Or basically, the realisation that I might actually have to do some pre-emptive planning.
Now, me, I'm not a planner. I quite like coming up with characters mid book - it keeps me interested (the books that I have planned out have generally been abysmal failures). But generally, I write things that are set in worlds that I make up. So I don't have to know too much to actually start writing them. And what I do need to know, I can ask professor google as I go along.
A crime book, however, is different. There's red herrings, plot twists, clues, psychological actions... if I don't do some pre-planning before I start, I'll end up with 10 drafts. And I've quite gotten used to the idea of doing under five drafts. I've even started to think I might be able to aim reasonably for three drafts before I send it off to beta readers.
So, I'm actually going to have to plan things out. And given that this story involves the police, fraud crime, and the AFP (Australia's version of the FBI), I actually need to think about more than the plot. Plausibility and accuracy are actually entering into the equation. Previously, it was more a matter of making the world rational, coherent and consistent (which was quite a struggle at times in itself).
But this is based in the real world. Not alternate reality, not fantasy, not science fiction. The only stuff I've written in the real world before have been short literary pieces. And the first story that chooses to poke its head up in our realm is a novel which requires me to know a lot of the in an outs of police work.
Amazing what you can find out from the AFP annual report though :D
If there's silence around here, it'll be because I'm suddenly busy again. I've got editing, research, and now a new beta project :D Middle grade fiction. I really did enjoy betaing it last time, so hopefully it'll be good as it was last time :D
Enjoy all~
Sian
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