writing a novel – Read First Chapter.com

Writing a Novel in 8 Layers – Work Flow Demonstration

HOW TO VS. WORK FLOW DEMONSTRATION:

There are many blog posts and videos on the internet about how to write a novel. Much of the advice is general in nature and only broad-stroke tips. This video seeks to go one step further and open my last book, which is still being proofread in Layer 8, and show a work-flow demonstration.

WRITING TIPS AS AN APPLIED SCIENCE:

Many of the tips that I came upon when I first started writing were great but I didn't know how to apply them. Many techniques require a second phase of 'how to apply this advice'. This is most times missing from the how-to blogs and videos.

THIS IS THE VIDEO I WISH I HAD WHEN I STARTED WRITING:

I am not holding myself out as an authority on writing or even writing techniques. The purpose of this video is to show one work flow that other newbie writers can see that will hopefully help them see the theories in these how-to videos and blog posts in action. That's my purpose here.

WRITING IN 8 LAYERS:

I am in the process of finishing my 14th novel. I started out like many of you as a self-taught author who took in unorganized, uncurricularized information and had to make sense of it all. I devised this 8 Layer system to try to write a novel as efficiently as was possible. I offer it to you for whatever weight you wish to give it.

VIDEO 1 - Layers 1 to 6

In Video 1, I go into the process of coming up with a broad-stroke storyline that you know you can use as a story spine. Presently I use FreeMind.com software; it's free and it's easy to use. I go into a little detail about this, but I have other blog posts and videos on my YouTube Channel where I go into more depth about how I do this.

Then I go into Scrivener for Layer 2 through Layer 6. I demonstration what happens in each layer and I try to give beginner tips in each layer to further help the newbie.

VIDEO 2 - Layers 7 & 8 - in Microsoft Word

In the second video, I go into Microsoft Word and complete Layers 7 and 8. I believe by seeing this behind-the-scenes look at a real novel, it will encourage newbies who may be struggling with the actual work flow of writing a novel. I hope you enjoy it.

Be sure to join my newsletter for book promotions, free books, movie reviews from a writer's perspective and some other goodies I will share along the way.

Writing a Novel in 8 Layers – Explanation and Time-Saving Tips

LAYER 1 - Putting Together the Skeleton of the Mystery or Crime

In a mystery, crime novel, or thriller, the clues and their revelations need to be planned so the story clues can remain disjointed in the beginning, but then slowly come together like a jigsaw puzzle. This keeps the reader guessing -- which is part of the mystery readers' enjoyment.

Layer 1 requires the skill of story engineer, not so much an author. In my humble opinion, trying to write around this initial phase of story scaffolding is is one reason why novels can take authors years to finish. Scaffolding-panel.png

So the first layer is to storyboard only the crime or the mystery of your novel. This layer can look like a long list of crimes and clue elements,
or it can look like a mind map sketched in pencil on the back of a large piece of wrapping paper, or it can be done in a mind-mapping software.
But there will need to be initial planning of where the mystery begins, where it leads, and how it ends. That's what goes on in this layer.

WHAT TO FOCUS ON IN LAYER 1:

An example for a Layer 1 crime mystery would be the following:

1. Lay out the chronology of the crime.
2. Who is or are the Victims?
3. What is a list of clues that could lead to the solving of this mystery?
4. Determine what the final clue will be that reveals the true culprit and think about how you can hide this clue in plain sight. This will be the clue that solves the mystery.
5. Determine what the first three or four clues will be that will bring in multiple suspects. Give each suspect a motive for the crime and decide how and when you will reveal this motive
6. Choose an unlikely suspect and give this person a good cover story.
7. Even at this early stage, figure out how the mystery or story will end. This can be changed during the creative process, but knowing where your story will end, will give you a writing destination. This will prevent you from winding up writing yourself into a corner somewhere or writing yourself into a tangent that will have to be nixed anyway.

WHAT ABOUT OTHER GENRES?

Now, sometimes you will be writing a story that has a mystery ribboning through it but it's not as organized or as detailed as an actual crime mystery. Your outline will be shorter but will contain a skeleton of all the action. Below are two examples of writing a ghost story and writing a Gothic scary-house story.

LAYER 1 IN A GHOST STORY:

1. Who is the Ghost? Why has the Ghost arisen? Why is the Person not Resting in Peace? What is the Ghost's purpose for appearing? This is the backstory that will be dropped like breadcrumbs throughout the storyline. (Ghost-Story.png)
2. How can the Ghost first appear that will raise the question that maybe the viewer is just crazy? Or maybe the viewer is just paranoid? Give them a reason for this paranoia.
3. How will the Ghost appear and what clues will the ghost drop in order to trigger more of the mystery behind the Ghost's restlessness to play out?
4. Choose how the story will end and if the Ghost will achieve its goal and whether the ghost will now rest in peace or will the Ghost be back for another book in the series?

LAYER 1 IN A SCARY-HOUSE STORY:

1. What is it about the house that's creepy?
2. What is the House hiding? Is there a secret room? Is there a hidden person?
3. What happened in the house to make the house haunted or unsettled?
4. How will the mystery of the house play out? What is the chronology of the clues about the history of the house and why it is haunted? These are the breadcrumbs in this kind of a storyline.
5. Choose how the story will end and if the house is destroyed or if the house destroys someone, etc.

FORMAT OF LAYER 1:

Layer one can be done in a list format or with a mind-mapping software, or even with a pencil drawing your own game board or storyboard on the back of a large piece of wrapping paper. Choose whatever format helps you the most. If you're new, try each one. Finding the right tools for the right job is very helpful.

