I got a whopping 5,348 words written on Fire Wizard this past week. That feels awesome!
I’ve been trying to loosely plot the cozy mystery I’m thinking of doing under a different pen name. I’ll have to say, those people who write these on a regular basis have acquired genius status in my eyes. To have to figure out “whodunit” and why. And then all the investigative stuff. It makes me want to pull my hair out. I don’t know if I can do this or not, but I’m giving it a whirl. It’s good for writers to step outside their comfort zone. If it works, great. If I can’t live with the frustration…at least I can say I took the leap.
lauralynnelliott.com 
Nice word count for the week! I was intrigued by the excerpt you shared last week (was that last week? lol). Can’t wait to read it!
On the cozy mystery, I think it’s great you’re giving it a shot. 🙂
I can’t even remember when I shared the excerpt. LOL. Days run together. I’m so happy I’m getting the cover model who I envisioned as my Fire Wizard.
If I end up having to ditch the cozy mystery (but I’m really going to try!), I’m still going to do a contemporary romance. A sweet one. 🙂
I understand the writing the mystery part. I took a class in college called “English Detective Fiction”, including Agatha Christie, Dorthy L. Sayers, Arthur Conan Doyle. The BIG paper was to write a mystery story, it was hard. i haven’t wrote a mystery since (that was the late 90’s). Maybe I should revisit the mystery. The closet I came to a mystery was a 1 act that I wrote last year. Good luck! I came from A Round of Words Blog Hop, BTW.
Hi Cindy! I think that would have been a fun class, but the mystery story would have been hard for me, too. That’s why I’m struggling with this one…I have to figure out all the details and I have to make them interesting. Maybe you SHOULD try a mystery again!
Congratulations on that awesome word count! 😀
I tried to do a romantic suspense and it failed miserably because I couldn’t figure out how to do a mystery (of sorts) with figuring out who the killer was without being obvious about it. All the technical details of a detective’s life isn’t for me. I lost complete interest in the story. But I now know I don’t like writing that genre, so it was still beneficial to try. You never know what will take off if you don’t try it.
Good luck on the mystery!
Thanks, Ruth!
Here’s the thing. I LOVE reading mysteries. I’m intrigued by the way the author can weave it all together. As many as I’ve read, you would think I could do it. But it still baffles me a little. Hubby is helping because he has a great imagination, and he’s really good at this stuff. He can’t write it, but he can sometimes figure out how to tell the story.
Fabulous word count! Oh, and I love mysteries. I’ve written a couple, and the whodunnit tends to reveal itself to me about halfway through the writing. I tend to have 2-3 people in mind as possible culprits, and then it narrows down as I write the story and becomes clear who and how. But I don’t know how others do it. I know some people are amazing plotters with that stuff. Enjoy!
Have a great week and a terrific round!
Hi Julie. I’m a terrible plotter. I like for things to come to me when I’m writing. But I do need to plot enough to get an idea of who and why. The why is the hard part. Well, that and the actual investigation. I want the investigation to be interesting. And, of course, there will be a romance thread through it. That part I kind of have an idea about.
5000+ is AWESOME, Lauralynn! Keep it up!
And mystery’s something I’ve always wanted to dabble in, but the points you make are really the things that keeps me from really working on it right now. In able to get a good one with all the right twists and believable turns, it’s got to take some focus. I’m really excited to see what you might come up with, though!
Thanks, L.S.! I’m going to really try to get this mystery going. We’ll see how it goes. My husband always comes up with great ideas when I get stuck, so he’ll have to help me with this one. 🙂
You’re on fire with Fire Wizard! Writing mysteries is a lot harder than it looks, even “cozy”s. I’ll have to start asking Mary what should come next when I get stuck…
I see what you did there. *giggles* The mystery will definitely be a challenge! But I’m not afraid. If it works, it does. If it doesn’t, I’ll do something else. 🙂
That’s usually how I work, too. 😉
5000 words! A. MAZ. ING!!!! I love reading mysteries and I deffinitely have an idea for one, but I’m saving that one for down the line. So many ideas but I’m such a slow writer.
Thanks, Chris! I hope my idea pans out. I’m more worried about writing all the investigative parts than any of the rest of it.
awesome job on the word count!!
Thanks, Fallon!
I had such a blast writing my first cozy, I’m in the middle (well, almost middle) of another one. I kept notes. Lots and lots of notes, mostly in chart form. When it got to the point that I needed to solve it, I sat down with my notes and figured it out. I’m not a planner, though. Have fun, it’s tough, but it’s like making up your own puzzle.
I’m not much of a planner, either. I write by the seat of my pants. Most of my “plotting” is just making notes of what I want to happen or what HAS happened. I’m anxious to get started on this. I hope I can do it!
Congrats on the word count! Good stuff!
I agree wholeheartedly – on both counts actually. 1) We should push ourselves to write outside our comfort zones, and 2) writers in certain genres are especially brilliant. After watching Ender’s Game, I told my family I couldn’t write for teens because I’m not smart enough. I haven’t read the books, but the movie was deep and thoughtful.
Thanks, Steph!
I stepped out of my comfort zone when I wrote a couple of horror novels, and that worked out okay, I guess. 🙂 I think a mystery will be fun.
You know, there was such a surge of authors writing young adults novels there for awhile. I never had a desire to write in that genre.
I loved Ender’s Game!
Preschoolers . . . middle grades . . . adults . . . But no, the YA age group never drew me in as an author, though I do like reading some of the novels written for this age group.
Congrats on a great word count for the week!
Whodunits are hard. I love reading romantic suspense, but the sheer amount of knowledge people who write in that genre need is overwhelming to me–police procedures, what laws/procedures vary by state/locality, the nitty-gritty details about weapons, etc. It’s a lot of background. I totally respect mystery writers. Good luck with yours!
Thanks, Denise! Hey, if the mystery doesn’t work out, I’m doing a contemporary romance. LOL