Fiction

New Release: Secrets to Writing a Mystery

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

The latest book in the Write Novels that Sell series, Secrets to Writing A Mystery: The Whodunit Structure is now available. Are you a writer ready to move beyond the basics and dive into the deep structure that powers commercially successful mystery novels? Then this book is for you.

Unlock the secrets to writing a bestselling mystery novel. 

This book solves the puzzle of deep structure specific to mysteries and guides you through an actionable, flexible process to outline, write, and edit a mystery novel.

Through the process, you’ll

  • Learn to identify your mystery type (Cozy, Traditional, Detective)
  • Assemble your essential cast of characters (Sleuth, Victim, Suspects, and Culprit)
  • Anchor your story with the five mystery story arc scenes.
  • Develop your story with genre-specific patterns and scenes.
  • Learn how secondary plots and subplots can be woven into the mystery plot.
  • Deepen your story by giving victims fatal flaws and anchoring culprit motives in personal stakes.
  • Structure the story by choosing the right POV strategy to control tension and effectively drop clues and red herrings.  

Use this book as a reference, and from now on, you’ll write every mystery with confidence.

As with all the books in the Write Novels that Sell series, we give you the theory—the why behind our recommendations—and you use the actionable advice to understand the theory and apply it.

Are you a writer ready to move beyond the basics and dive into the deep structure that powers commercially successful mystery novels? Then this book is for you.

Praise for Secrets to Writing a Mystery:

While reading this book, I kept thinking, “I wish I had this book when I wrote my own mystery.” Secrets to Writing a Mystery brilliantly demystifies the genre. It’s an essential, insight-packed guide for mystery writers. Clear, actionable, and full of those “ah-ha” moments that change the way you write. —Iris Applewood, Author of Fragrance of Forgotten Truths

You can buy your copy here.

Textbook for the Fictionary School for Writers & Editors

Secrets to Writing a Mystery: The Whodunit Structure is a comprehensive reference that provides the deep structural theory and an actionable process for Fictionary’s Write a Mystery course.

It serves to solidify and expand on the concepts taught in the live course, allowing your to internalize the techniques and apply them to your own manuscripts.

Thinking of taking the course? Our Black Friday Sale is now on. The Write A Mystery course is included in the Write Your Series Program.

🔥 Black Friday Deal: Get 40% Off Your Membership 🔥

For a limited time, you can secure your membership for 40% off the regular price. This is the best deal we’ll offer all year. Offer ends December 1, 2025.

Use the coupon code BF2025

Black Friday Pricing: 

Write Your Series: $281 /quarter or $899 /year (Reg $468 /quarter or $1499 /year)

Note we also have our other programs (Write Your Novel and Become and Editor) on sale too.

Commit to Your Best Novel With Series Membership Programs

Write Your Series: Eight live 8-week courses to launch your series are delivered by our world-class instructors. This program takes 12 months to complete and includes 64 hours of live instruction. StoryTeller Premium software included.

Use the coupon code BF2025

Top 3 Secrets for Writing A Romance

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

Ready to write your own bestselling romance novel? 

Join authors K. Stanley and L. O’Donnell for an exclusive event celebrating the release of their new book, Secrets to Writing a Romance. Linda and Kristina will reveal the top three secrets they discovered while researching the genre—secrets that will help you write a captivating story that readers won’t be able to put down.

RSVP to the Free Class in the Fictionary School for Writers. The first 100 people can attend live. A replay will be sent to everyone who RSVPs.

Tuesday, Sept 2. 4 to 5PM ET.

Book Description

Unlock the secrets to writing a bestselling romance novel. This book reveals the intricate structure specific to this genre, showing you the essential elements that make these stories captivating. 

Balance reader expectations with your distinctive voice to create an irresistible story that meets romance conventions.

Go beyond the “meet-cute” and learn about the scenes readers expect in commercially successful romance novels. Portray character growth and perfect your story’s pacing by writing scenes that build tension and demonstrate conflict. Drive your story forward by weaving in external and subplot story arcs.

