How to write Act I of your crime novel

How to write Act I of your crime novel

How to write a crime novel, episode 3

Act I of your crime novel sets up your hero. It provides the action that propels your hero through the rest of the book. It’s the part of your book that agents, publishers and readers will use to decide whether they like it or not. Here’s how you get it right.

Here’s what you have to do, very briefly:

• You need 8 to 10 scenes
• Set up the characters and make sure their agendas clash
• Introduce the hero. Show us who they are. Use the “Save the Cat” trick–show the hero saving a cat, or doing something else that makes us like them
• You need a catalyst, something that sets the story going. But then give your hero a moment where they think that, after all, they don’t want to pursue the story. …And then have something happens that forces them to choose to pursue the story.

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