How detectives investigate an unidentified body for a crime drama

What’s your first hypothesis?

Accident, suicide or foul play? What would you consider, and how would you test your theories? The writer might already know what happened at the top. The investigators have to start with what’s at the bottom.

Suppose everyone assumes the man fell from the cliff. What actually places him at the top? Could he have entered the water somewhere else? A different explanation would change where the team looks and what it asks people to remember. For the writer, each of those decisions can move the story in a different direction.

What if the forensics take you nowhere?

Give the team a question it can still work on. Who might know he’s missing? What might place him in the area? What would make the team reconsider its first explanation? A lead can change the direction of the investigation without giving away what happened.

Where a police advisor can help

Bring us a pitch, a treatment, a script or an individual scene. We can work through what the officers could reasonably know at each point, who would make the decisions and what might credibly prompt the next line of enquiry. Getting those decisions right early gives you more room to develop the storyline, build believable characters and avoid rewrites later.

For novelists, the same questions apply from the first outline to the finished draft. Would the scene really be handled that way? Who would deal with it? Would the reader believe what happens next?