Skip to content

Vanessa A. Ryan

Writer / Actor

Menu
  • Home
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Policy
  • About Me
  • My Blog
    • An Interview with Mystery Author Harini Nagendra
    • An Interview with Mystery Author Anne Coates
    • An Interview with Author Terrance McCauley
    • An Interview with Thriller Author Alison Morton
    • An Interview with British Author A B Morgan
    • An Interview with Thriller Author Sarah Rayne
    • An Interview with Author J.J. Brown
    • An Interview with Shetland Author Marsali Taylor
    • An Interview with Clay Stafford, Founder of the Killer Nashville Annual Writers’ Conference
    • An Interview with Mystery Author Helena Dixon
    • An Interview with Mystery Romance Author PC Feather
    • An Interview with Crime Novelist Lanny Larcinese
    • An Interview with Mystery Author Christine Husom
    • An Interview with UK-Based Crime Fiction Author Tom Mead
    • If you’re in L.A., I hope to see you at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books this Saturday, April 23
    • Guest Author Michael Allan Mallory Combines Detective Fiction with Humor
    • I’m Giving Away a FREE copy of The Trouble with Murder!
    • An Interview with Australian Guest Mystery Author Ruth Morgan
    • An Interview with Australian Crime Fiction Author Sherryl Clark
    • An Interview with Fantasy Author Zen J. Jackson
    • An Interview With Mystery Author TK Eldridge
    • An Interview With Mystery Author Dave Sivers
    • An Interview With Cozy Mystery Author Katie Oliver
    • An Interview With Thriller Author Christina Loggia
    • An Interview With Guest Mystery Author H L Marsay
    • A Guest Interview With Legal Thriller Author Simon Michael
    • An Interview with Guest Author Jay Mims
    • Are Films About Desolate People a Trend in Films Today?
    • I Don’t Know What to do About This Mystery in my House
    • Who is the Villain in a Mystery Novel?
    • Thoughts on a Hazy Sunny Sunday
    • Here’s What’s Next for the Hetty Carson Mystery Series
    • The Way I Write
    • Two of My Mystery Novels are now Published in Denmark
    • I got a selfie with one of my Favorite Authors!
  • Subscribe to my Mailing List
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • IMDB.com Profile
Menu

The Way I Write

Posted on by

Plotters and Pantsers

Some writers create detailed outlines of their story before they start to write. These writers are the plotters. Other writers don’t create outlines. They just start writing whatever comes into their head and then shape a story around it. These are the pantsers, in that they write “by the seat of their pants.” That makes for a lot of rewrites because some elements or characters will need to be revised or even deleted to make the story flow. But for many, that’s part of the joy of writing or the joy ride.

What About Mysteries?

With a mystery, you need to leave clues along the way. If you don’t, the reader feels cheated. You can’t just throw in a surprise, such as a twin brother who suddenly appears at the end and who commits the murder. If you’ve got a twin brother wandering around, he needs to show up earlier in the story to be a plausible suspect.

My Way of Writing

As for myself, I like to create a basic outline of the story and who the characters are. Most of the time, I start with how the story ends. With some novels, such as The Cubist Caper, I had a detailed outline of who, what, where, when and why. While many of my locations are made up, when I write about one that is real, I’ll research what’s actually there.

For example, in The Cubist Caper some of the story takes place in a church in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It’s a well known church. So when I was writing the novel I took a trip to Santa Fe to scout out the church. I needed to make sure of its location and that it had a back entrance, because it figured into the story. I also went inside to get the feel of the place.

Here’s some photos of the church:

The top two photos show the front and the bottom left is the path to the side entrance. And of course, the bottom right is inside the main part of the church.

But That’s Not the Whole Story

I am now leaning toward being more of a pantser. I create less and less of an outline and more of a joy ride for myself. If I want readers to be surprised at how a story ends, because they had a hard time figuring it out until it did, well guess what? I had a hard time figuring it out too. I didn’t know how it was going to end until I got there.  

