How to Write a Mystery
a guest post from Elaine Loeser
Mysteries are fun. They are puzzles with lots of strange pieces. There are story pieces, people pieces, and lots of objects from real life. And it’s all written down so that it is fun to read. You keep reading a mystery because you want to know how the story ends. You want to know who did it and who was smart enough to figure out who did it.
The first thing that you need to write a good mystery is a good story. You need to know the basic story before you start to write even one word. A story has three things: a beginning, a middle and an end.
The beginning is where the story starts. It tells us where in the world we are, who is there with us,and what is happening at that very moment. Starting a story in a special place is a good thing to do. And it should be someplace you know so you can be very clear how it looks and feels. It doesn’t have to be far away or mysterious to be interesting. It has to be written in words that let us see it. That is what makes it interesting. Lots of details. For example, if you started a story in your mom’s kitchen, it would be interesting if you told us all the things that are in the kitchen. Some of them are fun, some we have in our own kitchens, and some are special to this kitchen. She might have flowers from the garden in a green bowl, or a blue parakeet in a cage, or big French cookbooks. These things tell us about the lady who owns the kitchen. Some of the things in the kitchen may be dangerous. That is a good thing for a mystery story. Something always goes wrong in a mystery story. And the beginning tells us what might possibly go wrong. Everything you put in your story is important. Remember that.
Other details you might want to include at the beginning of the story are the season of the year, the time of day, the weather outside. Is there loud music? Are there children outside playing hide and seek? Everything helps to make the story mysterious. Everything helps to tell the story. There are people in the kitchen, or about to come into the kitchen. We need to see them, which means they need to be described. How do they look? How are they related to each other? Are they happy or hungry or mad about something? Are they looking for something to eat or just coming home from school? Are they sloppy or neat or covered with mud? Did something happen today that one of them doesn’t want to talk about? Does somebody know a secret? Did something bad happen? There’s a reason we are in the kitchen. Something is going to happen there that will start the story. Somebody has a problem. Something important is missing. Somebody needs help. The kitchen is the place everybody comes to see Mom. Mom will know what to do. Now the story is started.
The middle of the story is how it gets mixed up. Things get confused. The mystery can’t be solve because two people saw different things at the same time. One of them could be mistaken, or one of them might not be telling the truth. One person saw something he doesn’t want to tell. One person saw who did it, but nobody believes him because he told a fib last week. These are complications.
In a mystery story there is always one person who wants to find out what happened. We call that person the detective. Sometimes that person is a police officer. But many times it is just a person in the story who is curious and smart. It could be a mom or dad or a boy or girl. It could be a teacher or a crossing guard. It could be a best friend or neighbor. It could be the family dog. It is someone who cares about the problem and wants to find the answer to the mystery. It is someone who takes the time to find out the facts from all the confusion. It is someone who takes time to think about the problem. That is how the middle of the story works. It is where the confusing facts are straightened out by the detective.
The end of the story is where the mystery is solved. The detective has figured out the answer and can tell people who did it, and why. The detective can show what happened, how it happened and make things right again. Sometimes the detective gets credit for solving the mystery and sometimes he doesn’t. People don’t always appreciate the effort the detective puts into the mystery. But usually the detective doesn’t care. The detective is glad to know he or she was right. That is why the detective is the detective.
A basic story is a very simple idea. For example: Jamie’s science experiment disappears from the classroom over a holiday weekend. Jamie will not be able to enter the science fair and win a trip to Washington, D.C. At the science fair, Harvey, a student from another school enters an experiment that is similar to the stolen project, and wins the prize. Natalie, Jamie’s best friend, finds an element in the winning project that could only have come from Jamie’s project. When Natalie makes this known to Jamie he wants to tell the judges. But before he does this, he and Natalie confront Harvey with the facts. Jamie discovers that Harvey needs to go to Washington to watch his father receive a Silver Star for combat bravery. Jamie lets him win.
Once you know the simple story, you can tell it with lots of details and people and action. You would figure out what kind of experiment Jamie had made. You would think about Jamie, Natalie, Harvey and the other students and teachers involved, what they are like, how they talk, what they think about what happened to Jamie. There might be a student who doesn’t like Jamie who is suspected of doing this. Natalie would be determined to find out what happened. She is the one who takes charge of the investigation. You need to know how the experiment was stolen, what the special element was that gave it away to Natalie. You would create the school room, the complications of trying to find the experiment, to find out how someone got into the classroom, and whether Jamie could redo the experiment in time. Then the science fair would need to be described in detail. The judges need to be described as well as all the attention Harvey gets for winning. Then the dilemma of whether to turn Harvey in to the judges. Then the final dilemma of whether to allow Harvey to win the prize he needs so much. Finally the satisfaction of knowing that doing the right thing is better than winning a prize. Jamie knows he won. That is enough.
Telling a mystery story is not easy, but it is not hard either. Knowing the basic story makes finding out the details almost as much fun as reading a good mystery. Objects and places and people you see all around you are all you need to create a good, interesting and complicated mystery. Being a detective is fun. And when you write a mystery, the real detective is you.
About Elaine Loeser
Elaine Loeser is the author of The Case of the Pinched Stradivarius: The Adventures of Miles and Fargo, Turtle Detectives (Ampersand, Inc.) Learn more about The Case of the Pinched Stradivarius on turtledetectives.com, Facebook & Instagram. Available on Amazon.
Loeser wrote for Law Order and other television dramas, and taught television writing at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
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