Happy Friday, Book Alchemy members!

I’ve been working on new resources and treats to share with this community and felt it was time for a check-in.

First of all, we have a bunch of new members this October, so welcome to all those who are new. This is a cozy group full of wonderful people, so please make yourself at home.

A quick poll

Given that we’ve got…

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Act II Challenges

In the early part of a mystery, the set-up, all the threads feel quite integrated, but once we get to the actual murder, the investigation kicks off, and characters are unraveling in different ways at different speeds, how to keep track of the story overall?

This has been my challenge this week, but I’ve had some helpful insight as I’ve …

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Of all the obstacles I see writers facing, worrying that they’re not a “real” writer is one of the most consistent. Writing is available to anyone with a pen and some thoughts, but we hold back.

I started Murder Diaries because I wanted to share my writing process from behind the scenes. Writing nonfiction is relatively straightforward for me, but fiction takes time and doubts come up.

But having doubts doesn’t mean you aren’t a writer. Worrying you may have taken a long detour away from the main point of the book is normal.

There are so many variations of the myth of the real writer.

Today (Friday, September 13) I’m running a workshop with Traci Skuce on the myth of the real writer. It’s free to join and we aren’t pitching anything. We just wanted to support the community and gather to kick this myth to the curb.

All the details to join are here, and there will be a replay:

https://www.traciskuce.com/youre-not-doing-it-wrong/

Flexibility in form and schedule

While I’d originally planned to finish the book by the end of August, I’ve decided to give the process more room — mostly because I have more story to tell. I was briefly waylaid by yet another heat wave, hopefully our last, and am planning ahead for a productive autumn getting this book written.

Here’s what I cover in this week’s episode:

• Break and Inspiration: I took time off for my birthday, which helped refresh my perspective on the novel.

• Out-of-Sequence Writing: I’m still writing scenes out of sequence and share the goals I have for this approach.

• Challenges in Writing Short Time Periods: My novels are set over weeks or months rather than sweeping epics over centuries, so I share the special skills needed for this approach

• Influence of Poetry: I’ve continued to read poetry and have a few craft books on actually writing poems that have been really helpful as I write to share.

• Cross-Genre Inspiration: I continue our exploration of how poetry can be an influence on mystery and vice versa, with some new discoveries.

• Beta Reader Experiment: I have the most unexpected group of beta readers, and can’t wait to dive in with them — learn how I found them.

• Revised Deadline: As you might have realized, the book did not get completed by August 31st, so I have a new deadline to share. Murder Diaries continues!

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How can a poem be a mystery?

I’ve been writing in a different way this week. I’ve shifted away from the strict outline and map and pursued something much more fluid, which fits my mood and has felt so freeing in the later stage of summer. We had a couple cool days, which energized the whole process tremendously. Come on, autumn — I’m so ready!

Here’s what I cover in this week’s episode:

• When the outline and map becomes too strict, and what I did about it.

• What reading poetry has taught me about how mystery works.

• How I’m selecting my scenes at this point and why it feels better.

• My philosophy of mystery and why I gravitate to this genre

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How did I add nearly 10k words to the book this week?

Normally, August is not a month this would happen. I don’t do well in the heat of summer, and we are full-on there in Berlin at the moment. However, I was able to benefit from a couple of tricks as well as the question “How could this be easier?” to meet my writing goal for the week without having to collapse in a puddle of sweat. (While I was still quite sweaty all week, I did remain upright at my desk)

Here’s what I cover in this week’s episode:

• Accountability check-in on the book and my promises from last week.

• The Scrivener trick that supercharged this week’s progress.

• A tip from a conversation with Jacqueline Winspear that helped me reframe some current struggles into a benefit.

• The punctuation mark that helps me write swiftly with less drag.

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How does our unconscious mind know so much?

This week, I flipped through an earlier draft I’d handwritten and was delighted to find loads of material that would work in this draft. It just goes to show that just because I’ve had new insights about the character, pieces from earlier versions can still work.

Often, my unconscious or subconscious mind has been on board with these changes long before my conscious mind catches up. It’s the coolest thing.

Here’s what I cover in this week’s episode:

• Mining my notebooks for additional material.

