Intro: I’ve been teaching a writers’ workshop at our local Camosun college on how to write a mystery novel. My students are eating it up, telling me that they’re learning lots of practical and usable tips and techniques, so I thought I’d offer bits and pieces of the workshop in my new Friday Mystery Writing blog posts.
The information is gleaned from my little non-fiction e-book primer called Youdunit Whodunit: How to Write Mysteries.
STORY STRUCTURE (PART 2): HIT ‘EM EARLY; HIT ‘EM HARD
For every good story, there are three main acts: the Beginning, the Middle, and the Ending. You’ve seen C.S.I.; make it interesting!
So, to begin, follow these suggestions:
- Set the Tone (style and locale) up front
- Ignore Lewis Carol’s Cheshire Cat and begin AFTER the Beginning
- Provide very little introductory set up
Chew over this early paragraph from Raymond Chandler’s KILLER IN THE RAIN:
“Rain beat very hard upon the windows. They were shut tight and it was hot in the room and I had a little fan going on the table. The breeze from it hit Dravec’s face high up, lifted his heavy black hair, moved the longer bristles in the fat path of eyebrow that went across his face in a solid line. He looked like a bouncer who had come into money.”
Aren’t you immediately struck by the hard-boiled style and the strong images?
- Hook and shock your audience by rocketing straight to the main crime or another crime so something important is happening, has just happened or will just happen. Set up the central plot problem (e.g., kidnapping or murder) or a major plot problem (like a stolen artefact or a missing person). This forces your villain forward; there’s no turning back
Consider this excerpt from page four of AFTERMATH by Peter Robinson:
“It was Terry’s voice and he was shouting at Lucy. She couldn’t hear what he was saying. Then she heard a scream, the sound of glass breaking and a thud. Lucy. Maggie dragged herself out of her paralysis, and with trembling hands picked up the bedside telephone and dialed 999.”
You wanna know more, right?
…excerpt of story structure suggestions continued in the next post!
Cover for mystery writing primer, Youdunit Whodunit!
Please touch base and let me know your best genre writing tips and techniques. I never stop learning.
Tags: crime fiction, detective fiction, ebook, fiction, genre fiction, mystery, mystery novel, mystery writing, Publishing, writing how to