Writing crime fiction - what does it take to write a crime novel?


Next follows frustration. Many writers find writing the first draft frustrating and a bit of a pain. I have mixed emotions about it. I thoroughly enjoy the buzz generated by the flow of the creative juices but I often wish I could wave a magic wand and that first draft would be dumped directly from my brain onto my computer without all the effort of having to key it in.
I, like many writers, try to write the first draft as quickly as possible, with minimal editing because that slows down the process. While writing the first draft I'll also be conducting more research
Then once that first draft is written, and I have some 80,000 or so words on my PC, then comes a sense of relief. The first draft usually takes me about three months. The outline is there, the characters are drawn albeit sketchily, the grammar is imperfect and indeed a great deal of it is rubbish but it is something to work on.
Now I can turn to the revisions and can relax a little. I will go back through the novel and begin to flesh it out further, check the structure, the clues, red herrings, motivations and personalities of the characters. This may take several revisions and often further research until finally I check that everything hangs together, all the unanswered questions have been answered and that the words and phrases used are the correct ones.
Then come the anxiety and doubts. Could I change this chapter, this scene, this phrase or word? Could I improve the entire novel, perhaps I should re-write the wretched thing. Help! By now I am so close to it that it is difficult to be objective.
And finally fear. Having gone through several revisions (usually eight) I'm now at the stage where I feel I can no longer change anything. It is as good as it's going to get and I desperately need a fresh eye over it. With a rapidly beating heart, hesitating for several minutes my finger poised over the send message button, I take a deep breath and off it goes into the ether to my editor.
But there is no time to relax; it's on with the next novel while waiting with a certain amount of anxiety to see if my editor likes my latest offering.
To recap then many writers pass through several emotions while plotting and writing a crime novel - excitement, frustration, relief, relaxation, anxiety, fear, doubts. But hopefully it is all worth it in the end and you and your readers will enjoy your escape into crime fiction.




POSTED BY: PAULINE ROWSON
JUNE 29TH, 2020 @ 6:01:55 BST
JUNE 29TH, 2020 @ 6:01:55 BST
Comments
RE: Writing crime fiction - what does it take to write a crime novel?
Thanks for the briefing. I also begin my novels before I know the entire story. ALWAYS something happens--unknown to me early on--to change the novel`s journey. I will write scenes that come to me. Maybe they`ll be used; maybe not.
I want to thank you for your article. I look forward to reading your novels.
COMMENT BY SINEAD, AUGUST 29TH, 2012 @ 17:02:01 BST
Leave Comment
- 2021
- 2020
- December
- November
- October
- September
- August
- July
- June
- Writing crime fiction - what does it take to write a crime novel?
- Pauline Rowson, Oscar Wilde and Harold Pinter at Worthing
- Pauline Rowson entertains a packed audience at Totton South U3A
- DI Andy Horton has a new mystery to solve in A DEADLY WAKE
- Happy Birthday to me with my twenty first published crime novel
- Rowson strikes a nice balance between thriller and puzzler in Lost Voyage
- Writing routines - at Romsey U3A
- Read my June 2020 Newsletter
- DI Andy Horton Lethal Waves re-issued in paperback, ebook and Kindle
- Read the prologue of DI Andy Horton A Deadly Wake
- Video book trailer - Lethal Waves, DI Andy Horton 13
- The gripping, fast-paced, action packed, Art Marvik mystery thrillers
- Here's a talk I gave at Monks Brook U3A
- DI Andy Horton discovers the truth behind his mother's disappearance
- Here's a talk I gave at Yate Library
- Happy Book Birthday to me and to Inspector Andy Horton
- What's on in June 2020
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- 2019
- 2018
- 2017
- 2016
- 2015
- 2014
- 2013
- 2012