It's Nov 2 and I can't seem to get started. Can someone help?
Here's what I have so far:
A varied group of mystery-solvers (such as a Magnum PI, a Jessica Fletcher, a Monk, a Hercule Poirot, etc) are invited to a reading of a will for an old lady none of them know/have heard of. She is going to leave 1/2 her fortune to whomever can solve the cold case murder of her granddaughter, 20 years ago.
2 years ago, a Jane Doe found & buried in another state, was DNA identified as her granddaughter who went missing 20 years before. For years, the old lady has had PI's, the police, etc searching for the whereabouts of her granddaughter & during the last 2 years, she's has them searching to find out how she ended up in that state & who killed her. As a final act of desperation, she is offering 1/2 of her large fortune to whomever can solve the case.
I want to write about each character & the clues they find that lead to the killer. There may be another murder that occurs as well during this.
Can someone help me get started? Pretty please?
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41,720 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 07 54
I had a hard time getting started, so I am spending my first 2-4K words on backstory. It isn't very good writing, but it is setting the scene for the rest of my novel. My novel is also about a group of characters (actually three separate groups) so now that I have a few pages of rambling backstory (basically the world is having an apocalypse, so I am writing about how it happened/what the lead-up to it was/what is happening now.) I am going through each group in turn, writing about how they came together/got involved in what will eventually be the plot of my story.
It took me a little while to get over how bad my beginning is, but it is more an academic exercise than anything. I'm sure I will cut it all out of the next draft, but for now it establishes the world of my novel, sets the tone, and is introducing the characters. And more importantly, it is getting me into the groove of writing.
So if I were you I'd write about the backstory you gave above, then introduce each character, how they became qualified to help solve this mystery, and how they became involved in/ reacted to the old lady's will.
Good luck! You can do it! Sometimes getting started is the hardest thing.
----------Anne
"Blank pages can't be edited, but bad prose can."
55,546 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 09 21
What is the motiviations for each of your mystery-solving characters? If they don't know who the heck this old lady is why would they attend the reading of the will? Is it simply the money of it some other reason? BTW, it has to be something more than just money, LOL, otherwise you turn off a lot of readers. The last thing you want to do is for them to throw the book against the wall in disgust,LOL.
In addition what's the murder's motivation? Is this just a random killing or did he/she know the granddaughter, and why did he/she want her dead? Was the dead granddaughter a socialite, an ordinary person or something else? How much did the old lady really know about her granddaughter?
That will give you something to go on, I hope. :)