September 22 2025
Energy is crucial to the success of storytelling. In this piece, best-selling crime writer John Dean offers some thought on how he, and other, authors inject much-needed energy into their stories
There’s an old 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 but not if you overdo it and the landscape is littered with them. A murder is a powerful crime writers’ tool but it is easy to overdo it.
What lies behind the adage is one of the most important elements of crime writing, indeed all writing, namely to constantly inject energy into the story – and that does not come just from big drama-filled moments
So how do you achieve it if you are an author? Well, energy does not need to be dramatic, as this list shows. Yes, an incident such as a murder/crime/police raid will do the job but so will:
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 and humorous banter
Back story – 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 and 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, eg a scene that switches between characters doing something mundane and the approach of the person who intends to kill them -and back again.
You can find dozens more pieces of advice written particularly to help emerging writers in the Handy Hints and Features sections of this website.
August 12 2025
Who’s writing this story, anyway?
It’s clear from the many reviews of my crime novels that are posted on Amazon (thank you, everyone, for taking the time to write something, it really is much appreciated) that one of the things I have become known for is my plotting, the ability to pull together disparate events into one cohesive story – with the odd red herring to send the reader in the wrong direction!
I am happy to take the credit, of course, but, odd as it may sound, I cannot take all the credit.
Complicated plotting requires careful planning and that has certainly been the case with the new DCI John Blizzard novel, on which I have been working for several weeks. I spent a week or so before I began writing thinking things through and jotting down a basic outline of the story, linking together the different elements so I know where my narrative is heading. I have continued to update the plot as I have gone along, adding to my note so that every event, twist and revelation is carefully chronicled. And, yes, I take all the credit for that.
However, as I have mentioned in previous blogs, the author needs to be flexible as well as meticulous in his/her approach to writing and there are some occasions when the story itself demands that it find its own way.
When that happens, it may be unexpected but an author has to go with the flow. On this occasion, the story was taken over by a character who was supposed to only feature en passant. I am trying to introduce more female characters because my books were too male-orientated but this particular character was only supposed to be a bit-part player who drifted in and out of the narrative.
However, as I wrote a scene in which she only had one piece of information to impart before heading back to wherever minor characters dwell when the main characters are having all the fun, she started talking – and talking and talking.
A new plotline was born and the character will have a much more significant role to play in the novel and it doesn’t feel that I can take any credit for something created by someone who isn’t even real. I’m sure she’ll take me back to the plan eventually!
July 26 2025
The dangers presented to the crime writer by a quiet life
We have all heard people we know utter the phrase ‘I’d kill for a quiet life’. WeIl, a crime fiction author faced with a quiet life will be unlikely to get much in the way of killing done (fictionally, of course)!
Which is my attempt at wittily introducing a piece extolling for aspiring authors the importance of conflict when it comes to plotting their novels. In short, if your novel is short of conflict, it’s unlikely to have much of a plot.
One of the techniques I have always used is to seek out the conflict in a scenario when I plan a novel before starting to write.
Conflict is important because stories need things to happen and that often comes out of differences between characters – they argue, fight, feud, accuse etc. Two people having a chat in which they agree with each other can be enjoyable for the reader (as long as there’s not too much of it) but a scene in which they disagree has so much more going for it.
That is certainly true of crime fiction. It is through seeing characters in conflict that we see them at their truest, when their guard is down, when they are fighting for something, when their deepest, darkest emotions are laid bare.
As a writer you can develop a character through conflict as those emotions burst to the surface and one of the things to benefit is the dialogue. It becomes sharp and angry and, as a result, is easier to write and injects much-needed energy into a story.
In addition, scenes based on conflict give authors and readers alike the opportunity to learn more about characters.
In conclusion, conflict provides the writer with a story to tell. It gives the writer the framework on which to build their story – a factory is closed sparking anger from the workforce, two long-standing friends fall out over money, a family is destroyed by conflict over secrets which emerge, a community is torn apart by an event. All these conflicts, and thousand more, make rich hunting grounds for the writer.
Picture by Keira Burton, used courtesy of https://www.pexels.com/
July 20 2025
Looking after the reader
One of the challenges for authors writing crime novels with complex plots is to ensure that opportunities to help readers keep up with the twists and turns are fully exploited.
