If he or she is an amateur sleuth, what circumstance leads them into the scene of the crime or mystery? If it's a psychological story, how do they find themselves inside this psychological drama in the first place? Who and/or why are they now staying in a scary house or on an estate with age old secrets?

Here is a tip for Newbie writers: There are hundreds of videos suggesting you start with the main character, and this does work in very simple storylines or in simple romance stories. It doe work. But once the plotline has any number of antagonists or suspects, and there will need to be some kind of search or investigation, revealing one clue after another, it's best to know what particular steps the main character will need to go through before you breathe life into him.

In other words, if online research is needed, your MC has to have technical skills or an assistant who does. If the MC will be examining documents in old archives, he needs to have some expertise in this field and that will need to be part of his character back story. If he will be running around and jumping from one building to another or hanging off helicopters like Tom Cruise likes to do, he will need a back story about why he is in that kind of shape.

Newbie writers often get attached to characters they dream up out of thin air and then run into big problems trying to build a working story around this fully-fleshed out character. This can cause a bigger problem. It can lead to a bad case of writer's block, even a fatal case of writer's block. If you find this describes you, set aside that darling character you love and begin to brainstorm following these chronological suggestions and you may find yourself developing an equally riveting character that, with a different job or a tweaked backstory, can make a great storyline work. Remember: If you created one character that you love, it proves you can create loving characters. Just create another one.

THE EIGHTH QUESTION: HOW WILL MY MAIN CHARACTER ARC OVER THE MYSTERY DRAMA OR STORYLINE?

What fears or human frailty will the sleuth need to overcome in solving the crime? This is what drives a character arc. What will the main character ultimately learn? Does he have a fear of heights? Is she normally timid and now has to be courageous? What inner fears will be challenged when going about solving the crime and/or mystery?

Where and how can you fit the revelation of these traits into the character backstory?

Is the protagonist isolated or alone in their struggle? If they lack support or are actively opposed by others, how can you show them overcoming this lack of support and calling on their inner resources?

NINTH QUESTION – WHAT ARE THE STAKES?

What will the main character need to risk achieving his/her goal? Has the detective been told he will be fired if he doesn't drop the case? Has the neighbor of a man who is gaslighting his wife been threatened with an expensive lawsuit? What is at stake and what change will be needed to get through the setbacks in the storyline? How will this change in character change the life of a main character? How can you show that final change in character in the ending of the book?

Knowing who the antagonist is, and knowing all of the suspects and their motivations will make it easier to come up with a customized main character flaw that will fit perfectly into the storyline.

Again, it's easier to create a character after you already know what he/she will be required to do physically, what skills they will need, and what human flaw can make this challenging. It's easier than forming a main character that you like and then trying to fit him or her into a storyline that already has a life of its own.

It would be hard to fit a character like the father on Married with Children into a James Bond film and vice versa. Think of the skeletal plotline as an obstacle course. Once you know what physical stamina, hurdles, level of intelligence, investigative experience, and technical skills a main character will need to run the ball all the way down the field, it is easy to sketch up a character based on that obstacle course. You can easily add any quirky or funny bits to their personality later on.

Another consideration is how the hero's success or failure will affect others around him? Are innocent lives at risk? Is the fate of a community, a nation, or even the world hanging in the balance until the hero saves the day? The wider the impact, the higher the stakes.

Are his or her loved ones in danger? If the protagonist's family, friends, or romantic partner are threatened, the stakes become deeply personal and emotional. This raises the stakes too.

Is there a moral dimension to the conflict that raise the stakes? Does the protagonist's decision have far-reaching ethical implications? Is he/she fighting for justice, truth, or a greater good? Moral dilemmas add weight and complexity to the stakes.

Looking down at your brainstorming outline, ask yourself: How can I add a little pressure into this plotline? What happens if he doesn’t solve the case? Who will be let down if he fails? What effect will failure to solve the mystery have on his world or our world?

As the suspects respond to questioning, will one or more of them throw in an outright lie or a lie of omission -- that only the reader will know -- that will send the main character down the wrong path? This will cause the reader to worry about the main character. What clue will ultimately uncover this red herring or subterfuge?

IS TIME PRESSING DOWN, ADDING TENSION AND HEIGHTENING THE STAKES?

