Murder is My Game

Okay, you'll see that I've completely switched gears from the vampire-themed stories to my mystery series (I hope it will be a series, but we'll see how the first one goes). Yes, there is a big difference in HOW to write a mystery. It takes more thought on where the story has to go, plotting it and so forth, which is something I haven't really done in the past. I had some idea, of course, where I wanted my stories to go, but you need to really know what's going on in the background with your characters--especially the murderer--before you begin. In fact it wasn't until the other day I knew what the murder weapon would be. It wasn't a gun, but a very large, very elaborate hunting knife.

The other day I wrote chapter 5 from beginning to end in one day. Woohoo! In fact, I had my little hand recorder, with me when I woke and made some detailed notes on it before I got out of bed. I haven't had that happen in a while. And yesterday, had multiple ideas for clues and so forth swimming around, so had to jot them down while I was doing other things. Again, this hasn't happened in several months. Now, I guess you can say I've emmerced myself into the writing of this book. At least I hope I won't fall face-first into the mud of embarrassment because I screwed up something.

In doing a mystery I, of course, gathered information around the Internet. Many blogs where the theme is murder mysteries. One is very good, and gives a lot of tips, not just how to write mysteries, but writing tips as well this particular post was helpful: here
I often check what's happening over on MAKE MINE MYSTERY, not always there is a good piece on writing mysteries, but sometimes one makes me stop in and read.

There are multiple ones on police procedures and crime scenes. There are places where you can link to several things, depending upon what you need. Like HERE.

There are a lot of sites out there to help one get things right. Every once in a while I catch something that pops out at me. Like motive, at MMM (MAKE MINE MYSTERY) site.+

When you write a mystery, depending upon the modus operandi is, invariably, there may be a gun involved, and you need to know the ins and outs of guns, the various kinds and so on. Since I'm not a fan of dangerous weapons, and don't carry, I'm flat stupid about them. But I'm learning. Jungle Red Writers has a good forum at the site I've copied for this segment. You don't want to write about something you haven't a clue about, it's best to have something to fact check. I happen to have a nephew who works as a deputy with the county, and have access to him, whenever I need. He's been very helpful. For instance, did you know that police lock their weapons up every night (or when they are home) to insure that no family member has access to the gun so that there are no accidents with it? Anyone who doesn't lock up a gun where children might be able to access it are only asking for a horrible accident.

Anyway, where was I? Right. Handguns. Even though in the mystery I'm writing the weapon is not a handgun, it's good to read up on such things, just in case some issue of guns comes up in the writing. Here was one on MMM about carrying one, how it feels, etc. The editor of an author caught him writing about something he didn't know--GUNS.

Well, I've got a head of steam today, got lots to write, so I'll end this for now.
Happy Writing!