The Seven C's of Writing a Great Mystery highlights tips found in Gillian Roberts book, You Can Write a Mystery.
Stephen offers pointers based on these Seven C's that include characters, conflict, casualty, complications, change, and crisis. Sounds like a good recipe for a mystery to me. I may just have to give it a try.
How about you? Have you ever written a mystery? If not, would you like to try? Do you have any mystery writing pointers? Please share!
Happy Writing!
I love mysteries and I'm editing my first, 'Dog Show Detective' and starting my next mystery. I don't know if I have the process down pat yet but look forward to learning more about the craft.
ReplyDeleteHello Karen...Glad you are home safe and sound. Your Mom will be a good advocate for you from the other realm of life. As for mystery reading and writing, it is just not my forte. As a teen, I liked Nancy Drew stories but since then, that genre has kind of disappeared from my reading and writing. Hope you have a good day today! Sincerely, Susan
ReplyDeleteI'm not a mystery writer, but I'm sure the concepts can apply to any genre, especially the idea of not revealing everything at once, but in small trickles throughout the book.
ReplyDeleteWhile I enjoy the occasional mystery, I have never had much desire to attempt to write one. I don't know if I could pull it off!
ReplyDeleteHi Karen -
ReplyDeleteMy books all have elements of mystery and suspense. The stakes must be high to keep the reader engaged. (Life and death rank high in this area.)
I'll check out the links.
Blessings,
Susan :)
I've never written mystery. But I'm sure there are techniques that will transfer to all genres.
ReplyDeleteSuspense requires a little more spine tingling dramatics than I can manage.
Right now I don't have a mystery in my head. But if one ever appears, I'm all for writing it!
ReplyDeleteI love reading mysteries. I wanted to be a private eye as a kid, in fact. But somehow, the world of fiction escapes my brain. I honestly do not comprehend how one goes about writing it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe some day, when I'm burned out on non-fiction, I'll have to give it a go.
Don't think I am called to write mysteries but sure LOVE reading them!
ReplyDeleteOld Dame Agatha was THE BEST.
GREAT post, as usual, Karen.
Patti
Love and blessings to all of you, my faithful blog gang. It warms my heart to see you come by. Thanks so much. I treasure each one of you.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Karen
I'm not a mystery writer, but I sure love to read them.
ReplyDeleteThis resource sounds like it would be a helpful tool to me as a writer, nevertheless. Thanks for passing it along!
My current WIP is an epic fantasy, but it also has a mystery tightly knotted to the main plot. I'll definitely have to check out all those links. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteKaren:
ReplyDeleteI love mysteries, I have tried to write a couple. The second one has a big twist, followed by events in different locations as the female MC works and hunts for her 'reason' for her lifestyle. She lost her family when she was quite young and focuses her life on avenging their deaths.
I'm writing a mystery right now and it's tougher than I thought it would be! A lot more to plot and keep track of, in addition to creating great characters readers can root for. But I'm determined to finish it. Mystery is my favorite genre and I'd love nothing more than to see one of my own on bookstore shelves. :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Linda,
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming over to see me:) I've been wanting to try a mystery; think I may start with a short story and see how that goes. Wishing you all the best with your venture!
Blessings,
Karen