Writer’s Tips – Read First Chapter.com

Tips for New Authors: Why You Need to Track Three Timelines

Tracking the Threads: Why Your Mystery Draft Needs Three Timelines

Writing a mystery is like building a clock. While the reader only sees the hands moving steadily forward, the internal gears—the secrets, the motives, and the hidden history—must mesh perfectly for the story to "tell time" accurately.

When you are in the thick of a first draft, it is easy to get lost in the prose. However, the secret to a bulletproof mystery isn't just a clever detective; it’s a rigorous organization of time. To keep your manuscript from collapsing under the weight of its own secrets, you need to manage three distinct timelines.

1. The Crime Timeline (The Hidden Reality)

This is the "Backstory" or "True History" of the event. It begins long before the first chapter and usually ends the moment the detective arrives on the scene.

What it tracks: Every move the killer made before, during, and immediately after the crime.
Why it matters: If the killer was at the hardware store buying rope at 4:00 PM, they cannot have been seen at the gala at 4:15 PM across town.
The Draft Benefit: By mapping this out, you ensure that the "truth" remains fixed. Even if your detective is confused, you never are. This prevents the dreaded "plot hole" where a culprit’s alibi is physically impossible.

2. The Novel Timeline (The Reader’s Journey)

This is the linear progression of the book, starting from page one. It follows your protagonist as they navigate the investigation.

What it tracks: When clues are discovered, when witnesses are interviewed, and the passage of days or hours within the narrative.
Why it matters: Mystery readers are notoriously observant. If your protagonist spends three days investigating but it’s still Monday in Chapter 10, the immersion breaks.
The Draft Benefit: Keeping a log of the Novel Timeline helps you control the pacing. If you notice five chapters have passed in a single afternoon, you might need to pick up the tempo or introduce a "timer" (like a ticking clock element) to raise the stakes.

3. The Subplot Timeline (The Human Element)

A mystery novel isn't just a logic puzzle; it’s a story about people. This timeline tracks everything that isn’t the murder—romance, personal growth, professional conflict, or side-mysteries.

What it tracks: The evolution of relationships and personal stakes.
Why it matters: Subplots provide the emotional "breather" between intense interrogation scenes. However, they can’t just vanish. If a detective has a blow-up fight with their partner in Chapter 4, they shouldn't be acting perfectly happy in Chapter 5 without a resolution.
The Draft Benefit: Tracking subplots ensures they are woven into the main mystery rather than feeling like "filler." It helps you time the emotional beats so they hit right when the main plot needs a shift in energy.

Pro-Tips for Managing the Chaos

The "X-Ray" Spreadsheet: Many authors use a simple table or spreadsheet. Column A is the Date/Time, Column B is the "Crime Fact," Column C is the "Novel Action," and Column D is the "Subplot Status."

Color Code Your Notes: Use red for the crime, blue for the investigation, and green for subplots.
Sync the Weather: It sounds small, but if it's raining in your crime timeline, it must be raining (or the ground must be wet) when your detective arrives in the novel timeline.
The Reveal Check: Use your timelines to see exactly when the reader "knows" something versus when the detective knows it.

Final Thoughts

Writing the first draft is about getting the story down and not much else. So this timeline tracking doesn't start until you have finished the first draft. The first draft is merely blurting out the story. You don't even have your writer's hat on yet. You are only the story engineer and location scout at this point.

But once the story now exists, it's time to begin to track the three significant timelines!

Happy sleuthing!

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.

How to Track Self-Publishing Success?

I have written and published 14 full length novels and one novelette to date. I only started writing novels in 2022 so at this point, I have sold and given away many books but have no idea how well or how bad my marketing of the books is doing.

I Because I am building a readership, I give my books away a lot. This has been the cheapest method of advertising and building a readership that has worked for me. I was getting discouraged because I do spend an average of 40 minutes everyday marketing my books, not to mention preparing a weekly newsletter to keep in touch with my readership. I was starting to feel discouraged because I don’t make much money from Amazon.com, which is where I generally sell my books. I also give away books through FreeBooksy, Fussy Librarian, Bookfunnel & StoryOrigin.

The total books processed by Amazon (which is another way to say someone downloaded it) is just under 145,000 as shown below. Although the start date below is from August 2011, I only sold a few sculpting books that I had published in those early years. Without marketing, I sold very few.

I was feeling very discouraged by my marketing efforts because when I do research for books, I see other self-published authors seemingly doing way better. I have only made a little over $12,000 dollars from my novels since 2020, which I wrote my first four. Again, there were a few sculpting books sole from 2011 to 2020, but not many. Most of the $12,227.95 is from the novels I published from 2022 to date.

