  Mystery
This week: Secret rooms and hidden passages Edited by: Arakun the twisted raccoon  
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Quote for the week: Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand.
~Neil Armstrong
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Mystery stories revolve around secrets and puzzles. There is no better hiding place for a secret than a room nobody knows exists. The mysteries I read as a kid had so many secret doors and hidden passages that I felt cheated because my house did not have them!
Some writers believe that secret rooms have become a cliche in mysteries and should no longer be used. I love stories with secret rooms, although I still don't have one in my house. If used carefully, they can be a great addition to a mystery story. If you do include a secret room or hidden passage in your story, make sure it is believable. Here are some questions to consider when writing your story and designing your secret place:
Is it natural or made by humans?
A cave or sinkhole might be a perfect secret hiding place. Even a huge cave may have a small natural opening. Since large caves inhale or exhale in response to atmospheric pressure, your characters might find the cave when they notice a rush of air coming from a hole in the ground.
If it was made by humans, what was its original purpose?
It might be as simple as a forgotten root cellar or storm shelter. Maybe it was used for hiding prisoners, runaway slaves, or stolen goods. Or maybe it was just a hideaway where the original owner escaped from the pressures of the world. The original purpose will determine the size of the secret area and other characteristics. If humans stayed there for any length of time, there would have to be adequate ventilation and a way of getting food in and out. If documents or art treasures were hidden there, they would need to be protected from water damage, dirt, and mice.
How big does it need to be?
A false bottomed drawer or box might be all that is necessary to hide documents, jewelry, or money. If you need a larger chamber, a tunnel, or a whole network of tunnels and chambers, make sure it fits in the building where you have placed it. If the building isn't big enough, maybe the entrance could be in a cellar and the network of passages could be subterranean. You might even want to draw a map or floor plan of the house or area where your secret place is located. Of course, you don't need to include the map in your book (unless you want to) but it might help you visualize the place and make it realistic.
What kind of door does it have? How does the door open, and how is it concealed?
The entrance could be a simple trapdoor hidden under a rug or piece of furniture. A door in a wall would have to blend in to the background or be hidden from view. If a secret spring or panel opens your door, how is it activated? If the mechanism is supposed to have been constructed long ago, make sure it would have been possible at that time. If the lock hasn't been opened in years, would it still work? Maybe your characters know the room exists from the beginning, but haven't figured out how to open it.
How will your characters find the secret place?
If possible, let the characters find the secret area by detection and logic, not by accident or coincidence. A house containing a hidden room might seem bigger on the outside than the combined area of the rooms inside. If somebody is using a secret passage to slip in and out of the house unnoticed, other characters might hear unexplained voices, footfalls, or other noises.
Nothing is more annoying to a mystery reader than having important information pulled out of nowhere, so make sure you leave subtle clues to the readers. For example, if a room or tunnel was originally used to hide runaway slaves, you might mention that the Underground Railroad was active in the area.
Something to try: Write a mystery story that includes a secret room or passage.
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Question for next time: What is your greatest strength as a writer?
Answer to last month's question: What did you like to read as a child?
J. A. Buxton 
At a very young age, I'd read everything of interest in the children's section of my small town's library. The librarian then allowed me to check out books from the adult stacks.
After that I remember reading every novel by Grace Livingston Hill during my pre-teens. Honestly I have no idea why this writer of mainly Christian stories fascinated me at such a young age.
Mark Allen Mc Lemore
Funny you mention this, because the whole time I was reading your newsletter I was thinking about one of my favorite childhood detectives: Encyclopedia Brown. I used to love those stories. I am not a fan of mystery now, I eventually turned to Stephen King and Dean R. Koontz, but perhaps I will return to reading some good mysteries.
Thanks for the awesome newsletter.
Quick-Quill 
I read a wide vairety of book but the ones I most remember were A Wrinkle in Time, and her other books, All Nancy Drew, Trixie Beldon, Boxcar gang and at the tender age of 16 Ian Flemming I Loved all kinds of mystery books. I then went to Gothic mystery and read all Vicotria Holt, Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney, Ellis Peters,.... Then went on to True Crime, Ann Rule, Joseph Wambah... In between were Westerns and then Chrstine Feehan |
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Mystery: April 24, 2013 Issue [#5633]
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