A Writing Course Recommendation

 Last month I finished taking a course titled “Mystery and Thriller Structure by instructor, Kris Neri. Since I’m starting a new WIP, the course applied to me and the timing couldn’t have been better. After finishing Kris’s course, I highly recommend it. But let me explain the methods I’ve used in the past.

The first two novels I wrote using the pantser method. As most of you know, the term “pantser” refers to writers who write by the seat of their pants, starting with a blank page. Some writers swear by the method—if they knew who the villain was they’d be bored with their story before they wrote it, I’ve heard before. Having written two novels using this method, I don’t recommend it. Neither of my novels were messes, but I didn’t feel good about the process. Using the pantser method seemed chaotic to me. I felt out of control.

I chose a combination method of pantser and what I deem “planned,” when I wrote my third WIP.  To do so, I wrote a storyboard for each chapter, including the facts of the case to be presented and what had to be accomplished by each character. The backstory, character development and subplot complications I included via pantser method. This method was better, but I knew I needed help.

Kris’s course put into words and forced me to create what I knew was lacking in my own methods. The entire novel is considered. The plots and subplots are all planned prior to typing a word on the page. Triggers and plot points move the scenes. Although we weren’t required to do so, I created a detailed outline and timeline including the evidence, the characters’ roles in the plot and subplots, how the crime is solved by which characters and the backstory of each character that impacts the plot. Character development is not covered in the course or techniques for creating settings. But those elements can and should be added. All are set within the backdrop of the three-act structure and the proportions of the book that should be devoted to each act.  

For our assignments, I wrote the synopsis and backstory of the main characters including the villain. These helped in planning because they forced me to think about my story in its entirety including character arc, which I can carry over to a next book. 

I remember while using the pantser method in my first two WIPs that I kept switching the identity of the murderer. It was a surprise—the problem was that while it should surprise the reader, I no longer think it should surprise the writer. Elements must be built into the plot giving clues to the villain’s identity. Otherwise, solving the crime seems implausible or solved by a fluke. Knowing the identity of the villain, his relationship to the victim and what triggered the murder induces the writer to consider the timing of the protagonist’s story (and the plot points in the character’s story which propel the scenes) to that of the villain’s and victim’s story, and it is that story that the writer reveals.

Planning my next WIP using the techniques that Kris teaches has put me in control. I know what motivates my protagonist and that has changed my writing from plot driven to character driven, which I think strengthens my writing considerably. If you ever have the chance to take the course, do so. But Kris may not be teaching often. Her current script MAGICAL ALIENATION was a finalist in the New Mexico & Arizona Book Awards in the sci fi/fantasy category. In Kris’s case, she teaches what she does.