The Mystery Starts Here

If you don’t believe me, read "Forensics and Fiction" by D. P. Lyle, M.D. I so enjoyed his, "Howdunit Forensics" that I rushed to Amazon and brought this book, too. In it, Dr. Lyle answers questions posed by both published and prepublished mystery writers and some of the questions are downright weird. Here’s a sample: Can a corpse be bled? (No -they ooze) What items were used to stop bleeding in the 1900’s? (mud, eggs, herbs and tabacco - euuu) Can my bad guy be severely burned in a tanning bed? (yup)  and one of my favorites - Could my character hide inside a corpse? (it’s possible!!!) If that one doesn’t give you nightmares, nothing will.

The book is divided into five sections, with a list of each question and its page number in the front of the book so it’s easy to flip to something of particular interest. This will also help in future if you want to go back and re-read a certain question, perhaps to think up one of your own.

Dr. Lyle answers each question completely in language anyone can understand. The questions and answers in "Forensics and Fiction" are sure to trigger a bunch of ‘what-if" questions for your mysteries. If you want to find out more about Dr. Lyle or his books, visit his website at:  www.dplylemd.com

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.