Review: A Proposal to Die For by Vivian Conroy

Are you tired of mysteries where the detective figures the case using evidence you have not seen? Do you dislike when they reveal the culprit you had no hope of properly proving? Are you interested in the investigation itself rather than a sudden twist? Then this is a book for you. The fact that it's clean is also a great feature.

Personally, I would call this a Lady Alkmene Investigation rather than mystery, but that's not to dismiss the mystery, just emphasize the strength of the investigation. It also is good to know that you don't need to worry when they examine details of things like a map.

The story is told through the eyes of Lady Alkmene on her first case. It's a very observant book as she notes everything she sees and thinks in a realistic manner. Not only does she see things, but she thinks and feels and then acts based off them. This authenticity carries through most of the book and is expanded upon with the introduction of the foil, Jake.

Jake is almost the opposite of Lady Alkmene. He is more experienced in investigations and lower class. These provide tension between the two as they share their respective biased views. This is used to good effect as we get to see different opinions on the same thing and cases where neither of them have the perfect answer.

The book is also clean in content. While there is some class politics discussed, neither side makes a strong enough case and it was more to provide context for the characters’ bias while sitting the world is more complicated than expected. The only moral injection I had was Lady Alkmene lying in one case.

The weakest part of the book is the ending. It wraps things up, but it's one that gives the impression  it was writing what the plot demanded rather than what the story needed. The characters rightfully acknowledge it should be hard to catch the criminal they suspect, but then it's easy and the criminal admitted to everything on incomplete and circumstantial evidence. And don't get me started on the use of circumstantial evidence.

That being said, the book held my attention throughout and only dropped in the end. There were a few sections where I had to re-read, but it was not a serious issue. I liked the book and reading how the investigation played out. I enjoyed the interactions between the characters and reading their thoughts. There is no sudden and great twist, and there is nothing for the reader to solve, but this book is proof those are not necessary in a mystery after all.

(By the way, the sequel addresses some of the issues and is indeed an improvement. You can also get a 4 mystery bundle)

My Approach Toward Writing

I like telling stories. My guess is you like telling stories too or at least like consuming them. Will any of our stories be perfect? That's a relative question in which the answer is always no or potentially yes. If you mean everyone loves it and it's a textbook example of what to do, no. If it's something that can be enjoyed, then that's very much possible. For this essay, I'm going to focus on the latter and how I think is a good way to go about writing.

Step 1: What do you want to tell?
If we don't have a story to tell, then we will undoubtedly encounter writer's block. At the same time, it will be hard to convince people to consume our story of we cannot give a reason for telling it.

Step 2: flexibly plot
Some people write going with the flow and others plot everything. I think the best approach is down the middle. Related to step one, we need to have a reason to tell your story and having a plot helps us identify it. If we just go with the flow of sounds good at the moment, we may end up like The Last Jedi where it's emotionally good and had some great scenes, but also is very incoherent and messes up the Star Wars universe.

However, if we plot everything, then we can fall into the trap where we write around the plot and not what should happen naturally. The Last Jedi also failed here with some scenes, but perhaps not as bad as the Star Wars prequel trilogy. For example, we knew Anakin had to convert to the dark side, but it was not convincing why he did what he did. Why kill children without hesitation instead of having the join him? At the same time, perhaps what critics really attack is the dialogue does not feel real.

Step 3: feel the right emotion
A good storyteller makes the story feel alive. A good writer best enables the storyteller in the mind of the reader.

We need to remember that for characters to feel alive, we need to focus on the emotions and the moment. This is perhaps the core of “show more, tell less.” If people simply wanted to know what happened, they would be satisfied with SparkNotes or Wikipedia. People want stories for the emotions. Therefore it's important that the reader feels part of the story. In some cases, it's fine to summarize a series of events, but in general, engagement is key.

An important way to engage the reader is through our word choice. Words have emotional pull and that is what poetry hinges on. Certain words can trigger certain emotions. At the same time, words can also reflect our current emotions. If you are bored while writing, you might write boringly and then the reader will likely be bored when reading. However, if you are excited while writing an action scene, the reader will likely feel the same.

Step 4: repeat steps 2 and 3 until completion
We are likely to encounter situations where we cannot naturally progress to our plot points. In these cases, we may want to try a few tactics. Rearrange the plot points; remove some scenes; tell the story from a different perspective. Just make sure we continue this all the way through the ending because that’s the sentiment that the audience leaves with.

Also feel free to work on a different story. The creative process we work there can help us progress in our current story. Sometimes we just need to change our focus to find inspiration.

Step 5: read the story on a different device
A read on a Kindle can help us catch many typos or other weird things. I bought my Kindle used for $20 and it had worked out nicely. We can email docs and PDFs directly to the Kindle device, and if we use Kindle Direct Publishing, we can even send a Kindle formatted version.

Step 6: find proofreaders
These people can help us catch more typos and mistakes. At the same time, they can provide feedback about how it reads. An issue with editing is we sometimes remove critical information. This is a chance to catch those absences. Also pay attention if they received the correct impression we were aiming for. If you provided important information inside a large paragraph, it was probably missed.

I have found some beta readers using the #betareaders and #writingcommunity on Twitter.  Friends and family members can also give good feedback.

If we have a publisher willing to pay for a professional editor, that would be good to utilize as well. If we are self-publishing, then I have yet to justify the price I paid createspace for their services. It was helpful, but not more than my friends and father.

Step 7: edit and repeat until ready to stop.
At some point, we need to stop for our own sanity. Our creative will always think of ways to “improve” but at some point, we'll start making things worse and hate our creation. I think it's fair to accept a good state and save the new ideas for adaptations or new stories.

Step Anytime: ask others how to grow your audience
Considering my Twitter follower count only just reached 100, I am not the person to ask for growing audience.

Happy writing,
J. D. Nyle