Tuesday 2 December 2014

Waiting for Wednesday.

A friend has lent me the book 'Waiting for Wednesday' by Nicci French.   Nicci French is a pseudonym for Nicci Gerard and Sean French, husband and wife journalists.   It is a murder mystery and I have really enjoyed it.   If you like a good murder, then look out for any of their books as they are always very readable.

But it is highly complicated.   There are two or three strands/stories going on at the same time and they become interwoven and then go off at tangents from one another.

The writing of this kind of book really interests me.   How does the writer keep tabs on all his/her characters, making sure there is continuity and making sure that the story follows through?

In pre-computer days I can only think it would have to be done with hundreds of cards stuck on a huge wall board, with arrows leading from one to another, sometimes intersecting, sometimes moving apart.   Now I presume it can be done on some kind of giant spread sheet (which goes right over my head.)

Does the author (or in this case authors) decide right at the beginning who is the murderer, or does this maybe evolve as the story line builds up?

And are there little flaws, which the reader probably misses completely, but which the authors spotted too late?   I suspect there are, but I certainly have not found any.

Do read it if you get half a chance - and let me know what you think of it.

12 comments:

MorningAJ said...

I always wonder how two people can collaborate on a fiction book. I find the writing process so personal that it would drive me nuts to have to share with someone else.

Non-fiction is OK, but story writing is very much a one-person activity in my mind.

Gwil W said...

I shudder when I think of such books. Good old Sherlock Holmes is my limit. At the moment I'm midway through one of Steinbeck's masterpieces - The Pearl.

Elizabeth said...

Sounds really gripping.
I went to a reading and talk by Ruth Rendell the other day in New York.
She was so wonderfully straightforward and brisk about the craft of writing.
Rather - just get on with it - don't agonize too much!
I'm re-reading Middlemarch and had forgotten how very funny George Eliot can be!

Mac n' Janet said...

I like Nicci French books too, though I haven't read one in a while. My favorite right now is, conincidentally, Tana French.

angryparsnip said...

I do love a good mystery. I will put this on the list.
I know this sounds weird but I am forcing myself to sit and read for at lest 15 minutes a day. This comes from a person who used to read 3 books at one time.
Ever since the eye/aneurysm problems it is hard for me to read and I miss it.
Right now I am reading "All The Light We Cannot See"

cheers, parsnip

Heather said...

It sounds very intriguing. Unfortunately I like to read in bed before lying down to sleep. I'm already a bit tired by then and would never unravel such a complicated plot.

jinxxxygirl said...

I would bet there are enough different ways to write a mystery novel as there are authors..lol AND i bet there are flaws but i never find them either. What i do find are misspellings . For some reason my eye has always been drawn to those things perhaps i should have been an editor.....

I like mysteries but i don't read them too often. I like adventure books the best and some fantasy and science fiction...... Hugs! deb

Maureen @ Josephina Ballerina said...

Hi Pat,
I have often wondered that about complex books, too.

Totalfeckineejit said...

You can't beat a good murder. Half the village are gone, and I still can't put the chainsaw away.

Cro Magnon said...

Years ago I read a few Jeffrey Archer novels (yes I really did), and was always amused by his simple illogical faults in the story lines. I thought 'editors' were supposed to spot these.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Intresting how some of you are prepared to go through the books you read, looking for the errors. Perhaps you have missed your vocations and should have been proof readers. I think most of the errors are missed by me - I admit to being rather a sloppy reader. Thanks for visiting.

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