Tuesday, May 17, 2016

The Dirty Dozen: 12 Ways Not to Write a Mystery Novel - Anne R. Allen's Blog

On Panzer's trip into the Catosphere today he was looking for information on mystery writing. His search took him to Anne R. Allen's Blog. Our big bad kitty pilot found a guest post there by Jacqueline Diamond with information about what he was looking for. Jacqueline Diamond is the author of 101 novels published in several genres including mystery, so he couldn't wait to read what she wrote about mystery novel writing.

Plot is important.
According to the post, while researching for her newest mystery Ms. Diamond read several cozy mysteries. She discovered twelve do not do's in some of them. When writing a mystery novel these twelve were definite turn-offs for her as a reader. These do not do's run the gambit from do not have incompetent police to do not under plot to do not over plot. There are nine more she found in her research and they're all important do not do's for as writers to learn.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... Pay attention ... Plotting seems to be a frequent problem in cozy mysteries."

Note: This is a long post, but worth your time. You'll need a cup of tea, a muffin, and a doughnut for today's selection.

To read the post, tootle over to mystery

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