If your Level 1 looks like any of these, you get A+ Layer 1.

LAYER 2 - Break up the Story into a four-part structure or 3-act structure.

Open up a fresh manuscript document and split the clues and events into a four-part novel structure or a 3-act-story structure, whichever one you prefer. So this layer is easy and takes about five minutes.

LAYER 3 - Writing the Scene Outlines (Scaffolding & Storyboarding)

In Layer 3, you will refer to the Skeleton of the crime outline you already created. Following the chronology of the crime and the clue drops, write an outline of each scene. This is nothing more than another list of what needs to happen in each scene. You are not the writer yet. You are still the story engineer or the storyboard creator. This is the second phase of scaffolding that is setting the story up for when the writer comes in. The list should be concise, more like a list than big paragraph chunks.

Below is a Scene Template I use. I don't worry about the Point of View in this layer because you can wait to choose it. I wait to see who "steals the scene" when I'm actually writing. But I include it in a Scene Template.

POV:
TIME/LOCATION:
PURPOSE/CLUES:

CHOOSE A TIME AND LOCATION:

Choose a time and location, but don't describe any locations or characters yet. Purpose and Clues is a reminder that everything written has to have a purpose and every scene in a mystery should have some clues or a crime.

In the video on this subject matter below, I go into a few extra tips on using the scene template to help you in other ways.

LAYER 4: DOWN-AND-DIRTY FIRST DRAFT - NOW YOU'RE THE WRITER!

In Layer 4, you are finally the writer. The scaffolding is in place and now it's time to start writing the story. The first draft is the hardest layer of writing.

It may help to think of yourself as more of a Town Crier.

Your job in this layer is to blurt out the entire story. Just get it down in paper. Don't worry about spelling, grammar, descriptions of people. Like the cops say -- Just the facts. Write out the story and don't look back. Don't re-read anything. Don't get lost in verb tenses. Write and don't look back. Only look at your scene outline to make sure you have covered everything. That's the only concern.

THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT IN THE FIRST DRAFT:
Choose a location for the scene and a time. (Nothing is written in cement)
Make sure all of the clues and anything else from your scene outline gets into the scenes.

THINGS THAT DON'T MATTER IN THE FIRST DRAFT:
Spelling, grammar, sentence structure, too many adverbs, scene or character descriptions, foreshadowing, cliffhangers, quote marks, etc.
Just write what happens in each scene with whatever dialogue comes to you.

In the video below, I go into some detail about why this is important and how it can save you time in the end.

LAYER 5: 1st Proofread (The Read-through)

I call this the first proofread but it's really the first readthrough. Run a grammar and spell check in the beginning. This will clean up some of the down and dirty mistakes.

Begin to read through the novel as a writer. This is the layer that you will put in the descriptions of your main characters and the scene descriptions. You are not line-editing in this layer. You are reading for context and to make sure that your sentences flow one to the other and that the chapters flow from one to the other.

LAYER 5 CHECKLIST:

1. Are there any descriptions you need to add to this scene?
2. Is there any surprise in this scene? If so, can you rewrite it to make the surprise be a cliffhanger at the end of the chapter?
3. Has the POV been established?
4. Check on head-hopping.

SCRIVENER TIPS FOR LAYER 5:

Using Scrivener Find and Replace feature, set things up where you will automatically focus on your weak points. For example: I make all "ing" endings capitalized. I also capitalize the words BEGIN and BEGAN as well as the phrase IN ORDER TO. This way, I can't just scan over them without noticing them. It forces me to check whether I can change the format of the verbs or the sentence structures to past tense, etc.

Then I proofread the entire novel and focus on these changes. Here is a checklist for the scenes in this layer:

LAYER 6: The 2nd PROOFREAD

This is the layer you start polishing your prose in. Spellcheck and grammar check again before you begin. Then read through the entire novel for context and this time look at your sentence structure and verb choice.

SCRIVENER TIP: USING KEYWORDS FOR A CONTEXT CHECK:

Layer 6 is where I add the keywords in Scrivener. By using keywords, you can isolate certain scenes and then see them isolated from the rest of the novel. This is a great way to check on certain things in any story. Examples: Romantic Subplot, wedding talk, vampire events, interviews, clues dropped, etc.

Layer 7 - The Hardcore Proofread

Below is a list of things I do in Layer 7:
1. List Troublesome words - Just, like, adverbs. Compile a list of your favorites. I have compiled a long list of words that trip me up and I go over them in this layer.
2. Check your chapters in Grammerly for grammar verb tense.
3. Then I compile from Scrivener to a Word .docs file and paste it into an eBook template and save it as a Manuscript. I file it in a folder called Pre-Publication. Then I open it in Word and run Word's spell check and grammar check on it again.
4. Then I read it as a final proofread (even though it's not the final proofread!)
5. Check all Chapter Names are in Heading 1's for the Table of Contents
6. Fill in the Other pages: Title Page, Other Books By Page, Title and Author Page, Copyright, Table of Contents, Note to Reader, Acknowledgements, About the Author, Other Books By Page)
6. Find and check all quotes to make sure your quotes are in sets.

LEVEL 8: - FINAL PROOFREAD AND NARRATION

1. Using the read aloud feature in Microsoft Word, I read the book aloud as I read along with it. This gives you an idea of how the book will sound in the reader's mind.
2. I make any final corrections in this last proofread.
3. From here the manuscript goes to an Editor.
4. Then I forward it to myself as an ePub and while it's being edited, I read it again on my Kindle to see how it looks and feels from the reader's perspective.

