John Dean – Crime Writer

There’s a half-serious/half-jokey crime writers’ adage that, if your novel starts to lose momentum, it’s time to murder another victim. Of course, it’s not that simple, although a murder would certainly do the job in the right place. I mention it because I have just dropped a murder into my latest novel and it has given the plot plenty of directions in which to go, which it badly needed as it was in danger of slowing down.

What lies behind the adage is one of the most important elements of crime writing, namely the need to constantly inject energy into a story and it does not come just from big drama-filled moments.

So, what could you, as an author use? The following are some examples:

• A revelation, a piece of information that opens up a new avenue in the plot
• Well-written dialogue – characters speaking is an excellent way of injecting energy, including a good old-fashioned argument or a passage based on humorous banter
• Backstory – something from a characters’ past can inject new energy into the story’s present
• A brilliant flash of description which brings a character’s surroundings to life
• Dramatic weather/atmospheric conditions, everything from torrential rain and swirling snow to the first light of dawn
• A spooky experience such as a mysterious figure glimpsed in the shadows
• A noise in the middle of the night, such as the trying of a door handle, the ringing of a telephone, the scraping sound of a shoe
• A line that hints at events happening elsewhere that, although unseen, will have a dramatic effect on the main character.

I have also dropped this on my free Handy Hints – Plotting page on this website but if you want to explore the subject in more depth, you could always purchase my recently-published book which examines the craft behind fiction, has been published. On Writing is available on Amazon in ebook and paperback format.