Right, basically I'm going to start writing a book, a crime murder mystery it is. I've wrote a book before, years and years ago, got to about 40000 pages and stopped work on it this was when I was in school like. I still have it somewhere but dont think im gonna finish it off. But now I actually have a really good idea for a book and would like to get started on it. Any ideas on how I shall proceed. I want to do lots of research on this to get every detail right. How would I go about doing that? Say with the police? etc? Thanks.
Wow, that must have been a long book! just kidding. I guess you meant words. Anyway, welcome to the forum and congrats for the decision to start writing a book.
the first thing you must do [if you haven't already] is READ!... read lots of the kind of mystery you want to write... then, if you need to do research, get at it... if you need to know how the police would proceed in a certain kind of case, of course you can ask someone on the force, if you can't find out any other way... but there is google, your local library at your disposal, too...
You can ask this forum for advice to get information (like you kind of are doing right now). You can post small bits of your novel in the workshop if you just want someone to look it over. You brought up that you were going to write a crime/mystery story... those are exactly the type of things I'm into so if you ever need an extra pair of eyes to look over a rough draft. Also, if you read a lot of mystery/crime books, you can get a good idea of what techniques are good to employ in a book.
David, Let me echo, congrats on getting ready to write another one! Now, as far as what you need to do....well...that totally depends on the story and what you need for it. I personally use outlines to get down the general path of the book so I don't stray too far away from what I want to do. It also helps me identify areas where I will need extra research. But for you, some things to consider will be: where will this take place? Is it a city/town you know well? Or is it somewhere you've never been or only been once? If so, you'll have to do some research on that area so you know what the setting looks like. If it's an area of your town, go there, take pictures, take notes on what it looks like, what you hear, what you smell....(this is something you should do for every location you're going to have in your story). Next, think about the scenes you want to have in the story. Will one of them be a crime scene? If so, start doing research online about crime scenes. Read other mystery novels and see how their crime scenes are constructed (as far as how police behave). You may be able to get a member of the police force to help you, but it may be tough to do...they tend to be pretty busy. If you know someone who has a friend or relative who is or was a cop, that will help, they may be available for questions (offer to buy them a coffee or something). What kinds of weapons will your killer use? Research that so you know how they're used, if they can be hidden on the body, what their effects are, if it's feasible that the killer was even able to get one. What will your main character do? Is he/she a cop? if so, you will have to do more looking into crime scene investigations. Post questions here about that if you don't have a resource at home...someone here will be able to answer (I can even help with that some, my dad was a cop.) If they're not a cop but someone who got pulled into the crime/mystery, research their job. If it's a woman, do a little research (or ask women in your life) about what's important to a woman, what she would be doing in THIS situation or THAT situation. Will the great escape or final battle at the end be somewhere....like a boat, or a helicopter, or a bus? If so, research some of those. Basically, you need to - at the very least - mentally map out your story and look at all the parts and figure out what is needed to make some areas of the story sound plausible. One thing I want to mention that's important....don't over research things, unless you just find that you love reading about them. Unless every aspect of your book takes place on a nuclear submarine, you don't have to know everything about every tiny nook and cranny of a sub. you just have to know enough that you can write effectively about that setting or item. I've learned from experience that researching too much kills my interest in something and then can put a damper on the actual writing of the story. And as always, we're here on this site to help with anything. Good luck!!!
