Murder Diaries: Ep. 11

Going to eleven with mystery writing

Flexibility in form and schedule

While I’d originally planned to finish the book by the end of August, I’ve decided to give the process more room — mostly because I have more story to tell. I was briefly waylaid by yet another heat wave, hopefully our last, and am planning ahead for a productive autumn getting this book written.

Here’s what I cover in this week’s episode:

• Break and Inspiration: I took time off for my birthday, which helped refresh my perspective on the novel.

• Out-of-Sequence Writing: I’m still writing scenes out of sequence and share the goals I have for this approach.

• Challenges in Writing Short Time Periods: My novels are set over weeks or months rather than sweeping epics over centuries, so I share the special skills needed for this approach

• Influence of Poetry: I’ve continued to read poetry and have a few craft books on actually writing poems that have been really helpful as I write to share.

• Cross-Genre Inspiration: I continue our exploration of how poetry can be an influence on mystery and vice versa, with some new discoveries.

• Beta Reader Experiment: I have the most unexpected group of beta readers, and can’t wait to dive in with them — learn how I found them.

• Revised Deadline: As you might have realized, the book did not get completed by August 31st, so I have a new deadline to share. Murder Diaries continues!