VIDEO ON WRITING IN 8 LAYERS IS BELOW:

5 Mistakes I Made in Publishing My Vampire Book Series

LET ME SET THE STAGE:

This post will be about 5 Beginner Mistakes I made in Self-Publishing one of my book series and what I did about it -- which was pretty much nothing. I'll also go into what I am going to do about it now that I learned a lot more about what went wrong.

Most of these mistakes were ones that were not even on my radar at the time they were made.

Let me give you a bit of context: As I came close to retirement, I decided to write a novel or two. I chose to self-publish for many reasons that I've gone over in other videos and I won't go over now. And to this day, in spite of the mistakes I've made, I still consider self-publishing a good fit for me. (Just me)

When I first got the idea of writing a novel, I did research for about a year. I read several how to books on every subject under the title of writing a novel and self-publishing. (Cat on book shelf)

I also watched hundreds of videos on the subject. Like most people, all the information I came upon, especially in video format was great advice, but none of it was curricularized. When you self-study online, you take in just a steady stream of random information and then we're all left to sort it out ourselves. That's how free education works on the internet. (Text Panel 2: Information wasn't curricularized

So above is a list of the chronology I pieced together as being the proper chronological list of how to write and publish a book:

MISTAKE NUMBER ONE:

In this big cloud of random information I took in, I got ARC Readers and Beta Readers kind of mixed up or thought they were too closely related. But they are two different animals.

Beta Readers often times read books very early in the process -- before the book is even finished to give early feedback. This is a great idea if you're not sure about your characters or if the plot is good enough, etc. Let's face it, in the beginning it's hard to think you're book is a masterpiece when it's your first one -- at least it was for me. There is a definite high-level purpose in having Beta Readers. They are worth their weight in gold.

However, here is where I made the terrible mistake and found out the hard way about this particular landmine: I offered my Vampire book Darius - A Vampire Story as a beta book but it had not been finalized, professionally edited or proofread. Now, in the ad copy for the link to download, I clearly posted it as a beta copy that had not been edited, etc. However, once a book is downloaded to an eReader, no one will remember this book is only a beta copy. And the second mistake I made here was that I didn't put anything in the book itself.

I didn't put any explanation paragraph before the First Chapter. I didn't add a watermark. I assumed my explanation about the Beta copy that invited the download was enough.

Well, when I finalized the book and released it, I got slaughtered in early reviews. I assumed as a new author that maybe it wasn't that good. However, several of the reviews referenced typos and/or grammar mistakes. When I went to the finalized copy to of course correct them -- they didn't exist.

The first time this happened, I just thought the reader was a bit crazy. But after this happened several times, it was only then that I realized that I had released hundreds of beta copies that now lived on people's eReaders. And for some reason, there are a lot of readers who take typos or grammar errors personally. It seems to trigger them and their reviews are more like rants.

So poor Darius got all beat up in the early review.

MISTAKE NUMBER 2

Mistake Number 2 was what I did about this problem -- which was pretty much nothing.

I wish I could say that I recognized the gravity of the mistake right away, but I didn't. I just thought that some people had read an earlier copy and that's a shame, but what can I do about it now? I didn't realize that there were probably hundreds of these copies out there. I had no list of who I sent these early copies to.

Now, I also didn't realize that this series was going to go on for 5 books. So, in hindsight, what I should have done was pull the first three books and re-release them as a second edition. This is what I plan to do in January of 2025 because that's when I'll be releasing the fifth book in the series. So doing nothing about this was the second mistake.

Now I have a hard and fast rule: I never give Beta copies in download format. I now only pay for beta copies and send them in Microsoft Word format. I also include verbiage that it is a beta copy and hasn't been edited or proofread.

MISTAKE NUMBER 3:

GoodReads is probably the largest single pool of avid readers and book lovers out there. But goodreads can be a tough crowd for new writers. This is where Darius's bullying started. If I had to do things over again, I would not have focused on Goodreads as a first place to release my books -- even after they were fully edited and proofread. Unfortunately, many of the videos I watched during that first year, talked about how great goodreads was helpful to find beta readers and arc readers and launch a book.

To be honest, I never found any true beta readers or arc readers there. I found mostly people who like to download free books. So I would just caution newbies that GoodReads is not the only game in town and you may need some boxing experience before you enter that ring. That's all I'm going to say about that.

A SIDE NOTE ABOUT GIVEAWAYS:

Goodreads has been purchased by Amazon, I believe, and they did offer a giveaway for $119. At least that's what it was at the time I used that service as a giveaway for edited books. However, I found the reviews very harsh or even snotty at times. I had much better experience giving the books away with Freebooksy and even Fussy Librarian for less than $119. I also got better reviews using Bookfunnel and Storyorigin free book giveaways. As long as you don't put your books into Kindle Select, you can still give them away on these websites.

MISTAKE NUMBER 4:

I didn't realize that the categories on Amazon have a hierarchy to them. It may have been because we were originally allowed to put each book into 10 categories. I had watched a video by Author Chris Fox about writing to market and he was explaining about drilling down in the categories and writing to a specific sub-category. Now, he writes sci-fi and in particular, military sci-fi.

At the time he said this, I thought writing to a specific market just to make marketing easier would be awful. It would be like pulling an assignment out of a hat and having to produce a book about it. I'm just not that type of writer. So I let that concept float away in the wind and just picked ten categories that seemed like they would be a the best fit for my books and the rest of the concept of writing to market was lost on me, at least at that time. I moved onto other things.