If Amazon reviewers are anything to go by, I am known for my complicated plotting, running several storylines at the same time, one of which is usually a red herring designed to mislead readers.
After several Amazon reviewers (thank you for taking the time to write something, guys) pointed out that they loved the novel they were reviewing but would have appreciated a little more help in following the story, I knew that I had to do something to address the question.
My approach to reviewers has always been that authors can learn from constructive comments and this was a good example; authors should always write for their readers not themselves. That does not mean allowing readers to dictate stories but it does mean providing them with all the information they need to understand the narrative.
The challenge here was how to help readers keep on top of the plot and its many characters while at the same time not doing anything to disrupt the pace of the writing.
Authors like myself try to write fast-moving stories but I could see that there was a need to give the reader a recap of complicated plots midway through the novel.
The important thing is to make sure that the author does not bring the story to a grinding halt with an ‘information dump’ but do it in a way that has energy.
To resolve this conundrum, I have found myself increasingly drawn to scenes featuring my police officers attending briefings with a noticeboard on which are pinned notes and photographs.
That allows the detectives – and the readers – to catch up on the story so far. It is rather like Agatha Christie’s drawing room finales featuring Hercule Poirot, but half-way through the book instead.
Done well, instead of slowing down the story with an information overload, the briefing can give it fresh momentum and revelation as the officers make connections between elements on the noticeboard.
Something which also helps the reader was introduced into its novels fairly recently by my publisher The Book Folks, which was recently taken over by Joffe Books, namely to include a Dramatis Personae, listing each character – their name and brief details of what they are (while not giving away zealously-guarded secrets, of course!).
My grandfather Tom – a truly wise man who was himself a poet – had been advocating such a practice for years, long before publishers started doing it.
He argued that it would provide the reader with easily-accessed information. All readers will have, at some stage, he contended, found themselves flicking back through the pages of a book, particularly hardcopy formats, while asking themselves in exasperation ‘and who’s he/she again?’ Probably on many occasions.
Grandad was right, and had he lived to see its introduction, he would certainly have welcomed the innovation. Many of the readers who review my novels certainly do.
Hopefully, including a list of characters reduces the impact of what can be an irritant for readers – and irritants, as I have said in previous blogs, are a sure-fire way to lose readers.
Picture used courtesy of https://www.pexels.com
July 18 2025
Don’t give too much away
As you may know from a previous post, I have spent quite a fair bit of time recently working with the editor at my publisher the Book Folks, a Joffe Books company. An important part of the final edit (in this case, for the latest DCI Jack Harris novel), before publication is to spot the little stuff, misspellings, rogue punctuation, a character’s name changing by mistake, etc etc, the kind of things that infuriate readers.
However, an author can, for example, become so proud of themselves for spotting a wrongly placed tilde (an accent placed over certain words in some languages, but you all knew that already, of course) that they miss the big things that so dominated their thinking in the creative phase of the writing process.
That happened with the draft of the latest Harris novel. Part of the book related to a reoccurring character, whose eventual role in the story, when finally revealed, would surprise the reader – a classic red herring.
There was nothing wrong with the writing as such (not a tilde in sight) but, as my excellent editor pointed out, by dropping too many heavy hints, I had allowed the reader to work it out long before the I eventually revealed it, something that was obvious when it was pointed out to me.
The moral of the story for the author? Question everything when editing.
July 13 2025
The Game of Consequences
Are you an author struggling with writer’s block? Well, worry not because there are ways round it, once of which is to play the Game of Consequences.
How do you do it? Say you have reached a stage in the plot where the next scene is uncertain. Maybe the scene was planned but no longer fits in with the plan or is one of those scenes that has emerged out of the writing process but appears to have taken you up a blind alley?
Take that scene and put your main character there and ask yourself ‘how would he/she react?’ ‘what other character is worth including?’ ‘which character is posed the biggest problem by the scene?’ and ‘does this scenario bring back memories for one of the characters?’ If so, ‘what are they’ and ‘if the scene makes them relevant what effect will they have on the characters?’.
I reckon that the answers to these questions, or those of your own, will get your stalled story moving again.
