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Writing longer works takes a lot planning sometimes and here are a few tips to help.
When I first started writing, it was mostly short stories. I came up with them a ten to the dozen and was always adding new items on Writing.Com. As I progressed in my writing and I became more serious about it, my writing style has changed including the length of works that I write. I used to find it hard to write anything beyond 5000 words and nano was a slog but now, I'm finishing nano over the mark and finding that longer stories are better for me.
One thing I realised that I struggled with was foreshadowing. I would write something without thinking it through completely and get to the end and realise how unrealistic is sounded to have things work out that way because no mention was made of it in the previous twenty chapters.
Although I write my novels in a chronological order (I don't think I could write out of order if I tried) I've learned through trial and error that foreshadowing is a really important trick for making sure it all comes together without seeming over obvious. Try these few tips to see if it could help with your world building:
Try and write a brief plot outline stating beginning, middle and end. Expand your outline into a list of chapters as well as what is going to happen in each chapter. Think about where you want your story to end. How do the characters get there? Do they need help along the way? Are there characters the reader needs to meet throughout the novels or perhaps something they might remember later on in the novel? Try and include it earlier in the novel, build and develop it. Make it an important part of your novel. When writing a mystery, that item or person may only play a small part but be something the reader thinks back to and says 'Oh, yeah!'
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Chapter One of a Novel (E) A Retired Woman stumbles into a new career fighting crime with senior citizens #2065850 by Jules
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Disclosure (18+) Murder? That would be the easy part. Finding him would be a different story. #2065434 by Chrys O'Shea
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Why not try using some of these tips when writing your next long piece?
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Mystery: November 25, 2015 Issue [#7336]
Try and write a brief plot outline stating beginning, middle and end.
