Taking the Mystery out of Mystery Writing
It’s Thursday. Excited? Most people aren’t. Thursday is a
meh leftover of Wednesday, bland as cold mashed potatoes without any salt...and
I’m talkin’ the instant kind with lumpy bits of dried flakes. Cough, yak,
gross.
That’s right. Nothing even remotely exciting ever happens on Thursday.
Until now! Introducing (cue a cymbal crash loud enough to make you
cringe and/or want to punch said crasher in the head)…
A tidbit is a tasty little nibble. Think Kibbles-n-Bits but
for humans. Every Thursday, I’ll toss a dainty little morsel your way that’s
related to whatever I happen to be working on at the time.
For example, if A
Heart Deceived was my current work-in-progress, I might share what an
Airloom is (a mechanical contraption designed to insert thoughts into one’s
brain…as believed by one of the lunatics in eighteenth century Bedlam).
Presently, though, I’m working on a contemporary mystery, so
today’s tidbit is about the elements needed for the making of a good
page-turner.
1. A Quirky Detective
While every mystery involves some kind of crime, it’s not
the fictional corpses that tether your reader to the story. It’s the detective.
Readers want to help solve the crime, so you’d better give them somebody that’s
interesting to hang out with. I’ve actually got 2 detectives in my latest WIP.
Fern & Zula are retired sisters-in-law that have a love/hate relationship
and are freaking hilarious in their interactions.
2. Clues as Prolific
as Our National Debt
Don’t worry. I’m not going all debt ceiling kamikaze on you,
though with the current state of affairs in Washington…Nah. I promised Thursday
would be fun. Now then, there are 3 kinds of clues that need to be included in
a good mystery.
- Genuine Clues help the detective by pointing to the killer.
- Fake Clues (red herrings) point to anyone else except for the killer.
- Pivotal Clues are those on which the solution depends. Think of these as the final pieces of the puzzle that solve the crime.
3. The Big Reveal
A
mystery must culminate in a killer of a scene that exposes who the criminal is and his motivation, forcing your reader to shout, “I knew it! I just knew it!
Dang. I’m good.” It’s a feel good moment in which all the loose ends are tied
up into neat little bows. However, this must be done with finesse and
excitement or your reader will not shout but instead mumble, “I knew it! Dang.
This book is a piece of dried bird droppings.”
So
there’s your Thursday Tidbit. Whatcha think? Good addition to Writer Off the
Leash? Keep or scrap?