Month: November 2020

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Write a Cosy Murder Mystery, Sure! I Hope …

carolyncordon

Writing a novel is a strange thing, I’m discovering. When I write a poem or short story, I know more or less what I’m doing, and whether what I’m doing is working. But with this novel I’m currently writing, while I’m enjoying the process, I have no idea if it’s actually working.

A murder mystery needs a killer, and clues, and it needs someone who will solve the crime, and so make sure everyone is safe. So I created a town, quite similar to a town I know well, and I created people who live in or near the town, and I came up with a dead person, possibly murdered, and I know I have to plant clues, as well as ‘red herrings’ and my main character has to be interesting, and not seem to smart, or too stupid either.

I’ve read quite a few murder mysteries over the years, and I’m very interested in the whole idea of writing in this genre. But I’m not sure whether I’m capable of doing this. I like the town, and the people, I really like my main character, and some of the other characters feel like friends too.

I’m definitely going to go on writing about the town I’ve come up with, my town of Talloola. This is my town and I love it! There are some great things going on in Talloola, and I’m glad to be watching them happen!

So I’m going to go on writing away at this project, forwarding some of my writing of this novel to a friend, and she is enjoying what I’m writing. I hope I continue to write words that go on being enjoyable. And I hope I get my head around the necessary aspects of plot, that will make this work look and read like a cosy murder mystery!

If anyone could offer any ideas about things to make sure I have in the novel, I’m all ears!

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Focus On the Novel!

carolyncordon

As I noted in my previous blog post, I’ve been working on getting the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle newsletter put together, printed, and distributed around Mallala recently. This is a good thing, good for me, and the community of Mallala, for sure, in many ways.

Unfortunately though, the writing of my novel, that is one thing my focus on the newsletter has not been good for, not at all. I’ve only written two small pieces of writing in relation to my novel, and so my poor characters are standing around, waiting for me to get down to some serious narrative happening!

So if I’m going to call myself a novelist, I have to get a novel written, and published. And for that to happen I have to write that novel, so what do I need to do? I need to focus on the novel! I love my characters, I love the town they live in, I want this first story in the series of Cosy Murder Mysteries happening in the town of Talloola to be written and published.

So once I post this blog post, I am going to get stuck in and write more of the novel!
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Full coffee cup, novel writing here I come!

So I’ve just gone and made myself a cup of coffee, my best novel writing tool, and now I’m going to post this and get focused on novel writing!

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Writing-related Work Completed Today

carolyncordon

One of my most important roles as a writer, is being the Editor of a newsletter, the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle. This newsletter comes out toward the end of every month, and is available in hard copy, and online versions.

Putting this newsletter is a volunteer role, and it brings me great satisfaction to use my writing skills in this way, collecting information, writing bits and pieces for the newsletter, and then putting it all together into a format that is good on the eye, and easy to read.

The copies that are made available to the public, are printed by one of the South Australian Senators, and all I have to do is email a copy of the newsletter, then go and collect the copies, once they are printed. A simple arrangement, and one that works well.

The online copy is put on the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle Facebook page, where anyone who wants to see the newsletter in colour, can download it to read. I am proud of what I do with this publication, sharing useful news for the people in the town closest to my home, and also publishing interesting articles provided to me.

There is no payment to anyone who provides this material, but it gives them a free chance to spread the words they wish to share. Also, it is a great thing to put on your CV, with regular publishing credits.

This works well, and while I’d love to be able to pay the writers who send me their work, we all know that isn’t likely to happen. Ah, if only …

So that is my writing work today. I’m supposed to be writing a novel, but the newsletter is more important, I have the community of Mallala (and beyond), who rely on me doing this job. Satisfaction in a job well done, is an awesome feeling!

While I receive no payment, as I said, the satisfaction is priceless! I very much recommend getting involved with your community, and helping out however you can. But always be aware of some nasty people who may try to rip you off. If what you’re doing stops feeling like a good things, and becomes a chore, that may be a sign of that …

I’ve been doing this newsletter editing role for fifteen years, and both the newsletter, and my skills have vastly increased!

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Getting The Writing Moving Again

carolyncordon

What helps the writer of a novel? Many things, of course. The appropriate tools, enough time, inspiration … And sometimes, a person who is there, for real or online, demanding to see some of your new words from your current novel-in-progress.

I’ve had the tools, and time, and lots of inspiration too, for the writing of my current work, a Cosy Murder Mystery, the first in what I hope will become a series of such books, all with the same main character, and secondary characters, all set in a town I’ve made up, the country town of Talloola.

The Talloola Hotel?

The writing of this first book began well enough, I worked on creating the town, and the community of people who would help (or hinder) Meredith, my main character. It was firmly in my head that I would write this book, then the next, followed by the one after that, and it would be my main writing task for possibly the rest of my life.

But then the words dwindled, life got in the way, or I let life supplant the importance of the novel, and though I was writing some small bits of writing, it wasn’t leading to anything in terms of adding to the story line … It felt like my role as a Cosy Murder Mystery writer was as dead as a … murder victim.

But fortunately, along came Covid lockdown, and Michelle, a member of my writing group, who challenged me to send her 200 words of my novel for the six day Covid Lockdown South Australia was subjected to. So, with that challenge give, which I accepted, the words have been flowing, and with those initial 200 words increased to 250 words, the novel word count is climbing nicely, very nicely!

So I would definitely recommend this procedure, if you too are having troubles with committing to getting your writing moving. I needed it for writing this novel, others might be having troubles with a poetry collection, or a non fiction book. Having to send new work to someone means having to write the new words your project needs.

So many thanks to Michelle, you are awesome. You’ll get a free copy of this book once it’s printed, for sure!

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A Lockdown, Perfect!

carolyncordon

Well, a writer lockdown with writer friends is always a time when good writing has happened in the past, for me. We meet up at our favourite hotel, and all write more of our chosen work, perfect!

Plants as inspiration?

I’m writing a novel at the moment, well that’s the idea anyway. But to be honest, I’m doing a lot more thinking about writing this novel, than actually writing it. If I was at a writer lockdown, I’d be inspired by the others, and get more of that novel written, I think.

But this is not a writer related lockdown, it’s a six day lockdown for all of South Australia, to hopefully halt the spread of the Covid virus. This is a totally different thing. But a lockdown is a lockdown, and if I have to spend six days at home, what to do? Well, I can swap that around and actually spend the six days of Covid lockdown that the government has brought on, and do my best to use those six days actually writing this novel!

I can’t go out anywhere much, and my writing group venue will be closed, and even though the group will be holding an online meeting, I won’t have to spend that time in travel, to get there and back. So I tell myself, Hey, get writing Carolyn! I know my main character, and various other characters in that novel would like a bit of action happening. It must be boring for them, stuck inside my head …

So that’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to do my best to use these six days of lockdown, and I’m going to write more of my novel! There, done – and tomorrow, I will do my best to spend at least a couple of hours writing more of the novel, and increase my word count further!