Writing Tip: Writing a Mystery

Every genre in popular writing has specific guidelines that, while not a dictate, all new writers would be advised to follow. Those guidelines have evolved because established writers and publishers have found that the typical reader of that genre demands certain things in their reading material.

For example, romance novels must follow romance oriented guidelines. Romance readers demand certain traits in their characters and their romantic situations. Many of the Romance Publishers actually have printed guidelines which they expect will be followed.

The same situation applies to mysteries. Mystery novel readers demand certain traits. What are those traits? Below is a brief summary of the needs of a well-crafted mystery:

• All clues discovered by the character made available to the reader.

• The bad guy must be introduced early. Not necessarily a personal appearance, but the reader must know they exist.

• The crime must be significant to hold reader interest: murder, kidnapping, blackmail, ect., not a minor crime.

• Crime must be solved by detection, not falling into the solution by accident.

• A number of suspects must be known. The bad guy must be among them.

• Nothing extraneous can be introduced. A cliché in mystery writing is – “Don't show gun on table if it is not part of story.”

The over-riding “must-have” for a mystery novel is that it must have a well-designed plot. Mysteries should take the reader on a journey where they do not know where it will end. The journey cannot be too convoluted but cannot be too straight line simple. Each plot point must be believable; while at the same time must challenge the reader to follow it.

It is important to note that the main character does not need to be a classical detective. The main character can be anyone who notices a wrong being done. Many popular mystery novels have as their protagonist Lawyers, Doctors and other professionals.

While there can be exceptions, in the first three chapters, everything must be out there for the reader to begin solving the mystery along with the mail character.

The level of violence must be high enough to keep the reader interested for 75,000 words while at the same time no so violent that it will cause the reader to top reading.

As the main character solves the mystery, they must do it using rational methods, not off-the-wall tricks. Also, the solution must result from the main character using their specific skills. A doctor must use medical knowledge and a lawyer must use legal knowledge.

The reader must believe that the criminal is capable of the crime.

Maybe the most important must-do for a mystery writer to observe – Never Fool The Reader! If the reader gets to the end of the story and learns that the villain is the plumber, just introduced twenty pages before, they will probably be angry and disappointed.

This almost goes without saying, but the writer should wait as long as possible to reveal the culprit. If the reader knows too early, why should they finish reading the book?