All these aspect of lying should be noted and inserted to the actions of a character that is lying at the time. Afterall, writers should show not tell.

1. Lack of or too much eye contact

The biggest indicator someone is telling a lie is lack of or too much eye contact. It’s a common belief that when people lie they avoid eye contact and look elsewhere. While this is often true, some liars make too much eye contact just to make you believe they are speaking the truth.

2. Foot movement

When people lie they often exhibit signs of nervousness or anxiety. Foot movement is the biggest indicator of anxiety and nervousness. Liars often shake their legs or make regular leg movements to avoid tension and run away. This can be used as a clear-cut clue to catch a liar.

3. Shorter responses

This is a verbal clue displayed when people lie. When lying people often stay silent during the conversation or offer shorter responses. They also use more ums, ers, and ahs to fill in the gaps. If a person is making more speech errors it’s an indication of lack of truth.

4. Change in pitch

If you observe someone communicating in higher pitch than normal it can be a sign of lying. Some people also maintain lower than normal pitch. High or low pitch indicates there is something off.

5. Shoulder shrugs

People often shrug their shoulders when they don’t know or agree to something. If someone is shrugging while speaking it may indicate they don’t agree with what is coming out of their own mouth.

6. Too much sweating

Some sweat excessively when they lie. This abnormal sweating happens because of the adrenalin rush from anxiety and nervousness.

7. Changing the Subject

The thought process required to support a lie should be fast. Not everyone has fast thought processes so they change the subject to something completely different.

8. Fidgeting

When people lie they often touch objects lying around to relieve stress. Some people might act as if they are more interested in the object than the conversation to avoid confrontation.

9. Face touching

Studies have found that when people lie, they often rub their nose. It’s a scientific observation, experts believe the adrenaline rush opens the capillaries of the nose making it itchy. Some people also cover their mouth and eyes while lying, this is an uncommon observation.

10. Excessive lip licking

Lying puts stress on our body and the biggest indicator of body stress is a dry mouth. In order to rectify the dry mouth, liars are often observed licking their lips often.
Unless the liar very staunchly believes in his/her lie, the above mentioned points should easily help you in spotting a liar.

There is a formula for a crime fiction  novel or movie, although every story is different and how can you have a formula for things that are different? Here is a formula that takes the general mood in sections of a novel or film. It’s always easier to begin at the end of the novel or movie and work backwards to the beginning, as you know where you have been.

The Hook – (Write or outline this 2nd) If you managed to note your ending without breaking out in plottery hives, then the hook is easy. The start of a book is generally the opposite to the ending. Take Stephen King’s Shawshank Redemption – At the start he’s trapped in prison, at the end he’s free.

The Plot Turn One – (Write or outline this 4th) Your books moving along nicely, everyone’s happy and then Oh No, there’s conflict/problem/world ending disaster fucks shit up for your hero. This sets your characters on the hook to the midpoint.

The Pinch One – (Write or outline this 6th) Conflict got shoved in earlier and now you get to rub your evil writing hands together and make shit a lot harder for your hero. Apply pressure, use the villain. Throughout the hole story, when you think the hero has had enough shit happen to them, give them some more. The movie Pitch Black shows this well. Things are crap, but then things get even worse.

The Midpoint – (Write or outline this 3rd) The mid-point is pivotal not just because you’re half way through your blood sweat and tears journey but because your characters move from reaction, to action. Of course it doesn’t need to be the actual middle, it could be 30 or 70% of the way through but wherever it is, it’s a change in the characters that moves from the villain driving the plot to the protagonist driving it.

The Pinch two – (Write or outline this last) This is the fun bit, you do your absolute worst and beat your hero with the villain stick while cackling and drinking a G&T. Screw shit up so bad for your hero that everything seems utterly hopeless. The villain’s clearly going to win because they defeated the hero in battle already and left the hero.

The Plot Turn Two  – (Write or outline this 5th) This is where your hero has an epiphany, solves the final clue or sets sail for an epic battle. It’s the point in your novel that moves you from midpoint to ending.

