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@godlyfantasy12 You want transitions…welp, I just watched a semi-detective movie, so maybe you’d want some action scenes? Maybe some people who don’t want her to be on the case can come and threaten her or something? At least, if I were you, I’d add more opposition from several different parties. But that’s just me. *glances at WIP with 3 different antagonistic parties*
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
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I have an idea about your character who’s related to the murder victim. I get what you mean about not wanting it to seem like she’s blowing off the tragedy, but also getting her to move quickly through the grieving stages simply because she has no choice. (I think that’s what you meant – if it isn’t, you can just disregard this, lol.)
Anyways, at about the 80% mark of my WIP, my main character goes through something very similar. Her oldest son, Reuben, dies, but she’s forced to move quickly through her grief. I find that what really helped me in writing successfully about her emotions was to make a list of why exactly she’s forced to move on. (If that made any sense?) You might try making a list for your own character. Here’s my list, just for an example:
Reasons Temira is forced to move on from the tragedy of Reuben’s death:
1. She still has her youngest son, Seth, to care for. Seth is only seven years old, and he’s already seen a lot of violence and been forced to go through a lot of tragedy. The same day Reuben died, he and Temira witnessed Paul’s torture and arrest before the whole city. Obviously this is all very traumatizing for a child so young, and being his mother, Temira must be strong for him.
2. She must comfort her son’s widow and small (now fatherless) daughter.
3. Paul is in prison, and he doesn’t know of his nephew’s death. Temira has to tell him, which she obviously doesn’t want to do because he’s been through enough, and now he’s languishing in prison. But if she lets him see her grief, she’ll make things even harder, so she has to stow her feelings away for his sake.
I found that after I made this list of reasons why Temira is forced to move on, it became a lot easier for me to understand her and what she would have done next. So it was a lot easier to write about this part of the story without making it seem like she was blowing off Reuben’s death.
I showed her comforting Seth, her daughter-in-law, and granddaughter, while at night she privately mourned and tried to get through her own grief in prayer. I showed her frantically rehearsing in her mind how she’s going to tell Paul his nephew is dead. But when she actually tells him, she’s rehearsed it so much that she’s calm. Basically, in front of everyone else, she’s a solid rock. It’s only in private that she lets herself grieve. But later everything becomes too much and she does break down because she’s given so much energy in caring for others and hasn’t thought to care for herself.
So that’s an example I thought might help you. I hope it does! Those times when your characters have to hold in their feelings are tough to write about. Sometimes I wish my characters would always say/do what they’re thinking, because that would make the writing so much easier for me, lol.
First off, this sounds like a lot of my own problems in writing. Secondly, I don’t quite understand the question. Is the question about writing a good character arc? Or about making the plot move smoothly? Or something else?
God gives His hardest battles to His strongest soldiers.
TeenWritersNook.com@issawriter7 ….Yea im not entirely sure what I need either XD. I’m just struggling.
@gracie-j so any idea when u might be able to give me those tips or whatever? I’d really appreciate them.
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#ProtectSebAlso thanks to everyone for the tips!
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@godlyfantasy12 It’s long, so here’s the first part.
Firstly, I totally understand what you’re going through! I’m only 28,000 words into my murder mystery, but I’ve already encountered these issues, and I think I know how you can skirt them.
#1 Jocelyn. When dealing with the loss of a loved one, things can not be taken lightly—unless you’re writing a murder mystery. My heroine, Kerri, lost her abusive husband—so she’s not enduring the emotional trauma most widows would. However, she is upset over his murder for multiple reasons, so, yeah, she’s grieving—but at the same time, she’s trying to help her brother-in-law and a private investigator discover who really killed. In the case of murder, your best route is justice. Jocelyn can grieve (i.e., cry, scream, lock herself up in her room), or she can be hellbent on justice (or revenge, if she’s that kind of person…). One way people even in real life deal with grief and pain is by searching for the answers—in your case, the killer. To make things smoother, you can put her in a mindset of complete focus upon finding the killer. The reader will understand that’s her way of mourning and even honoring her uncle’s death, even if it looks like she’s moved on on the outside. Take superheroes, for example. Batman and Spiderman lost loved ones, but once they dried their eyes, they became superheroes to prevent other innocent people being killed. This method may feel a little confusing at first, especially if Jocelyn’s a very happy, bubbly person—but the laser-sharp focus is actually a very realistic reaction and it will come smoothly.
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#2 Speaking of smoothly… My advice to you would be to forget the scene-by-scene outline. (No offense. 😉 ) Take it one scene at a time. Your plans will change as your characters guide you, trust me. The best thing to do is list all of the things that have to be done in order of when they should be done. For my mystery, that list looks like this:
Forrest—talk with Langley. Kerri—set funeral date and speak with barrister.
Forrest (my detective)—talks with servants. Kerri—attend funeral.
Forrest—rule out relatives, finally. Kerri—reading of the will.
Kerri—brother shows up. Grandfather grows ill. The issue is taken to court.
Kerri—dealing with both relatives and stepping on Forrest’s toes as he riffles through desks and offices. Grandfather grows suspicious on top of everything else.
Forrest—lists of employees, colleagues, etc. Speaks with business partners.
Kerri—finally sends Grandfather packing, telling him that their original contract could not be found, that the will stated she inherited everything.