Is there a ticking clock in your storyline? Is there a deadline to solve the crime? Is there a rapidly-approaching event that can significantly heighten the stakes? The faster the clock ticks, the more intense the pressure, the higher the stakes. This added time pressure can turn a mystery into a thriller.

If you haven't figured a time element into the storyline yet, think about how you can use time in a way to add tension into the plotline.

TENTH QUESTION: UNEXPECTED TWISTS AND TURNS:

Most readers like a surprise twist or unexpected turn. What twist or turn can you add into the mix to heighten the stakes and keep readers guessing?

Is there a sense of uncertainty or ambiguity about the clues? If the outcome is uncertain and the protagonist is forced to make difficult choices with limited information, this too can add tension and heighten the stakes.

If you can't think of an unexpected twist and turn at this point, it's okay. My experience has been that whatever doesn't come in the brainwashing session will come in the next layer of writing which is outlining the scenes.

CONCLUSION:

Before I begin a new novel, I brainstorm a minimum of four potential storylines. I go through these questions in this order and come up with an actual storyline. Then I pick the best one, the one I know calls to me to be written. So I know this brainstorming strategy works.

It took me one full year to come up with my first storyline and I thought about it everyday. But I didn't know where to start or how to proceed. My goal in this two part blog and video series is to help the newbies get over that first initial hump of getting a workable storyline. I hope this will work for some of you.

Below is the video that was done on this material:

Brainstorming a Storyline Pt 1 – The First Six Questions to Answer

BRAINSTORMING A STORYLINE - TWO SETS OF QUESTIONS TO ANSWER

When Brainstorming a Novel Storyline, what questions do you need to ask and answer? After having written 14 novels, I believe this technique that I'm about to tell you about will help anyone brainstorm a working plotline.

For simplicity, I've broken it down into two phases of questions because in order to answer the second set of questions, it's easiest to know the answers to the first set of questions.

IMHO, if you just start asking random questions that pop into your head without some order, it can lead to more confusion or chaos. It can even frustrate the story engineer into thinking it's not a working storyline, even though it can be.

The first set of questions will guide you through brainstorming a broad-stroke storyline into existence. It will end with stick figures. The characters will be stick figures. The locations and motivations will be stick figures, so to speak. Knowing this ahead of time, you will know you are making progress if the stick figures all have the potential to interact and connect with each other without an issue.

The second set of questions, which I will get into in the next installment, will help you turn the brainstorming questions into a workable storyline that will begin to lift off the paper and become two dimensional.

FIRST QUESTION: WHAT WILL THE MYSTERY OR CRIME BE?

What will the mystery or crime in the novel be? Will it be a psychological thriller and mind control is the crime? Will it be a murder mystery? If so, what is the cause of death? If it's a science fiction plotline, what mystery will hook the reader and thread through the entire story only to be revealed at the end?

Any experienced author will tell you that any book, regardless of genre, needs at least a string of mystery or suspense running through it. This is what will keep the reader reading. What will the mystery, crime or element of suspense be in your storyline? The answer to this question will begin the workable plotline.

Be specific in your answer to this question: What specific crime or mystery will drive the plot? Is it a murder, a theft, a missing person, a haunted house, psychological event that changes a family forever, or something more unique? What are the simple circumstances that surround this mystery? Think broad strokes, just a list of three general details.

The type of crime or mystery will dictate the investigation methods and details. It will also dictate what clues will be needed in order to slowly reveal the mystery throughout the four-part plot structure.

The answer to this question may also reveal the complexity of the story. For example, a financial crime is more complex than a murder mystery. The choice of crime may also determine the book genre: if it's a grizzly murder, it may default into a noir crime. If it entails mind games or gaslighting, it may default into a psychological mystery. If it's a small town and there won't be any bloody details or romantic spice at all, it can be either a clean mystery crime novel or even a cozy mystery.

This question will also determine the core of your story, and may also determine not only a certain genre but a book category or two as well. Will it be a gritty murder mystery or a whimsical cozy mystery? Will it be a A Missing Person's novel that is all about the revelation of one secret after another? Will it be an amateur sleuth murder with a satirical edge?

