About two month ago, I wrote a post about outlining your novel. I’m in the pre-writing stage of writing a mystery and I’ve been working on outlining my plot. The problem was that something was missing. It had to be. My list was only about 20 scenes long. Even I know that’s not enough for a novel.
So I started reading cozies, paying careful attention to the plot. What I quickly realized is that I had outlined only part of the book. I had the mystery, as in the crime, all plotted out. A mystery novel is so much more.
Scenes that show us the character’s life sans mystery.
What is your character doing when she isn’t solving mysteries? For an adult mystery, it often involves a job such as running a knitting shop or catering. In a book for young readers the main character might be in the marching band at school or in pom poms. Whatever it is, these scenes show us what life is like when your character isn’t trying to unravel a mystery.
Sometimes these scenes take place at the beginning of the story. In Last Wool and Testament by Molly MacRae, the main character is traveling to her Grandmother’s funeral. This may not be how she spends a typical day, but the focus in these scenes is on family and friends and emotion. This emotion is important because it will help readers identify with your character.
So throughout the book you can throw in more of these scenes. Show your character interacting with family and friends. You can spend several five-minute sessions laying out these scenes.
Red herrings.
Other scenes are needed to drop red herrings into the story. Once that mystery is launched, you need a string of suspects. These scenes supply you with these suspects. Perhaps your character overhears an argument, is sent a threatening text or someone tells a funny story that in hindsight may also contain a clue.
Again, spent several five-minute sessions noodling over how to make several of your secondary characters look guilty. I’m including someone with a temper, a robbery, and a character who is hiding a secret. The red herrings will be more obvious than the scene that actually gives the clues to the murder. I’ll have to see if that works.
Plot. Red herrings. Everyday life. A mystery has to contain all three. Fortunately it doesn’t take buckets of time to layer them into your outline.
–SueBE
I’ve heard of people who go through days and months where they cannot write. They are utterly and completely blocked. For the most part, I don’t have complete blocks although I do have slow downs. When it happens, I do these three things to get the word flowing again.
Are you a PAL member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators? PAL means “published and listed.” If the answer is yes than SCBWI has an opportunity that you are going to want to take advantage of this opportunity.
I’ve been reading picture book biographies lately in part because one of the women in my critique group at the retreat had written one. It didn’t quite work, so I wanted to study what does. Here are five things to keep in mind when writing a biography for young readers.
The information in the text has to further the story. In Alabama Spitfire: The Story of Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird by Bethany Hegedus, illustrated by Erin McGuire, the author includes Harper Lee’s childhood friend Tru. Harper Lee stood up for Tru when he was being bullied, which shows how important justice was even when she was a child. They also wrote stories together. But Tru was also Truman Capote who she reconnected with as an adult and a fledgling author. 
This is so embarrassing that I’m literally red in the face. Last week I blogged about the
Last week at critique group, one of my writing friends commented that she had to set a manuscript aside. After more than a year of research, she had found a published book that did it better. She thinks she’ll probably come back to her idea, but until then she needs to work on something new. Apparently, working on multiple things at once was a new idea to her.
Study what is already in print. Learn from the best. A lot of what we do as writers involves reading what others have published and comparing our work to theirs. Its a great way to see what’s already in the marketplace and also to learn new techniques. But it can also be discouraging.
n a writing mentorship, a less experienced writer gets to work, often one-on-one, with a more experienced writer. It is an opportunity to get personalized feedback from someone who has come to know your writing. That’s so important because they know what your weaknesses are and can offer advice tailored to overcoming these issues. Critique, advice, reading and more are part of this type of relationship.
Cynthia has also published picture books, short stories, nonfiction essays, and poetry for young readers. I’ll leave you too look that up on her 