We analyze six commercially successful romance novels with different subgenres and subplots. It’s exciting to see that each novel follows the story arc pattern but is still a unique story.  You’ll see the full breakdown of these books:

  • The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
  • Happy Place by Emily Henry
  • The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
  • The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
  • Just For the Summer by Abby Jimenez
  • The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

As with all the books in the Write Novels that Sell series, we give you the theory—the why behind our recommendations—and you use the actionable advice to outline, write, and edit novels.

New Release: Secrets to Writing a Romance

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

The latest book in the Write Novels that Sell series is now available.

Unlock the secrets to writing a bestselling romance novel. This book reveals the specific structure of the genre and the essential elements that make these stories captivating.

Balance reader expectations with your distinctive voice to create an irresistible story that satisfies romance readers.

Go beyond the “meet-cute” and learn about the scenes readers expect in commercially successful romance novels. Portray character growth and perfect your story’s pacing by writing scenes that build tension and demonstrate conflict. Drive your story forward by weaving in external and subplot story arcs.

We analyze six commercially successful romance novels with different subgenres and subplots. It’s exciting to see that each novel follows the story arc pattern but is still a unique story.  You’ll see the full breakdown of these books:

  • The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
  • Happy Place by Emily Henry
  • The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
  • The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
  • Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
  • The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

As with all the books in the Write Novels that Sell series, you’ll learn the theory—the “why” behind our recommendations—and use the actionable advice to outline, write, and edit your novels.

Praise for Secrets to Writing a Romance

Secrets to Writing a Romance is a valuable tool with an arsenal of actionable advice for seasoned and novice romance writers alike. Stanley and O’Donnell leave no stone unturned when dissecting the genre so readers feel confident and in control at every step of the writing process. I’ll definitely have this guide on hand for many years to come. 

– Jenna Moreci, award-winning and Amazon bestselling author of The Savior’s Champion 

You can buy your copy here.

Also available by K. Stanley

New Release: Secrets to Writing a Fantasy

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

The latest book in the Write Novels that Sell series is now available.

Unlock the secrets to writing a bestselling fantasy novel. This book reveals the intricate structure specific to fantasy novels, showing you the essential elements that make these stories captivating and engaging.

The following books have entertained millions of readers, and we show you why. 

  • Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
  • Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
  • The Unbroken by C. L. Clark
  • A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
  • Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
  • Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin

Discover the scenes readers expect in commercially successful fantasy novels. Create an external and supernatural story arc. Learn how the story arcs are woven together to drive a story forward.

You’ll be guided through an actionable, flexible process, so you can build the foundation of your fantasy novel and write your story as you read this book.

As with all the books in the Write Novels that Sell series, we give you the theory—the why behind our recommendations—and you use the actionable advice to write and edit your novels.

You can buy your copy here.

Also available by K. Stanley

How to Get a Free Manuscript Critique

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 9 Comments

The value of blogging hits home. I’ve been following Joan Edwards for a while now and here’s what happened.

Joan posted an offer of a free manuscript review just for commenting on her blog. So I commented and I won.

I sent the first 1000 pages (oops – I meant words)  of my novel Avalanche to Joan. Joan assured me complete privacy and got straight to work.

What Joan did:

  • She sent me a covering letter describing her overall strategy and what her highlighting meant .
  • She gave me high level comments before reviewing each line in detail.
  • The critique included story line, grammar and punctuation comments.

It’s exciting to receive professional feedback that will help me improve the quality of my story. She included areas for improvement and highlighted sentences she thought were good. Now I have to get to work and make this better. It’s amazing what a second pair of eyes can do for a manuscript. I wish I could have Joan review my entire manuscript. Thanks Joan. You are a star!

If I didn’t blog, I never would have had this opportunity. This comes right back to Authors Helping Authors.

Thanks for reading . . .

Novels: Point of a Scene – Is there one or should you cut it?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 8 Comments

Is There One or Should You Cut It?

I’ve often read the advice that a novelist should be able to summarize their novel in one to two sentences. This made me start thinking about scenes and chapters.

