Use Your Journal to Plot a Mystery Novel!
In the popular TV show, How to Get Away with Murder, criminal defense attorney and law professor Analise Keating grills her class on all the elements that must be present in order for a person to…well…get away with murder.
In the back story, several of Professor Keating’s law students have managed to do just that.
Get away with the murder of Sam Keating, Analise’s husband.
Eventually, with the knowledge and help of Analise herself.
Use Your Journal to Plot a Mystery
Your journal can help you get away with murder, too.
Well…it can help your characters get away with murder.
One of the first elements in any good story is an interesting and fascinating main character or two.
If you’re writing a murder mystery, you’ll need a good villain(s).
Your journal will help clarify distinguishing characteristics of your villain.
It may even reveal a completely different villain than you originally had in mind.
You just never know what might shake out in your journal.
Another element to go in your story is a good hook.
Why not plot (pun intended) out the twists and turns to your story in your journal?
Kill your character(s), roll him or her up in an old rug and burn the body.
Chop up the remains and hide your hands (this all happened in the first episode of How to Get Away with Murder).
The plot keeps the story moving along and serves to keep the reader involved and coming back for more.
Your story needs a little movement.
A little.
Outline the various action sequences in your journal before choosing just the right sequence for your story.
None of these sequences will go to waste as they will be available for other stories.
Next, your story needs to have a good location or locations.
Who wants to read a story that only takes happens in one place, especially in a murder mystery?
Your journal is a great place to explore various locations for your murderer to have done the deed.
The location(s) don’t have to be elaborate.
Use your journal to keep notes on different locations of interest.
Or even tidbits on one particular location.
This could be a house, a city, a state, or someplace more or less exotic. It’s your story. In Your journal.
Want your readers to identify with your characters?
Create a little suspense.
The final element in your murder mystery.
How often have you read a story or watched a TV show where you are so caught up in the story that you were sure that a certain character was either innocent or guilty?
It could be because you identify with the characters or with the story itself.
Suspense has created a sense of excitement within the story and keeps you on the edge of your seat.
You can create that sense of excitement in your journal.
Journals have long been thought to simply be accounts of our daily lives.
But, for writers, a journal can be a useful tool in our arsenal to help develop stories, outline novels, define characters, maintain tidbits on locations we find interesting, record our ideas on various plots, and our thoughts on action sequences.
All can be used or recycled for use multiple times. In multiple stories. In multiple ways.
Allow your journal to give you an assist with your story.
You just may get away with murder.
About Patricia Bumpass
Patricia (Pat) Bumpass (www.patriciabumpass.com) is a North Carolina-based freelance writer. She writes a weekly blog for her current employer while building her freelance writing business. Pat enjoys writing and has journaled since she was a teenager. She lives with her 17-year-old son who is blessed with Autism.
For more about how to plot a mystery novel, click here.
Don’t forget to join our mailing list!
Just fill in your name and email address, below:
