I'm not blocked, it's just terrible!

Nancyleeny

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So my mystery goes, murder, interview, interview, interview, interview, another murder, interview, interview, etc., climax, resolution, conclusion.

I have 20,000 words of interview, interview, interview. I have my ending written. No one will get to it. I'll be arrested for murdering readers through boredom. Ugh.

I am reading books with tips. I am rereading my favorite mysteries to study the structure. I'm not a boring person at all, but I'm missing something.

My subplot is marriage difficulties. She's an ex-drinker, she's a triathlete who bumped into the body while out swimming in the ocean. She is a teacher and makes custom cakes on the side. Kind of autobiographical. Except for the body. And the drinking.

Any suggestions where I can go to learn to liven this up? I think it's a structure problem, lack of direction. I have an outline that reads: interview, interview, interview.

Thanks,
Nancy
 

alleycat

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There are so many things I could suggest that I'm not sure where to begin.

One thing that seems to be lacking is increasing risk (tension) to your protagonist, both external and internal. Is the marriage subplot going to tie back in to her solving the mystery? What is going to be the cost or potential cost to the protagonist by investigating this murder? Will her involvement cause more trouble (the second murder?). What is her internal conflict?

Some things you could do to "punch up" the interview scenes is having them in interesting locations (for example only, maybe one of the people she has to talk to is a lobster fisherman; she has to go out on the leaky boat in order to interview him), or having the interviewee try to avoid the protagonist, having a goofy witness or two, have the police try to keep the protagonist from meddling, have the protagonist threatened, etc.

I wonder about your outline. I don't think it's doing the job you need it to do. Another format might be helpful to help you create a better structure.
 

Nancyleeny

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There are so many things I could suggest that I'm not sure where to begin.

One thing that seems to be lacking is increasing risk (tension) to your protagonist, both external and internal. Is the marriage subplot going to tie back in to her solving the mystery? What is going to be the cost or potential cost to the protagonist by investigating this murder? Will her involvement cause more trouble (the second murder?). What is her internal conflict?

Some things you could do to "punch up" the interview scenes is having them in interesting locations (for example only, maybe one of the people she has to talk to is a lobster fisherman; she has to go out on the leaky boat in order to interview him), or having the interviewee try to avoid the protagonist, having a goofy witness or two, have the police try to keep the protagonist from meddling, have the protagonist threatened, etc.

I wonder about your outline. I don't think it's doing the job you need it to do. Another format might be helpful to help you create a better structure.

Thank you for your excellent suggestions. Yes, I need more tension! And goofy people!

Could you suggest what other formats are used to create structure? Thank you very much!
Nancy
 

alleycat

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I might consider leaving out the cake decorating business unless you can use it in solving the mystery. Being a teacher/athlete/recovering alcoholic involved in a murder would be complication enough, I think.

Send me a private message (PM) if you're interesting in discussing an alternate method of plotting you story.
 

Nancyleeny

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I might consider leaving out the cake decorating business unless you can use it in solving the mystery. Being a teacher/athlete/recovering alcoholic involved in a murder would be complication enough, I think.

Send me a private message (PM) if you're interesting in discussing an alternate method of plotting you story.

Thanks! And I LOVE your kitty!
 

alleycat

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Well, I just changed my kitty. I change avatars every few days.
 

Namatu

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I always aim for explosions when I need more tension in my story, but alleycat is right to suggest you look for ways to heighten the stakes. Remember, too, that interviews can be interrupted.
 

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Maybe the outline and plotting itself is what's causing the boring parts. I always follow Elmore Leonard's rules and leave out the parts people skip. (The boring parts!) Maybe you need to let your characters run with your plot a bit more. Relax the plot, play up the characters. Of course, I am not a best-selling author, so you can choose to ignore me.
 

