Inspiration

I often wonder why I do this to myself. See, when I set my goal for publishing 20 books this year, I intended to front-load the year's efforts so as to reduce the pressure on myself to produce. However, in the first five months I put out six books, rather than the eight or nine I had planned on. Now, part of that is because finding cover art isn't easy, especially in fantasy and sci-fi genre fiction. I mentioned before that the mystery books are easy enough to cover, since I can use clip art. The problem is, actually writing the mysteries is tougher than writing fantasy and sci-fi.

And since I've committed to getting a mystery novel out this month, I have to get it written and off to my reader in enough time, which means I have to finish writing it this week. No pressure, right? Sure, it's already partly written, but that just means I have to review what I wrote before to make sure the story flows properly. Not to mention, I need to put the clues in the story to give the reader a chance to figure out who the murderer is. Spoiler alert; it's a murder mystery.

So, how to get the kind of inspiration that lets me write a book in such a short period of time, while still being a husband, father, and college student?

Well, one of the best things to do is go for a walk. We have two dogs, so I can get a good chunk of thinking time in while taking them on long walks. And sure enough, it helped; I've got a couple more chapters figured out, and I just have to get them down on paper.

The thing about mysteries is that they aren't easy to write off the cuff. Sure, it can be done; I wrote The Missing Magnate in two weeks, without a single clue as to who died, who killed them, or even how it was done when I started. It wasn't until chapter four that I even figured out who the murderer was. And Best Served Cold was largely written on the fly as well. But it's a hell of a challenge. It's better to write them with at least a basic outline of where the story's going to go. That's what I did with Final Exam, the first Cameron Vail mystery. In fact, that one technically took me almost thirty years to write, since I started it way back in 1990. I had that one plotted out all along, but I never got around to actually writing it until last summer.

Now, a lot of writers prefer to outline anyway, so that's not an issue for them. But me, I like to explore the story as I write it. I want to experience it like a reader, not knowing the twists and turns of the plot before I actually write them. Outlining means I already know what's going to happen, which makes it more of a challenge to actually finish the book. That's why fantasy is so easy for me to write. Well, that and thirty-five years of fantasy gaming, which gives me a very broad spectrum to work off of, even when writing on the fly. Most of the stories in The Devil's Playground were written like that, drawing off ideas I had from years ago that had never been turned into stories. On the other hand, The Chronicles of Meterra: Arrival had a basic plot outlining it before I sat down to write it, because I had a specific goal in mind for that setting.

So, writing mysteries is tougher for me, since I prefer to write in a 'pantsing' style (I have no idea where that term came from, to be honest) instead of outlining ahead of time. But it's something that I'm going to have to figure out, since I expect I'm going to write quite a few of them over the next few years, at least until I can get enough of an income to get regular cover art commissioned. Maybe the wife will loosen the purse strings a bit...

But, for that to happen, I need to sell more books, which means I have to write them, and get the word out. I've linked to five of my published books in this post already; the last one, A Universe of Possibilities, is the one depicted below. Check them out, and support indie publishing!