CONFIRMATION OF A GUESS

A few days ago, I began writing a story that I assumed would be book-length eventually. But it got hardly more than a difficult first paragraph on paper when I sacrificed it to delete control. It took another day for me to remember when I experienced writing from the point of view of an anticipated murderer once before that it too did not work. How did Dostoevsky accomplish it?

The whole book was not to be from such a point of view, only just the first chapter. It was a device to keep the reader guessing whodunit. I suppose it’s a good sign when an author cannot think just the way a would-be murderer thinks. However, since other innocent souls have managed it, no one knows when or in what given work I might succeed. (It was not to be a story about murder, but about betrayal, repentance, and forgiveness. The murder was the vehicle to lead to the three more important elements. Remember this is fiction.)

♥