{"id":245,"date":"2010-01-06T14:24:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-06T14:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/06\/mystery-puzzle\/"},"modified":"2015-05-23T23:17:16","modified_gmt":"2015-05-23T23:17:16","slug":"mystery-puzzle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/06\/mystery-puzzle\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mystery Puzzle"},"content":{"rendered":"
Before I start, I want to point out a new link on the page, right below the two websites, which will take you to an interview with me.  I hope you\u2019ll check it out – and then come back.<\/div>\n
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This week I\u2019m combining two questions.  On December 11, 2009 Amanda posted this comment:  I’m thinking about writing a mystery novel but I’ve never written a mystery before. Do you have any tips on how to write one?
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And on December 23, 2009 Curious Mind wrote:  I like a bit of mystery in my writing, but cannot seem to hold back information very well, and there is no suspense.  Any suggestions?<\/i><\/div>\n
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Taking the second question first, a lot can be fixed in revision, so putting everything in is fine in the first draft.  Sometimes I include information simply because I need to know it, and I\u2019m discovering it on the page.  When the story is written, or when I\u2019m far enough along to tell what\u2019s necessary and what\u2019s not, I prune.<\/div>\n
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Heaps of background can bog a story down, without a doubt, but suspense and withholding information aren\u2019t necessarily the same.  Sometimes the more the reader knows about a problem the more worried he will be.  Giant spiders in the house are scary, but giant spiders who can find their way through a maze faster than a rat are scarier.  Throw in a main character who is deathly allergic to spider bites, and the reader should be wringing her hands in fright.  I don\u2019t want to keep this information to myself, and I particularly don\u2019t want to whip it out at the last minute.  The reader should have time to stew in fear.<\/div>\n
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Lawrence Block writes a mystery series about a crime-solving thief, Bernie Rhodenbarr.  I don\u2019t like Block\u2019s technique of skipping over details that help Bernie solve the crime and then letting the reader in on them later when the truth comes out.  Unfair! I yell at my book – and continue reading, because the story is too much fun to put down.<\/div>\n
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Amanda, I have written only one mystery, so I\u2019m no expert.  Right now, I\u2019m writing notes and exploring what may be my second.  I\u2019m feeling at sea, the way I usually feel at this stage of any book.  I don\u2019t even know what the mystery will be yet.  I have an idea who some of my main characters will be, but I don\u2019t know which are good and which are evil.  At least two will have secret identities, but I don\u2019t know which character will attach to which secret identity.<\/div>\n
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Some mystery writers have it all plotted out before they start.  I\u2019m sure they\u2019re initially confused – or I hope they are – but they wait for certainty and an outline before they begin the narrative.  Others just plunge in.  I\u2019m in the middle but closer to the plungers.  Still, I need more of a direction than I have so far.<\/div>\n
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Ambiguity about who\u2019s bad and who\u2019s good can work in your favor and mine in a mystery.  A character can act with kindness and then turn around and do something terrible, leaving the reader mixed up.  You can maintain the uncertainty and push the character to finally reveal himself – and then you can cover up the revelation so your reader doesn\u2019t even notice it.  For example, suppose something very valuable goes missing and your villain is a thief.  Suppose also that the owner of the object has just moved and the movers put boxes everywhere, kitchen boxes in the den, bedroom boxes in the kitchen.  Throw in that the owner is super forgetful and could have put the precious thing in any box or have left it behind in the old house in a dark corner of a closet.  To make matters worse, the owner has a new puppy who\u2019s prone to eat almost anything.  By now there\u2019s enough dust in the reader\u2019s eye to conceal a league of thieves.<\/div>\n
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At the heart of a mystery is a who question, of course.  Who committed the crime?  The crime can be anything from murder to a stolen cupcake to a betrayed friendship.  In the mystery I just finished, A Mansioner\u2019s Tale<\/i> (tentative title), the crime that starts the mystery off, the theft of a dog, isn\u2019t the main crime.  The first is a precursor to the second, but Lodie, my main character, doesn\u2019t realize that.<\/div>\n
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Underlying the who question is the why question.  Why was the crime committed?  What was the motive?  It\u2019s probably possible to find out who without ever learning why.  I bet this happens often in actual crimes, and I suspect it\u2019s frustrating for a jury.  Still, I think a successful whodunit might be written without ever answering the why question.<\/div>\n
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In most cases, however, the why question is answered.  In the mystery I just finished, the victim is hated by many.  There are legions of suspects, and the reader doesn\u2019t know whom to trust.  But you could go the other way.  The deceased could be beloved by everyone.  Who would hit such a saint over the head?<\/div>\n
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You can pile on puzzles and possible clues.  In A Mansioner\u2019s Tale<\/i> several characters wear rings and bracelets made of twine.  Lodie wonders if the wearers belong to a secret society that has it in for the victim.  A character who presents herself as poor is seen haggling with a jeweler over an expensive bracelet.  A honey-tongued man speaks harshly.  A gate is left open.  An ox is mauled.<\/div>\n
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It\u2019s fun to confuse the reader.  Going back to Curious Mind\u2019s question, extra information can add to the confusion.  Your main character can hear gossip about someone that may be entirely false.  Or the gossip can be contradictory.  Or the intelligence can be true, but the source can be a known liar.<\/div>\n
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You can fool around with all the elements, not just who and why but also how, as well as opportunity, alibi, ability (a small woman overpowering a big man, for example).<\/div>\n
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Even in stories that aren\u2019t primarily mysteries, there are likely to be puzzles.  Somebody dislikes the main character, and he wonders why.  He gets straight As on all his Chemistry tests, yet the teacher gives him a C on his report card.  His sister keeps coming home late from school.  His mother has begun to sew although she used to hate domesticity in any form.<\/div>\n
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For a little more on this subject, you may want to revisit my post of May 27, 2009 called Mystery Mystery when I wrote about another aspect of mysteries.  <\/div>\n
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Here\u2019s a prompt:  Think of someone you know but not very well.  Invent a secret for this person, one that goes with your idea of her.  It can be a dark secret or not.  Turn her into a character.  If she were going to commit a crime, what would it be?<\/div>\n
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Now do the same for four more people.  If you are inspired, write a mystery story involving one or more of them.  Have fun, and save what you write! <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before I start, I want to point out a new link on the page, right below the two websites, which will take you to an interview with me.  I hope you\u2019ll check it out – and then come back. This week I\u2019m combining two questions.  On December 11, 2009 Amanda posted this comment:  I’m thinking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[166],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":523,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions\/523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}