Back to the Beginning

On Friday, I came to a standstill on my work in progress. I was writing words, but the plot seemed to found a holding pattern and was going round and round instead of moving forward. I concluded the book was broke. The only way to move forward was to go backwards. One of the issues was the person I had designated as the killer was not the guilty party. Now, this didn't come as a surprise to me because out of the fourteen mystery/suspense stories I have written, I was never right. The real killer was always revealed by writing the story.

Usually, I'd make notes in the manuscript and continue writing until the draft was complete and then add any necessary clues and details. This time that method wasn't working. I was adding to the word count but I knew they were filler words. The problem I was having was the motive for the crime was a little different than I originally thought, the "heart" matter of it wasn't the same, and that changed the mood of the story.

The only way to move forward was to go back to the beginning and adjust the mood in some places, lighten it up some, deepen it in others, and add in more about one relationship that at first was complementary but now drove a part of the story.