Over time, pretty recently, I did figure out that the categories are hierarchical and Chris Fox' advice came back to me. What he was saying was that new authors can focus on subcategories in order to dominate in those smaller categories in their to number 1 on the best seller list. In other words, you can rise to number one in a sub-sub category way faster than rising to the top ten in Romance, which is a top tier in the hierarchy.

In the video below, I do go live at Amazon and demonstrate how the categories are hierarchical and how to dig down and see which ones are available for you.

So the time to think about the categories is before you even plot out or write the book. Once you have a plot idea, that's the time to look at the categories and think about where the book would fit, and what you can tweak about the storyline to fit into a sub category or a less competitive category? Can you make the story happen in the west to be a Western Romance? Can you put the story into olden times to make it a historical novel, ore even better, put it in a specific time period? The time to think about categories is right after you have know you have a workable plotline.

In looking back, I could have tweaked a few of my books to fit them very easily into sub-sub categories without changing the storyline much.

MISTAKE NUMBER 5:

Mistake Number five requires a little explanation. My inspiration for my vampire series was the old Dark Shadows Soap Opera from the late '60s and early '70s. I never watched it as a kid but everyone I knew did. I didn't watch it because I had to walk too far to get home from school in time. This vampire series, like most soap operas at that time, was melodramatic and being a gothic and supernatural story, the storylines were completely crazy. But I loved the show anyway.

What I didn't realize at the time I watched it was that these crazy storylines came from real books. They just seemed crazy to me as they played out in this soap opera. In fairness to the writers of Dark Shadows, they had to produce 5 shows every week without fail.

So, with limited knowledge of the whole vampire genre, I went on to write a vampire book series. My vampire owns and operates a funeral home and keeps a bevy of 3 women to supply the blood he needs. He normally picks up runaways from the train and bus stations, but he winds up falling in love with the daughter of a wealthy, influential family in Newport Rhode Island. There is also a monastery of monks that live on the opposite side of the cemetery that Darius also owns.

No one in the area has any idea they are living next to a vampire and there are some supernatural events that start happening around the Balmont Funeral home, one of which is a mobster from New York looking for his daughter who was last seen with Darius. That's all I'll say about the plotlines.

Now, my series does follow the classic rules on vampirism with a tweak or two. However, there is also a little subtle tongue in cheek narrative in the story, which was more prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s vampire movies.

So how does all this fit into mistake number 5? Well, there's no category for tongue-in-cheek vampire stories. Also, fifty years have passed since this show ended and a lot has happened to the vampire genre in that time. First there was Anne Rice and her books and subsequent movies which are all dead serious and there's no tongue in cheek humor of any kind. I only read the first book and it was steeped in darkness and despair. Because I read for enjoyment, the level of despair was too much for me so I never read the other books.

Then there were the Twilight movies, the TV shows of True Blood and The Vampire Diaries, which were targeted to much younger people. Some of the backdrops were high school or college. And there was the rise of the vampire hunters. My book is a vampire book for adults or young adults who are not interested in high school or college anymore. But there's no amazon category for vampire books for adult. And my books also have no vampire hunters.

None of these were on my radar when I wrote the book. I thought books were judged on how well they were written and if people liked them. I didn't know reader expectations was even a thing!

Then I came upon two videos on a channel called Tristan and the Classics that changed that. It changed my whole trajectory and sent me on a new journey where I learned so much information that is not only helpful but I consider it crucial for newbies.

So as I realized that my books were not really fitting well in any of the vampire categories, I went on to create my own Teach Yourself Gothic Literature course based on Tristan's suggestions. This journey helped me to understand more about writing to market, and about reader expectations in particular, both are which I now feel are critical in self-publishing.

I actually took Tristan's suggestions about the self-study program one step further which I'll go into in the next blog post and video.

WRITING EXERCISE – Analyzing a Murder Mystery TV Show

BRITISH MYSTERY SHOW WHERE EVERYONE IS A SUSPECT

I've started watching several British Midsomer Murder Mysteries during the last two weeks while I proofread my latest novel, Where is Lucia. I love the British mysteries as they are famous for having several suspects in the story, all of whom seem guilty. And the real murderer is always a shocking surprise.

I decided to analyze one or two of the stories to see how the script writer handled the suspects and hid clues of the real culprit.

I watched this on YouTube where it's free. I'll have the show below where you can access it on YouTube if you want to watch it too.

MY PROCEDURE FOR THIS IN CASE ANYONE WANTS TO TAKE A SHOT AT DOING THE SAME WITH ANOTHER SHOW:

I chose a murder mystery that I had already seen. I knew how it ended and I was then able to focus only my author mind on watching for clues, subtext and foreshadowing while I watched the show.

The name of the show I chose was DEATH AND DREAMS. I used my cellphone and an app called "One Note". It has a dictation feature on it. I also had a small notebook that I jotted down a few notes on so I wouldn't forget to mention in my dictation review. I paused the show and dictated my notes. When I opened my laptop, I copied and pasted them into this blog post and cleaned it up.

Many British script writers specialize in murders where everyone is a suspect and there are more than two or three suspects in each drama. And the real culprit is always a surprise.

Below is the analysis I did after watching a Midsomer Murder Show on YouTube. It's free with ads. I'll post the video below in case you want to read my analysis and see what you think.

