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

You know that Ray Chandler quote, "if in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand"? Well, if in doubt, add ninjas. I don't think there's any deeper meaning.

P.S. I would totally love to see ninjas in a cozy mystery context.

onesecondglance said:

P.S. I would totally love to see ninjas in a cozy mystery context.

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Elderly ninjas in a retirement community doing tai chi. That would fit in a cozy.

Nancyleeny said:

I have a secret for a lot of the suspects. They belong to a Swingers club. There is nothing graphic about it in the mystery, as this is a "cozy mystery" of sorts, not a harder edged one, but t set up a lot of jealousy amongst them. It sounded good in theory, but in practice, they are just all blabbing, all the time.

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Maybe you need to develop these characters a bit more in your mind. What motivated them to join this Swingers club? What do they get out of it that feeds that motivation? Do they have any personal quirks or might they be hiding something unrelated that still makes them appear shifty?

Rounding out characters, even those who are just visiting the page briefly, helps me feel like they're making a significant contribution rather than just filling space and spilling some important beans. None of us here can gauge your characters so this is meant only as a "this is what I do/how I approach my tertiary characters."

I have the hardest time with villains.

But I could totally take on a ninja.