Making the leap from mystery reader to mystery writer is huge.
It’s practically the equivalent of jumping over the Grand Canyon.
In fact, if you look too closely you might talk yourself out of jumping.
Let’s assume you’ve decided to go for it and try your hand at writing mysteries.
So how do you go from being a mystery reader to a mystery writer?
How and where do you start?
Ways to Start a Mystery Novel
Here are 5 ways on how to start your mystery novel and cross that gaping chasm.
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Start at the end
Before you begin your story, know your ending.
You’ll find many mystery authors offering this advice.
If you know at the end that “the butler did it,” you can continue to work your way backwards to the beginning, scene by scene.
Conversely, now that you know your ending point, you start from the beginning and figure out how to reach that goal post.
The bottom line is you have to plot.
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Start with character
Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Spenser, Kinsey Millhone, and the list goes on.
The characters that stick with us are memorable for their quirks, their doggedness and their abilities to solve the crime.
Know your main character inside and out.
There are many character worksheets on the web such as this Questionnaire for Creating Character Profiles or this Character Worksheet by inspirational author Jody Hedlund.
If filling out worksheets doesn’t work for you, try these posts on Creating Credible Characters by author Kaye Dacus.
Once you’re comfortable with your character, consider what situation will arouse their curiosity and test their mettle—then put them through the grinder in their quest to solve the mystery.
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Start with plot
Begin with What if?
What if a young Amish boy is the only witness to a murder? (Witness, 1985)
What if ten people are invited to an island and one by one they are killed? (And Then There Were None Agatha Christie).
Notice how in that one sentence you have character (our ten people), setting (the island) and conflict (someone is killing them off).
From that one What if? statement, you can begin to expand the plot idea, by asking questions that will help you determine the scenes you need for your story.
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Start with theme
Maybe you don’t have a plot idea buzzing around your head or a character begging for a voice.
Try starting with a theme.
For example, put two strong values in conflict and see what happens: loyalty vs. honor.
Right there you might think military, police, family as possible situations.
Let’s choose police. How can we make honor conflict with loyalty?
Well if a police officer values his honor on the job, but is asked to cover for his partner who has crossed the line, what does he do?
You have the seeds to ask yourself questions.
What did the partner do?
Why does our hero feel torn? (Maybe the partner took a bullet for him in the past.)
Questions generate answers, which generate more questions, and before long you have a plot.
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Start with a twist to the tale
While a twist to the tale often refers to an unexpected twist at the end of a story, that isn’t what I mean here.
By twist in the tale, I am referring to taking a well-known (or even obscure) story and putting your own twist to it.
Take Agatha Christie’s concept behind And Then There Were None, change the setting to a reality tv show where someone is killing off the contestants and with that one little twist, you have a new story ready for your development.
There is no single way to write a mystery novel.
Sit down, flesh out your idea.
One of the 5 ways described above should put you on the path to completing a mystery.
About Zia Westfield
Zia Westfield (www.ziawestfield.com) has a penchant for the quirky and the zany, qualities that often show up in her paranormal romantic suspense stories. Her contemporary romantic suspense stories follow a more traditional path, but there’s always room for a dose of humor or a little snark.
