Excited to be nearly finished with the final editing of my second murder mystery/thriller, Sanctuary. A trusted, critical first reader has been invaluable with editing, finding typos (although there will always be more), and suggestions for improvement. Would love to have a publisher take on my new novel, and will send it to a few who do not require agent representation, but I’m more interested in getting it out to my “public.” It’s been about three years in the writing and time to move forward, so will take the self-publishing route again as well.
- Turn to real life occurrences as the impetus for your novel (which is what I did for The Incident and Sanctuary).
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Read the best writers in your genre. In my case, I will again read PD James beginning with An Unsuitable Job for a Woman.
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Start the novel with an inciting incident, in my case – murder. An inciting incident is the plot point or event that hooks the reader into the story. It’s the particular moment when an event thrusts the protagonist into the main action of the story.
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Write every day – or at least set aside dedicated time to think about what you want to write.
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Create an outline of how your story will proceed. This is not cast in stone and can be easily altered as the writing and plot line unfolds.
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Get out and walk most days to clear your head.
The ideas have begun percolating in my head and will soon find their way onto my computer screen.
