I find that writers of crime fiction tend to fall into two traditional camps:

Pantsers – those who write by the seat of their pants, and don’t have a full outline but maybe a vague idea which comes into focus during the writing process.

Planners – those who prefer to have a full, structured outline of their story, character sketches, maps, spreadsheets and a good idea of the ending before they start writing.

Of course, it’s possible to be somewhere in the middle (Plantser?) but I suspect you favour one or the other.

Writing exercise for Pantsers

You are a Pantser and are looking at character development; it’s always a magic moment when a character starts to take over the story, or you can hear their voice saying things you wouldn’t normally say but it’s hard to reach this point if you haven’t spent time getting to know them first.

Take a character who has recently come to life in your imagination but isn’t yet fully formed, and asking yourself the following questions:

• Are they more assertive than you? Do they stand up for themselves, or do they take humiliation again and again? Who is this person? No – hold on – who are they really? Are they good in a crisis, or do they go to pieces? (Put them in a crisis situation and see what happens!)
• Why is this person acting in this way? Love, hatred, revenge, boredom? Why do they choose to be friends with that person? Why have they never fallen in love? Why do they work so hard, at the cost of everything else?

You don’t need to know the answers to these questions before you start writing, you can find out during the writing process by putting your characters into stressful situations and seeing how they behave. My ‘Captivating Crime’ course will explore character stereotypes, or the roles characters play within crime fiction; why these are needed and how you can make your crime story unique and exciting by bringing your characters to life.

Top characterisation tip: when your character does something you’re not expecting, don’t fight it – let them show themselves!

Writing exercise for Planners

You are a Planner and need some help with your story structure. You likely already have an outline for your current story, but might have a sense that something isn’t quite working. Crime plots are often complex, with multiple twists and turns that can be hard to navigate, but remember, you are in control.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Is there enough threat? Is the threat coming from a predictable source, or multiple sources?
• Is there a balance between fast paced action scenes with some downtime for the reader to catch their breath?
• What is your final confrontation scene going to involve? Will there be enough of a resolution afterwards, and will it satisfy the premises you’ve created by your story?
• And finally, here’s a good one which links character and plot: is the right person telling your story? My ‘Captivating Crime’ course also looks at traditional narrative structures and why they work, but particularly how they work for crime fiction, considering narrative ‘beats’ or events that help the story to work as crime.

Elizabeth Haynes is the author of seven crime novels, including the award-winning bestseller Into the Darkest Corner. Her writing is inspired by her previous career as a police intelligence analyst, a love of history and the ultimate question: what if…?

Into the Darkest Corner was featured on Channel 4’s TV Book Club. It was selected as one of Amazon UK’s Rising Stars and went on to win Amazon UK Best Book of 2011. The books, Under a Silent Moon and Behind Closed Doors, are the start of a police procedural thriller series featuring the Briarstone Major Crime team.

Elizabeth’s novels have been published in more than 30 countries, in over 20 languages, around the world.