If it will be a murder mystery, you will need to choose a cause of death. If it's a police procedural, you may need to cover fingerprints and DNA evidence. If it's a fraud crime, you may need to weave in a computer tech wizard to find the clues. If it's a private investigator novel, you may need to weave in surveillance, and neighbor interviews. Think about what avenues you as an author you will need to go down in order to tell the story.

A little tip for newbies: My first novel series was with a private investigator because it didn't require knowing police law or the intricacies of police training, etc. Taking on a police procedural, or an FBI agent plotline will require much more research and may not be the fodder for a first time author.

SECOND QUESTION: Who is the Protagonist or Hero of the story?

Is he/she a private detective, an amateur sleuth, a police officer, or maybe just a weekend visitor who is inadvertently led into solving a mystery?

Another tip is this: At this early stage in brainstorming, don't choose a background, or a motivation, or any personal traits or challenges for the protagonist. It's too early. You will need to coordinate and connect all the characters, the crime or mystery, and all the suspects and their motivations before you can weave any story around any of them.

In this phase of brainstorming, you are really choosing only what hat your main character will wear. But at the same time, you may be choosing the book genre and the ultimate marketing categories for the finished book -- which is a good thing.

THIRD QUESTION: Who is the Victim?

Determine the identity, background, and significance of the victim. This decision can affect the motive, the suspects, and the overall narrative story arc. The victim's characteristics can also influence how the crime impacts other characters or the community at large. Before figuring out who the suspects are, you need to know who the victim is and why they were murdered or wronged in some way. If it's not a crime story but just a mystery or thriller, you will still need a victim. They may not die in the story, but there will be at least an injustice done to them. What is that injustice and who is the victim of it?

The victim's background, their relationships, and their secrets are all vital. Were they likeable? Did they have known enemies? A compelling victim, even if flawed, gives the reader someone to care about and root for. Even if the victim hasn't been killed or murdered, who is being bullied or targeted as the victim and why?

Fourth Question: Where will the story take place?

Where will the story play out? Most stories will have multiple stages, but where will most of the action take place? Will it be a haunted estate house? A corrupt business office? Will it be on the streets in a cityscape? How does the setting influence the mood and the unfolding of the mystery? For example: If it's a gothic novel, you will want a large estate house or a monastery, a place that has secret rooms, tunnels, or has a long history with lots of secrets. If it's a urban thriller, you will need several stages in a city scape. If it's a psychological thriller, it may need at least a mental institution. Think of yourself as a location scout for a movie: What interesting places can most of the drama take place?

Choose a location that not only serves as a backdrop or a stage for the events to take place but which can become its own character. What secrets does the location harbor? Who lived in the historic mansion in another era? Will you need a remote island somewhere to have a closed-door mystery? In a city scape, the backdrop may be about about the certain era, or just a gritty story, or a surreal story. In a mystery drama, what happened in the main family that started all the secrecy? What sin has been passed down through the generations? What corporate setting do you need to show back-door deals or money laundering? What setting can you choose that will enhance the story?

If it's a cozy mystery, what quirky town or setting will give the story a whimsical feel? The setting can range from a small, isolated town where everyone knows each other, to a bustling city with numerous hideaways, each providing different challenges and atmospheres for the mystery or suspense.

Fifth Question: How Does the Mystery, Crime, or Injustice Happen?

The next question is How? How does the crime happen? How will the ultimate culprit have secret access to the victim? What evidence will there be at the scene of the crime that will begin the formal or informal investigation? And who will those initial clues point to?

If it's not a crime novel, how did the underlying mystery come to be? Is it a generational sin that transferred through generations to a child or grandchild? Is the estate house not at rest because of a secret that it and the family are keeping? How does that play out? How does the story dilemma or conflict come to be?

How the crime happens will be only known to you as the author. The real motivation, suspect and last revealing clue will need to remain hidden until Part 4 of the Story Structure. But knowing how the mystery happens, who is ultimately responsible and how that last clue will be discovered will give you a destination in the storyline. This will be the secret pathway you are following when writing the entire story.

SIXTH QUESTION: WHEN DOES THE MYSTERY OR CRIME HAPPEN?

Will the story be set in a specific time period? Will it be a general contemporary book that won't reference any specific time period at all? Or will it be specifically cast in an era or time period that will require research?

