More on the novel

So, my progress has slowed again. Bummer, since this is the month I was really supposed to haul and hit my goal - 90K words (and a finishe dfirst draft) by Oct. 31.

But, here's something key I've discovered. Often writers talk about writing "organically" which really means sans outline and often sans plotting. That's more my style. I despise outlines.

However, I'm writing a mystery here, and while I can do some thinking as I write, I've realized I'm not just coming up with one storyline, I'm coming up with three that I have to weave together. And I'm not talking about sub-plots.

To write a mystery I have to develop:

A) The storyline of the crime, which happens "off screen"
B) The storyline that belongs to my heroine that happens on screen
C) The storyline of my heroine figuring out the mystery in her head. I can't reveal to the readers what's going on in her head, but the clues have to be on screen.

No wonder I was a little stalled. So, I spent some time plotting out these three things and I'm ready to go again. Hopefully this time I can push through to the end and wrap this puppy up!

I've realized that most of my writing support is either from people writing literary novels or SF/F - both of which are well and good but not what I'm writing. I wonder why I can't find a good community of mystery writers online? Hmmm...