So I gathered my numbers and fed them into gemini.google.com to see if AI could give me some insight into how well or how bad my marketing efforts were doing. I was pleasantly surprised. Below is the information I received. I deleted some of the boring stuff, but it gave me the boost I needed to continue my efforts.

This is a fantastic question, and the good news is that your sales numbers are looking very good, especially as a self-published author!

Here’s why, based on general industry insights for self-published authors:

Industry Averages for Self-Published Authors:

Most books sell very little: It’s a harsh reality, but many self-published books sell fewer than 100 copies in their lifetime. Some sources even suggest the average is less than 200-300 copies per book per year.
Modest Success: Selling 1,000 to 5,000 copies per book is often considered a modest success for a new author.
Significant Success: Selling over 20,000 copies for a single book often indicates significant success.
Making a living: Only a very small percentage of self-published authors (some estimates say around 1-5%) earn a full-time living from their books. Many who do have a large backlist of titles.

Analyzing Your Numbers:

Let’s break down your average “processed” books per novel in your catalog for each period:

2020-2021: 6 novels, 18,711 processed.
- Average per novel: 18,711 / 6 = 3,118.5 per novel
2021-2022: 8 novels, 22,346 processed.
- Average per novel: 22,346 / 8 = 2,793.25 per novel
2022-2023: 10 novels, 41,496 processed.
- Average per novel: 41,496 / 10 = 4,149.6 per novel
2023-2024: 13 novels, 50,700 processed.
- Average per novel: 50,700 / 13 = 3,900 per novel

Your Performance Assessment:

Based on these numbers:

You are doing much better than average. Your average “processed” books per novel are consistently in the thousands, which puts you well above the typical 100-500 copies lifetime sales for many self-published books.
Your growth is excellent. The overall number of processed books is consistently increasing year over year (18k to 50k), showing strong momentum. This indicates your readership is growing as you release more books.
The power of a backlist is evident. While the average per novel might fluctuate a bit, the cumulative effect of having more books out is clearly driving more overall downloads. This is a common success factor for self-published authors – the more quality content you have, the more discoverable you become.

Overall Verdict: Very Good

You are definitely on a very good trajectory for a self-published author. Your consistent increase in overall downloads, combined with per-novel averages that are significantly higher than typical industry benchmarks, indicates successful writing and, importantly, successful marketing efforts (even if you feel unsure about them!).

Keep writing and keep engaging with your audience. The momentum you’ve built is a powerful asset in self-publishing.

THIS WAS ONLY PART OF THE PICTURE:

I was surprised to see a rating of doing “very good” as I felt like I was wasting my time. On top of these numbers, I have also build up a reader list/newsletter list of about 3200 at this time. Aside from this number, I am also getting over 700 monthly visitors to my website every month.

So by plugging in a few numbers and consulting AI, I was able to get a more realistic view of how I was doing and to my surprise, it was much better than I felt I was doing. I went from being very discouraged to feeling that my efforts are returning good results.

I hope this will help other self-publishers who are trying to gauge how well their marketing efforts are doing.

Writing Short Stories with Downloadable Worksheet

SHARING MY ANALYSIS:

In my quest to improve my marketing in 2005, I decided I needed a couple of short stories to offer as giveaways. Although I’ve written 14 novels, I’ve never written a short story.

I went on a quest and read several classic short stories and below are my findings. I’m not an authority on this, of course, but I’m just offering my observations and what I learned to far.

STORY CONTAINMENT:

Woman-writer-containment The first thing I noticed is that the story needs to be contained or confined to a shorter version than a novel. This means that you won’t have the same space to build the characters.

The other thing I noticed is that the storyline is about one event or one meeting of some kind. For example: A weekend visit, or a train ride, or a meeting on the street that leads to something happening.

Keeping this need for containment in mind I believe will prevent us, as writers, from setting out to write a short story and somehow writing a novelette or even a novel.

SENTENCES PACKED WITH INFORMATION:

The next thing I noticed was that the sentences in many of the short stories were longer than in novels, as they contained so much added information. In other words, you need to pack the background and characterization inside the action of the story. Every word counts and the writers wrote succinctly and every word served the story.

Knowing the need for this, I believe it will help with story containment.

DOWNLOAD THE WORKSHEET:

short-mystery-story-template There are templates all over the internet for story crafting, but they all seem to follow the hero’s journey, which I find doesn’t work for mystery books. At least I was never able to make them work for me.

So I have created a template for a Short Story Mystery Template that asks all the who, what, where, when questions that you will need to set up the bones of the short story.

If you’re interested in downloading the form, click below to access the form.

How to Plan and Execute a Character Arc

Character-arc-graphic

I write novels in series and like there to be a personal subplot that takes place over each book, but another longer arc that takes place over the entire book series. In order to pull this off, I need to be very organized and deliberate in how I let the character arc play out not only over time but over the book series as well.