THE OPENING SCENE VS. THE SHOW OPENING:

This show opened with the camera walking through a common middle-income family home. A radio was playing a call in show. The woman speaking was referring to her kids being downstairs and probably laughing at her for calling the show. The announcer had the usual fake enthusiastic voice talking with her.

The camera moved slowly during two minutes of this show talk and then you saw a man sitting in a chair with his head back. His eyes were closed but it was not possible to determine if he was sleeping or dead. The camera then showed an elaborate knotting system of fish wire that was strung around to a shotgun on the other side of the room. Then you heard the explosion and the camera showed you a grizzly scene of a man blown down into a bloody mess against his stove.

The next scene was the usual opening of the Midsomer show, which is an introduction of very sweet music showing various scenes from English village life. Each scene is beautiful, cottages, ducks waddling around, beautiful weather, long windy roads, lots of trees. This opening made the last scene seem even more ghastly.

As an author, I think following up a ghastly scene with a scene of domestic life would have the same effect.

INITIAL CLUES - SUICIDE:

The next scene shows Det. Barnaby and Sgt. Troy show up and discuss what they see. Troy draws a conclusion that it has to be suicide. Det. Barnaby is not so sure. He wonders why the guy didn't just go outside and shoot himself; why the elaborate fish-wire setup.

Barnaby notices a silver trophy that is present on the table. He smells what's inside and he also sees a bottle of wine present in the kitchen. They mention that the housekeeper is the one who found him.

INTERVIEW WITH THE HOUSEKEEPER:

The housekeeper, Mary May, confirms she found him when she showed up at 8:30. Her affect is off, however. This is one way the writer cast some doubt about her. She was too contained, too reserved in her reaction with the cops.

She goes on to say that she and others may have seen this coming. Mr. Martin Roth was a mean man. He hadn't paid her for 4 weeks before he died. She went on to say he owed a lot of people money. She also said a lot of people didn't like him. This too creates the possibility that maybe someone else wanted to murder Mr. Roth.

NOTIFICATION OF THE ESTRANGED WIFE:

Barnaby and Troy go to notify his next of kin which is his estranged wife, Sarah Roth. She says he was a miserable drunk, gambler and cheater and also physically abused her. She is shocked however when they say her husband killed himself. She is now living with another guy, Gordon, who is a part time chemist/pharmacist and local musician who leads a small town marching band. They have a small baby that she is taking care of.

The wife does show some guilt when she says she hopes it wasn't over her. It comes out that her husband wanted her back and he kept coming over when he was drunk and shouting things at her from outside. When Barnaby is there, he sees similar trophies to what he found at the murder scene. Silver cups. This casts suspicion on the wife or her new boyfriend. Her ex made all kinds of trouble for her and her new husband who were set to be married as soon as the divorce went through. This, of course, could be a motive as well.

Somewhere in the beginning Barnaby gets a report that Mr. Roth was on a large amount of Tenzine and this is an antidepressant but it would have rendered him incapable of pulling the trigger. He was killed first and then blown apart. The cops know it's murder not suicide.

THE CHEMIST FINDS OUT:

In the next scene, Mary May, the housecleaner, runs into the pharmacy and tells Gordon -- Sarah's Baby Daddy -- that she found Martin Roth shot dead. He almost rudely escorts her out of his shop without explanation. It makes you wonder if she is just a gossiping troublemaker.

BARNABY'S OLD COLLEAGUE FROM MERCY PARK ENTERS THE STORY:

Next we find out that Martin Roth was receiving psychological treatment at a local psych hospital that was run by his old pal, Dr. Jane Moore. Jane runs the institution and is widowed now. Her husband died on a climbing expedition a few months earlier. She is now taking care of her three step children, two of whom witnessed their father's death, but they all appear to be a happy family.

Dr. Moore is referred to as a psychological profiler and she worked a case with Barnaby in the past. He has great respect for her, but Troy resents a chumminess that exists between them -- probably because Barnaby is a married man.

Dr. Moore is shocked to hear her ex-patient killed himself. She admits she used to go there and check in on him. You get the impression it may have been friendship or she is just being a good doctor.

THE DOCTOR'S FIRST PARTY - THE ANNIVERSARY:

Dr. Moore has a party to celebrate her hospital being open for a year. Barnaby brings his wife and Toby comes with Barnaby's daughter, I think her name is Cilly. This is where the young resident says he would do anything for the doctor and the two daughters are standing next to him. They roll their eyes at him and the younger one giggles at him. They think he's a fool.

Troy still doesn't like the closeness between his boss and Dr. Moore. He decides to leave with Cilly and he wants to go to the obstacle course at the hospital and climb the elaborate rope climbing.

Cilly sees movement in the bushes, but she dismisses it because it was only a second. The viewers know there's someone in the bushes. Troy tries to climb but he's a little tipsy from drinking and he falls down onto the ground and laughs. Cilly says, I'll show you how it's done. She climbs up with no trouble and as she comes to the top, she looks up and the young resident is dead and hanging from a hangman's rope. Cilly tells her father the next day at lunch about seeing the bushes move and thinking someone else was there but she can't be sure.

The medical examiner says that this victim was drowned in the creek behind the climbing equipment and dead first before he was strung up. They also found Tetrine in his pocket, the same pills that Martin Roth had taken. It's starting to look like maybe it was the resident who was the murderer.

THE DRUM MAJORETTE OUTFIT HAS ARRIVED:

Now, in the next scene, the chemist is on the phone and he's whispering to someone that a little something has come in the mail and maybe you'd like to come and see me sometime. You hear his baby in the background which makes him seem even more sleezy.

