I get what you're saying about the need to build up to the murder to feel invested in the victim and the characters in the story. I am an indie cozy mystery writer of what I like to call modern-day Agatha Christie murder mysteries, and I have written five different mystery manuscripts. One is published, and I have others in the backlog. This is important to note because I have written five different mystery novels, where I had the murders at different points in the book. The one about to be released starts with a newspaper clipping of the disappearance of a well-known character to intrigue the reader, but the 1st present-day murder takes place at the 15% mark. In Book 2, the story starts similarly with a flashback in the past by a deceased character to create intrigue, and the 1st present-day murder takes place much later at the 45% mark. In another book I wrote, the murder is announced in chapter 1 to the MC by another character via a phone call. Still, the story flashes back to the caller's experience leading up to the murder and the phone call, and this is half the book, having that sidekick be the MC and tell the story through their lens up to the murder. It switches over to the series MC for the rest of the book. So my advice is the murder can happen at a different place, but you need some excitement to intrigue the reader at the beginning if it isn't the reader to get them to the murder if it is later.
Hi, Jackie. I think it makes sense from what you share in this video for your murder to NOT be on page one. As a reader, this is fine for me. A Body in the Library comes to mind as an example of early murder being effective, but The Mirror Cracked is an example of the reverse. I do think you should research debut authors to see where they place their corpse. When you find examples of books with later murders, then look up which agent represented them in that sale. That might be helpful in deciding where to query first? 🤷♀️ Best of luck and please don’t give up on your book. I look forward to checking it out at my local library. (I will definitely promote it to them.)
I didn’t think the murder was delayed excessively. You had to give some backstory and build up the MC and you succeeded doing both. You might be able to tighten up the opening and get to the murder a little quicker, but you aren’t going to get a page one, or even chapter one murder into the existing story. Nor should you; I think you’re correct when you say that readers are just less invested in a story when they don’t know either the suspects or the murder victim at all
I get what you're saying about the need to build up to the murder to feel invested in the victim and the characters in the story. I am an indie cozy mystery writer of what I like to call modern-day Agatha Christie murder mysteries, and I have written five different mystery manuscripts. One is published, and I have others in the backlog. This is important to note because I have written five different mystery novels, where I had the murders at different points in the book. The one about to be released starts with a newspaper clipping of the disappearance of a well-known character to intrigue the reader, but the 1st present-day murder takes place at the 15% mark. In Book 2, the story starts similarly with a flashback in the past by a deceased character to create intrigue, and the 1st present-day murder takes place much later at the 45% mark. In another book I wrote, the murder is announced in chapter 1 to the MC by another character via a phone call. Still, the story flashes back to the caller's experience leading up to the murder and the phone call, and this is half the book, having that sidekick be the MC and tell the story through their lens up to the murder. It switches over to the series MC for the rest of the book. So my advice is the murder can happen at a different place, but you need some excitement to intrigue the reader at the beginning if it isn't the reader to get them to the murder if it is later.
Hi, Jackie. I think it makes sense from what you share in this video for your murder to NOT be on page one. As a reader, this is fine for me. A Body in the Library comes to mind as an example of early murder being effective, but The Mirror Cracked is an example of the reverse. I do think you should research debut authors to see where they place their corpse. When you find examples of books with later murders, then look up which agent represented them in that sale. That might be helpful in deciding where to query first? 🤷♀️ Best of luck and please don’t give up on your book. I look forward to checking it out at my local library. (I will definitely promote it to them.)
@@constancecampbell4610 Thanks, Constance!
I didn’t think the murder was delayed excessively. You had to give some backstory and build up the MC and you succeeded doing both. You might be able to tighten up the opening and get to the murder a little quicker, but you aren’t going to get a page one, or even chapter one murder into the existing story. Nor should you; I think you’re correct when you say that readers are just less invested in a story when they don’t know either the suspects or the murder victim at all