Whodunit?

I finally know why the murder victim died but whodunit is still up for grabs (although the field has definitely been narrowed).

Reporters live by the five W's: who, what, when, where, and why.

What, when, and where: all back at word 9747.

Why: At word 47,664 it starts to fall into place.

Who (as in whodunit): Somewhere near to 50,000, give or take 2,000.

When I first started writing, I was afraid to think about who did it for fear that the writing would be too stilted if I already knew the destination. Then I came up with three plausible motives and just let them act like the little lights along the aisle in an airplane, hoping they would illuminate my path in case of emergency. Now the who (and how) are emerging out of the same creative fog that has powered this whole thing. And it makes more sense than anything I could have imagined back at word 1.

That is the biggest lesson I've gotten from this process: trusting the timing and pace of intuition. Not only is it richer than what I might force into being, but it's easier too!