July 11 2025
Remembering who controls the delete key
I am returning to a familiar subject for this post, which has been prompted by work on the new Blizzard novel. As usual, I did a fair bit of planning in advance but the important thing for an author is to embark with a mindset that allows for change that was not planned.
Sure enough, this happened with this novel and it will keep happening because one idea will inevitably lead to another and another etc.
When all this happens, it is a sign that an author’s writing is working but if the author feels that the ideas do not fit in with that particular book, he or she should remember that they are still in charge even if it can sometimes feel like they are not – and that they still have the delete key!
Here we go again – but first make a cup of tea and take the dogs for a walk
I started work on the new DCI John Blizzard crime novel this morning and that meant that in front of me was the dreaded blank computer screen. So, what thoughts should be running through an author’s mind at such a moment?
Well, I am a writer who likes to plan. I know that some writers just go for it and see where it takes them but most do at least some planning and I like to have an idea of where I am going. My plan, aka, synopsis, does not contain every detail and it’s liable to change numerous times as I write but it gives me something to hold on to.
In the case of this novel, I have been toying with three ideas for several weeks and have selected two to develop in the same novel.
Any idea that the author selects has to be strong enough to hold the writer’s interest over the six months or so, maybe more, maybe less, that it will take to finish writing the book.
In this case, either of the two chosen ideas could sustain a novel on its own but there is a link between them so it made sense to use them together.
Yes, I could hold one back for a future novel but by then I will have had more ideas so best to get on with it.
What both ideas share is a strong idea, something which if summarised in a sentence would have the reader saying ‘wow, there’s an inventive thought.’
Another feature shared by each idea is a strong character, in this case a grieving mother and a mysterious man who keeps cropping up during civil disorder. I will not give any more details for obvious reasons.
Do I know everything about the story? I do not – I probably have one fifth planned out, enough to be going on with, the rest will come out in the writing process.
That is how an author can be sure that their approach to the writing is working, when scenes that they write, dialogue that they create leads, places that they use as backdrops to the action, themselves spark new ideas.
So, there you are. As I was finishing the latest DCI Jack Harris novel, with all the intensity that creates, part of my mind was already working on the ideas for the new novel. Now that the Harris book has been submitted to my publisher Joffe Books, it’s time to do what any author does when confronted by a blank page. Start writing.
Don’t be daft! What writers do best is put off the actual writing so I think it’s time for a cup of tea then I may take the dogs for a walk!
But, as all writers know, if the process is working properly there will very soon come a moment when the idea will grab hold of my mind, the writing will begin, and suddenly it will be all that matters.
The best an author can be
As work progresses on producing a final draft of my latest DCI Jack Harris crime novel, that means going back to the opening pages, so it’s a good time to recap on some of the rules of beginnings.
One of the key things that a crime writer, indeed any writer, must bear in mind is that a good start is as if the author has reached out of the page, grabbed the reader by the lapel and said ‘don’t you dare go away, this is going to be good!’
It is not possible to over-estimate the importance of the opening pages – they have to be the author at their very best, in order to capture the attention of the publisher, literary agent and, further down the line, the reader
You need to create momentum right from the off, to make sure that the reader is so intrigued by what they are encountering that they keep turning the pages.
The first rule of opening lines is that they should possess most of the individual elements that make up the story. The opening paragraphs should have a distinctive voice, a point of view, a rudimentary plot, some hint of characterisation and a sense of a drama already under way, the latter because all stories begin in the middle, things have happened in the past, will happen in the future.
There’s a lot for those first words to do and also important for the beginning of a story is The Question, something that piques the reader’s interest.
Get that right and your novel is off to a flying start.
If you want to read more of my useful tips for author, you can find in the Handy Hints sections of my website at www.johncrimewriter.co.uk
Breaking through the brick wall
I have lost count of the times an aspiring writer, and more experienced authors for that matter, talk about those moments in the writing process when they hit a brick wall and their novel grinds to a standstill and they simply do not know where to go next.
How do you get going again? Well, what works for me is the application of logic in the form of a game I call Consequences.
Every action in real life, and so in fiction, has a consequence. Something happens, it will lead to another action, that action, in turn, provokes its own reaction.
Or someone says something, someone else reacts, their reaction in turn leads someone else to react and suddenly you have written a page and punched a hole the dreaded brick wall.
