The question I’m always asking is: where can we hold back or give me information to improve the reader experience?

As an author coach, I wear different hats. Depending on where you are in the process of outlining, drafting, or revising your crime novel, I might be able to help!

Before and after drafting:

Outline coaching: A great first step can be to sketch out a blurb: what does the MC want, why, and what is standing in their way?

Crime fiction often centres on the investigation of a crime and the process of detection. We might spend some time looking at crime lab issues or noting where more research and info is needed.

Mystery fiction typically focuses on uncovering the perpetrator or explaining how a crime occurred. Here we can discuss how evidence is being uncovered, how pieces of evidence might connect together, or how it will be interpreted (or misinterpreted!) by our solo crime buster or team of crime busters.

Thrillers emphasise danger, urgency, and action—often involving escape or prevention. Raising stakes and working to ramp up tension throughout a novel takes some planning or reflection, and shifting around what pops up to prevent your protagonist from reaching their goal can be a surefire way to keep readers turning the pages.

Suspense is less a genre and more a narrative effect, created by anticipation of harm or an uncertain outcome. Pacing is often a factor here, and where to slow down and when to speed up is an art and part of craft, so we can look into key moments where moments of weakness, poor decisions, or character flaws might push your MC into a space that has readers wanting to jump in and stop whatever terrible thing is about to happen.

Two additional areas to consider:

Villain’s plan: one of my favourite tasks to work on with authors. Why does our “bad guy/gal/person” do what they do? The simple first step is surface-level and obvious: they want money, power, or control, but there is always something deeper, something below the surface. The old adage is that the villain is the main character in their own story, and all their “evil” decisions make perfect and logical sense to them, most of the time, so we’ll dig deeper. They likely have wounding similar to your protagonist/investigator, and this leads them to have misbeliefs and causes them to act in the way they do. As our detective/sleuth/officer learns more about these depths, this is where the real meat of the mystery comes about.

Seeding clues and red herrings: a good place to start with evidence (to be found by your sleuths) or clues is around five pieces, and this makes it easy to manage, and the author can consider the order they can be found, what they mean, how they might be perceived, and then a fun part is coming up with a couple more that are intended to throw off the detection characters and/or the reader. Well-placed red herrings will keep interest high and also misdirect at key moments to prevent readers from guessing too easily. Readers don’t mind being misled; they almost expect it, but all the pieces should be freely available once they look back and clearly see how they got the clues wrong, and if our detective gets it wrong and this causes even more tension and danger, all the better! A manuscript evaluation is a great tool and step in the process to catch these aspects and more.

Often an author will meet me on Zoom after I’ve reviewed their blurb, synopsis, or rough notes on their crime in the making. As an objective writing coach in the process, I can raise questions to help firm up the foundations or brainstorm with the author to help extend or stretch their current ideas.

Final Thoughts

A good author coach choice for your crime novel is someone who loves crime fiction, understands the complexities of putting together a killer story, and can work with you at various points in the process.

Let’s craft some fine crimes and gay antics!

How do I book a discovery call or find out more?

The best way to get in touch is to send me an email first, and I can get you set up!

You can find available times and book a spot here: https://scheduler.zoom.us/sam-keir/ideal-story-session

Always happy to chat about your crime fiction project.

Image by Roberto Lee Cortes from Pixabay