How To Write A Damn Good Mystery by James N. Frey

Author:James N. Frey
Language: eng
Format: epub

11.

Plotting Theory

The Opening Acts

The very first few words the reader reads may be critical to the success of your novel. The more exciting the opening, the better your chances of hooking the reader into the story, as well as getting an agent to reach for an agency agreement and an editor to reach for a checkbook.

The opening sets the stage for what is to come. It gives the reader a sense that the writer has a story to tell and knows how to tell it. This is the part that telegraphs the way the book will be written—voice, tense, viewpoint, tone, etc.—creating what I called in How to Write a Damn Good Novel II: Advanced Techniques for Dramatic Storytelling the "contract with the reader."

In A Murder in Montana, we know that a long series of events began years before when Forest Volner murdered Sam Hegg out at the secret mine. Now the present murder is going to be committed because Sam Hegg's brother, Caleb Hegg, has come to town. We know that Volner has to kill Hegg because Hegg might put it all together and discover that he, Volner, killed his brother and stole his gold and his gold mine. We know Volner is going to blame the murder on Bentley Boxleiter.

In plotting Act I, we need to pick an event in this chain of events that will be what the reader reads first. What are our choices? Let's do a little brainstorming and see what our creative options might be. It's always a good idea to look at the possibilities rather than seize on the first idea that pops up.

• We might start with Bentley driving into town. It's late and he's been through a bad, early-season snowstorm. He's tired, but there's no hotel or motel open. He sees the Eagle Tavern is open. When he parks his car, he bumps into Caleb Hegg's pickup. He goes into the bar, offers Caleb some money, but Caleb wants more than Bentley's willing to pay, so Bentley says he'll turn it over to his insurance company. Hegg wants $200 now, there's a scuffle, and Bentley dumps Hegg on his can with a judo throw. Volner takes Bentley to jail.

• How about starting by jumping right into the action at the bar with Bentley coming in: The fight starts and he's hauled off to jail. Next scene, he's let out about three in the morning, goes to his motel, and is getting ready for bed when he finds Hegg's body in the shower. Realizing he's being framed for murder, he takes the body out and puts it in his car and drives out of town and dumps the body. He doesn't know it, but he's being watched. He heads south, desperately trying to get out of the area, but he's stopped by a Highway Patrol roadblock and arrested for murder. This opening has a lot of action and I like it that Bentley realizes he's being framed and then does the wrong thing—he acts like a guilty man.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.