Sometimes authors contrive to make writing complicated when it is, at its heart, very simple.
Let it go!
As I move into the second half of writing a novel – as has happened with my latest in the Jack Harris series – my mindset changes. Up to now, I have worked steadily – some would say slowly – writing, rewriting, editing, re-editing – but now that I am 27,000 words in, or 23,000 from the end, I release the brake and write faster, not worrying about the editing but getting on with it – I will go back on everything later.
The important thing now for me as a writer is to get the first draft finished. Different writers work in different ways and I know some who rush through the first draft and only then will they go back. There is no right or wrong way to do it – it’s all about what works for the author.
Why you should always listen if the story starts to talk to you
As you may know from my previous blogs, I am fascinated by the way that stories evolve during the writing process, which can provide the author with a balancing act between the need to plan and the requirement to let the story develop organically.
I am being given a striking example of that the more I write of my latest novel (a DCI Jack Harris one with 27,000 words already written.}
Like many novelists, I always plan before starting to write a new book, a process which can take several weeks as I explore the various ideas (usually while walking the dogs. Ivy and Merlin, since you ask).
However, for all the thought that goes into the planning, it is still a loose process – rather like a painter putting in the basic shapes that will provide the skeleton of the final picture.
When it comes to my planning, I have a basic idea (sometimes very basic indeed) of what the story is about and where it will go. That initial planning process is important because, to mix metaphors again, the plan is your route for the journey while still being prepared to let the story throw up new angles.
Indeed, the process can so disrupt your original idea that you hardly recognise the final version. Do you let that happen? Yes, of course you do. It means that the story is alive and talking to you as a writer. If it talks to you as a writer, hopefully it will also talk to the reader.
The latest novel illustrates the point, taking me in directions that I did not expect and diverting me from my original idea. If I am honest, I did not really intend to write about the new theme, one that takes Harris deep into his past and confronting pain truths. However, it was a good call to see where the process took me; like I always say, if the story is talking to you, you have to listen.
A little plotting goes a long way
I know that many novelists do not plan, just start writing, but I am one of those who does plan. However, my initial plot tends to be very sketchy and is filled in during the writing process. Sometimes, the finished novel bears little or no resemblance to the initial plot I had jotted down but I find that thinking is a crucial part of the writing process (writers are very good at thinking, rather than actually writing – novels can be measured in cups of tea made and dogs walked!)
To make a plot work, you need a strong story. An interesting story comes from watching characters overcome obstacles through their own skills and abilities so set them a challenge – a murder, a mystery etc.
You must also keep the story moving so you need to devise plenty of things to happen – pile as many problems as you can on a character then have them do things to do to get out of the situation.
A good idea is to write a synopsis at the beginning of the writing process – jot down what happens in each chapter. It is worth having sub-plots – yes, a character is solving a murder but there also may be a series of baffling seemingly unconnected burglaries, or perhaps something is happening in their private life. These keep things fresh for the reader. Also, some can be red herrings to throw the reader off the scent.
However, the key thing is to keep the main story going so, as you build the story, you should have peaks of drama, an arrest, another murder etc and build up to the final climax, always creating and protecting the narrative’s momentum.
If it helps, follow this structure:
The exposition is the beginning of the story and prepares the way for upcoming events.
Rising Action – The rising action occurs when the main problem or conflict is addressed with action. The rising action always leads up to the climax. During the rising action, the protagonist often encounters some sort of crisis that creates tension.
Climax or Turning Point – The climax is the pivotal point in the story when the protagonist deals with the playing out of events. The climax often centres on the protagonist’s most difficult challenge or bleakest moment. The climax is the most exciting part of the story and initiates a turning point in the characters’ lives.
Falling Action – The falling action occurs immediately after the climax and details the consequences — good or bad — that the characters must deal with after the turning point of events. It leads up to the resolution and sets the stage for the final chapter of the story.
Resolution: End of the Story – The resolution tells us what happens to the characters after the main events happen. Loose ends are tied up, unless the author plans to write a sequel and purposely leaves room for further plot developments. The resolution leaves readers with a sense of closure, so they understand the fate of the protagonists and antagonists.
John Dean - Crime Writer 