Writing Ruminations: How Do I Cozy?

Many years ago--about 10, to be precise--I decided to try my hand at writing fiction. I cut my teeth on short stories while I learned about the three act structure, hook lines, characterization, sub-plots and sub-text. I read craft books, attended writing conferences, perused writing magazines and even took some online courses. I put my writing in front of anyone who might read and offer critique. 

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Finally, Voila! I had written a novel. And then I even wrote a second one. Granted that one took a whole lot longer to finish, but that's another post.

I started thinking about my next novel and realized that I wanted to try something a little different. It was time to try...a cozy mystery.

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I turn to all the experience and education I'd gathered over the last ten years. I try to organize myself. I try to characterize. I try to plot. I try to figure out exactly what the heck I'm supposed to put into a cozy mystery. I check blogs. I check books. I create spreadsheets. And still...

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It feels like I'm starting over at the beginning all over again. Same sense of not having a clue and not really knowing where to go to get the answers I need. My spreadsheet has helped, but even though I've been able to meet my goals for the basics (character development, setting development, etc...), when I get ready to start plotting, I feel a little lost.

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Luckily, I follow several people on twitter, including Elizabeth Spann Craig and Kellye Garrett.

Elizabeth Spann Craig has a great blog series about the basics of writing cozy mysteries. It's helped me to see the general process and she has a ton of links to other resources on the internet.

Just last week on Twitter Kellye Garrett shared a book she used to write her award winning Detective by Day mysteries. It's called Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel by Hallie Ephron. I'd actually seen it a couple of weeks ago at the Barnes and Noble in Lincoln, but didn't purchase it at that time because I wasn't sure it would be helpful. After Kellye Garrett's recommendation, I made sure to stop by the Barnes and Noble this past weekend when we were in Lincoln picking out a cello for Boy 1 and grab the only copy.

So far it has been enjoyable to read and the exercises at the end of the chapters are practical, definitely doable and helpful for clarifying what I need to be doing to plan the novel before actually writing it. Since I'm a plantser, this very much appeals to me.

I plan to keep to my spreadsheet goals, but use the book to help me fill out the plotting part, most especially. I may switch to completing chapters by a deadline, but haven't really gotten deep into it to decide.

What do you do when you need guidance? Do you have a trusted person who is your go-to? Or do you prefer to utilize books and blog posts?

**Quick note: I STILL can't access my comments. I don't know what to do, but I wanted to say thanks to Joe and Cindy for the nice comments!!