Crafting an ending

I’m near the end of the first full draft of my new novel, The dead can lie. It’s about Greg, a criminologist whose wife was killed by a serial killer known as the Dreamer. A year after her death, Greg has no new leads, and is close to ending it all, when he receives a phone call that changes everything. But he is then framed for his own wife’s murder.

I didn’t intend to write this book, I had something else in mind, but it kind of insisted.…

The writer’s manifesto

I fell asleep for 15 minutes, and woke up with this in my head. 

The Writer’s Manifesto

I, the undersigned writer, understand and accept the following ten conditions:

• I will never be completely happy with my manuscript, because it always could have been just that little bit better.
• Even though I write something great, it may never find a publisher, its due audience, or sell well.
• It may not get the cover it deserves, or even one I like.
• I may have to do most, if not all of my marketing, and spend large sums of money and inexhaustible time on social media with little sales impact.

…

Black holes and writing strategies

As a thriller writer, whether action or psychological, the beginning and end of a novel are not usually the danger zones. It’s the middle. That’s the part when things can slow down or get confusing, and the reader can put the book down and begin searching on Netflix… So, you need something to keep the reader, and even the writer, going full steam ahead. And what is more attracting and compulsive than a black hole?

The theory is simple. Whether using a three, four or even five-act structure, there need to be big events, cruxes at the pivotal points, that pull the reader in, make them gasp and think ‘No no no!…