The Crisis & Resolution – (Write or outline this 1st) Every word you bleed onto the page leads to the ending. With the exception of hooking people in at the start, it’s the most critical part of any book. Even as a pantser you will have a general idea of how you want your story to end. Note it down first.

The Moment Of Death: 

1. The heart stops.
2. The skin gets tight and ashen in colour.
3. All the muscles relax.
4. The bladder and bowels empty.
5. The body temperature begins to drop ½ degrees Centigrade per hour.

After 30 minutes: 

6. The skin gets purple and waxy.
7. The lips, fingernails, and toenails fade to a pale colour.
8. Blood pools at the bottom of the body.
9. The hands and feet turn blue.
10. The eyes sink into the skull.

After 4 hours: 

11. Rigor mortis starts.
12. The purpling of the skin and the pooling of the blood continue.
13. Rigor continues to tighten muscles for another 24 hours or so.

After 12 hours: 

14. The body is in full rigor mortis.

After 24 hours: 

15. The body is now the temperature of the surrounding environment.
16. In males, the semen dies.
17. The head and neck are now a greenish-blue colour.
18. The greenish-blue colour spreads to the rest of the body.
19. There is a pervasive smell of rotting meat.

After 3 days: 

20. The gas in the body tissues forms large blisters on the skin.
21. The whole body begins to bloat and swell grotesquely.
22. Fluids leak from the mouth, nose, vagina, and rectum.

After 3 weeks: 

23. The skin, hair, and nails are so loose they can easily be pulled off the corpse.
24. The skin bursts open on many places on the body.
25. Decomposition will continue until the body is nothing but skeletal remains, a process that can take a month or so in hot climates, and two months or more in cold climates, like the UK.

Please read the first chapter of my first novel. I have not actually finished the story as the beginning is not where you start or finish your writing. It has not been professionally edited and may contain gramatical errors and the like. This is work in progress, as I’m sure you can tell. Comments are very much welcome. →

Chapter One

The first one is where I want to be involved, although the second is very, very interesting and I might cut some showing graphic violence in the hard-boiled detective and go with a slight mix with cozy mystery.

1. In the hard-boiled private investigator genre, the detective works in a city, and the violence is explicit. The detective follows clues in the dark underbelly of the city. Example: Mickey Spillane’s ‘Mike Hammer’
2. In the cosy mystery genre, the detective is usually an amateur, the violence is never described in detail, and the setting is often a small town. The detective uses his or her powers of observation and deduction, as well as an excellent general knowledge to solve the crime. Example: Agatha Christie’s ‘Miss Marple’ and on TV or movies I prefer the Miss Marple played by Margaret Rutherford.
3. The legal thriller requires research into the rules and procedures of a legal world. A lot of readers want to know what happens after a crime is committed and an arrest is made. You can use crises of legal conscience to make your characters more rounded. Examples: John Grisham and Richard North Patterson write in this genre
4. The police procedural is realistic and should be as accurate as the author can make it. The reader is taken to a squad room, morgue, court, and crime scenes. This genre is complicated and the detective is often under a lot of pressure. For example, he or she could be dealing with many cases, he generally has personal problems with relationships, and his superiors want the case solved. There are secondary characters, including suspects, police officers, lawyers, and criminals. Examples: Ian Rankin’s ‘Rebus’, Michael Connelly’s ‘Harry Bosch’, and James Patterson’s ‘Alex Cross’
5. The medical thriller is a suspense novel that takes place in a hospital. The protagonists are usually doctors or nurses. The plot is based on situations unique to medicine and medical research. Examples: Robin Cook, Michael Crichton and Tess Gerritsen write in this genre.
6. The forensic thriller is a fairly new genre. The lead character is usually a woman who is a scientist or pathologist. Research is needed. Accuracy is essential. Most of the action takes place in crime scenes and morgues, and in the lead character’s home. Examples: Jeffery Deaver’s ‘Lincoln Rhyme’, Patricia Cornwell’s ‘Kay Scarpetta’, and Kathy Reichs’s ‘Temperance Brennan’
7. The general suspense thriller features a protagonist who is generally thrown into the action in the aftermath of a crime. This hero is often an ordinary person who is called on to solve a problem. Sometimes, this person must prove his or her innocence, often to the police and other characters in the novel. Examples: Lee Child’s ‘Jack Reacher’; Gillian Flynn and Dennis Lehane also write in this genre.
8. The Military Thriller has a protagonist who is often a member of the military, MI5, the CIA or the FBI, or a consultant to a military agency. Readers of this genre love the details and a lot of research is necessary. Often the criminals are crooked politicians or terrorists. The action often spans continents. Example: Tom Clancy’s ‘Jack Ryan’ which has been a favourite of mine for many years.

