This week: You Hide, They Seek Edited by: NaNoNette  
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| Dear writers and readers of mystery, I am NaNoNette and I will be your guest editor for this issue. |
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You Hide, They Seek
Mystery writing is best done with a plan. Where and how you place clues to solving the mystery is a huge part of that plan. Mysteries are like a puzzle in words. In a way, the writer is playing a cat and mouse game with the reader's ability to pay attention to small hints within the text. Writer! Play fair. Do give enough clues so that the end doesn't come as a surprise. However, don't give away so much that the reader sees the ending coming from page 3.
Tease your reader by creating diversions. For instance put a real clue right before a fake one. Many readers tend to hone in on the last clue, so giving them the real clue first, creates a diversion. Beginning mystery writers should take this bit of advice to heart as it is not too hard to mention or show the actual clue and then throw a red herring in the way of the readers.
Another technique is to make something unimportant appear to be of more consequence while presenting an actual real clue as an aside. For instance, you might put a big emphasis on a police report, but only mention the witness who gave the report in passing.
A big reason to plan your writing out: it is a good idea to sow a clue well in advance of the time when it will become important to the story. For instance, have a character research a chemical in the first chapter, but have someone die from exposure to the chemical several chapters into the story.
As you see, while pantsing any story can be the most fun way to write it, planning a mystery story does have its benefits.
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| |  | The Open Window (E)
A man is dead and the clues lead to an astonishing solution to this mystery.
#2193929 by Ned  |
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For my last Mystery newsletter "Seven Tools to Write Mystery Stories" , I received this comment:
Quick-Quill  wrote: My question to you is; How does this apply to a mystery that doesn't involve a crime? There are genealogy mysteries, there are lost treasure mysteries, Indiana Jones for instance. as well as what happened? I'm plotting a story about a painting with paranormal attributes that can/should affect the person looking at it. Is this a mystery? I'm not sure what it is. I guess I tend to write outside the box. *sheepish grin*
I think the seven tools totally apply to something like Indiana Jones. "Tell them there is a bomb in the room." That's got Indiana Jones written all over it. If you go down the list of seven tools and imagine a scene, phrase, or situation in an action/adventure mystery such as Indiana Jones, I find you'll have plenty of material. Take number 4: incorporate the background into the drama. What's more dramatic then being trapped in a blimp that has caught fire over the Pyramid of Giza while your sleuth is also trying to save the treasure box that contains "the mystery." ???
For my previous Mystery newsletter "Push and Pull" , I received this comment:
Pumpkin Harvest wrote: Waiting for the answer is what keeps us hanging on. That's why questions are posed in TV shows just before commercial breaks.
Sorry for the late reply. Definitely. Waiting for the answer (cliffhanger) is a huge incentive for a reader to keep turning those pages or for a viewer to keep watching. |
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Mystery: July 24, 2019 Issue [#9660]
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