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This post is me laying bare the gears of an early and somewhat unsuccessful Ellery Queen novel. In excruciating detail.
( Cut for everyone who does not care. Also, spoilers for Ellery Queen's THE FRENCH POWDER MYSTERY (1930), if that's an issue for you. )
We learn from this (since part of my reason for writing this incredibly long post is that I think my brain is trying to figure out something about plot and structure) (1) that keeping notes is not just for wimps. If you want to write an elaborate, intricate plot, you need to find ways to be sure you don't wrong-foot yourself or lose track of one or more elements as you go. And (2) that the more elaborate a series of actions, the more you need to be certain that they make sense from the character's side as well as from the author's. Occam's Razor does make a useful guide.
And now I'm going to take a bath and read some more Ellery Queen.
( Cut for everyone who does not care. Also, spoilers for Ellery Queen's THE FRENCH POWDER MYSTERY (1930), if that's an issue for you. )
We learn from this (since part of my reason for writing this incredibly long post is that I think my brain is trying to figure out something about plot and structure) (1) that keeping notes is not just for wimps. If you want to write an elaborate, intricate plot, you need to find ways to be sure you don't wrong-foot yourself or lose track of one or more elements as you go. And (2) that the more elaborate a series of actions, the more you need to be certain that they make sense from the character's side as well as from the author's. Occam's Razor does make a useful guide.
And now I'm going to take a bath and read some more Ellery Queen.
