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writercises2017-01-20 03:57 pm
mbarker.livejournal.com) wrote in writercises2017-01-20 03:57 pm
TECH: Is there a mystery in your story soup?
Original Posting Jan. 31, 2016
Over here
http://madgeniusclub.com/2016/01/27/mysteriously/
Sarah Hoyt talks about mysteries. No, not the sweet mystery of life, although if you haven't seen Young Frankenstein, you should. But in this case, we're talking the mysteries of novels, or actually, novels that are mysteries! Yes, the cozies, the hard boiled, the private detective, the police procedural, and anything else where whodunit is a key question. Puzzles! There's a dead body in the living room, and instead of just stepping over it, we want to know who did it, how, and all those fun questions. Sometimes we just want to know how to catch the rascal, but that's a question for Elmer Fudd.
Cozies go for the hearts and minds, focusing on the pain of death. Hard boiled gets into the bloody nuts and bolts (okay, intestines, broken ribs, and other body parts) along with a good hard stroll through gritty alleys and such. Police procedurals are how we wish the police did things, more or less. (and yes, Sarah skipped the PI subgenre. Guess what, there's a private eye somewhere in there!).
Strictures on structure? We've got a few...
1. A dead body (aka murder!) as close to the beginning as possible. If they don't stumble over that dead body up front, at least give us a foreshadowing or other hint that nastiness hides in the nasturtiums, okay?
2. Normally, mysteries revolve around a murder. Yes, there are plenty of other crimes, but... the canonical mystery starts with a dead body.
3. There's a reason for the character to be involved. Friend, discovered the body, the last act was to call or write, something links the character and the death.
4. The murderer appears early in the book. Not usually as the murderer, but... visible.
5. A timer! Something counting down to horrible keeps things moving.
6. Watch out for interviews and other boring hunts for a clue. Use a timing device, make some of the meetings dangerous, or maybe someone is trying to kill the character? Or even all three!
7. The private life of the character (detective) often is rocky, providing extra thrills to keep things moving.
8. Give the readers all the clues. You can bury them in various ways, but give them a fair chance. Detectives who suddenly figure it out because they have information the reader doesn't usually get thrown across the room.
9. Tie up everything! If you don't tie it up, highlight it so we know it was deliberate.
10. Let the reader see that everything has gone back to normal, order is restored.
11. Plenty of other genres can (and do) use mystery structure.
12. Mystery shorts ... go read Sarah's description.
13. Make sure the bad guy(s) get punished!
14. Make your villain motivated. Give them a good solid reason for killing.
So, there you have it. Plenty of how to write your mystery advice around. Do be aware that mystery readers tend to be very picky, and want you to do it right if you're going to do it. So read some of the stuff!
Then go ahead and kill that sucker. In the kitchen with a pipe? Okay...
tink
Over here
http://madgeniusclub.com/2016/01/27/mysteriously/
Sarah Hoyt talks about mysteries. No, not the sweet mystery of life, although if you haven't seen Young Frankenstein, you should. But in this case, we're talking the mysteries of novels, or actually, novels that are mysteries! Yes, the cozies, the hard boiled, the private detective, the police procedural, and anything else where whodunit is a key question. Puzzles! There's a dead body in the living room, and instead of just stepping over it, we want to know who did it, how, and all those fun questions. Sometimes we just want to know how to catch the rascal, but that's a question for Elmer Fudd.
Cozies go for the hearts and minds, focusing on the pain of death. Hard boiled gets into the bloody nuts and bolts (okay, intestines, broken ribs, and other body parts) along with a good hard stroll through gritty alleys and such. Police procedurals are how we wish the police did things, more or less. (and yes, Sarah skipped the PI subgenre. Guess what, there's a private eye somewhere in there!).
Strictures on structure? We've got a few...
1. A dead body (aka murder!) as close to the beginning as possible. If they don't stumble over that dead body up front, at least give us a foreshadowing or other hint that nastiness hides in the nasturtiums, okay?
2. Normally, mysteries revolve around a murder. Yes, there are plenty of other crimes, but... the canonical mystery starts with a dead body.
3. There's a reason for the character to be involved. Friend, discovered the body, the last act was to call or write, something links the character and the death.
4. The murderer appears early in the book. Not usually as the murderer, but... visible.
5. A timer! Something counting down to horrible keeps things moving.
6. Watch out for interviews and other boring hunts for a clue. Use a timing device, make some of the meetings dangerous, or maybe someone is trying to kill the character? Or even all three!
7. The private life of the character (detective) often is rocky, providing extra thrills to keep things moving.
8. Give the readers all the clues. You can bury them in various ways, but give them a fair chance. Detectives who suddenly figure it out because they have information the reader doesn't usually get thrown across the room.
9. Tie up everything! If you don't tie it up, highlight it so we know it was deliberate.
10. Let the reader see that everything has gone back to normal, order is restored.
11. Plenty of other genres can (and do) use mystery structure.
12. Mystery shorts ... go read Sarah's description.
13. Make sure the bad guy(s) get punished!
14. Make your villain motivated. Give them a good solid reason for killing.
So, there you have it. Plenty of how to write your mystery advice around. Do be aware that mystery readers tend to be very picky, and want you to do it right if you're going to do it. So read some of the stuff!
Then go ahead and kill that sucker. In the kitchen with a pipe? Okay...
tink