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 7 (a)
This is it. You’ve driven your story and your readers headlong towards the final solution (as described in earlier posts). The occasion when all is revealed. The moment your audience has been waiting for…so make sure that your story’s Ending:
- Occurs at the height of suspense, conflict, life or death situation for the Protagonist or someone she loves
- Is driven by action, often a chase scene
- Involves high emotional drama among the players
- Answers all the main questions (usually), especially those involving the solution to the crime. If you want to leave some of the soft stuff — relationships, life details, whatever — unfinished for the next in the series, go for it.
To be continued…
If you found this of interest, you may wish to see the previous posts starting here.
…MORE how-to write a mystery tips and techniques continued in the next Friday post!
Find out more information or how to purchase this e-book, jam-packed with ways to immediately improve your writing, click Youdunit Whodunit (only $2.99US!).
Tags: crime fiction, detective fiction, fiction, genre fiction, mystery novel, mystery writing, writing how to, writing skills