I asked myself if I knew the point of a scene, and if I didn’t should I cut – yes the dreaded word cut – the scene from the novel? It’s easy to get attached to a scene for many reasons but if there is no point, then I ask you what is the point? J

I challenged myself to go through my latest novel and write one sentence describing the point of the scene.

Taking this one level deeper, and adding a new column to my spreadsheet, I tried to reduce the sentence to one word that described the scene.

This did a couple of things for me.

  1. It showed me what to cut. Ouch.
  2. I helped me organize my chapters into a theme.

The second item was a surprise and created a new way for me to look at organizing chapters.

How do you decide it a scene is needed or not?

Thanks for reading . . .

 

Point of View: Describing Characters

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 14 Comments

When you are writing in a character’s point of view, can you describe that character’s face or part of themselves that they can’t see?

For example, in a scene written in Ian’s point of view, can the following be written?

Ian blushed and his freckles turned orange.

My thoughts . . . Ian might know he’s blushing from the physical sensation, but how could he know his freckles turned orange?

So if you agree that this isn’t the right way to convey the image, then what?

Perhaps I could:

–       Have another a character make fun of the orange freckles.

–       Have another character say, “I know you’re lying. You’re freckles are turning orange.”

Do you have any ideas how to get around this?

Thanks for reading . . .

How Do You Deal With Thoughts in Your Novel?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 14 Comments

Do you use one of the three choices listed below:

  1. Write the thought in italics.
  2. Write the thought followed by a comma and ‘she thought.’
  3. Write the thought and assume your POV is strong enough for the reader to know whose thought it is.

I’ve listed an example of each option below.

Let me set the scene: Two women are running from an encroaching forest fire and one of them (Nora) is nine months pregnant.

Here are the examples:

  1. Kalin slammed the Jeep into park at the end of the dirt road. She leaned over the centre console and checked out Nora’s footwear. Flip-flops. Not good. “Do you think you can hike to Silver Lake?”
  2. Kalin slammed the Jeep into park at the end of the dirt road. She leaned over the centre console and checked out Nora’s footwear. Flip-flops. Not good, she thought. “Do you think you can hike to Silver Lake?”
  3. Kalin slammed the Jeep into park at the end of the dirt road. She leaned over the centre console and checked out Nora’s footwear. Flip-flops. Not good. “Do you think you can hike to Silver Lake?”

Which one do you think is best?

And can an author use all three within a novel?

I’d love to hear your opinion on this one.

Thanks for reading . . .

 

Writing: Speeding up a Scene

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 8 Comments

So you want to put your scene into overdrive? Here’s one way to work on it.

I recently read the opening scene in CJ Lyons’ Nerves of Steel. It’s a fast paced scene that takes the reader along for a bumpy ride.

I wanted to know what made this scene speed along like a comet crossing sky.

I reread the scene, looking at each word very carefully. And it seems to me, the verb choice drives the speed.

CJ Lyons uses action verbs. She doesn’t use uncommon verbs that take a reader out of the story, but she does use specific verbs representing movement.

Here are some of them:

  • Thundered
  • Chopping
  • Gusting
  • Tugged
  • Tore
  • Shredding
  • Ricocheting

You get the idea, so if you think your scene is slow, why not check the verbs and see if they are fast?

What do you do to make your scene rip?

Thanks for reading . . .

Kickstart Your Writing Session

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Writer’s block? I don’t’ believe it.

Sometimes it’s very difficult to put words on page, and there are too many reasons for this to mention them all.

Here’s one quick trick I use when my brain is stuck.

First I remind myself that if I was at work, there is no excuse for not getting your job done. You can’t exactly say to your boss, “The numbers for the spreadsheet you wanted by three just didn’t appear, so I didn’t create the spreadsheet,” now can you?

So why make excuses for writing?

Having decided that giving myself the easy way out is not an option, what do I do?

I spend 10 minutes working on a crossword puzzle. It makes my brain think of words. They may not be words I would write with, but more often than not, a word triggers an idea, and then before I know if, I’m off and typing.

Doesn’t work every time, but when it does, it’s a good feeling.

Any tricks you want to share?

Thanks for reading . . .