
Behind The Rewrite With Maureen Fisher: 5 Steps To Revising A Mystery Novel @AuthorMaureen
Hi, my name is Maureen Fisher. As a guest blogger on Behind the Rewrite, Iâm delighted to share my editing experience at Stacy Jubaâs competent hands.
After reading Stacyâs 10-page edit summary of Deadly Thanksgiving (A Senior Sleuth Mystery – Book 2), I realized Iâd committed some unforgivable sins as an author. Aaaaaack! Iâm told my wails terrified dogs five blocks away. After the dogs and finally I quit howling, I proceeded to consume my body weight in chocolate accompanied by a vast quantity of red wine. I donât recommend this combo.
Once I recovered, I re-read Stacyâs comments andâwith great reluctance and eye rollingâI admitted that yeah, I had to make changes. Major changes.
All joking aside, Stacy Juba conducted what could have been a devastating edit with remarkable gentleness and compassion. Deadly Thanksgiving is now a stronger book, one I can be proud of.
These are my top five changes, none of which an author wants to hear.
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Change #1: Unsympathetic Protagonist
As backstory, my main protagonist (Clara, a co-owner of Grizzly Gulch Guest Ranch), had indulged in a short but steamy affair involving Hawk (a Mountie and her love interest in Deadly Thanksgiving) before fleeing home, dumping him in a text message then ghosting him. At the beginning of the book, they re-connect when a group of guests arrives along with a corpse bungeed into a seat of their mini coach.
Stacy pointed out that it would be helpful if we knew earlier in the story why Clara took off on Hawk without saying goodbye. That way, the reader would understand her motivations. As it stood, the explanation of why sheâd left came too late, allowing readers to form an unfavorable impression of her. Also, when she first meets him again, she came across as defensive and a bit antagonistic when heâd done nothing wrong. She was the one who just took off. No wonder he was upset.
No author ever wants to create an unsympathetic protagonist. Itâs amazing how I hadnât realized readers would not regard Clara with as much affection as I did. How could they? Theyâd only just met her.
My Solution: This was a vital, though relatively contained modification. Here is the final version in the scene where Hawk first confronts Clara about the breakup:
âHow did you find me?â I asked.
‘Iâll explain later.â He removed his red Calgary Flames baseball cap and ran long fingers through his lovely dark hair threaded with more white strands than I remembered. He jammed his cap back on and took a deep breath. âI didnât take you for a coward. A phone call warning me youâd dumped me and flown home, would also have been a nice touch.â His expression spoke of anger and something else, perhaps sadness.
Shame brought heat to my cheeks. Hawk had every right to be upset, but how could I admit Iâd fallen in love with him and done the only thing I could think of to save myself from more heartache. Iâd abandoned the unsettling thrill of romance in favor of safety, something that had been all too lacking during my traumatic childhood and painful marriage. Worse, like the coward I was, Iâd broken the news in a polite text message containing an apology along with an assurance the fault was all mine, not his, because I was too damaged to conduct a normal relationship.
Although Hawk didnât realize it, he was fortunate Iâd stepped out of his life.
âHow did you get assigned to this particular case?â I asked, side-stepping his very valid accusation of cowardice.
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Change #2: Faulty Police Procedure
Stacy pointed out that the police procedure in Deadly Thanksgiving didnât ring true. While it is a cozy mystery, not a police procedural, Hawk came across as unbelievable as a police officer (Mountie) even for a cozy. Although the initial death did not appear to be a murder, procedure would dictate that he interview all of these suspects individually, not just as a group. I couldnât do that because the book is written in my heroineâs point of view (first person), and I wanted readers to meet the suspects during the questioning. Also, it wouldnât be realistic for a Mountie to partner with civilians on a case in an undercover investigation, so Clara couldnât be his accompliceâsomething, as the author, I wanted her to be. Additionally, he wouldnât just be able to simply abandon his other law enforcement duties to work 24/7 on this one case.
My Solution: Instead of making Hawk a full-fledged Mountie, he became a retired Mountie and close friend of the officer-in-charge. That way, when several more attempted murders occur at Grizzly Gulch Guest Ranch, Hawk is able to pose as a family friend and move into one of the onsite guest suites to keep an eye on matters, essentially acting as an undercover agent. That way, itâs easy for him to participate in brainstorming sessions about the suspects, offer advice, and use his contacts to help move the investigation along.
