At this point in my growth as a writer I’m
a plot-oriented
“plantser,” combining some planning with some discovery writing.
At the moment I’m working on improving my
planning
skills, preparing for a
rewrite of my
2018 NaNoWriMo science fiction mystery novelette, expanding
it into a full novel. I’ve read advice
that mysteries require
more
planning than some other genres. So I’m working on those
skills, and this year I’m primarily working on developing more
interesting characters. I’ve researched how to develop
engaging characters, including developing character arcs based on
the character’s negative
core belief (“Lie” the character tells themselves). Based on
advice that it can take time to build up reader interest in a
character, I looked into how to
write
bridging conflicts to maintain reader
interest while developing
the main plot. Now it’s time to start
rewriting the first chapter, and I didn’t
like my first attempt of a few weeks ago, so
I did even more
research. Here are the results.
