The Ten Commandments of Crime Fiction

 

By Dana Kaye

 

The Ten Commandments of Crime Fiction

 

1.    Thou shall not cut your characters any slack

Plots are most compelling when the characters have the odds stacked against them

2.   Thou shall develop your characters

No one likes one-dimensional characters

3.    Thou shall not head hop

Switching POV mid-scene pulls readers out of the story

4.    Thou shall earn every coincidence

While life contains many coincidences, they have little place in your novel

5.    Thou shall omit unnecessary scenes

If a scene does not further the plot, it has no place in your novel

6.    Thou shall not rely on cliché

Does this really require explanation?

7.    Thou shall omit needless adverbs

We don’t need to know how someone sighed or shrugged or shouted

8.    Thou shall utilize your setting

The setting of your novel should enhance your characters and plot

9.    Thou shall revise

I don’t care what your mother says, your first draft is not perfect

10.  Thou shall not settle

Don’t settle on an easy ending or an easy fix to a plot problem

Comments

[Mike Dennis]

Well-said, Dana. Concise, pointed.

[Dorte H]

That is all very well, but how do you know what my mother says? She did certainly not say it in English!

[Sara Berger]

I agree with not changing POV in mid scene. It has ruined a few books for me, generally, I cannot finish reading them.

[Lartonmedia]

Good ones, Dana! Shifting pov drives me demented . . .

[Shakespeare]

I'd go further with #3... if you ARE going to shift POVs, could you keep it to 2 or 3 in the course of a novel? I once read a thriller that skipped through every single character's head, ending with the killer (until it went back to the protagonists once the killer died).

I thought omniscient narrators went out with Uncle Tom's Cabin...