DR. MOORE STICKS UP FOR HER RESIDENT:

The two cops are in the hospital looking through a bunch of stuff. Troy tells the doctor that the resident had Tetrine pills in his pocket and she replied that he probably had them to give to the patients. Troy asked here, why did he bring them to the party. You can tell there's a little tension between the doctor and Troy.

Then the older cop shows the doctor that there's a letter he found. He's holding a letter about Dean Honeysette, stating that in light of his recent behavior, he recommends that all of his privileges are suspended. Being a gardener off premises is a big privilege. It was signed by the resident. This makes the viewer believe that this would be a reason for Dean to kill the resident, to protect his privileges.

THE COPS TALK TO DEAN AT THE HOSPITAL:

The cops find Dean in the hospital and he's very guarded and uncooperative -- also still pretty weird too. And they asked him where he was last night when the resident was killed and he claims he has an alibi. He was in the wing of the hospital and there are 4 people who saw him. It was lights out at 9:30 and he claims he was in bed.

They ask him about his criminal record and it comes out that he was a car thief but he did resort to strangling someone then.

Dean tells the cops that he didn't kill the first guy and he said he didn't kill the second guy (the resident), but he thinks the second guy who died was weak. He said this place needs strong people like him and Dr. Moore. He claims that people look up to him and feel that he has been through everything and is still okay.

Dean also tells them that he told the doctor not to put the obstacle/exercise course along the river creek in the back, but the rope guy insisted that's where it should go. He knew it was going to be trouble.

THE COPS GO SEE THE ROPE GUY:

As the cops pull up to see the Rope guy, he is acting weird and says that he loves rope, the feel of it. He asks the cop to smell the rope and reveals it's the best rope in the world. It's from the middle east somewhere.

He goes on to tell them that his family before him were Rope Guys. He had a distant relative who was a hangman. He says this with pride. He comes off like a nutball and he could easily be the culprit. It also comes out that Martin Roth also owed him money. They were supposed to go into business together. He shows the cops a stand that has a few handmade toys or some kind on it. That was the money Roth never gave him.

THE CLOTHESLINES BEGIN TO DISAPPEAR:

Then in the next scene, with no explanation to the viewer, you see a woman taking clothing off of a clothesline, an innocent domestic scene. She has her children in the yard with her. After she leaves, someone off camera comes up and cuts the clothesline at both ends and takes the rope away. No explanation.

MEET THE BABYSITTER:

The cops both go to talk to Gordon the chemist and Sarah his wife but they are out. The Doctor's daughter, Hannah, is babysitting. She gives him a cup of tea and they make pleasant conversation. She tells him she's nervous about what's happening all around them in the village. He tells her not to worry, they are on the case. She tells him she wishes they could all move away from there and go someplace where they could all take care of their mother. She asks Barnaby if he will be going to her mother's second event -- the second party. I can't remember what the occasion is, but it's the second party the doctor has at her place. Barnaby says, oh yes. Barnaby asks Hannah if she likes the marching band music. She says, oh, no, it's so silly with those outfits they wear. She rolls her eyes. She has no interest in it.

DR. MOORE'S SECOND PARTY:

They go tot he party but this one is set up like a little town bizarre or carnival. Gordon and his band are all dressed up in their uniforms and they are playing music at the affair.

In the background, the rope guy is present and acting generally weird, but nothing relevant, just weirdo stuff, looking mean and dastardly as he was playing one of the carnival games.

Dean is also there and he is wearing his Nazi look and demeanor. He's eating something and just pushing it into his mouth like a complete nut ball.

Mary Mays husband is a referee and he is organizing them into a tug of war. On one side is Dean the weirdo and his bunch of other guys. On the other side is The Rope Guy and his bunch of other guys. As Mary's husband counts down, the guys begin to pull before he says go and they all wind up falling down. The ref begins to scold them and Dean comes up and starts strangling him. The cops come and wrestle them apart.

Just at that moment, Mary Mays shows up and says what's going on here? And she reports on a terrible crime that just occurred at her house. They go and her clothesline has been put down. Hers and her neighbors. She left the crime scene alone, in other words, the clothing was still on the ground. Troy is about ready to roll his eyes when she refers to it as a crime scene.

Troy also tells Barnaby that he should arrest Dean because he's dangerous and he had the motive and means to be the killer of all of of them. Barnaby doesn't want to act yet. Troy thinks he is allowing his feeling for the doctor to get in the way.

THE CHEMIST GOES ON HIS SECRET RONDEVOUS:

The camera shows Gordon put son a new uniform he bought, adjusts his hat, opens the door and says, "I'm glad you were able to come". Viewer can't see who is at the door. Scene ends.

ANOTHER ROPE CUTTING:

Mary May's husband throws the garbage out from his business on Main Street. He looks across the street and someone has cut the rope that was holding his English flag up and it's now laying on the ground. He's outraged and like his wife, he considers this a serious crime and call the cops.

As Troy is dealing with Mary's husband, he looks over and sees Sarah with her baby in a carriage knocking on the pharmacy door calling out her husband's name. Troy goes over and finds out Gordon never came home last night.

Two musicians show up to the music room for practice and knock, but no one answers. They think it's odd, but wait. Then they go in and see Gordon has been hung from the back of the door in the music room. He's dead.

When Barnaby and Troy show up, they see scuffle marks and they believe that he too was killed first, and then strung up. It's all about the rope. His wallet and valuables were still present. It wasn't a robbery. They notice a package wrapping that is left on a couch. They trace it and find out it was for a majorette's outfit.

