Tag: Writing the Cozy Mystery

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

Mystery 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

Mystery 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

Mystery 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

Planting the Body in a Cozy Mystery

Mystery Writing Tips, Uncategorized

Old stone grave marker on a hill. Marker in the shape of a cross.

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

If you’re writing a cozy mystery, there are little things that come up sometimes.  Writing is a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure process. You have so many different choices that can take the plot in different directions that it can seem overwhelming.

It doesn’t have to be that overwhelming, though. There are choices, but you can address them as they come along. Here are a few things to consider when planning the discovery of your victim: Continue reading

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