Mystery Writing Tips

Handling the stakes in a mystery with an unlikeable victim isn’t entirely a straightforward affair.

On one hand, when the victim is unlikeable, you’ll have puh-lenty of suspects, which should make your plot more engrossing.

On the other hand, because readers don’t care much for the victim, they might not care whether the sleuth achieves justice on the victim’s behalf.

But if you can’t fuel your mystery with stakes of justice…what can you do?

That’s the question we’re exploring in this four-part blog series on handling the stakes in a cozy mystery. (By the way, although the illustrative examples are cozy-centric, many of the tips in this series can be applied to mysteries with a harder edge.)

To give you an overview:

In Part 1, we covered methods to bolster the stakes that emphasize the sleuth.
In Part 2 , we’ll cover methods to bolster the stakes that emphasize other storytelling elements that readers care about. (You’re reading Part 2 right now.)
In Part 3 (forthcoming), we’ll discuss considerations to take into account when applying these story stake tips to cozy mysteries in a series.
In Part 4 (forthcoming), you’ll see these considerations in action when I share a sample lineup of stakes for a hypothetical cozy-mystery series.

So. It’s agreed. Your readers don’t care much for your unlikeable victim. Even so, there are lots of other story elements that can entangle their emotions.

If you emphasize these elements in your cozy mystery (perhaps saving them for this very book in your series, when you know the plot is going to involve an unlikeable victim), then this emotion may be enough to carry readers forward.

In other words, when readers start to ask themselves—Why should I care about finding out who killed this guy when he’s such a jerk?!—you will have provided them with a satisfactory answer.

Below are three suggestions to get you started:Continue reading

How to Handle the Stakes in a Cozy Mystery + Giveaway (Part 1 of 4)

August 5, 2019August 10, 2019Mystery Writing Tips, Uncategorized

by H.R. D’Costa, @scribesworld

Here’s the scenario:

You’re writing a cozy mystery. And your victim is unlikeable.

Your suspect list is, as they say, healthy.

You’re having a blast coming up with motives for each suspect.

In theory, as your readers engage in their quest to identify whodunit, they should also have a blast weeding through the suspects.

There’s only one problem.

At their core, mysteries are driven by stakes of justice.

If the sleuth identifies and apprehends the murderer, then a wrong will—to a certain extent—be made right. Justice will be served.

Can you see how this creates a conundrum?

When your victim is unlikeable, readers might not really care whether justice is achieved on his behalf or not. If they don’t care, then there’s no reason for them to keep on turning the pages of your cozy mystery.

Definitely not a good position to be in.

Wait…

What About Curiosity?

Isn’t that sufficient to compel readers to continue reading your book?

Curiosity certainly is important. But around the middle of a story, its effect tends to be outweighed by other factors—including a reader’s less-than-keen attitude toward an unlikeable victim.

That said, you may be able to overcome this hurdle if your readers are, like many cozy-mystery fans, strongly attached to your sleuth and your series.

Still, it’s not the ideal.

The ideal circumstance is to secure both curiosity about the plot and emotional involvement in it.Continue reading

Brainstorming Clues for a Mystery

April 26, 2019March 24, 2019Mystery Writing Tips

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

For me, brainstorming clues for my mysteries has always been one of the toughest parts of writing a mystery. Mystery readers are incredibly savvy and they’re very good at picking out clues and drawing conclusions. To keep them from solving the mystery too early, the clues need to be pretty good…and you’ll need to distract from them, too.

But how do you brainstorm these clues?

One trick that I use is to start at the end and write a confession by the killer. The killer explains how he did it and why he thought he was getting away with it. When the killer is confessing, you also have your sleuth explaining how she figured out he was the perp. This scene doesn’t even have to go into your book, but it sure can help to figure out what clues the killer left behind.

Some good questions for your killer to answer: how did he/she do it? What made them worried later? Did they leave anything behind? Who did they try to implicate? What do they know about the crime that no one else knows? Did they absently mess up their own alibi at some point in the investigation?

I don’t always work backwards in this way, but it can really help when I’m outlining a book.

As I mentioned earlier, the next step is to deflect attention from your clues by introducing a red herring that seems much more important. You could also use some other form of distraction: an argument between two suspects, for instance. Or even the discovery of another body. :)

If you’re a writer, how do you come up with clues for your mystery? As a reader, are you good at picking up on them (I love it when I’m surprised at the murderer when reading!)?

Tips for Brainstorming Clues for a Mystery: Click To Tweet

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Cozy Mystery Writing: Suspect Interviews

March 29, 2019March 24, 2019Mystery Writing Tips

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Suspect interviews aren’t quite as simple as they may seem. Something that may seem very straightforward for a police officer can be very different for a gifted amateur.

Here are some possible pitfalls and some workarounds for interviewing your cozy mystery suspects:

Why should anyone give an amateur sleuth information at all? Unlike a police interview where a suspect might feel compelled to answer questions, an interview with an amateur sleuth is more like a conversation gone wrong. Suddenly, the person the suspect is talking with becomes very nosy about uncomfortable events or something rather personal.

There are different ways to go about this. You could have your sleuth be someone especially likeable and easy to talk to…someone that people automatically open up to. You could have your sleuth be a professional snoop: maybe a journalist or a private investigator. Or you could go the route where your sleuth is discounted and underestimated by the suspect: Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple is an excellent example of this.Continue reading

How to Make Your Mystery Paranormal; Or, Solving a Mystery With Help From …Whatever

March 22, 2019March 21, 2019Mystery Writing Tips

By Sandra Gardner

First a definition: Merriam-Webster: Definition of paranormal: not scientifically explainable: supernatural

If you want to write a story — any kind of story — with a paranormal element, it has to have believability. Whether you’re world-building — say a story set in a mythical time or place – or just adding a ghost or two, the reader needs to be able to suspend disbelief.

An example of a classic ghost story is The Turn of the Screw, a 19^th-century novella by Henry James. Set in a real setting — a country house in southeast England — it’s populated with real people, a governess and two children. There also appears to be not just one ghost, but two, out to do harm to the children. The governess tries to protect them from the malevolent spirits, but fails, and in the end, there is a death. The novel is known as a ghost story and a gothic mystery.

Then there are mysteries with “good” ghosts. The Aunt Dimity books by Nancy Atherton are examples. In the first novel, Lori Shepherd discovers an old journal written by her mother’s friend Aunt Dimity, now deceased. Aunt Dimity begins talking to Lori through the pages of the book. More than that, it turns out that Aunt Dimity is an excellent guide in solving crimes, including murder.Continue reading

Category: Mystery Writing Tips

How to Handle the Stakes in a Cozy Mystery + Giveaway (Part 2 of 4)