Different Tense in Novel Writing

Simple Past Tense

Simple past tense is used to narrate an action of the past. The verb in the past tense ends with an ‘-ed’ and hence, there are seven ways of marking the irregular verbs in the past tense. The most common being the change of the vowel as in ‘drink’ – ‘drank’.

Construction

Subject + Verb + Object

Examples:

• Brian worked in that office for almost eight years.
• She passed away in 1999.
• We went for the movie yesterday.
• Two years ago, I studied at the Leeds University.

Past Continuous Tense

This from of tense indicates activities that have already happened in the past and have been completed before the time of mention. These sentences are formed with the help of an auxiliary verb and giving the main verb an ‘ing’ ending.

Structure 

Subject + Was/Were + Verb in its -ing form + Object

Examples:

• She was washing the dishes, while he was cooking dinner.
• I was working at 1p.m yesterday afternoon.
• We were playing football when it started to rain.
• He was reading a thriller novel when I called him.
• What were you doing when Tom arrived?
• I was walking down the street yesterday when the police car was patrolling the town.

Past Perfect Tense

This tense refers to a non-continuous action that was already completed in the past. Such sentences are formed by using the Simple Past form of the auxiliary verb ‘to have’, followed by the past participle form of the verb.

Structure 

Subject + Had + Past Participle form of Verb + Object

Example:

• I had never seen such a beautiful  horse before.
• He understood the movie only because he had read the book.
• Cara had never been to a pub before last night.
• We didn’t get a room in the hotel because we had not booked in advance.

Past Perfect Continuous Tense

A continuous action that was completed sometime in the past falls under Past Perfect Continuous tense. Such sentences are framed by using the modal, ‘had’ + ‘been’ + the present participle of the verb (-ing).

Structure:

Subject + Had + Been + Verb (ing) + Object

Example:

• I had been playing the piano all morning.
• I had been sleeping all the way from the beginning of the lecture.
• He had been trying to call her.
• Until this year, Lucy had been going to a village school.
• The baby had been crying out loud for minutes when her mother fed her.

Common errors and examples of correct dialogue in sentences:
Wrong: “Hope you’ve seen the video, Ken,” He said.
Wrong: “Hope you’ve seen the video, Ken.” He said.
Wrong: “Hope you’ve seen the video, Ken.” he said.
Correct: “Hope you’ve seen the video, Ken,” he said.
Wrong: “Jill is seven years old now,” Dad said, “But she needs a new school soon.”
Wrong: “Jill is seven years old now,” Dad said. “but she needs a new school soon.”
Correct: “Jill is seven years old now,” Dad said, “but she needs a new school soon.”

If the reader already knows who is talking and the meaning of the dialogue is clear, there’s no reason for an indicating tag. In a lot of scenes, there are two characters talking, and no tags are necessary. If you have to put, “she said angrily” or “she said sarcastically” then your dialogue is feeble.
The terms he said, and she said are known as tags in dialogue. There are unnecessary, illogical and inconsistent uses of tags.

Unnecessary tag:
“I could just shoot you in the head, and I’d be happy to see through a hole in your head, you sick bastard,” she said in anger.

Illogical tag:
“Now I know the phone is ringing, I hear it,” he frowned. – He can not frown in words.

Inconsistent tag:
“I ain’t saying he’s mad, but he’s on his way here with a sawn-off shotgun,” she said struggling to catch her breath.—But she doesn’t appear to have any trouble speaking or catching her breath.

Consistent tag:
“I ain’t. Ain’t sayin’. He…he’s mad…but…he’s…on his way here…with a sawn-off…shotgun,” she said struggling to catch her breath.