Is the time period of when the story occurs relevant? Is your emerging storyline a historical novel? Will the timeframe of the story determine how the case is solved? In other words, will it be before the internet? Or before cellphones? And if so, how relevant is the timing or era to the story?

Will the time period affect what ultimate genre your book will be placed in? Will it qualify it as a historical novel? Is it possible to set the crime novel back in time in order to market the book as a crime story and a historical novel? It makes things easier if you can decide on this in the brainstorming period.

These initial questions will allow you to sketch in a storyline with very broad strokes. The victim, protagonist, suspects, setting and time era are named and sketched in only as stick figures or location suggestions only.

Don't be discouraged if everything seems bland or one dimensional. Working from this one dimension until you lay in a mystery or crime spine of the story will ultimately make fleshing out the story so much easier.

Be sure to check out Part 2 of this series to find out the next set of questions.

Below is a video I made from this material:

How to Brainstorm A New Story

WHAT TO DO IF YOU NEED TO WRITE A STORY AND YOU’RE STUCK:

Mastering the art of writing captivating mysteries. Unleash your creativity and weave intricate tales of crime and suspense.

This worksheet is geared for those who want to write a mystery or crime novel. It helps with writer’s block too. It breaks down the process into small bite-sized pieces and it will get your motor going without any effort.

Just follow the suggestions, summed up easily below, and you will have at least the start of something within minutes. There is a link below to download the three-page instructional and checklist.

If you are an intermediate novel writer, here is a graphic of the overall process without the instructional questions:

THIS WORKSHEET HAS MULTIPLE PURPOSES:

If you are stumped for a main story, or if you are stumped for what happens now, or even if you have written yourself into a bit of a corner, this instructional will help, along with your own creativity and thinking, to bring about new possibilities.

Jump into the series of steps wherever you are in the writing process and it will help you restart your engine. Once you go through the process a time or two, I’m sure it will become your go-to procedure.

THE LISTS | CHOOSE FROM COLUMN A AND COLUMN B:

Below is a closer look at Page 3 of the Worksheet where it will give you a wide birth of choices for mysteries and/or crimes. It’s hard for one mind to think of all the possibilities without some kind of aid no matter how creative one is.

START THE WORKSHEET BY CHOOSING A CRIME OR MYSTERY:

Let’s talk about how to use this work sheet. Choose a crime or mystery from the list below and make up a potential perpetrator. Don’t waste time on what he or she looks like. Then start asking the following questions:

Why would this person want to commit this crime?
What could be going on in his/her life that would make him/her feel they needed to commit this crime?
How would he want to cover his tracks?
What specific knowledge would a character need to pull off a crime or swindle like this? In other words, is he/she an accountant and that makes it easier to commit a financial crime?
Then ask: Who would need to help him or give him/her cover? Add necessary characters and think about a connection. Is it a family connection? Is it a romantic connection?

THE NEXT SET OF QUESTIONS TO ASK:

Once you have a perpetrator and the cast of necessary characters, then it’s time to answer the following questions:

What could go wrong in the commission of this crime that would create tension or mystery? (He drops a glove or a drop of blood.)
How will these clues ultimately lead to his/her exposure? (How will this clue be found?)
How can this end in a way that would let justice prevail? (How and who will find the clue?)
How will the culprit ultimately be caught? (Is he cornered by an accuser? Is he arrested? Does he confess?)
What is one clue that can be minimized in the beginning of the story but will turn out to be the one who catches the bad guy?

NEXT SET OF QUESTIONS:

List the things that could go right for the perpetrator — like a second, more-likely suspect pops up and suddenly all eyes are not on the real culprit anymore?
Could there be other likely suspects that would also have motivation to commit the crime?
As the story grows, add whatever crucial characters are needed (witnesses, husbands, wives, bosses, helpers, etc.) who you will need to make the crime and solving of the story happen.
If you get this far, it means that you have a viable storyline.

THE SKELETON OF THE CRIME:

Before you exert too much energy fleshing out any character or story details, be sure to check to make sure you can design a three-prong storyline out of this budding storyline. One prong will be a red herring storyline, someone who may look guilty, but is exonerated in the middle or end of the story. The second prong is a second suspect or a wrong suspect who will look guilty for a large segment of the storyline. And the final prong will be for the real culprit. In order to have a story that works, you will need a believable crime that can meld these three prongs into one suspenseful story.

