Agatha Christie's first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introduced the Belgian detective with the famous mustaches, Hercule Poirot. The book was an immediate success. Hercule Poirot solved murders using his little grey cells for 36 more books .

The Law of Unintended Consequences brings conflict, tension, and surprises to your story. A character does something and intends for it to have a certain outcome. Maybe it accomplishes what was planned, maybe not, but other unplanned events happen because of that one decision.

A great way to keep track of all the ideas that go running through your head is to keep a writer's journal.

If your muse is anything like mine, she never picks a good time to give you ideas, never when pen and paper or computer are handy. By the time you are ready to write, all your great ideas have disappeared. Or have they? Sometimes you need to force them back out.

A desire to write is burning deep within you. Your muse, or subconscious mind keeps imagining crazy things every time you turn around. When you see someone walking a dog, crazy thoughts go through your head.

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