As proofreaders in Hong Kong we’ve edited our fair share of manuscripts, but there’s possibly nothing we enjoy more than delving into a juicy crime novel. We’re often asked what’s the best way to start writing a novel like this, since the process can be daunting for both new and experienced writers alike. In this month’s piece, we take a quick look at a few of the tried and true ways to begin a crime novel.
Build a narrative
A lot of novels we’ve edited start with the name of the protagonist. This immediately introduces them to the reader and lets your audience know who the story is about. Obviously, you can’t leave it there though, you need something going on – you need context. What are they doing? Where are they? What’s going on around them? Whatever it is, you need to make the reader want to know how the protagonist found themselves in their current predicament. Why? Because it helps your audience form a connection with the character, they want to get to know them, and most importantly, it makes your reader want to keep going!
One thing to remember is that you don’t want to go overboard with the descriptiveness, otherwise it’ll get boring. Also, be mindful of the situation in which you put your main character. For instance, if it’s too dangerous and they escape, then it will seem implausible and nothing from that point on will have any real sense of peril. On the other hand, if there is no real danger then there won’t be any risk and it won’t grab the reader.
Focus on developing your protagonist
Other novels we’ve proofread start with the main character being dropped right into the action on page one. Keeping in mind what we just mentioned above, the benefit to this method is it allows you to show off the good and bad attributes of your protagonist. What happens is interesting, but how and why the character does what they do is more important. It provides an insight into how their mind works and allows your reader to bond with them. Often, not even fully explaining their reasoning is enough. The tantalizing who, what, where, and why is what keeps your audience engrossed. This leads nicely into something to watch out for.
You don’t want to have your character doing too much thinking and neglect the action. The protagonist needs to speak through what they do. Why are they holding a gun on someone? Why is there a body on the backseat? Who are they talking to on the other end of the phone?
Make your story clear to the reader
As editors, we often advise our authors to start by introducing what’s at stake – the greater the stakes the greater the impetus to keep reading. It sets the scene and creates a sense of weight to the whole thing.
A good way of doing this is to allow your audience to meet the antagonist first. Introduce them to the crime or murder, that way your reader gets to understand what’s involved and how serious the situation is.
They also get a glimpse into the mind of the bad guy and start to realize what it’s going to take for the hero to triumph. Bear in mind though, that you need to introduce your main character immediately after this. Don’t wait, as the narrative will become disjointed and presenting secondary characters will throw off your reader. Always remember that the actions of the protagonist need to link to the antagonist, otherwise it won’t make sense.
Some final thoughts…
Overall, there are a lot of ways to open a crime novel and none of them are necessarily right or wrong. You need to do what fits your narrative and what feels best. Our advice as proofreaders and editors would be to try out a few different ways, see what works, and go from there. If it’s not sitting right, try something else. But most importantly, simply start writing. No first draft is going to be perfect, just enjoy the process. After that, send it to us and we’ll help you through the editing and proofreading to iron out the details. Good luck!