Q&A for How to Write a Mystery Story

First use suspense at the start, usually in the form of a crime. Secondly, start adding clues for the investigator or main character, and introduce one or more suspects. Finally, the main character either solves the mystery, or doesn't, if you want to end on a cliffhanger and write a second part to your story.

If you are taking creative writing classes in college or high school or anything like that, make sure you pay close attention to the aspects of making a good character and a great story plot. I am taking a creative writing course myself, and I have started out my writing response by making a good villain. One of the main keys to making a good villain (or any kind of character, really) is to make sure they have a desire, something they want. If you have that, then you can build off of that and develop your story even more.

The title of the story can often be the last thing you write, or come close to the end of the writing process. It can be hard to come up with a title if you don't know your story very well , so writing your story can often provide insight on good titles. The book could be named after a character, a key theme or item in the book, or even a place name. If you're planning on writing a series of books, it could be an idea to involve the main character's name in the title.

Avoid using too much cliche. Use original ideas. Change up the temporal, geographical and cultural settings. Try utilizing a larger vocabulary. Make the tone feel more serious. Increase the amount of thinking your reader has to do. Though it may be easier to read those series and having lighter content for more enjoyable easy reading, it is fun to have a meatier story to dig into. Try reading some different styles of mysteries, like those mentioned above. These can give you more ideas and examples, such as the intellectual stimulation of Sherlock Holmes.

You can use ideas. If you use the idea, put your own twist, spin, etc. on it. Transform it into your idea. Be sure not to use their book as your main source of clues, plot twist, clue revelations, clue resolution, action sequences, etc. Do not let it seem as if you just rewrote their book.

Absolutely, you can use as many settings as you'd like, as long as they have some sort of connection and there aren't so many that they overwhelm the reader.

There are tons. You can use robberies, a missing person, an arson, a framing, a lie, a scandal, and many more.

Create an antagonist who is known to the hero (just as Moriarty became known to Sherlock Holmes), but make him hard to find or to defeat. Or, instead of limiting yourself to one crime with several suspects, create an organization or an event that is unknown to the hero, that the law prevents him or her from pursuing.

Go off personal experience. For instance, if there was a pile of blood on the floor, what would you do? Touch it? Call the cops? Also, there are some websites that can help you.

Yes! I think this is a brilliant idea as the detective could discover more about the case while being undercover.

Confuse your reader a LITTLE! Over-exaggerating the confusion will leave the reader in middle of nowhere. You can add more cases, a love story for the protagonist, phone calls from unknown and more.

This information is what you keep hidden from the reader until you're ready to reveal this plot. You describe each murder and the ensuing investigation; perhaps some assistant could be unsure that it's the same killer, but the experienced detective comes up with good reasons why it's the same killer, with perhaps some signature left behind by the killer. Killers also evolve in their MO, so if you change the MO to show some evolution, this will reinforce the idea that it's one and the same killer. Until some small piece of evidence makes it clear that it's not, so it's two, and finally it turns out to be many killers working in unison.

Use a lot of clues that point to different characters, so the reader doesn't know who to suspect. When the mystery is cleared up, explain the clues.

You can end your story however you want, but usually a mystery story ends with the mystery being solved, the villain (if there is one) being caught and punished, and the mystery solver being celebrated.

Sure! Disney's The Great Mouse Detective is a great example of a story with an animal detective.

You may find inspiration in Start a Story .

Review your work closely, and look for any 'filler' text that may be unnecessary to the flavor or progression of the scene. In short, words, sentences or scenes that, when removed, won't make a difference to the story or experience. This 'trimming' is required for most authors, so you shouldn't feel bad about doing it!

Yes and no. Detective novels are a specific subgenre of mystery, which is a broader genre.

It depends. If you are using the same exact characters, that would be considered fan fiction. But if you are using a similar idea, make sure you don't use too many elements from the show, or that could be considered plagiarism.

Go to the Mystery section of the library and you'll find lots of good examples there. Borrow a few that appeal to you and read them over the coming weeks; good writers also need to be good readers. There will be some you like, and hate. If you find one you hate first, don't stop reading it––work out why it bothers you, so you can avoid those pitfalls in your own writing.

Read other mystery stories, and they might spark your inspiration. Obviously don't copy but without learning from others before you have done, you cannot be a good writer.

Check your local library for the mystery section or look in old secondhand stores. Agatha Christie is inspiring but there are many other authors who can be just as good and will provide great examples.

Fill in your own words: "It was (describe the setting or emotion). I wanted to (describe the mystery to solve). It was a tough case but I solved it. First (say what you did first and explain clues you have)"...

To start a good mystery story, you can introduce the main character and tell the mystery. Copy and paste the following for a good starting paragraph: Hello, my name is _____________. I'm trying to solve a puzzling mystery about __________. I was so ________. I really think the mystery was _______.