Summary

In this blog I will cover my reflections on my personal journey of publishing and submitting. A deep dive into the intricacies that I learnt were involved for creatives in the process of or thinking about publishing their own work.

Publication of Cosy Crime

In-keeping with the Christmas spirit when talking about the publication process of a piece of work I would give these three words: Ho Ho Oh. It appears a daunting process and can be; but you will certainly reap the rewards and learn a lot on the way.

Short Story vs Novel

“Butor and Todorv have observed, two different stories coexist and interweave in a whodunnit: first the story that led to the crime itself; then the story of the investigation”, “the second story (the inquiry) tries to rebuild the first one (the crime.)”

Butor & Todorov (https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/1554)

Using the form of a short story to create my own cosy crime story originally seemed like the best idea. But the more I wrote, not only was it feeling rushed but I also wasn’t given time to explore things as concisely. This includes character development and having a more complex plot – I wanted a serial murderer. So naturally I pivoted and decided to instead put it in novel form which was a daunting but exhilarating project to undertake.

This did mean I had to browse where I could submit this new form to and the requirements to be successful. I generally liked the Crime Writers Association (CWA) description on their website for the Whodunnit dagger which is an award for cosy crime stories. Their website says that they want a tale that has “intellectual challenge at the heart of a good mystery, and revolve(s) around quirky characters.”

Edit, Edit, Edit

The editing process is the most tedious but also the most rewarding. All the pieces come together cohesively and it’s so satisfying!

Without having an agent as your own editor, you should be (as Penguin Publishing say on their website) “concentrating on the book as a whole, problem solving, guiding the plot, sometimes adding or removing characters, and making the writing its very best.”

Thoughts on Publishing

When first thinking about publishing my mind like many others automatically goes to the traditional route. But despite the lure of not having to wear every single hat and their larger reach this isn’t the only option. If I’m honest; it may be the least realistic option currently.

I would decide to self-publish my work or enter a submission into a competition (one I decided to enter was Arcadia Books – emailing the first 10,000 words or first three chapters). Apart from this in an age where anyone can have social reach; doing it alone is doable.

Author Lloyd Devereux Richards is a self-published author currently going viral. He spent 14 years writing a book which he released in 2012; he had very few sales. That was until his daughter decided to promote his new book on TikTok, within 48 hours more than 100,000 copies were sold on Amazon and he was the bestselling author on Amazon.

(Here’s the link if you want to check out his story: https://www.tiktok.com/@stonemaidens?_t=8mrl6BPyjTN&_r=1 )

Understanding a ‘WHODUNNIT’

Then the preparation stage came and I took William Faulkner’s advice who preached: “Read, read, read. Read everything – trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it.”

Ladies and Gentlemen; he’s right!

Reading and studying pre-existing literature and film in the mystery crime genre gives you the framework and understanding the elements needed. I read and watched quite a variety too let me tell you:

Detective television shows were easy to watch in my downtime and come in a variety from heavy watches to easy watches. Shows like Silent Witness, Luther, Lie to me and Murderville were my best picks.

Books gave a lot more to sink my teeth into than television though. The confident narration of Conan Doyle, Gillian Flynn, Alex Michaelides, Lee Child, and Agatha Christie (specifically in Hercule Poirot’s Christmas). I couldn’t forget to mention the godfather of the detective sub-genre Edgar Allen Poe either.

I think it’s important to mention a few classics set in the Christmas period too: Mavis Doriel Hay’s ‘Santa Klaus Murder; and J. Jefferson Farjeons ‘Mystery in White’.

The Recipe

All this reading (and watching!) gave me an understanding of the components of the rigid framework needed to create a successful ‘whodunnit’ story. Here is what I would include in the recipe:

Puzzle – the driving question which is usually the classic ‘Who did it?’
Investigation and Plot Twists
Hero – the Detective
Worthy villain
Clues & Red Herrings
Realism, Logic, and Satisfaction

Contemporary mystery requires readers to put on their detective hat to participate in the solving of the crime. The elements involved pull on readers morality so making sure the detective is likeable and giving them the chance to solve the crime before the writer is a huge factor.

Crime loves Christmas

“You’ve got these seething things going on under the surface. Crime fiction takes that one step further: You bump someone off. Normally, we’ll just have a fight at Christmas, sulk, and not speak to each other for a year.”

– Vaseem Khan

If we’ve learnt anything from the golden age of crime writing it’s that it evokes a festive feeling. In the UK the popularity of this pairing is only going up. Why else do you think Eastenders kills someone off every Christmas special? Even in reality Christmas is one of the peak times for crime in the UK (increases by 33.82%).

Elf on the Shelf – My WHODUNNIT

‘Elf on the Shelf’ is a murder mystery excerpt set at the Christmas season. Student Phoebe was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time when she came across the very first elf on a shelf murder. She wants nothing more to forget it and move on; that is until her best friend becomes a victim. Will she solve the mystery, or will she too become the next elf on the shelf?

A link to a snippet from the beginning of my whodunnit cosy murder mystery…

Elf on the Shelf

References:

Christie, Agatha. Hercule Poirot Christmas . Harpercollins Publishers , 2001.

Crime Writers Association. n.d. CWA . June 2024. <https://thecwa.co.uk/awards-and-competitions/the-daggers/>.

Davis, Eleanor. Atlas Obscura . n.d. June 2024. <https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/christmas-murder-mystery-agatha-christie>.

Farjeon, J. Jefferson. Mystery in White . The British Library Crime Classics, 1937.

Faulkner, Will. Writers Initiative . n.d. June 2024. <https://writersinitiative.com/education/william-faulkner-a-great-piece-of-advice-for-writers-get-reading-and-get-writing>.

Hay, Mavis Doriel. Santa Klaus Murder . British Crime Classics (Paperback), 1936.

Lie to me. Dir. Samuel Baum. Perf. Netflix. 2009-2011. TV Series .

Luther. Dir. Katie Swindon. Perf. BBC One. 2010. Tv show – Crime Drama.

Murderville . Dir. Krister Johnson. Perf. Netflix. n.d. TV Series – American murder-mystery.

Publishing, Penguin. Penguin. n.d. Penguin. June 2024. <https://www.penguin.com/penguin-press-overview/>.

Richards, Lloyd. Lloyd Richards, Stone Maidens – Tik Tok. n.d. May 2024. <https://www.tiktok.com/@stonemaidens?_t=8mrl6BPyjTN&_r=1 >.

Silent Witness . Dir. John Dower. Perf. BBC. 1996. TV Series – British Crime Drama.

Sipiere, Dominique. “What Hitchcock Taught Us about Whodunnits.” What Hitchcock Taught Us about Whodunnits. Open Journals – https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/1554, n.d. Online journal .