13 Mystery-Writing Tricks Used by Acclaimed Novelists

· ASSIGNMENT: Make a list of ten high concept premises (that I haven’t already discussed here!). Try to define what about them makes them high concept for you. · ASSIGNMENT: Make a commitment to come up with at least three premises a week. Try them out on your friends and family. Which ones make their eyes light up? Why aren’t you writing those sto

ASSIGNMENT: Who or what are your top ten hero/ines? And I don’t mean make a list for the ages or for popular consumption, I mean for you. Again, mix it up: books and films. You don’t have to think too hard about it, either, when you’re listing. It might be more useful to do the list fast and see what comes up, because that non-thinking list will be

ASSIGNMENT: List # 1: Make a list of all your story ideas. Yes, you read that right. All of them. This is a great exercise because it gets your subconscious churning and invites it to choose what it truly wants to be working on. Your subconscious knows way more than you do about writing. None of us can do the kind of deep work that writing is all o

· ASSIGNMENT: Create a section in your notebook, and write out and begin looking for your favorite examples of character introductions.