Eyes on the Road (The Tow Truck Murder Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – Colorado
Wild Rose Press (February 20, 2023)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 310 pages

Synopsis

Many businesses in Spruce Ridge, Colorado hire temporary international workers during the hectic ski season. One temp, Jaana Ivanov from Estonia, is found dead in her car at the bottom of a cliff, but the car crash was not an accident. Jaana didn’t just take her eyes off the road. She was murdered. Delaney Morran often feels vulnerable herself as the lone female tow truck driver in town, so when the victim’s sister asks Delaney to help find the killer, Delaney eyes everyone with suspicion. Delaney may not be the best at towing vehicles, but she’s pretty good at digging up clues.

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Guest Post

Writing From One Plot Point to the Next, and the Next and the Next, to the End

As the author of ten published mysteries, with additional books in the works, I’ve been asked how I can possibly write a 300-page story with complex characters, hidden clues, and plot twists. The question of how I keep everything straight includes the implied question of how I came up with the ideas in the first place.

There are all kinds of writers’ aids, from software for organizing timelines and character charts to corkboard methods. I’ve found using a simple blank calendar and a stack of notecards the best for me. Every writer needs to find their own way, and there are many books written on the subject. There are complex methods, academic methods, and unscripted methods, but the simplest one is writing from plot point to plot point. The simplicity is writing one piece of the plot at a time, instead of writing from the beginning to the conclusion which seems impossibly far off.

I’m not saying I came up with the original idea. Quite possibly it has been discovered by others. Quite possibly I’ve even read about this method at some point, then had an epiphany when I finally understood it, not realizing I’d read it somewhere. (If you came up with it, please tell me so I can give you credit! And, thank you!)

What is a plot point? First, you have to understand the difference between plotters and pantsers. A plotter creates a book outline; a pantser writes from the seat of her pants. I’m mostly a plotter, but allow for my story to take off in a different direction if it needs to. I base my plotting outline on one of the structures in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book On Novel Writing You’ll Ever Need by Jessica Brody. I’m also a great fan of K.M. Weiland and her blog, HelpingWritersBecomeAuthors.com. Weiland does a great job of explaining plot points and why certain events (inciting incidents, pinch points) need to occur and where they need to occur.

Just thinking about the necessary plot points causes me to discover the next logical step of the story. Understanding what needs to happen is what makes it happen. I believe this is the same way pantsers work. They do their plotting on the fly. Me, I start with an outline.

Once I have my structure in place, I write however many scenes I need to get from one plot point to the next. I focus on that one piece. It makes the task manageable and keeps me going back to my computer day after day. I track my daily word count, but I don’t have a concrete goal. As I’m writing, I jot my scenes onto a calendar to keep track of continuity and make sure my character is not required to do the impossible all in one day. I also keep track of scenes on notecards. Finally, I reach the last plot point, the reveal scene, and the wrap up.

I’m making it sound easier than it is. Writing is hard work, no matter what, but if I were writing toward the end, I don’t believe I could get through that muddled middle or overcome the hurdle of being on page 100 and having 200 pages to go.

Readers enjoy complex characters and surprising twists without being aware of the underlying structure. They just read from point to point. So, write it that way. If you are a writer, are you a plotter or a pantser? If a reader, can you tell the difference when you read?

About the Author

Karen C. Whalen is the author of two mystery series for The Wild Rose Press: the Dinner Club Mysteries featuring Jane Marsh, an empty nester who hosts a gourmet dinner club, and the Tow Truck Mysteries starring Delaney Morran, a super feminine shoe-a-holic who drives a tow truck. Both are cozy mysteries about strong friendships and family ties set in Colorado. The first book in the Dinner Club series tied for First Place in the Suspense Novel category of the 2017 IDA Contest sponsored by Oklahoma Romance Writers of America. Whalen worked for many years as a paralegal at a law firm in Denver, Colorado and was a columnist and regular contributor to The National Paralegal Reporter magazine. Whalen loves to host dinner parties, entertain friends, ride bicycles, hike in the mountains, walk on the beach, and read cozy murder mysteries.

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