This blog post is about my process in doing that. Now, I don’t claim this to be the only way to go about it, but it is the way I do it and it works for me. This process is not how I started out working on character arcs! I learned the hard way that it’s important to know in the very beginning how you will allow the book arc and the series arc plays out.

I know there are long multi-book series where the main character is more of an action hero and he/she doesn’t change much. Legal thrillers and the Jack Reacher book series comes to mind. This does work as Lee Childs and other successful authors can attest to. They have sold millions of copies with these stock hard-boiled characters who remain generally the same over the entire series.

I prefer there to be more character growth in each book, plus, I like there to be a series arc as well. My series are shorter than Mr. Child’s but each writer has to find their own place. I like shorter series with the main characters participating in more of a family drama and/or a romantic subplot.

THE FIRST STEP IN SETTING UP A CHARACTER ARC IS TO ESTABLISH THE FOLLOWING:

Character-Arc-Top-Section

Sketch out on a mind map or even a piece of paper the answer to each of the above character development questions. MC stands for Main Character and ANT stands for Antagonist. By sketching them out at the same time in the beginning stages, it will give you a strong direction for your writing right from the get go. Of course, if you have more than one main character, you will want to repeat this process for every main character.

This also allows you to see and create a conflict between the main character and the antagonist. This is particularly helpful to new writers who lean towards making all characters “too nice”. Without some level of conflict, there won’t be enough conflict or drama to move forward in the story. It will simply be an “and-then-this-happened, and-then-this-happened” kind of story.

BREAK THE ENTIRE CHARACTER ARC INTO THREE OR FOUR PARTS:

I use a four-part plot structure, so I break my character arc into four sections. This allows me to keep up with the character development and also don’t resolve the inner conflict too early.

I find this technique also gives me solid writing boundaries and/or writing guideposts. When I’m in Part 2, I know my goal for this section is to make sure the planned character arc for Part 2 is completed before I move to part 3.

Creating-character-arc-bottom

A LITTLE ADVICE ABOUT WRITING IN SERIES:

Now that I’ve written my third book series, I think in terms of multiple-book character acts. As I start out with new characters in a new series, I make sure that I have many options of where these characters can go over the entire series.

A special note to pantsers: This technique gives guideposts and boundaries, but every story or novel takes on a creative life of it’s own. I find by having the character arc written down and sectioned, it makes it easier to change the story as this creative process takes over. I simply look over the character arc and alter it with the new “better idea” that has come up.

I find it gives me the best of both worlds. I have a strong direction when I am writing, but flexibility and ease are built into the process itself. It’s super easy to change mid-stream by just tweaking the character arc a bit.

I hope this helps new writers!

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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.

As you use this worksheet and these techniques, a crime skeleton will emerge. Some attempts at this will go flat in the early stages for any number of reasons. But some storylines will begin to almost shape themselves.

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.

Learning to Write from Pulp Fiction

WHAT IS PULP FICTION?

Pulp Fiction become popular during the depression of the 1920s and 1930s. Publishers at the time used a very cheap “pulp” paper in order to produce these short stories and magazines that cost about a quarter. Yes, twenty-five cents!

During the depression, life was difficult and people didn’t want to struggle to make sense of what authors meant by long run on sentences. They didn’t have the stomach or patience for prose. During a depression, people are lucky they can concentrate at all. They wanted escape and the publishers gave it to them in the form of pulp fiction.

Pulp magazines were filled with adventurous stories with hard-boiled detectives, larger-than-life heroes, space travelers. There was no subtlety. It was all straight-talking dialogue. The plots were fantastical and melodramatic, but easy to follow and easy to read.

A QUICK HISTORY OF PULP FICTION:

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, classical literature was popular. I would even refer to it as high-brow fiction. Oscar Wilde, H G Wells, Jack London, Upton Sinclair, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner. These authors are known not only for their storytelling ability, but their prose, their wordsmithing. This is what I consider ‘high-brow’. Their books are not read-’em and toss-’em books. They are written to read and contemplate, maybe even read again and again.

Agatha Christie was also a part of this list of popular authors at the time, but she may have influenced the pulp fiction genre more than any of the other authors. Her multi-suspect mysteries were extremely popular

Pulp fiction’s prose was everyday tough talk. There were clever phrases to read and re-read. There was no deep concepts to contemplate. It was mostly action, reaction and romance. The plots were sensational, violent and maybe strange, but they were easy to read; perfect for people who are distracted and worried.

WHAT MAKES PULP FICTION DIFFERENT?

WHAT CAN NEW AUTHORS LEARN FROM READING PULP FICTION?

