Showing posts with label mystery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mystery. Show all posts

Monday, June 12, 2017

YA Book Pick: THE GIRL I USED TO BE

Once a month, we choose an outstanding YA book to review. We want to spotlight books of interest to aspiring writers, as well as highlight some of our favorite books and authors!
This month's Book Pick is THE GIRL I USED TO BE by April Henry.

Synopsis (from Goodreads):
When Olivia's mother was killed, everyone suspected her father of murder. But his whereabouts remained a mystery. Fast forward fourteen years. New evidence now proves Olivia's father was actually murdered on the same fateful day her mother died. That means there's a killer still at large. It's up to Olivia to uncover who that may be. But can she do that before the killer tracks her down first?

First Line: "The only sound I can hear is my own panicked breathing."

From just this line, you know that this is going to be a suspenseful book and the main character is going to find herself in some kind of horrible danger. 

I don't always love the technique of starting off with a scene from later in the book and then flashing back, but it's done really well here, with just enough details to make the reader curious.

Highlights: Ms. Henry is local to me and was a faculty member at an SCBWI workshop I attended last weekend, so I picked up several of her books before the event. She is a master of page-turning suspense and cliffhanger chapter endings. I thought I'd guessed who the murderer was—but I was wrong, which always makes me happier than when I'm right!

I enjoyed the law enforcement details of this book and several others I read, so it made sense when the author talked at the workshop about her meticulous research into these areas. She goes out of her way to speak with experts, try out weapons and methods of escape, and take classes relating to her writing.

A Good Read For: Ms. Henry has written many stand-alone books and several series, but I think this one is an excellent introduction to her work for someone who wants to see how to do life-in-danger suspense and mystery for YA.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Plotting the Mystery: Helpful Link Roundup

I'm about 10,000 words into my new work-in-progress, a YA mystery. This is a departure from my usual sci-fi/fantasy bent (although it does have a speculative element, because I really can't help myself), so I found myself at something of a loss when it was time to plot the novel.
Where to turn? The internet, of course! Here are some of the most helpful resources I found online for plotting mysteries.

1. Dramatic Structure and Plot, by Hallie Ephron for mysterywriters.org
This extremely useful overview of mystery writing gives you some of the basics, like giving your sleuth a hard time and how to write a hook-y opening. The list at the end of cliché endings to avoid is especially helpful.

2. 5 Tips for Plotting a Mystery, by Pamela Fagan Hutchins
The first piece of advice here (start with an end and work toward a beginning) gave me my first aha! moment in my novel plotting. I figured out my climactic scene and the big reveal of whodunit, then worked backward. That made it much easier to flesh out the beginning and middle of the story.

3. Understanding the Essentials of Writing a Murder Mystery, by Bronwyn Hemus
Having read quite a few mysteries, I knew a progression of clues was a must, but I was foggy on how that worked, exactly. This article discusses the importance of feeding the reader clues that aren't obvious, but that could be followed to arrive at the solution to the mystery in retrospect (easier said than done, but at least I know that I should be doing it...)

And, just for fun...

4. Mystery Plot Generator
This mad-libs style blurb generator is perfect when you're stuck on some aspect of your plot and need some comic relief. My favorite part is the automatically generated critics' reviews—brilliant! :-)

Happy plotting!