Hey Book Dragon! (Awesome name btw XD)

I am absolutely still looking for advice, it’s always welcome! Thank you so much for it, that makes a lot of sense! Thankfully I am definitely an outliner, so that part comes naturally to me at least XD

Thank you, and nice to meet you!

Mysteries tend to be very structured, especially when looking at episodic mysteries. Someone (I forget who) broke it down into 5 elements that most mysteries have. (1) Someone finds the body. When I write, this is the first act, and it’s usually the…[Read more]

Hi! That already sounds like a really fun premise!

Let me see, I think the most likely way to make money without getting in too much trouble would be to steal and sell things.

The safer, more obvious choice would be tools. I don’t know how it works for the setting, but surgical tools might be worth something and it would be easy e…[Read more]

I need the help of all the “villains” out there:

Suppose you work at a country/village hospital, and are looking for a little extras cash. Obviously you turn to the more shady ways of doing things. You want a non-murder (after all, you don’t want to hang), non sexual crime.

You are not a doctor or nurse, your occupation is more of the unsee…[Read more]

Thank you so much for that advice! I’ll look into those things, it helps a lot! I’m really excited to keep working on it! 🙂

Rathburn did not know what he was in for. We had found strategic positions and lay in wait for him. There was not a lot of cover, so we had to find safe positions behind the austerely furnished room. Getting access had taken months of planning. Rathburn often worked late nights…[Read more]

Another thing I would mention is to layer misdirection or false trails within the story. Sometimes these are called “red herrings” in the writer’s guides.
Have several characters have reasonable motives for wanting to off the victims. …[Read more]

Does this help?

A whole lot! Thank you so much, Brian! That’s exactly the kind of overview I needed!

I already know who the murderer is and I have a faint idea of their motivation, but this will really help me work it out! Thank you so much!

I have been wanted to respond all day, but it has been so busy at work.

I agree with Joelle. You have to reverse-plot a mystery.  Determine what will happen and be revealed at the end and then work backwards.

You need to determine the main motivation for your villain.  What would drive them to commit a homicide.

There are the usual r…[Read more]

Thanks Joelle! I’ll absolutely go check it out! I have a lot of research to do XD

Also, I love your quote XD

As you could cleverly deduce from the title, I’m looking for advice on the basics of the noble craft of the whodunnit.

Out of the blue, I had a concept for a mystery novel, which may or may not be induced by my recently heightened consumption of Agatha Christie novels.

The problem is that I am very much the…[Read more]

HI Erynne,

Oh, definitely! Yes!  If you are just starting out, in the preliminary drafts, you have to put “Mr. (or Mrs.) Ick” in a box, or lock it in a closet and dump clothes over him/her to muffle the sounds of his/her protest at being kept from being allowed to criticize your writing.  Critiques come later, and only when they have b…[Read more]

@obrian-of-the-surface-world

That is a pretty good one!

You’ve got internal thoughts of the MC. You’ve set up a degree of loss, feelings of failure, disappointment, contrition, and an odd juxtaposition of her mother and sister as spectators in her prospective torture and death.  You’ve introduced tensio…

[Read more]

Good evening, Erynne!

Thank you for your response! Delighted to have you join this topic and discussion.  No need to apologize for the delay.

I totally understand. Today was a busy day for me too.  Sorry, I am so late getting back here to your reply. (writing this at night)

You wrote:

That is a pretty good one!

You’ve got int…[Read more]

Anyway, I am still in the process of plotting out my suspense novel, but I have had this opening line thought out for months. I haven’t told it to anyone so it might be absolutely awful on paper rather than in my…[Read more]

Hi Lizzie,

So how did “Lucy’s” day begin to go south? How did you first begin to indicate something was going wrong?

If a potential reader was walking through a book store and happened to pick up your book from the shelf, and open to the first page, what lines would you use to hook them in to keep reading?  Do you have any examples…[Read more]

Mine usually begin like a normal story. Lucy (my MC) gets home and everything is normal.

Here are a few that I have used in some stories:

1. Lost, alone, cold, wet, tired and no one…[Read more]

I LOVE IT!!

Your story is so thrilling and well-written. It always leaves me on the edge of my seat!

Here it is. Finally. The end of the matter. Basically Part 3 revised. I included the entire “short story” here. Enjoy!

***

The tall buildings faded into a snapshot-perfect background, and her line of sight snapped into place. Her finger pressed gently against…[Read more]