Welcome to the new series of Posts from Your Archives 2023 where I will be sharing posts from the last six months of 2022 I have selected from the archives of willing participants. If you wish to be included the information is at the the end of the post.

As writers we tend to find the process that suits us best and in this first post from author Rebecca Douglass, she shares the plotting and planning involved in writing one of her murder mysteries. Also some lovely views of Maine in the autumn.

Writer’s Wednesday: Plotting and Planning by Rebecca Douglass

I think I’m overdue for a writer check-in. I’ve been visiting a friend in Maine and enjoying fall color, walks in yellow-orange-red forests, and good times with friends. But there has also been some time to write (at least, to write those hasty #writephoto flash pieces!) and to think about writing.

“Thinking about writing” sounds like the sort of thing you do when you want to be a writer but don’t want to actually do the work, so let me clarify. I’m thinking fairly specifically about a new novel in development (while I wait to see what I’m going to do with the one I worked on for the last year). I am, in fact, plotting my next murder while I walk (in a manner of speaking. No actual people are hurt in this plotting, though inattention to where I’m walking may injure me if I’m not careful).

The process of developing a new story is a somewhat long and convoluted one for me. I start with a germ of an idea. In this case, like the last, it was the discovery of the body. Great. Now I need to decide who that corpse is, and why, what else is going on in town at the same time, and of course, who did the dire and dreadful deed. And all the people who could have done it but didn’t. So that’s what I’m doing.

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