  Mystery
This week: Edited by: Vivian  
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As a mystery/suspense writer myself, I want to make my books as believable as possible. I've read magazines, on-line material, and books to learn how others write, for material to use, and to add to my knowledge.
Perhaps some of the methods I've found that help me might help others who write mysteries, suspense, thrillers, and/or detective stories and books.
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Amazon's Price: $ 15.99
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Adding Reality to Mystery
My first book, which is supposed to come out later this year, Midnight Hours takes place in Oklahoma City, and three of the main characters are members of the OKC police department. Much what I wrote about the police department came from my imagination and from my experiences mainly with the country sheriff's department. I realize now that I needed a resource inside the department in order to be sure the details add to the believability of the plot if and when someone who "knows" reads the book. I can at least have that information for the next book in the series.
Ways to discover facts and possibilities to help with writing any type of mystery (including the sub-genres) are many.
Have a resource person in a police department. I now have contacted the OKC department and can get information. If I decide to use another city or county entity, I will contact them and ask for help.
Join email groups in the crime/mystery genre. I'm a member of Sister in Crime (http://sistersincrime.org} and their Yahoo email group, as well as the crimescenewriters Yahoo email group. Many experts, including police and forensics experts, are parts of each group and answer questions posed about material needed for plots, deaths, discovery, and procedures. I started printing many pages of responses for my mystery file. I have at least three new possible ways to commit murder, investigate them, and solve them.
Read, read, read. Read mysteries of all kinds. Note which plots, characters, and details work and which don't. Analyze why or why not.
Read writing magazines, and articles which cover writing different types of mysteries.
Attend conferences with mystery sessions. I have two conferences on my wish list: Scene of the Crime, held in Wichita, Kansas, and Telling Your Story hosted by Mystery author William Bernhardt, held in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The Muse Online Writing Conference, "Invalid Item" , last year had a complete list of forums, authors, and editors dealing with mystery.
The more prepared we are, the better chance our mystery will have details and information that will make our stories and novels believable.
My novel Midnight Hours started as a novella entered in a contest on W.Com. The novel and long short story have a few things in common, but the novel expands and changes some of the characters and plot. "The Midnight Hours"
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Final Words
As a guest editor, I haven't any feedback or comments to share. However, I hope you support the regular editors of the Mystery Newsletter.
I'll see you next week, though, again filling the editor seat temporarily.
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Mystery: March 12, 2008 Issue [#2279]
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