The most important rule in mystery writing....

In my humble opinion, the most important rule to follow in mystery/suspense writing is to give the reader a sporting chance! I've written plenty of novels, and the most successful ones have been those where the reader had a few plausible guesses about "who done it!" Personally, I rarely guess the ending of a mystery/suspense novel and if I do, I’m kind of disappointed. I want that author to stump me with a clue I didn’t notice or a twist I couldn’t see the significance of at the time. It’s a game I don’t want to win, but I do want the author to play by the rules and that means, sprinkling in those clues along the way. Bury them in backstory, dribble them in dialogue, subvert them in setting, but readers need to have the chance to solve the mystery themselves. The key is to sprinkle, not dump! The great Agatha Christie said she was “always wary of putting too many false clues into the plot, because with so many things to unravel the book would be not only difficult to solve but also difficult to read.” And there must be herrings, red ones! Just as the fish could be dragged across the trail to confuse the hounds, a red herring is a false clue dropped into the story to confuse the reader and perhaps the protagonist as well.

Do you usually solve the mystery before the end of the book? Does that leave you satisfied or disappointed? 

WRITING TIPS By Cynthia Hickey

Ooops. I almost forgot I'm schedule to give y'all a writing tip today, so I'm going to keep it short and sweet. Keep your rear in the chair and your fingers on the keyboard.

Even if what you write is garbage, you're writing. You can always go back and improve the words. It's much harder to make up the time lost. Remember: Every word written is one more toward the glorious The End.

I push myself to write 2,000 words a day, five days a week. Most of the time I'm successful. I believe this is because I've grown used to the time I spend writing. Not everyone has the luxury of writing full time, but most people can squeeze out 500 words a day. Set a goal, stick to it, and soon it becomes second nature. HAPPY WRITING!

Multi-published and Best-Selling author Cynthia Hickey had three cozy mysteries and two novellas published through Barbour Publishing. Her first mystery, Fudge-Laced Felonies, won first place in the inspirational category of the Great Expectations contest in 2007. Her third cozy, Chocolate-Covered Crime, received a four-star review from Romantic Times. All three cozies have been re-released as ebooks through the MacGregor Literary Agency, along with a new cozy series, all of which stay in the top 50 of Amazon’s ebooks for their genre. She has several historical romances releasing in 2013 and 2014 through Harlequin’s Heartsong Presents. She is active on FB, twitter, and Goodreads. She lives in Arizona with her husband, one of their seven children, two dogs and two cats. She has five grandchildren who keep her busy and tell everyone they know that “Nana is a writer”. Visit her website at www.cynthiahickey.com

Co-Authoring: Lessons I'm learning....

Good Morning from sunny South Carolina. Lynette Eason is here and it's finally stopped raining! 

So as I sit and look out over my back yard, I’m thinking about a new project. Of course I have a book due March 1, but that doesn’t stop my little brain from spinning with new ideas and excitement over this particular new project.

What am I working on?

So glad you asked!

Here’s the latest: Co-authoring a novel.

Recently another published author and I have started working on a little project.  It’s sort of an experiment for both of us. Neither one of us has ever done this before so we’re kind of learning as we go.

We’ve decided to co-write a story together. (Is that redundant? Using co-write and together in the same sentence?? Sorry, no time to look that up.) Anyway, we’re working on a story that we hope will turn into a series, but our goal is to work on the first story and see how it goes. So far, we’ve come up with character sketches, our character’s goals, motivations and some conflict and some plot elements. I find myself thinking about that story quite a bit. It’s my fun story, my stress reliever when I need to take my focus off the contracted one I’m currently working on. Without a contract on the fun story, there’s no pressure and no deadlines, except maybe self-imposed ones.

Some things/tips I’ve figured out just in this beginning stage of the whole co-author thing are:

1.     Respect each other’s talent and time.

2.     Co-writing is cool because you can bounce ideas off each other. One idea fuels another and soon you have some really great material to work with.

3.     Co-writing, brainstorming, sharing your work with another person/author is a pretty intimate thing. It builds a friendship, a trust that can be hard to find with just anyone. Be careful not to do anything to destroy that trust or friendship, it would be hard to get back! (No, I’ve not personally had this happen, but I sure can imagine!)

4.     Everyone who writes has their own voice, but with co-writing, the voices can blend to make a unique voice that tells a page-turner of a story.

5.     Realize that the story is the work of BOTH of you. Be open to suggested changes. Your partner, too, wants the best story the two of you can create!

As of today, I’ve finished the first scene of the story. I’m excited to hear what my co-author thinks about it. I look forward to her ideas on how to make the scene better. And I’m rubbing my hands in anticipation of the scene she will soon write.

Stay tuned as this new adventure in co-authoring progresses. I’ll keep you updated!