Rather than a how-to, this is more of a how-do? We all know one of our favorite parts of reading a mystery is trying to figure out all the clues...can we discover whodunit before our intrepid detective, whether it’s a police investigator or the nice neighborhood grandmother who always seems to be involved!
I tend to lay in the clues as I go along – I know what I want my reader to know, what s/he can extrapolate from that and what should be a bit, shall we say, “fuzzy” in an effort to keep the villain a secret as long as possible.
Let’s share our secrets: how do you get your clues in there? Do you plot them out before hand? Do you drop them in at the end? Do they surprise you and kind of insert themselves at opportune (or even inopportune) moments?
Let’s dish for our readers!
Libby McKinmer
Romance with an edge
www.libbymckinmer.com
libby@libbymckinmer.com
Also on Twitter, GoodReads & Facebook
Showing posts with label whodunit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label whodunit. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
What Makes It a Mystery? by Libby McKinmer
According to About.com a mystery is:
Definition: Mystery is a genre of fiction in which a detective, either an amateur or a professional, solves a crime or a series of crimes. Because detective stories rely on logic, supernatural elements rarely come into play. The detective may be a private investigator, a policeman, an elderly widow, or a young girl, but he or she generally has nothing material to gain from solving the crime. Subgenres include the cozy and the hard-boiled detective story.
That seems pretty simple and straightforward, doesn't it? But it sure gives us a lot of latitude. My mystery can be a police procedure with accurate details in the day-to-day work of a police investigation -- kind of a CSI type mystery. Or a Women's Murder Club.
My mystery can be an unsuspecting young woman who has to figure out who killed her boss and why, before she's the next victim, although that does certainly give her a real something to gain, other than material gain! My detective can be a Miss Marple, Harry Bosch, Nancy Drew or Gil Grissom type. My mystery can be a murder, a robbery, a kidnapping or any other crime.
Your mystery can be whatever you like -- the kind of detective and crime you like to try to figure out. It can be whenever and wherever you want it to be. As a writer, you can write the mystery you love to read. As a reader, you can seek out the writers who write what you love to read.
Definition: Mystery is a genre of fiction in which a detective, either an amateur or a professional, solves a crime or a series of crimes. Because detective stories rely on logic, supernatural elements rarely come into play. The detective may be a private investigator, a policeman, an elderly widow, or a young girl, but he or she generally has nothing material to gain from solving the crime. Subgenres include the cozy and the hard-boiled detective story.
That seems pretty simple and straightforward, doesn't it? But it sure gives us a lot of latitude. My mystery can be a police procedure with accurate details in the day-to-day work of a police investigation -- kind of a CSI type mystery. Or a Women's Murder Club.
My mystery can be an unsuspecting young woman who has to figure out who killed her boss and why, before she's the next victim, although that does certainly give her a real something to gain, other than material gain! My detective can be a Miss Marple, Harry Bosch, Nancy Drew or Gil Grissom type. My mystery can be a murder, a robbery, a kidnapping or any other crime.
Your mystery can be whatever you like -- the kind of detective and crime you like to try to figure out. It can be whenever and wherever you want it to be. As a writer, you can write the mystery you love to read. As a reader, you can seek out the writers who write what you love to read.
Friday, December 12, 2008
The Lure of the Mystery
Why do we like puzzles and mysteries? Are we all police wannabes? Do we have a secret fantasy of being Sam Spade, Tempe Crabtree or Philip Marlowe? Have we watched every episode of Columbo? There is an innate need to know that makes us want to know whodunit.
And some of our favorite writers can make us work for it, creating a complex tale that taxes our investigative abilities! That's part of the joy of reading a mystery, though, isn't it? Do we fall for the red herrings sprinkled through the story? Or do we toss away a vital clue, served up to us on a silver platter, because we think it's a ruse to throw us off the scent? Do we figure it out, just after the writer gives us the answer? That's the goal of the mystery writer -- to hold the reader's interest, keep him or her thinking and trying to figure it out right to the climax of the reveal of the killer.
It's fun to abandon discrepant awareness and drift into the 1930s world of Hercule Poirot. Or to explore the newest forensics techniques for lifting fingerprints, tracking DNA or crime scene investigation. Is your preferred story a traditional cozy mystery, a modern, high-tech story, or even a futuristic detective with access to technology today's investigators can only dream of having?
Another reason we like mysteries? The bad guy always gets caught -- maybe he or she can't be prosecuted, but our detective figures out what s/he did and how it was done. And that's a very satisfying feeling!
So, grab a mystery by your favorite author and enjoy the journey!
Libby McKinmer
www.libbymckinmer.com
www.twitter.com/LibbyMckinmer
libby@libbymckinmer.com
And some of our favorite writers can make us work for it, creating a complex tale that taxes our investigative abilities! That's part of the joy of reading a mystery, though, isn't it? Do we fall for the red herrings sprinkled through the story? Or do we toss away a vital clue, served up to us on a silver platter, because we think it's a ruse to throw us off the scent? Do we figure it out, just after the writer gives us the answer? That's the goal of the mystery writer -- to hold the reader's interest, keep him or her thinking and trying to figure it out right to the climax of the reveal of the killer.
It's fun to abandon discrepant awareness and drift into the 1930s world of Hercule Poirot. Or to explore the newest forensics techniques for lifting fingerprints, tracking DNA or crime scene investigation. Is your preferred story a traditional cozy mystery, a modern, high-tech story, or even a futuristic detective with access to technology today's investigators can only dream of having?
Another reason we like mysteries? The bad guy always gets caught -- maybe he or she can't be prosecuted, but our detective figures out what s/he did and how it was done. And that's a very satisfying feeling!
So, grab a mystery by your favorite author and enjoy the journey!
Libby McKinmer
www.libbymckinmer.com
www.twitter.com/LibbyMckinmer
libby@libbymckinmer.com
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