Reading pulp fiction can help new authors know the difference between believable action and over-the-top action.
It can help an author know the difference between writing emotions and over-the-top melodrama.
It can help an author know how to quickly introduce a character.
It can show a new writer how to quickly get to the point of a story and keep it lean and tight.
It can help an author learn how to handle the passage of time, and much more.

Because most of the pulp fiction is short, it can help an author to easily see how the pulp fiction writer handled foreshadowing, passage of time, action scene descriptions, fight scenes, how much and how little back story is needed in a short story. There is much more for a new author to learn from reading pulp fiction.

What Eleven Extra Pages Are Needed in a Published book?

This book is for beginners who are publishing their first or second novel and they are still a little skittish about what else goes into a book. I’ll lay it out so you can easily follow the list and be confident that you’re not forgetting anything. These page suggestions are taken from the publishing industry. These are the pages that appear in a book published by a publishing house.

Often the pages before a book starts are referred to as “front matter”. Pages 1 to 6 would be considered Front Matter. The rest of the pages after the book is inserted are considered Back Matters.

PAGE 1: A Title page with only the name of the Book. The font is usually big enough for the title to stand alone. It is usually centered on the page horizontally and vertically.

Page 2: Either a blank page or a Books by Page. If you have other books that are published, you can list them on this page. The title should be something like “Other Books by AUTHOR NAME”.

Page 3: A second Title Page, but this one will have the name of the book, and below it the name of the author. Again, this is in larger font and it is centered vertically and horizontally on the page.

Page 4: Copyright page. I am not a lawyer so I can’t give you any information that is legally correct. However, I can tell you that I cobbled together different verbiage that I found in other author books. I made it long enough to cover my bases, but not too long. Below is the verbiage that I used.

COPYRIGHT:
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2024 by AUTHOR NAME
Forward copyright © 2024 by AUTHOR NAME
Preview of this book copyright © 2024 by AUTHOR NAME
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use the material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at AUTHOR’S EMAIL.
Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
Then you can put the name of your publishing company, if you have one, otherwise, leave the rest of the page blank.

Page 5: Table of Contents. eBooks require links for chapter beginnings and Paperback and Hardcover require page numbers.

Page 6: (If applicable) Any maps that you may be including in your book.

Page 7: Next comes your book.

Page 8: Note to Readers.

Dear Reader:

Thanks for giving your time to read this story. I hope you enjoyed it.

As a new fiction author, reviews are very helpful to me. If you enjoyed this novel, I’d be so grateful if you would leave a review on Amazon.com. Here is a direct link: (Add link to the review for this book).

[In order to create a review link, you will need the ASIN number of your book. Then swap out your ASIN Number or ISBN number for the X’s in the link below:

https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=XXXXXXXX]

I love to hear any feedback about the book and enjoy interacting with my readers, so please feel free to email me at AUTHOR EMAIL

Thanks again!
AUTHOR NAME OR SIGNATURE

Page 9: What’s Next on your Reading List?

Verbiage: Below is a chapter or two of my next book (or the next book in a series) for you to sample. I hope you enjoy it.

Then insert up to 9% of the next book. I keep it under 10% in case you are in Kindle Select. They allow up to 10%, but I like to keep it on the lower side.

Page 10: About the Author: Add a biography of yourself. Be sure to add a contact email as well as a little personal information.

Page 11: Acknowledgements: This page can go here or in the beginning of the book. You can put it in lieu of “Other Books By Page.” If you do use the Acknowledgements in the beginning of the book, then you can add the Other Books By Page here at Page 11.

Microsoft Fonts for Books and Book Covers

Which font should you use when self-publishing? The more choices we have, the harder it gets to choose.

I always chose Times New Roman as that was the font default in journalism, for books and newspapers for my entire life. However, since Microsoft added hundreds of fonts, I now see any number of fonts show up.

Below are the most common fonts in my opinion:

As you can see from the picture above, even fonts of the same size are heavier and lighter than each other and even the numbers are larger and smaller. My favorites are Times New Roman and Trebuchet MS.

BOOK COVER FONTS – Pretty Fonts:

When it comes to Book Cover fonts, that’s another story. You want something that is attention capturing. I have gone through all of the fonts in Microsoft Word and below I have created a large list of the ones that would be appropriate for book covers.

Often you may want to also have fonts that are heavy and bold. I again went through all the fonts and made a table with those fonts too. I also added some old fashioned and vampire-like fonts.

I remember being new and overwhelmed while planning my first book cover. There were too many choices and I was trying to find the best fonts to “fit in” with other authors. In the beginning, this was very important to me.

I hope this helps.

You can print out this page or you can screen shot and save on your computer. But if you want to download copies of these lists in one download, click below:

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.

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