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A Note on Mysteries: The Big Reveal

When writing a mystery, there is a lot of weight put into the “big reveal.” Where all the previous clues come together and the grand deduction is made by the protagonist.

In order to disperse the information effectively as an author, it could help to explain the whole plot in detail. Hear the whole thing in the villain’s own words. As they deconstruct the puzzle. Then hear the plot being explained piece by piece as the hero tries to reform it.

Have your villain explain the plan in excruciating detail. Then, divide the plot into individual parts. To your villain, these parts will be steps to achieving a goal. They must be hidden, but connected to keep the plot going. To a hero, these parts will be pieces of evidence to uncover the plot. Puzzle pieces that are meant to be put together, but require a keen eye to detect.

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A Note on Mysteries: Who It’s A Mystery For

It’s a mystery to your readers the first time. It’s a mystery to your characters every time. Don’t worry about making it perfect. Just make it a good one.

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A Note on Dialogue: Procedural Language

Authors can put a lot of thought into the dialogue that characters exchange. It‘s a reflection of who each character is, what their relationship is to each other, and it is a building block to the character arc. This dialogue makes for excellent experimentation and helps shape your story to travel down different trajectories.

However, there is another type of dialogue that is often forgotten by modern authors: procedural language. While it seems bland and forgettable, using pre-set language can reveal a great deal about your world. For example, are there any statements made by an officer when a character is arrested? Have any of your characters sworn an oath? Is there a motto someone in your story lives by?

These are the questions that set the constants in your story. By balancing the dynamic language and procedural language, your story will take on a fuller, more realized form. It will be more believable as a world.

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A Note on Structure: Pacing

When writing a story, it’s important to remember that every word has great meaning. But in order to convey a narrative, you need to take care in what words you choose, and how each word can change the story.

For the latter, keep in mind that every book is divided into many parts and sub-parts. There are acts, sequences, scenes, and beats.

A story is all about change, and how every action has an effect, big or small, leading from the story’s beginning to its end.

Think of how every line changes the story, and when the reader and characters feel a change in how this story will play out. Structure is the measure of change. These are the parts every author should embrace.

Story (Sum total of all events)

Act (Distinct portions of narrative trajectory)

Sequence (Collection of itemized Scenes)

Scene (Limited Incident of Action)

Beat (Intentional Shifts In Narrative)

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Writing Experiment: Three-Tier Scene

If you’re having trouble with writing a scene, try to write it three times. As an added piece of variation, write the scene as a purely narrative, dialogue, and descriptive scene.

Narrative = Omniscient Account

Dialogue = Spoken Words of Characters

Descriptive = Language Providing Visuals

Once you have experienced the scene in three different ways, you’ll be able to discern which approach is the most appropriate for the scene. Furthermore, you’ll be able to determine which combination of the three will be the most optimal.

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A Note on Characterization: Competence

Whenever you craft a character, you should be asking yourself a question. Why does this character grab my attention? The answer could be one of many, but an often overlooked and essential crux of why a character can grab your attention (or why they cannot) is how competent they are.

If your character is good at what they do, it can create an insight into their world and tell a lot about them. Why the character is needed in the story, how the world necessitates their presence, and what their abilities mean to the other characters.

We may not cheer for the psychopaths and villains of a given story. Logically, we should not like them at all. However, competence shows just how essential they are to the story and how they affect the world around them. And if done correctly, it’s done without a single line of dialogue explaining why.

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A Note on Form: Mediums

When writing scenes, it’s important to remember that your medium will greatly dictate where you need to apply your focus. Writing is a means of conveying purpose through art. But different mediums put writing in a new type of focus.

If you’re working with a purely visual medium, such as film, the writing is still crucially important. It’s the creative scaffolding. Your writing drives the plot and gives every movement, interaction, and scene a purpose. It’s a means of providing structure and tying all the purely visual components together.

If you’re working with a balanced medium, like a graphic novel, the visuals and writing make for an economic use of space. Your writing brings weight to every panel, and lends efficiency to the visual and written components. No words or images are wasted because they complement each other and convey the most essential aspects in each frame.

Finally, if you’re working with a purely written medium, such as a novel, the words expand on every aspect of your story. Narration, dialogue, descriptive language, and more. You have no visual elements to rely upon. Every word is a brushstroke, and every literary technique is a color on your pallet. Striking a balance with both conveys a story more closely and efficiently than most any medium.

Find the medium they best conveys your story and your voice as an artist. Then you will be able to wholeheartedly share your work in the form it was meant to take.

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A Note on Plot Points: Court Scenes

The courts in real life determines who wins, not who is right. By pitting two parties against one another and forcing them to argue with evidence instead of emotion, they are forced to confront the truth. This makes for excellent fiction.

Court systems in fiction are dedicated to stripping away the filler text and making the characters confront each other.

This powerhouse of a scene type is often a major turning point for every character it touches. And the consequences of what happens in a courtroom are long-lasting, justified by centuries of tradition, and play a big part in world-building.

When done properly, these scenes can be some of the most textually-efficient and emotionally emotionally staggering in your story. The right case at the right time in history can change the world. And the right case at the right time in your story could change everything.

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