MORE CLOTHESLINES:

There is another inexplicable scene where you see a farmer riding on his tractor. Off to the side he sees something. The camera shows rows and rows of clotheslines that are holding some kind of brownish muslim sacks. There's no explanation. In the midst of these sack is a the new Major music jacket Gordon bought for himself. The scene ends without any real explanation.

DR. MOORE IS AGAIN HORRIFIED:

The cops go and tell Dr. Moore and she says it's horrible. She comments that he was harmless. She can't fathom why anyone would kill him. She tells them she has to show them something. She brings them into the back of the hospital and all the ropes have been removed from the obstacle/exercise course.

THE COPS VISIT THE ROPE GUY AGAIN:

The two cops go to visit the rope guy and when they arrive, he is walking out of his business. He tells them he was about to come and see them. He shows them that he has been cleaned out. Every rope he owned is gone. All of it. He only left to get something to eat, he couldn't have been gone fore more than an hour or so.

BARNABY MEETS WITH SARAH:

Troy still thinks the killer is Dean. Barnaby is still investigating. He goes to see Sarah Roth, the Chemists grieving girlfriend. She is upset about losing Gordon. Barnaby asks her if she ever noticed the trophy missing. She said, no, she didn't. He asks if her husband every told her it was missing. She said no. Barnaby asks if maybe Hannah the babysitter could have taken it. Sarah scoffs and says, no, she would never do anything like that.

Barnaby asks her if she knows anything about her husband getting a drum majorette's outfit. She said, no, he didn't mention it, but she knew he wanted to get majorettes for his band, but she told him she thought the village was too conservative for that. She wasn't alarmed at all by his behavior. Sarah tells Barnaby that Gordon thought her ex-husband took the trophy and that could be because he was always hanging around, watching them, and starting trouble.

BARNABY CHECKS OUT THE FARM WITH ALL THE CLOTHESLINES:

Next scene is Barnaby going to talk to the farmer and there is a cricket game or some other English sport going on with the doctor's step son. The two girls, Hannah and her younger sister are sitting on a blanket with food and tea. They give Barnaby a tea.

The younger sister gets weird and asks Barnaby if he's ever been on a picnic with their mom. He says no, and she says, I bet you would like to. Her sister tells her to be quiet. Barnaby takes it all in. He takes the musician's coat that was hanging on the clothes line and he goes into his car. He puts his head back and closes his eyes like he wanted to take a nap.

When he wakes up, it's dark outside. He looks around and he sees some kind of movement over by the clotheslines. He gets out and goes over to see what is going on. Someone throws a rope around his neck and begins to strangle him.

Just in the nick of time, Troy pulls up and beeps his horn. Whoever was strangling Barnaby is thrown to the ground. He is taken to Dr. Moore's house and given some whiskey or something to settle him down. Her kids are all there with her. Barnaby is nursed back into shape by Dr. Moore and her kids.

THE COPS GO LOOKING FOR DEAN:

After this, the two cops go looking for Dean. He hasn't returned to the hospital. They find all kinds of rope in his closet. Then they go back on the grounds to another area that he used to work in. They open up a shed and there's more rope inside there too.

Dean shows up and tells them that he saw Troy and his girlfriend in the yard that night. He was ready to cut the doctor down, but they showed up. (This resolves who was in the bushes when Cilly saw them moving).

He then says that he had to remove all the ropes so the killing would stop. It was the only thing that would stop the killing. Barnaby asks him how many are we talking about? He doesn't answer. He then refuses to talk.

BARNABY FIGURES IT OUT ON HIS OWN:

In the next scene, a white van pulls up and the school kids get off. Dr. Moore's kids are on the bus. They are then taken into custody and separated for questioning. Barnaby starts with the older sister.

She is snotty and scoffing and basically unresponsive for awhile until she figures out they have evidence on her. She finally comes clean and admits that they killed everyone and she ends by saying "no one will ever take our mother from us."

THEN THE REAL PSYCHO ENTERS THE SCENE:

The next scene is when the younger girl comes in for questioning. She asks where her mother is. There is a guardian there for her but not her mother. At first she just looks nervous.

Barnaby asks her a few preliminary questions and she is a little more cooperative than the sister. He asks her if she loved her dad and she said yes but goes on to admit she loves her mother more. Barnaby asks her if her brother and sister witnessed their father's death. She giggles and whispers to him that he didn't fall from the cliff, her brother and sister pushed him. She giggles and giggles. She's weirder than all three previous weirdos in the show. The actress playing the sister had spaces between her teeth and this made her seem crazier and more psycho when she giggled.

THE LAST SCENE - BARNABY IS REALLY A GOOD HUSBAND:

In the last scene, the older cops wife pulls up in her car and she seems like she doesn't know what's going on. She asks him why have you asked me to come here? He tells her I may need you for this. They stand together as a couple as Dr. Moore meets them.

The show ends by Barnaby putting his arm around Dr. Moore's shoulder and walking with her and his wife into her hospital. He is telling her that her kids are all psychos and they were the ones who killed all the people.

The only thing that was left out of this narration, to the best of my knowledge, is that when Hannah and Barnaby were talking, it showed Hannah pulling the fish wire to fire the gun. It also showed all three kids holding the Resident underwater to drown him. They also showed the brother strangling Gordon while the two girls taunted him by mimicking drum majorettes.

