It is a great honour to write my first post for The Killzone. I’m still pinching myself to make sure I’m not dreaming. So without further ado, my first post of 2025…and my last since we begin our hiatus next week.

About a month ago, I started a new book, and ran into the blinking cursor syndrome. Everything I’d ever learned about writing was gone. Pfff! Vanished. It was like I’d never written a novel before. But I had — eighteen times before, and yes, that blinking cursor syndrome happed Every.Single.Time.

With this book, I even had a one-page synopsis that I’d sent in with the proposal to my publisher. I knew the setting — the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee. I had a title — Deadly Connections, and I knew who the characters were. Actually, I only knew their names. I have to start writing and place my characters in difficult situations before I can really know who they are.

Finally, I got tired of looking at that cursor and pulled out my handy-dandy notebook and made a bullet point list of questions to answer.

• What’s the setting? Why there? — I had that one.
• What are my main characters’ goals? Why do they want them? What’s going to keep them from getting what they want? Needed to think about this one a little longer.
• Who are my characters when they walk onto the page of the book?
  • What ghost from the past keeps them from living their lives to the fullest?
  • What’s the flaw that’s going to cause conflict in reaching their goal?
  • What are their competing values? What will they have to give up?

When I answer these questions, I’ll know my hero/heroine’s goals.

• And last of all, what crime is to be solved now? Why not five years ago? Or six months ago? Or next year?

Why is this last question important? The crime needs a trigger (pun intended), something that rules out any other time frame, and until I nail that, I can’t move forward. In the book I mentioned, the heroine’s sister has been missing for fifteen years, and she’s just now digging into her disappearance. I needed a good reason for the why now question, so I brainstormed a list of reasons. Nothing was off the table. This can take anywhere from a couple of hours to several days.

When I finished, I chose two that I could work with. Then I started writing with James Scott Bell’s signposts in mind. I now have 25,000 words and have a good handle on my story and the main characters. Of course, they will continue to surprise me, but that’s the fun in writing.

Do you have questions that have to be answered before you can start your story? Let me know in the comments. It might help someone else…and me.

Wishing you a blessed holiday season. See you next year!