I always make four believable storylines and then choose the best one. Then I know I have the best of my ability at that time in my life. Once you know you have a storyline and a lineup of stick figures and character roles that can technically pull off the mystery, so to speak, then you can begin to build real characters and an actual story.

THE CHARACTERS BUILD THEMSELVES:

Once you know what will be needed for the three-pronged storyline and what traits the lead characters will need to play out their parts, the characters will start building themselves into two-dimensional characters. You can take the characters up to deeper, three-dimensional characters as you flesh out your main story and subplots.

LIST OF MYSTERIES, CRIMES & GENRES

I hope this is helpful. Once you know you have a workable storyline, then it’s time to take a look at my Ultimate Character Development Worksheet. This will help you bring the stick figures to three-dimensional with a full character arc.

MYSTERY NOVEL BRAINSTORMING FOR BEGINNERS

THE BEST TIP I CAN PASS ON TO BEGINNER WRITERS:

Writing a novel is a huge undertaking. There are many things that go into the writing of a fiction story. The best tip I can pass on is this: Break everything down into little bite-sized pieces. By doing this, you can reduce a huge project down to do-able portions that can be done whether you have 2 hours a week to write or two full days! It only requires a little planning and organization.

ALL NOVELS REQUIRE SOME SUSPENSE:

Regardless of what type of novel you choose to write, all stories require at least a semblance of suspense. Suspense is what hooks the reader into the story, and it is what pulls the reader along the story and keeps them reading. Suspense creates a question the reader desires an answer to. The greater the suspense, the more hooked the reader will be.

READING OTHER AUTHORS:

It’s important to keep reading as your own journey as a writer continues. Each author has a different style and uses different storytelling techniques. The stories don’t even have to be great. You can learn from the good, the bad and the bland. Just analyzing what made a book bland is a great lesson in itself. Did the story need more action? Did the story get stuck somewhere?

When I read novels now, I can usually tell whether the author is a pantser or a plotter. If the story sags in the third section, I can tell the author got caught in part two of the three-act structure.

The books I read now are twice as enjoyable because I experience them as a reader but as an author too. I get to enjoy the story itself but also watch and learn the author’s storytelling techniques too.

WATCHING MOVIES FOR INSPIRATION:

When I am in the process of writing my own novels, I tend to read less because I’m reading and proofreading my own pages. During these times, I like to vegetate by getting lost in a movie. I watch movies specifically to learn from them. Believe me, you can learn a lot about the actual storytelling craft from watching movies. They can also be a source of inspiration for your own stories.

It took me almost a year to come up with my first story for a novel. One full year. I didn’t know where to start. I had ideas, but didn’t know how to brainstorm them into a potential story.

WHERE CAN DO YOU GET IDEAS FOR A FICTION STORY FROM?

Ideas for stories in the beginning will come from TV movies, Cinema movies or other books you read. Reading other authors is crucial no matter where you are on the writing spectrum. However, when you’re new, you can learn a lot from watching mystery or crime noir movies. I like movies from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. The movies in these decades didn’t have CGI and the directors had to use the stage to tell the story. They used wider shots and props to assist the storytelling. By watching these older movies, you can learn a lot regarding writing.

The movies of today show the location scenes once and then do close up shots of one character talking and then follow it up with another close-up shot of a character talking. There’s not that much to learn about storytelling from these movies. It’s a shame because the sets are absolutely gorgeous, especially in the fantasy movies.

To the left (or above) is a screenshot of the Wikipedia page that comes up when you search “1940 in film”. This will give you all of the films and a tiny synopsis of what the films are about. You can pick whatever decade appeals to you.

READ THE SYNOPSIS FOR THE MOVIE FIRST:

It’s a good idea to read the synopsis before you view the movie. Knowing at least a basic outline of the story will allow you to absorb more as an author. If you go into the movie blindly, you will be “experiencing the movie” as a viewer only. By knowing ahead of time what story will be unfolding, it will allow you to watch specifically for certain scenes to unfold. You can watch what tools are used to move the story along.