• Current reads that are inspiring my writing.

• How to adjust your writing schedule to account for your most (or least) preferred season.

• The next steps for the coming week.

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What’s happening in the mind of the murderer?

At last, the manuscript thus far is totally typed up! I have been reading through and making notes on the story and what scenes and details I plan to add and change in the next draft. Plus… I’m going even deeper into the logic behind the antagonist’s plotting.

Here’s what I cover in this week’s episode:

• The silly ways we torment ourselves vs just getting things done.

• How I’m feeling about the book upon this read-through.

• A book I’ve just started reading that’s transforming my understanding of the killer’s mind.

• Questions to ask to clarify how a killer thinks.

• What steps I’ll take next

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Suspense outside the mystery & thriller sections

I have come through the paperwork! We are unsure if there has actually been progress there, but I’ve checked that step off and so I’m back with you in audio. I’ve done some unexpected reading that inspired me this past week.

Here’s what I cover in this week’s episode:

• Different ways to track progress, and a step I wish I’d taken before typing pages up.

• Using my upcoming travel to London as the carrot to make progress.

• My eclectic reading choices and why I always read widely.

• The importance of exploring taboo in mystery writing

• How dual storylines can hook us

• My current writing progress and next steps.

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Hi murder lovers!

Sadly, this week I have had to do a metric ton of paperwork as part of applying to get EU permanent residency, a process that has been dragging on for nearly eight months.

I will not give you the admin rundown on that, but just know that the longer this goes on, the more income and expenses statements they ask for …

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But what if I get stuck?

It’s all well and good to have a writing schedule and outline laid out, but even the best of us get stuck sometimes. This week, my friends, that was me. The writing ground to a halt and I needed to recalibrate.

I’ll share why I keep my plans flexible and how turning to the tarot is my quick fix to get myself back on track.

Here’s what I cover in this week’s episode:

• How I know when the writing outline needs to be adjusted.

• The balance between handwriting and typing up in my drafting process.

• Tarot spreads I use when I get stuck, how to create your own, and resources to find additional spreads.

• My Scrivener organization method from draft to draft.

• An in-depth look at this stuck point and a thorough walkthrough of the spread I used to get to the other side.

• The tech tools I use to review drafts and mark them up.

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Do you have a hidden obsession?

This week on Murder Diaries, we look at my experience writing on holiday AND the ways writing mystery is helping me indulge my inner nerd in ways that enrich the novel while also keeping me engaged.

Here’s what I cover in this week’s episode:

• How to determine which trips will work best for you as a writer. (Plus a postmortem on my week traveling with the book)

• The tools that are helping me most as I move into Act II of the manuscript.

• Some sneaks peeks into the mystery itself.

• How research on personal interests is feeding both my creative self and the novel

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Do you write while traveling?

It’s time for another week of Murder Diaries, a peek behind the scenes as I complete my mystery novel and we hold each other accountable along the way.

Here’s what I cover in this week’s episode:

• My thought process when planning a trip while on a deadline.

• The questions I ask myself to balance enjoying travel and getting writing done.

• What I plan to do on my trip this week.

• Prompts for you to clarify how you can write and travel and still enjoy both.

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Character Mapping

It’s time for another week of Murder Diaries, a peek behind the scenes as I complete my mystery novel and we hold each other accountable along the way.

Here’s what I cover in this week’s episode:

• The principle I learned from Philip Pullman that’s clarified my plotting immensely.

• A deep dive into how I mapped my protagonist and antagonist to generate a cohesive yet flexible outline for the book.

• My check-in about how my goals went this week, and my plan for next week.

• A surprise video walkthrough of my character maps in my actual writing notebook.

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Friday, June 7, 2024

Welcome to Murder Diaries, a solo audio diary that follows me as I write my current mystery novel, featuring Iris Drake.

I’m making this first episode available to the public, so you get a taste of how this will work, and so you all get to hear the lovely music composed by Emily Hawkins.

My vision for the show is this:

• An accountability process for me, as I’ll have to share the writing I’ve done for the week

• Accountability for you, as the comments section will be for reflecting on your own week in writing and for sharing your goals for the upcoming week.

