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Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Spill the Blood Before Too Much Ink

Some mystery novels don't reach the discovery of the body until many pages into the story. Mystery writers have freedom to spend quite a few pages establishing the character of the detective or setting up the society in which the murder will take place. But the audience is quite aware that a murder will take place, but will become impatient if the writer takes too long getting to it.

Orson Scott Card, How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy, 1990 

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