Plotting Backward

When I first began reading craft books on writing a cozy mystery, someone (and I don’t recall who) said to start with the confession and work backward. I found that hard to do in book 1, but now that I am on book 3, I get it.

The method I use is not exactly like theirs, but it works for me. I develop an idea for the murder, then create the circumstances as to why it happened. From there I fill in the people, places, alibis, red herrings, and clues. Once that’s done, I fine-tune it so that it all makes sense and, most importantly, is plausible. Plausibility is key to a cozy. If the murder could not happen in the way I’ve described it and clues could not lead to that conclusion or the reader can’t go back and figure it out, it’s not plausible.

Once I have all those ducks in a row, I create my outline. Now I let it percolate. I do nothing. I leave it alone and do something else. After some time (a week, a month), I revisit it and see if it still makes sense. Did I miss anything? Miscalculate anything? I fix any issues and then I’m ready to write.

All the while I am adding my subplot info, such as recurring issues, ongoing storylines, and such, and I also ensure there is comic relief where appropriate to lighten things up.

So that’s the method I use. How do you like seeing a cozy unfold?