Well, thanks for reading,

Vanessa

Author:

The Trouble With Murder, D.X. Varos, Ltd, 2022

Hidden Agenda, Forget Mellemgaard APS (in Danish) 2021

The Cubist Caper, Forget Mellemgaard APS (in Danish) 2022

A Palette for Murder, A Lana Davis Mystery, Five Star Publishing, a part of Gale/Cengage Learning 2015

A Blue Moon, CCHB 2013

http://vanessaaryan.com

https://twitter.com/Vanessa_A_Ryan

https://facebook.com/VanessaARyanNovels

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2543030

Vanessa A. Ryan

Subscribe to my Mailing List

Pages

  • About Me
  • Cookie Policy
  • Home
  • IMDB.com Profile
  • My Blog
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe to my Mailing List

Recent Posts

  • An Interview with Mystery Author Harini Nagendra
  • An Interview with Mystery Author Anne Coates
  • An Interview with Author Terrance McCauley
  • An Interview with Thriller Author Alison Morton
  • An Interview with British Author A B Morgan
  • An Interview with Thriller Author Sarah Rayne
  • An Interview with Author J.J. Brown
  • An Interview with Shetland Author Marsali Taylor
  • An Interview with Clay Stafford, Founder of the Killer Nashville Annual Writers’ Conference
  • An Interview with Mystery Author Helena Dixon
  • An Interview with Mystery Romance Author PC Feather
  • An Interview with Crime Novelist Lanny Larcinese

Get The Trouble With Murder – My Latest Mystery

Get The Trouble With Murder - My Latest Mystery - Coming Soon!

The Trouble with Murder, U.K. link

Click here
© 2023 Vanessa A. Ryan | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme
  • Home
    ▼
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Policy
  • About Me
  • My Blog
    ▼
    • An Interview with Mystery Author Harini Nagendra
    • An Interview with Mystery Author Anne Coates
    • An Interview with Author Terrance McCauley
    • An Interview with Thriller Author Alison Morton
    • An Interview with British Author A B Morgan
    • An Interview with Thriller Author Sarah Rayne
    • An Interview with Author J.J. Brown
    • An Interview with Shetland Author Marsali Taylor
    • An Interview with Clay Stafford, Founder of the Killer Nashville Annual Writers’ Conference
    • An Interview with Mystery Author Helena Dixon
    • An Interview with Mystery Romance Author PC Feather
    • An Interview with Crime Novelist Lanny Larcinese
    • An Interview with Mystery Author Christine Husom
    • An Interview with UK-Based Crime Fiction Author Tom Mead
    • If you’re in L.A., I hope to see you at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books this Saturday, April 23
    • Guest Author Michael Allan Mallory Combines Detective Fiction with Humor
    • I’m Giving Away a FREE copy of The Trouble with Murder!
    • An Interview with Australian Guest Mystery Author Ruth Morgan
    • An Interview with Australian Crime Fiction Author Sherryl Clark
    • An Interview with Fantasy Author Zen J. Jackson
    • An Interview With Mystery Author TK Eldridge
    • An Interview With Mystery Author Dave Sivers
    • An Interview With Cozy Mystery Author Katie Oliver
    • An Interview With Thriller Author Christina Loggia
    • An Interview With Guest Mystery Author H L Marsay
    • A Guest Interview With Legal Thriller Author Simon Michael
    • An Interview with Guest Author Jay Mims
    • Are Films About Desolate People a Trend in Films Today?
    • I Don’t Know What to do About This Mystery in my House
    • Who is the Villain in a Mystery Novel?
    • Thoughts on a Hazy Sunny Sunday
    • Here’s What’s Next for the Hetty Carson Mystery Series
    • The Way I Write
    • Two of My Mystery Novels are now Published in Denmark
    • I got a selfie with one of my Favorite Authors!
  • Subscribe to my Mailing List
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • IMDB.com Profile

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

Vanessa A. Ryan
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

3rd Party Cookies

This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.

Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.

Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!

Cookie Policy

More information about our Cookie Policy