WHAT I LEARNED AS AN AUTHOR:

I found it surprising that they had about three scenes where nothing happens except characters act mean and crazy. Like other viewers, I didn't think twice about it as I watched the show the first time. I just thought these guys looked guilty or crazy and could be a suspect.

Secondly I learned that there was very little if any foreshadowing about the sisters during the entire show. Aside from their connection to the head of the hospital, there was no real connection to them until almost the end when it was time to wrap up the 1.5 hour murder show. I didn't think anything of this when I watched the first time which means the author got away with it!

Thirdly, I learned that bookending grewsome scenes in between two sweet domestic scenes makes the horror worse somehow. This is an important takeaway.

Fourthly, I learned that you don't always have to offer a reason right away for a character acting weirdly. It's okay to have some scenes where something strange happens with no explanation until later on.

Next I learned that there was no mention of the absurdity of having this serial killer on the loose in a small village in England and there's no press around and people seem to just take it in their stride. In the same way that a person agrees to suspend belief in a horror or science fiction movie, they will also suspend belief about the level of murder for the sake of a good murder mystery.

I also noted that the two sisters were not weird at all during the entire show, but in the last scene, for the sake of a little horror, the writer made the girls quite ruthless and horrible. To me, this also relies on the reader/viewer agreeing to suspend belief for the sake of a good mystery.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

If you would like to discuss this show, email me at rshannon at readfirstchapter dot com.

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:

Writing Fiction or Memoirs With a Purpose

IT'S IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHY YOU WANT TO WRITE.

Everyone writes for a reason. Knowing why you write is important, especially as a beginner writer. Writing a book is not hard, but it can be a long process. If your purpose for writing is clear, this will give you the energy and inspiration to spur you on if and/or when the going gets a little tough.

Are you writing for pleasure? Are you an avid reader and you want to write the books you never found? Do you want to write around some social commentary you have a desire to share? Writing is a form of sharing. What is it that you want to share? Your wit? Maybe Satire? Have you always been told that you're funny? Do you have a unique take on society that you think people would like?

I love stories and movies that have a backdrop of Catholicism in them, like The Godfather saga, or The Supranos, or even Ray Donovan. The Catholicism in these stories felt familiar to me and I believe it gave the story a layer of depth as it tapped into religion and culture which tends to anchor a group or family. So I write novels that have either a backdrop of Catholicism or a ribbon of Catholic sensibility passing through it. Of course, I leave out the blasphemy that Hollywood loves to toss in there on occasion!

I also write as part of my legacy. I began to write in 2018 when I moved to Central Florida, which I considered my pre-retirement. Now I have retired and I write full time. I feel that my books will be part of my legacy. I'm clear on my purpose for writing.

ARE STORIES JUST BURSTING TO COME OUT OF YOUR HEAD?

Some people are what I call natural-born writers. They do have stories bursting out of their hearts and heads. Often, these people fell in love with reading as children. Reading was an adventure. It took them up, up and away. Some people have always had a desire to author their own stories. If this sounds like you, you are a natural-born author.

This is usually a sign that you have been given the gift of authoring. These gifts are Heaven-sent, and predate schooling and other influences in your life. If this is the case, embracing your fate is probably the next best step to take.

DO YOU WANT TO WRITE AS PART OF YOUR LEGACY?

There are trades and arts that seem to fall by the wayside in each generation. But often, how to do certain things is lost to history. Do you know how to do something that you feel you need to leave behind? Do you want to write about how you did something that is now fading from the world?

There are young people who don't know how to write a check anymore. They don't know how to address an envelope for the mail. Some don't even read cursive writing anymore.

Listening to a lecture by the learned intellectual and researcher Thomas Sowell, he stated that when Rome fell, the western world lost the art of making bricks. Then when the western world got back on its feet, they had to import brings from England because the art of making bricks died with the civilization. Cement was invented in Rome. They made all of those brick arches -- but the art was lost. What is it that you know how to do that you feel compelled to record for prosperity's sake?

I'm old enough to remember 'phone guys' that worked for Bell South or whatever the phone company was called back then. These men -- they didn't have phone women back then -- would show up with big toolbelts and gaffs or lineworker boots on. These boots had cleats or little metal spikes in them that was a safety feature. These men know everything about the phone system. They would climb the wooden telephone poles and they could fix phones outside on the pole or inside in the houses. They were familiar with the entire system. That is one group of technical workers that have fallen away.

Is there something about an art form or a job that you knew that you want to pass on for prosperity sake? You can write a novel around it and it will serve two purposes: It will be a way for you to tell the story of your industry or job and you will be documenting how life was at a certain time in history.

DO YOU HAVE A BURNING DESIRE TO SHARE A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE?

Very often life dishes out some hard times to some of us. Did you experience, survive and prosper through some difficult times that you feel compelled to write a memoir about? You don't have to have been a famous celebrity or someone with a Moses-like mission. You may have fell on hard times and you want to share your experience, strength or faith that kept you going. People love inspirational stories.

Writing a memoir can also be part of your legacy. Someone three generations down the road may be curious about how the family was back in your times. By having a published memoir, you can share your perspective on things during the times you lived.

Today people no longer write letters. Most photos live on phones that may be lost or stolen. Even photos in the cloud could easily be lost to history without the right username and password. By writing a memoir, you may be someone who is documenting the present in a way that historians in the future may be very grateful for.

SO WHY DO YOU WANT TO WRITE A BOOK?

What do you think? Do any of these reasons resonate with you? Make your first writing assignment to list the reason or reasons why you choose to write.

Here is a video where I had a few more words to say about finding your reason to write!

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.