The Mystery Starts Here

I am wandering around my house, starting at walls, trying to figure out what to do for the next hour, day, week. Why? I finished the first draft of novel number ten today and now I feel lost. After so many weeks of writing a minimum of 1000 words a day - I have nothing to do. I want to print this glorious manuscript out and rush it into the mail to the person at the top of my agent list, but I won’t. I won’t because this first draft is crap. They all are. They sound fine when I’m writing them; coherent, fast-paced, full of conflict and wonderful characters. But the truth is - it’s crap. So I will leave it alone for at least two weeks, a month will be better, maybe longer. Then I will re-read the manuscript and start the first of what will be many revisions.

So after I finished the last of my 78,000 words this morning, I closed my computer, read a book for a while, walked the dog, read some more and took a nap. I was tempted to turn on the television but…it’s Sunday, do I really want to watch a golf tournament? I’m lost and have nothing to do until I have to start making dinner.

Oh, I know I can write short pieces while I wait for the manuscript to stew in my computer and I will. I have several in mind. But not today. I have other books to write too, but I don’t want to take on another big project until this one is finished. I have notes for book 11 and ideas for two others. No, for now I will try to put this book out of my mind, stop thinking of cleaver lines for the characters to say, quit writing down plot twists at midnight on the pad of paper next to my bed, push the whole thing to the back of my mind. Tomorrow I’ll start a new piece of writing to fill that month while I wait. I have to because after all, I’m a writer and that’s what I do, I write.

I bought "Howdunit Forensics" from Writer’s Digest Books to use as a reference tool when writing my own mysteries. No one was more surprised than me when I wound up reading it like a novel. Why? Because it’s fascinating. The book is broken down into three large categories: The Forensics System, The Coroner and the Body, The Crime Scene and the Crime Lab. There are numerous sub-categories under each main heading and believe me, Lyle covers everything you would ever need to know when writing a mystery. Even if you’re not a writer, but simply a lover of good mysteries, you’ll enjoy this book.

Lyle writes in a style that is easy for anyone to understand and not too technical. Who else but a mystery writer or reader would enjoy reading the steps in doing an autopsy? You can in this book, Chapter 3, The Autopsy: A look Inside the Body. Want information on trace evidence? Chapter 15: Trace Evidence: Sweating the Small Stuff. I especially liked the blue-back grounded side bars citing real cases and telling how forensics helped solve the crime and convict the bad guys.

Lyle writes in a style that is easy to read and not too technical  Besides being a working doctor, he has published mysteries, and worked as a consultant to several television crime shows including Law & Order, CSI:Miami, Women’s Murder Club and Homicide,

If you write mysteries this is the one reference tool you must have on your shelf.