• I’ll share tools and processes that have worked well for me and, in many cases, actual pages from my notebook to show you how I’m organizing and tracking my writing process through the novel.

My goal is to complete the manuscript by early September.

What you you want to get done over the next three months?

This show will be available to paid subscribers only starting with next week’s episode, which will come out on June 14th.

Join me for Murder Diaries

Resources mentioned:

• Take Off Your Pants, by Libbie Hawker

• The #1000wordsofsummer project, hosted by Jami Attenburg here

I was interviewing an author for the Secret Library today, and she reported a strange new development she was facing: her life has improved immeasurably since she started working on her gritty thriller series, and it’s getting in the way of writing it.

This conundrum isn’t new. I remember reading an article back in the day where someone hoped that Trent Reznor would get his heart stomped on again so we could get another album from Nine Inch Nails.

The myth of the tortured artist is there for a reason: making art can be incredibly healing when you’re in a painful place.

But if you start out using art as a comfort, how do you keep going once things are looking up?

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I’m working through another round of reading my mystery draft. I’ve just typed up the additional scenes that I added after the realization I wanted to include scenes with a much wider number of characters and not just follow Iris, my main character.

Adding the scenes with other characters was great fun, and I now feel like those I included now have new depth and complexity, which is what I wanted. But now I’m hung up on the problem of red herrings.

How and when do I add those elements in? Let’s discuss:

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Are you sure no one else is using that?

I shared some behind the scenes from my Secret Library podcast recording session with Joanna Penn last week, but turns out there was more to share.

As we were wrapping up after recording, Joanna asked me a a seemingly innocuous question when I revealed my beloved pen name, MC Williams.

“Have you done a search to check if it’s being used?”

Indeed, reader, I had not. I simply went with the sit bolt upright feeling in the night of certainly that this was my pseudonym. And now, several years later, I have learned that a reasonably prolific man who is either actually named MC Williams, or who was clever enough to snatch it before me, is already writing series fiction involving murder.

Insert the swearing I’m sure you can understand here. Insert some more — there was quite a lot.

However, it is true that this isn’t the only pseudonym in the world, nor is it one that is so memorable you can never forget it. Or at least I assume that’s the case for people who aren’t married to someone whose last name is McWilliams.

So we are back to the drawing board, everyone. I’ve kept this post public as I’d love your thoughts on what makes a good pseudonym, in your opinion, and any names you think are particularly jazzy.

I’m traveling for a week, this Wednesday to next, and I’m giving myself that amount of time to lick my wounds and just come up with another name, already.

Perhaps this pseudonym is a bit edgier than good old reliable MC? We shall see what my imagination (and yours) holds.

Two bits of fun news:

• The much-mentioned episode with Joanna Penn goes live on The Secret Library this Thursday. Subscribe now to get notified when it's live here.

• I am running my favorite event of the year again,
  Novel Possible, 30 days of writing prompts and easy word count goals.
  It’s free for everyone, and we start November 1. Sign up to join us here.
  (or visit novelpossible.com)

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Yesterday, I recorded an episode for The Secret Library podcast with Joanna Penn, discussing her latest book Writing the Shadow. We got into thrillers and murder and all kinds of juicy stuff.

But even more excitingly, we looked at some of the unconscious fears that have been holding me back with this novel and publishing in general.

Book Alchemy

The Shadow Side of Writing and Publishing | Joanna Penn

This might be one of the most vulnerable episodes of the Secret Library I’ve shared so far. Joanna Penn joins and shares why she’s chosen to publish on Kickstarter rather than going the traditional route. We also do a bit of a live coaching session as we talk through the shadow over all, but also my shadow about publishing. Learn how to embrace it, and …

Listen now

2 years ago · Caroline Donahue

Want to hear the behind the scenes of the episode?

Read on…

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I know you now have Sarah McLauchlan in your head.

I’m sorry. At least to those who are my age and listened to that song (and album) endlessly in college. Or perhaps you welcome the nostalgia?

However, this is how writing this novel has come to feel. Not only is my main character following a trail of clues to solve the murder, so am I.

Here are the clues I’ve found in the last couple of weeks:

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