My contest submission

A little case study on how I wrote my book.

I’m a murder mystery writer with ADD (attention deficit disorder). One may think you can never run out of people to kill because of the World that we live in, but to me it’s a lot more to that. There has to be the perfect place, the perfect reason, full blown description, how the murder will happen, and what will the murderer use. I take any ordinary situation and twist it into something that a normal person with a normal mind wouldn’t think to do. I write, no filter, no editing, no direction, I sit, stand, lay, shower, drive (voice text only), I just write. Whatever ends up on the paper, my phone, napkin, paper bag, hand, wall, inside of another book I’m reading, where ever I get an idea I jot it down. The purpose of writing is to get out what’s in my head. I take each and every piece of story or idea and form something around it, I tie it together to a point one will never know that the next chapter was put together by pieces of toilet paper, a paper bag, and a napkin.

After your sixth or seventh murder story, ideas start to run dry. I set myself at a daily writing minimum of two thousand words. Two thousand words per day may not sound like much, but when you don’t have much to write about, it can get pretty hairy. If I can’t come up with anything, I generally call an associate of mine and listen to their problems. Out of nowhere I have at least three plots and extra ideas of how to murder my next victim in my current project. I don’t take what they say and just write it down. Instead, I take their problem, make it worst, add someone that would over exaggerate the problem, and think about the most unimaginable things to do to all parties. If none of my associates are available to rant, I take a trip to the local mall and watch people. You have to find your comfort level, how far are you able to go to envision your story, what lengths are you willing to travel to get to your plot? You don’t want to put yourself in danger of course, because then your story will never be told, well, not by you. As long as you hold up to 2,000 words a day, you book will start to take shape then take on a mind of its own. Just remember, no matter what level of writer you are or what genre, always take a normal situation and twist it. Take two or more situations and tie them together, make it believable but twist it until there’s nothing else you can do but go to the next topic. Put yourself inside of your characters’ shoes and walk their walk. You should feel what they feel (don’t do what they do in reality), even if it’s a romance novel you have to be able to feel it, when you feel it, your readers will feel it. Imagination is everything, happy writing!

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