Back in the Writing Saddle

Yesterday, I got up-to-speed on the Lainey Quilholt mystery--read through the twenty-some pages I'd written last year, before I stopped. I took a long break from writing. I needed it. Not sure what this year will bring me, but I'm just going with the flow for now.

Yesterday I wrote over 1,800 words past what I'd had. I finally wrote the scene I simply wasn't able to do, as yet, last year. Not that it was hard, or anything, I just wasn't in the mood to write. Opening up all my notes on this I find I've made not only the manuscript, but notes for what I think will become a series for my YA mysteries, I created one just for the characters names (and all details on them I need at a glance), and the places which they go or which are in the story. And then there's what I want to call notes on writing the mystery--I find all that I can on writing them from other blogs, and I've pasted them down in this file.

I've never attempted writing a murder mystery--just a straight mystery--before. No vampires, no supernatural anything. I might give Lainey a touch of precognitive abilities, but nothing out of the ordinary. I say I've never written a mystery before, but that's not really accurate. In all my Sabrina Strong books, there is a mystery to solve. Working on a straight murder mystery is a bit of a challenge because I need to know who the murderer is, why he/she did it, and what makes them tick. And then, I have to somehow make it seem impossible this person did it, while throwing at the reader a couple of red herrings (no more than 5, is recommended). And also, somehow, I have to have my main character--Lainey--somehow privy to certain information. Thus, I have her living with her aunt (she lost her parents a few years prior to opening of the story), who is dating the small Iowa/River town police chief. This way, she would have some access to certain procedures, and to the police themselves. This is a cozy mystery, of course. And, since it's a YA, too, so much the better that I won't get into the grisly scenes of the murder--that happens off page. And since it's a YA, also, I won't be dealing with too many adult situations.

That's all I have time for today. Hope your writing is going well. Or, if you need a break, it might be the best medicine. I know it was for me. Talk soon!