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Change #3: Heroine Needs to Do More Sleuthing, Less Deferring
Stacy gently pointed out that Clara doesnât do much sleuthing other than talk to Hawk about what heâd found out through background checks and calling in favors. The investigation only moves forward because of his sleuthing. As the main protagonist, Clara should find out these things herself.
My Solution: Since Hawk was no longer the Mountie in charge, I was able to swap Clara in as an informal chief investigator. This was probably the most labor-intensive and complicated part of the rewrite as it affected most of the book. At the same time, I had to find alternative activities to keep both Hawk and the Mountie-in-charge busy while reflecting Claraâs expanded role.
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Change #4: Sagging Middle
Stacy mentioned that after a crisis during goat yoga, it felt as if a lot of time was spent on appeasing one of the characters, which made the pacing lag. For a few chapters, not much was happening with the mystery.
My Solution: I chopped a couple of chapters, had Clara placate the aggrieved party with gifts and a heartfelt apology, nothing elaborate involving decisions, planning, and a dramatic execution, none of which moved the plot ahead.
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Change #5: Climax is Too Predictable
Stacy said, and I quote, âI liked the twist âĤ but again, we lost the whodunnit/puzzle aspect early in the third act.â
My Solution: Sorry, no spoilers. You must read Deadly Thanksgiving to find out how I solved it and kept the villainâs identity a secret until the last possible moment.
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More About The Book
âI had a number of laugh-out-loud moments and once actually, truly, spit out some tea.â
âSo funny I almost had an accident. Laughed and laughed hysterically! Loved it! Absolutely fabulous!â
Hi, Iâm Clara Foster, co-owner and event manager of Albertaâs Grizzly Gulch Guest Ranch. My two sisters and I inherited the place at an age when most sensible women contemplate retirement. No one ever called us sensible.
It has been an uphill struggle. Due to extensive damage from a rogue summer tornado, the only way to avoid foreclosure is to win a lucrative hospitality contest, and that requires multiple five-star reviews. Too bad the arrival of a mini-coach full of geriatric guests, one of them a corpse, threatens to derail our gala Thanksgiving event. Worse, the retired Mountie I dumped four months ago shows up seeking closure.
It soon is apparent (though not provable) that the deceased was murdered, and everyone on board the mini-coach has a motive. To compound matters, this is our second murder of the year. Our slogan might as well be, âTry Grizzly Gulch getaways; theyâre to die for.â Our guests must never learn of another murder or we might as well kiss the contest goodbye and file for bankruptcy.
The only sensible solution is for me to join forcesâand possibly a whole lot moreâwith my former flame to smoke out a killer while hiding the murder from our guests.
Tensions mount when several near-fatal âaccidentsâ occur.
Action bounces from a perilous nature walk to an unfortunate goat yoga incident, a mechanical bull mishap, a savage cat, an electrical malfunction, and a staff medical crisis, all culminating in a Thanksgiving feast our guests will never forget.
Warning: This book may contain nuggets of naughty boomer humor.
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More About Maureen
Among other things, Maureen is an author of funny & furry adventures & misadventures, guaranteed to tickle the funny bone, lift the spirits, & warm the heart! All her books contain characters you can relate to, an animal or two, and always tons of humor. As Charlie Chaplin once said, âA day without humor is a day wasted.â
Transplanted from Scotland to Canada at the tender age of seven, sheâs a voracious reader, bridge player, yoga enthusiast, animal lover, seeker of personal and spiritual growth, pickleball enthusiast, and infrequent but avid gourmet cook. Most of all, she and her husband love to travel. Sheâs swum with sharks in the Galapagos, walked with Bushmen in the Serengeti, sampled lamb criadillas (donât ask!!!) in Iguazu Falls, snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef, ridden an elephant in Thailand, watched the sun rise over Machu Picchu, and bounced from Johannesburg to Cape Town for 16 days on a bus called âMarulaâ.
Visit her on the web:
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