While I am still a novice, one of the things I've quickly learned about writing a mystery is that it’s an exercise in reverse-engineering a plot. Put more simply, if you don’t know how the story’s going to end — quite literally whodunit and how — then you cannot effectively pepper your book with the clues needed to keep your readers engaged.

As a lifelong mystery reader, there have always been a few things that drove me (and probably other mystery readers) crazy. These include when authors do not provide important information throughout the text that would allow me to participate in the investigation, when they introduce previously unknown characters at the end of the book who provide convenient and unexpected revelations, or when they explain away poor continuity as a “plot twist.” If you’re reading a paranormal or supernatural mystery, the biggest cheat is often the dreaded Deus ex machina (Latin for “the hand of God”), a plot device first created by the ancient Greeks in which an unsolvable problem is suddenly resolved by an unexpected, improbable, or contrived event, character, or object. (When it comes to supernatural or paranormal books, the mechanism is often magical.)

Of course, a supernatural or paranormal book will contain, by definition, both spectacular and unexplainable events. But I really want The Osiris Circle books to be true mysteries, solved through the investigative work of the protagonists without any (or at least many) “magical” shortcuts. I want to provide enough clues throughout the text that readers feel like participants in the investigation. 

And toward that end, I had to finish the last chapter before I actually finished the book. 

If I’m being honest, this happened about halfway through my first draft because my writing tends to be very organic, and I hadn’t worked out all the details of the central mystery until that point. Once completed, I had to go back and fix some clues and other details to ensure they pointed in the right direction. Since the story will also be told through illustrations, I had to ensure my artwork also maintained this continuity. (For additional tips on this, see my article Avoiding Continuity Errors.)

​If you’re an author, I’ll leave it to you to figure out how you’re going to reverse-engineer your mystery and track your clues. Naturally, everyone will have their own process. But at least consider figuring out the resolution first. After all, you only want your characters and your readers stumbling around in the dark — not yourself!

Creating and detailing characters is one of the greatest joys of writing a novel. Each character becomes a unique being with a life of their own, and as a writer, I get to watch them grow and evolve. However, when it comes to creating characters for a graphic novel, the process becomes even more intricate. Unlike a traditional novel where readers can imagine characters in their minds, a graphic novel demands that they see them too. Visual consistency becomes key in ensuring characters remain identifiable, even when they undergo changes in a traditional narrative.

In a novel, characters can change clothes and appearances without losing their identity in the mind’s eye of the reader. However, in a graphic novel, maintaining clarity demands that characters retain a consistent visual appearance. This poses a unique challenge, especially for a hybrid work like my upcoming book, The Osiris Circle, which combines elements of both illustrated and traditional novels.

Developing characters visually is no small feat, particularly when you're still navigating your first draft and the characters themselves are evolving. So far, my main characters have gone through four iterations as I've tried to pin down "their look". As the plot and their traits have morphed organically, so too has their appearance. My journey of visual consistency has involved a detailed exploration of their faces, hair, ethnicity and body types.
Clothing and hairstyles add another layer of complexity. They need to be identifiable and relatable to current readers, yet they must also possess a timeless quality. I want readers to be able to pick up The Osiris Circle in ten years and still find the characters’ appearances to be believable and relatable to the modern day.

As a result, I’ve spent countless hours deliberating and experimenting with clothing colors and styles. These elements are not just superficial; they represent the personalities of the main characters. Color, in particular, is vital as it serves as the immediate and most effective way for a reader to distinguish between characters. If you see a man wearing a blue bodysuit with a red cape, probably you’re going to identify him as Superman even if he doesn’t have that big “S” on his chest, right?

While I’m not ready to share finalized character artwork just yet, as it is still in development, I am excited to eventually unveil more artwork in future blog posts. This careful crafting of visual iconography is a labor of love, and I believe it will enrich the reading experience of The Osiris Circle.

In the end, clothing and appearances are more than just aesthetic choices; they are integral to storytelling. They help shape the narrative and guide the reader through a visual journey. Sorting out my characters, one outfit, hairstyle or color at a time, is a thrilling part of creating a world that readers can both see and feel.

Stay tuned for more updates as the “look” of The Osiris Circle continues to unfold or follow my socials for alerts. 

Whenever it was lunch recess in elementary school, I and my best friend would head off to a remote corner of the playground, to a single mesquite tree, which according from Google Earth, still stands today (see the photo above). And every day we'd play around its base and among its limbs. All these years later, I can’t really tell you what imaginative worlds we were creating there — but most likely they were inspired by our favorite Saturday morning television adventures or recent movies. 

No one was troubled by what we were doing except one particularly imperious yard monitor. One day she marched up to us and announced that it “wasn’t normal” for third graders to be off by ourselves, creating pretend games, instead of playing dodge ball or basketball like most of the other kids. 

We were polite in rejecting her unenlightened opinion, because we really did not care what she thought. Despite our age, we were quite practiced in not caring what others thought but it always astounded me how many teachers, parents and peers often mistook creativity and imagination for something abnormal.

As I was completing the Quinton’s Curious Mind Series, I wanted my next writing project to celebrate these kinds of kids — kids who saw the world differently, created their own safe spaces and problem-solved creatively. I also wanted to dip my toe in the mystery game — being a huge fan of true crime, cold cases and classic whodunits. As a kid, I gobbled up the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and Three Investigators mysteries. Some of my favorite standalone titles featured clever kids solving mysteries tinged with the paranormal and supernatural. Harriet the Spy, The Egypt Game, Nate the Great and Encyclopedia Brown were all favorites. As I got older, I added the works of Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Raymond Chandler and Patricia Highsmith. 

And yes, I’ll throw Scooby-Doo in there for good measure. 

Aside from trying my hand at a mystery, I also wanted to  infuse more illustration into my books and as I read more graphic novels, I became very interested in using art as part of the narrative process.

All of this eventually culminated in The Osiris Circle, a book series which will revolve around a group of young teens who solve cold case mysteries out of a historic theater located in a fictional town. 

I’ll provide more details about all this in the posts ahead so check back for further updates, or follow my socials for alerts.