For example: Notice in the scenes how much information is passing to the viewer by the setting. Besides the timeline of when the story is taking place, it often will give you shots of recognizable icons from certain cities. There are so many techniques you can learn from watching these older movies about all of the tools used to lay out the facts of the story and how suspense is created. Below is a list of things to watch for in stories:

How does the movie show the location of the story? Do they use icons, or text on the screen? Do they use snippets of dialogue? Each movie you will learn different tricks for showing time and location.
How does the story show either poverty or opulence?
How does the movie present the premise? There will be at least dialogue about what the main character wants or needs. Notice how this is done.
Notice where the suspense of the story starts. Even in non-mystery stories, there will be at least a thread of suspense. It might be suggested by a vision that one character and the viewer see and no one else does. Or it may be a little gossip that passes in a short conversation.
Notice how the passage of time is handled. Is the passage of a few years spoken in dialogue or is it projected in some other way?
Notice how the writers show the character’s weakness or fallen nature.
Notice the change in locations in the story. This is often how the story is kept moving forward.
Notice when the suspense gets stronger.
Watch for how the writers will use lies to create a sense of worry or dread.
For any twists in the story, notice how abrupt it happens. Also take the time to notice if this was foreshadowed in the beginning of the story. Readers love foreshadowing.

MY SUGGESTION FOR A MOVIE:

If you are looking for a suggestion, I would suggest Rebecca for the first movie. This movie was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and it has a lot of gothic atmosphere. There is also a psychological plotline in this story so it is a goldmine for learning storytelling tools.

Most of the synopses on Wikipedia give you an outline of the story but they don’t have spoilers in them. Sometimes I only read about six paragraphs on the really long ones because the purpose is only to know a little bit about what the story will be about so you can watch for how things are handled on film. You can easily translate any of these tools to novel writing.

GOTHIC MOVIES: Gothic movies are great at showing how to introduce fear and suspense into a story. They are also a great place to learn how to use the atmosphere and the location and backdrops to add to the suspense.

FILM NOIR: These movies are great to learn character development. Film Noir is usually about all fallen characters. In other words, they are all sinners, but some characters are bigger sinners than others. This is a great way to learn how to craft a fallen

LONG SERIES: These are great to learn about how the location and things in the room or backdrop help to relay the story. You can learn a lot about the passage of time, how flashbacks are handled, how to introduce new characters in preparation to take the story in a new direction. Miniseries like Downton Abbey and other miniseries are a great place to learn about what is going on.

MELODRAMA: Melodrama has fallen out of favor in recent times, but I personally think it needs a comeback. You can learn about melodrama from old world soap operas. I think the only one I can think of is Dallas. It’s on either Amazon Prime or somewhere else you can watch it. These types of shows are good for showing how to blend romance, cheating, and other emotional scenes into the story.

You don’t have to commit to watching the entire soap opera. You can learn a lot about storytelling tools by watching only a few shows.

Blow is a copy of the entire Brainwashing Sheet I referred to above. You can read the blog post about how to use it here.

And you can sign in to download your copy of the sheets below:

MYSTERY NOVEL BRAINSTORMING WORKSHEET

This worksheet is geared for those who want to write a mystery or crime novel. Even those wanting to write literary fiction, you will need some level of mystery or suspense to keep readers hooked into your story. Literary fiction is about character studies and life studies than technical mysteries, but every book needs at least some level of suspense or surprise every so often to keep a reader’s interest. Even in a slice-of-life novel or a family saga, there needs to be something that is mysterious about the plotline.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS WORKSHEET:

When I first decided to write a novel, it took me one full year (I’m not kidding!) to even come up with a crime. Today, using these methods I’m about to reveal, it only takes me two to three days to think up three or four mystery scenarios.

My wish is that this worksheet will help those beginners who don’t know where to start and are still trying to think of a good crime.

THE LISTS | CHOOSE FROM COLUMN A AND COLUMN B:

Below I have lists of crimes and also mystery genres. This list is meant to jog your memory and get your creative juices flowing. All of the crimes can be swapped into any genre. The list at the bottom is of multiple genres, but this is not an exhaustive list by any means. Just look at the categories on Amazon to get a feel for how many book genres there are today.