Namatu

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Outlines always cause the boring parts for me. I take them as a literal road map that must be followed. (Funny mind.) So now I have n'outlines. Very big picture, here's the main arc, here's what I need to research, and I will think through the details, but I will not write down what should happen. Toward the very end, when I've got only a quarter of the book left to write, I draft bullet points that, in short sentence fragments, address scene-by-scene what needs to happen. That's to make sure I tie up all the necessary threads. I find this gives my creative side more room to mess about and dodge any bits that start to feel too boring. Sometimes changing the POV also helps, if your book is told from more than one perspective.
 

onesecondglance

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Great advice from all the above.

I'd be looking at the second interview. Find a reason it can't happen - what conflict prevents the detective from getting the info that way? How can they get that info another way?
 

lizmonster

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Everybody needs a ninja.

One pacing tip I've found useful: each chapter should be its own short story: it should have a beginning, a complication, a high point, and an ending. Of course, things such as where it starts and where it ends are defined a little differently when you're mid-story; but I've found this to be, in general, not a bad way to do things.

As always, of course, there are places where this is exactly the wrong thing to do. :) But I tend to find if I have flat, meander-y chapters, it's because they lack their own internal arcs. If I start thinking of them as their own little nearly-stand-alone vignettes, they work better.

Usual disclaimer: YMMV, nothing is right for all writers, stories are different, there are a zillion ways to tell a tale, etc.
 

Wilde_at_heart

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There's no investigating at all?

Without knowing more about the MCs, etc. it's hard to tell, but maybe some obstacles for these interviews - someone doesn't show up, someone else proves hard to find, etc.

Also, what comes out of these interviews? More information? A strong sense someone is lying, etc.? There's more room for the MCs to do something afterwards.

In one WIP I have on hold right now, the police visit crime scenes, go to where a victim once lived to look for things, etc. There are interviews too, but only a handful.
 

Nancyleeny

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I am on my way out for a few hours, but when I get back, I am going to reread and study all of this good advice and see where I can apply it. Thank you so much for your generous help!!
Nancy
 

Namatu

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How did I not know this existed before now?

One pacing tip I've found useful: each chapter should be its own short story: it should have a beginning, a complication, a high point, and an ending. Of course, things such as where it starts and where it ends are defined a little differently when you're mid-story; but I've found this to be, in general, not a bad way to do things.
This reminds me of a something I do when I critique. If a scene is meandering, or the characters are being entertaining but you're not sure of the point, highlight the need-to-know information - what in that scene propels the plot forward? If the ratio of need-to-know (NTK) to anything else is wildly disproportionate to NTK's disadvantage, there's a problem. The visual impact of the highlighted text versus everything else can be impressive. Figuring out what to do once you see it is another matter.
 

ironmikezero

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From a professional investigator's perspective it seems like a couple of steps are missing. After an interview, the information garnered must be corroborated or refuted. Then your MC knows the witness/interviewee is either reliable or lying.

Interviews always generate revelations and new leads - very useful for ratcheting up the tension and manipulating the pacing.

As true (corroborated) facts accumulate, the scope of the investigation narrows; but, never so much as to preclude a very viable red herring or two. Your MC (and readership) should be susceptible to the allure of such a red herring right up to the point of an unanticipated twist that plunges your MC into a well of despair and frustration.

Your tale, from your MC's perspective, should be its bleakest before the dawn of resolution.

Final resolution can only be achieved by your MC reevaluating the evidence from a different perspective, bolstered by some insightful epiphany that has some connection to your MC's inherent character flaw/shortcoming (recently overcome or accepted). The more surprise involved in the resolution, the better.

Hang in there... Best of Luck!
 

Jamesaritchie

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As Elmore Leonard said, leave out the parts readers won't read. This means nearly all the interviews. I limit interview to four pages, and only three per book.

If it's boring, it has to go. Sounds like your outline may be the whole problem. Replace interview, interview, interview with get shot at, take a wrong turn on the trail, and, damn, I never would have guessed that.
 

Jamesaritchie

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Interviews always generate revelations and new leads - very useful for ratcheting up the tension and manipulating the pacing.





Hang in there... Best of Luck!

Well, not always. Sometimes you can do twenty interviews and come up blank. Nobody knows nutin.

