May 8, 2009 | Posted by Mark Not many updates from me recently as I have been pretty busy with just getting some research done. Currently I’m reading a book about magical belief by Lynn Thorndike: The Place of Magic in European History I will probably be mixing this type of reading with character development.
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May 1, 2009 | Posted by Mark At last I have finished the scene-level planning for Habit for Killing. Quite a relief to get to the end of it. I’m sure there will be more changes along the way though. Now I’m going back to work in detail on my characters and background research before I get started on writing.
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April 16, 2009 | Posted by Mark I’ve fast forwarded through some elements of the snowflake method structure and am now planning each scene. This is very useful as I can now see the book taking shape as a reader might experience it. Writing a synopsis was useful, but I have the feeling that apart from giving me the overall shape of [...]
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April 9, 2009 | Posted by Mark Here are some photos I took a few weeks ago of St Albans abbey and the gatehouse (built c. 1365). St Albans is the town that I am basing my fictional town of St. Bretts on for Habit for Killing. One thing I found interesting was the mix of building material used for the abbey [...]
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April 7, 2009 | Posted by Mark I haven’t posted for a while as I have been concentrating on some major changes to Habit for Killing. In fact the story has changed completely from a medieval mystery to a full-on fantasy set in the historical 14th century. I’ll provide some more details once I have got a bit further with the plot. [...]
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March 26, 2009 | Posted by Mark I have had a rethink about the middle section of the synopsis: Roger framed for the murder, but freed [once the Inquisitor is blackmailed to protect the Abbey] The woman Roger loves, Margery, is arrested on suspicion of witchcraft. The Inquisitor reads the evidence presented to him by Roger but rejects it out of hand [...]
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March 26, 2009 | Posted by Mark The mindmap approach has been useful to lay out all the different plot strands. I think it has also shown me that the plot is getting quite complex, and the difficulty I have now is that there are some elements I have decided to change, but I can’t see how they have affected the basics [...]
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March 23, 2009 | Posted by Mark As mentioned previously I am thinking of including magic into my story, this will mean working out some more detailed sub-plots that will then integrate into the main plot. However, I have already written a fairly detailed synopsis for the main plot of my story. I think I have a good idea of what the [...]
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March 20, 2009 | Posted by Mark A small point that I have been ignoring up to now on A Habit for Killing has been the genre. It’s historical mystery really, but the mystery features accusations of necromancy. Does this mean the necromancy actually happens in the story or is this merely the motivation for the murders that take place. Up until [...]
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March 19, 2009 | Posted by Mark After making rapid progress through the plot detail of Acts I and II of my narrative, I am finding things slowing down as I reach the synopsis for the Acts III and IV, where the narrative builds to its climax and the eventual denouement in Act V. Although it is frustrating to experience this slowing [...]
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