Firstly, a lot of stuff may happen in between all of those things I listed–but that all depends on how the characters handle the situation. For instance, Forrest wasn’t able to talk to Langley like he wanted (which made for a very humorous scene), so he was set back and ended up clearing up some other business in the meantime. And Kerri’s brother-in-law ended up setting the funeral date, which left her to have an interesting conversation with the detective and her grandfather.
When I let my characters lead the way, I was able to squeeze in some fun and hilarious interactions between the charries that lightens the dark mood. I was also able to let more the characters’ emotions come out, rather than constricting them to a strict outline.
When plotting scenes, the best thing to do is do it right before you write them. That way you know exactly what did or didn’t happen in the previous scene, so you can accurately plan what happens in the one you’re about to write.
Of course, you may have to change some things or rearrange them. If you don’t fix yourself on an outline, you’ll be able to go back and rearrange or rewrite things to fit the entire story exactly the way you want.
Now, onto the transition thing…
@gracie-j OOH MAN THANK U!! Ahhh the second tip is WONDERFUL!! And yea, I think with Lyn (Jocelyn) hers will be more of, she has to because she was found with the victim’s body, and is the primary suspect. But she’s been fairly sheltered, making her a bit naive, so she isn’t a vengeful person. In fact, she’s horrified at the thought that someone she knows could’ve done anything like this. But that second tip helps so much because I am trying to get at least a bit of a scene outline together before restarting, because I lost steam while writing lol, so decided to make it more fun by turning it into a sort of game and having a bit of a scene outline of what I know will happen. So that definitely helps because I can just write down what needs to take place!
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@godlyfantasy12 Yay! I’m so glad that helps! I’ve got a few more tips for you, if you don’t mind. (I totally forgot about Lyn being the main suspect–that makes things much easier!)
You said that you’re having a hard time with the transition from fantasy to mystery, and with figuring out the “mystery” scenes.
My advice would be not to think of it as a “transition,” per se. A transition would leave all of the fantasy behind–but it’s still there. So put clues in interesting places, have your suspects speak in riddles, and maybe watch a few Batman movies beforehand. XD
#1 Not all suspects are innocent. Maybe some of them are hiding secrets, stealing, lying, or even know who the killer actually is. Their nervousness and lies will draw suspicion toward them instead of the killer. This is a called a red herring. (BTW, I recommend having more than one suspect.)
#2 Strange things can happen. If the killer knows that someone’s trying to catch them, then they’ll be doing everything to stop them. From accidents to stories your “detectives” are led to believe.
#3 Back to the subject of suspects… My heroine Kerri is one of the three suspects—and one thing I like to do is actually give her a lot of reasons why she could have killed her husband. (Man, that sounds morbid.) It’s quite obvious to the reader that she didn’t, and even the detective is almost sure of it—but she and her husband were never on good terms, they’d just had a falling out, and she’s also a really good shot—so she’s got the means and the motive. Both you and the reader (and even the detectives) should know that Jocelyn isn’t the killer, but keep the characters and the readers guessing. Maybe something doesn’t seem right with Jocelyn (apart from mourning her uncle), or maybe someone thought they’d just had an argument. (This method worked great in Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles. For more mystery-writing tips, I’d suggest reading a book or two of hers!) Also, toss in a few more suspects that (1) seem fishy and (2) have either the means, the motive, or the opportunity to have murdered the victim. This will keep everyone guessing, which makes even tedious, boring scenes seem exciting and thrilling! Even you can have fun figuring out what certain characters are hiding.
I hope that works! I can’t wait to see how your story unfolds!
@gracie-j Thanks!! And yes I have quite a few suspects, and each one could have done it so it definitely keeps u guessing! That and the fact that the actual killer isn’t really a suspect makes for a major plot twist. Also, Jocelyn has the motive, but not the means. Motive being, after her Uncle dies, she becomes Ringmaster, leader of Cirque, which is her dream. This and the fact that she was found with the body makes her the primary suspect. (But it is so obviously not her. She could never do that lol)
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@godlyfantasy12 Well, it sounds to me like you’ve got everything figured out! I’m glad I could help! 🙂 Happy writing!
PS: How far along are you now?
@gracie-j Still the same lol. Hoping to get some writing done today. I took a step back to make a scene outline and kinda start over on my draft (I kept most of what I already wrote, and may transfer some stuff but gonna open a new fresh file and restart) so yea. Wish me luck! I really wanna get it done by June or July! (And the reason so long is because, 1, I want it to be great, 2 I’m giving myself plenty of time, and 3 I is a procrastinator
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@godlyfantasy12 You isn’t the only one, I promise you! If you can get it finished by June or July, that would be amazing! I wrote my last two novels in six months, but my current one is taking me over a year!
I know you can do it!
Aww thanks!
hey does anyone know of any live writing sprints happening today? Or is anyone else gonna be writing? Lol. I wish there was a timer on here so we could do writing sprints together. That’s be awesome.
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Hows your WIP going? Mine has gotten back on track and I’m so happy!! I’m now at 4,158 words towards my 80,000 goal (counting titles but still lol!) and hope to reach 80,000 in the middle of May!! Ahhhh!!!
My idea I had is really working well for me! If y’all wanna hear it I can share it here, especially if ur drafting or going to draft (or even editing!)
Also, gonna let y’all know I found an awesome free app called WordTracker, on the App Store. It let me put in a goal date and how many words u want to reach. Then it tells u how many words to write a day (depending on what you’ve got already so it can change daily!) so u can reach that goal!! It’s SO AWESOME!! It also tells u how many days u have left till ur goal or deadline!
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