And in a novel, interviews should usually be very short and to the point. If nothing is revealed, that interview should take place backstage.
 

sheadakota

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as someone else said- what about investigating? and with the investigation comes danger-someone tries to kill someone else to keep them quiet- or tries to kill your MC to keep him/her from finding out the truth-

and then- and then... well lots of other stuff could happen- like ninjas- or more clues and the MC being pissed that someone tried to kill them. and maybe he'she is tempted to get revenge- or not- but see- make your MC do something- put him in a tree and throw rocks at him really big rocks- that hurt when they hit.
 

tarak

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as someone else said- what about investigating? and with the investigation comes danger-someone tries to kill someone else to keep them quiet- or tries to kill your MC to keep him/her from finding out the truth-

and then- and then... well lots of other stuff could happen- like ninjas- or more clues and the MC being pissed that someone tried to kill them. and maybe he'she is tempted to get revenge- or not- but see- make your MC do something- put him in a tree and throw rocks at him really big rocks- that hurt when they hit.

I had similar thoughts. Your MC logically needs to follow up on the information discovered during an interview. That gets him/her out of a room and into the world, where anything can happen.
 

cbenoi1

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One thing that seems to be lacking is increasing risk (tension) to your protagonist, both external and internal. Is the marriage subplot going to tie back in to her solving the mystery? What is going to be the cost or potential cost to the protagonist by investigating this murder? Will her involvement cause more trouble (the second murder?). What is her internal conflict?
Bam. Right on the nail's head.

Three things happen in Mysteries. One is that the Hero starts with a small corruption and discovers - clue by clue - a bigger and bigger corruption. In the movie "Chinatown", PI Gittes starts with a cheating husband, then ends up with a murder, then political corruption, until he ends up discovering that Los Angeles has been built on a giant fraud.

The second is that the cast of suspects starts out large and shrinks with the discovery of successive clues. All the suspects have their own little secrets (ex: each has his or her own reasons to want the victim to be dead). It's not about WHO did it, but WHY.

Third, the Hero gets to become personally involved - entangled - in the plot. Finding the truth becomes a very personal thing. Like Chinatown's Gittes whose PI license and very existence is at stake.

> So my mystery goes, murder, interview, interview, interview,
> interview, another murder, interview, interview, etc., climax,
> resolution, conclusion.

Each interview (I'd like to call them 'plot points') should be able to do three incremental things: 1) point to a larger corruption, 2) eliminate one or many suspects, and 3) get the Hero more and more involved personally.

A good example of those three trends in action in a novel can be found in What a Mother Knows.

Hope this helps.

-cb
 
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onesecondglance

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The other thing I'd say is to not get downhearted. Repeat after me: you can always revise it.

If it's your first draft: you can revise it.
If it's your twentieth draft: you can revise it.

There is no giant foot that will stamp on you from the sky* if you don't get it right first time. That you can recognise a problem in your ms means you can fix it. Head up and good luck.

* sorry, been re-watching Python...
 

Nancyleeny

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I watched the Ninja video, but I'm not sure how that applies to a mystery? Does it mean a sidekick? A protector? Sorry to be doltish, just want to be sure I'm understanding.
 

Nancyleeny

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The other thing I'd say is to not get downhearted. Repeat after me: you can always revise it.

If it's your first draft: you can revise it.
If it's your twentieth draft: you can revise it.

There is no giant foot that will stamp on you from the sky* if you don't get it right first time. That you can recognise a problem in your ms means you can fix it. Head up and good luck.

* sorry, been re-watching Python...

Thanks, I have been getting down. This morning, I woke p and was so discouraged, I was like, Forget it! Maybe this was a crazy idea! I should know more about the genre, I read it all of the time.

The other issue is I need to sit down and write. I'm on a sabbatical but always have 1000 things going on. I have an interview I have to write up today, etc. I need to just sit with this.
Best,
Nancy
BTW, I just love Python!
 

Namatu

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We were just playing with the ninjas. It's the other stuff that's more relevant. Unless your plot calls for actual ninjas. ;)