Writing Mysteries

Sounds good to me, if you're interested in mysteries.

Do you like her books? Do you read mysteries? If so, go for it. But you can also pick up books at your library about writing mysteries, and get about the same information for free.

I think the real value in such things is not so much the technical aspects, which you can get on your own, but the interaction you get. It can make you start thinking, and spark good ideas that may have nothing to do with the actual course material, but still wouldn't have surfaced without the class.

That's not much money to get you jump started--but research this woman to make sure she has at least some idea what she's talking about.

popmuze said:

A local woman who has published ten books is giving an adult ed class in Mystery Writing at a school in the neighborhood, ten nights for $100. I was thinking of taking it.

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Hmmm, I'm against "How to" classes, myself. They tend to be quite dogmatic. Like "This is how we do it, so this is how you should do it."

It's as bad as academics, really. At University you are given the licence to articulate your own opinion in your work, but it always has to link back and be reinforced by established theory.

Tell me, do you want to spend one-hundred of your hard-earned dollars, and ten nights of your precious time being lectured about something that you could easily discover for yourself? That's ten nights that could be spent experimenting with ideas, and one-hundred dollars that could not only buy you a few mystery titles to draw inspiration from, but also fund your creative experimentation (as cheap as they are, ink and paper aren't free).

Talk to the instructor. Chances are the class will be aimed at people who are not published, so the level of instruction may be too basic for you. Figure out what you want out of the class and ask the instructor, point blank, if it will address your wants. Also, remember that there are as many ways of writing a novel as there are people able to write one to the finish. You'll be getting the opinion of one person, who may have a very different style and approach than someone experienced, like you.

Popmuze - I highly recommend attending your local Sisters in Crime chapter meeting - we give lots of talks/seminars/classes for free and you may wish to immerse yourself in the world of mystery writing w/o charge before taking fee classes.

You would have the advantage of many published mystery authors (and some who would be willing to read/advise etc.) and a whole network of contacts.

I am fortunate to be a member of the Los Angeles chapter http://www.sistersincrimela.com which is very active. SinC is a national org (with chapters outside the US also, and a thriving internet chapter) which - in spite of the title - admits both men & women. Please check it out. If you do not have a local chapter (I don't know where you live) the internet chapter can be a help. There is even a sub-group for not-yet-published authors ("Guppies") with a whole focus of getting them polished and into the published waters.

Best of luck!

I second Kate's excellent suggestion to look into joining Sinc. My local chapter hosts some great workshops with some pretty big names. As a published writer I found them useful and highly entertaining.

That's not to say that your local workshop couldn't be a good learning experience. Is there anyway to contact someone who's taken this woman's workshop before, just to get some idea of how good of a teacher she is? Ten weeks is a long time to spend with a teacher you may not like.

I want to caution against deciding whether or not to take a workshop based on whether or not you like a writer's writing. Some folks are better teachers than writers, and vice versa. The best workshop I ever took was from a writer who's books I couldn't get through.

grommet

I prefer to teach myself, whenever possible. I highly recommend Writing Mysteries, edited by Sue Grafton. I read that while writing my first novel, and I credit it with landing me an agent in record time.

OddButInteresting said:

It's as bad as academics, really. At University you are given the licence to articulate your own opinion in your work, but it always has to link back and be reinforced by established theory.

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I don't think you have to. I never felt I had to do anything when I took creative writing classes or got my MFA. They're not forcing you at gunpoint or anything. Good, sharp writing is good and sharp regardless of what "theory" it applies to or fits inside of. Yes, we are in a subjective business -- but it ain't that subjective.

I think rugcat's point is right. These classes are more about the interaction with other writers than they are the "lesson" aspect of the thing. I would take the class just to see what other folks were up to. That isn't much money.

And yeah, as others have said: read.

If your goal is commercial fiction, I always tell people to see what's going on out in the genre and then twist it a bit. But not too much. If you really love the genre you won't want to destroy it with your book; you'll want to improve upon it. And this is how you sell your ideas, I think, by being gentle yet fierce with the boundaries of the genre you're working in.

There are so many ways to write mysteries. There's the "who done it" style with a crime and a detective and the rest, where there is something that happened and no explanation for it until you figure it out. If you want to write the latter and she wrote the detective idea, her classes would mean nothing to you. I like writing mysteries but I haven't done any detective stories yet, although I will one of these days.

The best way to learn is to do it yourself because it will stick better because of the hard work you put into it. The money you saved by not taking the class can go into other areas, like your bills or more writing materials so you don't run out. I always try to stock up when I can so I don't run out in the middle of doing something.

Classes are a good way to learn new ideas and be able to talk to that person face to face but usually in classes there are too many people to do that sometimes. The best way to get one on one information is to talk to this person directly outside of a classroom where there aren't people lining up to ask other questions.