Writing dialogue is like editing lines in a movie. Some are weak and need more punch. The dialogue needs to be direct and to the point.

Small talk is undoubtedly crap chatty dialogue:
“Hi Bill, How you today?”
“I’m fine. How about you, Rich?”
“Oh, you know. Things are moving slowly.”
“I know what you mean. Finding a new job is a slow one.”
“How’re the kids?”
“They are teenagers, always difficult.”

Narration, Description and Dialogue
How much of a story should be narration, and description, and dialogue?

Some instructors say it’s a third narration, a third description, and a third dialogue. Then, some say it’s 30 percent narration, 20 percent description, and 50 percent dialogue.—How mutch narration, description, and dialogue is needed in a story is always different to each story. Some excellent stories are mostly dialogue, and some very successful stories hardly have any. Some really crap stories have a perfect balance.

The short story I wrote earlier this month is published in the Short Fiction Break

Title: My Alien Abduction

Written By: Philip Shepherd

Short stories seem to be a pleasant place to write a 15 minute read into a scene or two of excitement or interest. I my delve into the short story publication arena as I do have many isolated scenes that may have the ability of being published.

Writing in the passive voice is not looked upon as being good for a story. What is a passive and active voice? Further examples will be added.

Present Tense
Active:                                         Passive:
She plays a song.                      A song was played by her.
She does not sing.                    A song is not sung by her.
I am writing a letter.                A letter is being written by me.
I am not writing a letter.         A letter is not being written by me.
Am I writing a novel?                 Is a novel being written by me?

Past Tense
Active:                                             Passive:
She has finished a novel.           Her novel has been finished by her.
I killed a bird.                                 A bird was killed by me.
He was driving a car.                    A car was being driven by him.

Future Tense
Active:                                               Passive:
She will have finished her work. Her work will have been finished by her.
They will have elected him.           He will have been elected by them.

Active:
Subject + will/shall + have + past participle form of the verb + object

Passive:
Object of the active sentence + will/shall + have + been + past participle form of the verb + by + subject of the active sentence

Imagination manipulation is the workplace of a writer. Manipulation is of particular importance in mystery or crime fiction. The aim of crime fiction is to give all the information to solve the offence while leaving the reader unaware of the solution until the end when it should come as a surprise.
Many techniques can be used to impart information when it is unimportant. When an author looks at each word’s purpose, else if it is not essential, removes it from the novel. Every single word is important in a story.
Submitting my short story to the workshop, I received comments where women thought the protagonist was female and men thought the protagonist was male. You don’t have to explain everything. My favourite book, which I still have from the 1980s is Shogun. Obviously, a lot of the names are Japanese and unpronounceable to me. So, I saw the name, recognised the shape of the word and just referred to them as the first letter and carried on reading.
Someone reading a story brings that story into their own world where they modify it and creates images of the characters, who they are, what they look like, etc. As a writer, you don’t need to go into detail about every person, every scene, especially in a short story and only if that characteristic is relevant to the plot.
I am actually getting to like short stories now. You just get right into the action and strng the reader along.

In a lot of the courses I have done in writing, I have been told, I’m waffling and describing too much. At the time I thought, “Well, War and Peace could be written on the side of an A4 page, never mind the hundreds of pages. What’s going on?” Now I understand, you are giving the reader a scenario with characters, and in a lot of situations like the short story, that’s all you need as they will create the rest in their imagination.
Imagination is a very powerful sense. There should, in all honesty, be six sences—vision, hearing, feel, taste, smell and imagination. The writer narrows down the genre and is aware of what they want and expect. The author is aware of where the genre particular reader’s imagination will take them. In crime fiction, the story must make the solution a surprise until the climax of the story. This is where the writer must manipulate the reader’s imagination. Give really relevant information along with weak stuff or just after other big scenes where there is action, as the reader will be concentrating on what just happened, and vice versa. End of chapters is a good place as the reader may be thinking, “Only one page left in this chapter.” I did enjoy playing with people’s imagination in my short story and then twisting them round at the end. I may produce more short stories as my novel sends me out of my mind.