How do you come up with a mystery?

Mystery isn't my primary genre any more but I do tend to have a lot of mystery elements in my other types of fiction and similar sorts of plots (whodunnits, conspiracies, that sort of thing). How I go about it depends really on what the original idea was - sometimes I'll get an idea for how to murder someone (fiction only ) because I'll come across some fact or other in other research, or more often I have the situation. As in, I know there is someone murdering people in order to achieve a certain goal, acquire a certain position in government or what have you, and then I work out who the possible candidates are, figure out who would be the most obvious suspect, what sort of relationships exist amongst them all, what their motives would be, then I decide who did it and think of clues that could lead or mislead. If it was a particular person who was murdered, I would start with them and then again work out who was in their life, who would want to kill him, what all their relationships are and figure out which one did it, then I work out clues that could lead to it.

One thing I used to do, which I've not really done for a long time but it's a load of fun, is to write an outline for a mystery without actually knowing what's going to happen. I start off with the premise and just make up any wild clue, then try to work from there to another situation that's got a puzzle in it, and then keep it going til a solution develops. I don't know how good the end product from those kind of exercises could be though.

First, I think of a common mystery trope: the missing girl tale, the serial killer yarn, the forensics study, the detective story, the past histories come back to haunt tale, the killer in the shadows suspense narrative. I use one or more of those tropes, because they're familiar. Because I know them well enough from reading hundreds of novels that employ them. And because they're interesting to me. I don't want to kill the genre, I want to expand it.

Second, I try and think of something that has never been done before, ever, in the genre.

That's the book I attempt to write.

Another thing.

I'm not sure if you read extensively in the genre, RainyDay, but I don't think I would attempt to write a mystery unless you read a lot of mysteries.

So the best piece of advice I have is READ. And then read some more. And then keep reading.

I'm interesting in science fiction as a genre, but I could never even begin to write a sci-fi novel because I don't read them.

My first fiction writing is my current WIP. When I had to write a story for an English class, I didn't want to just write a story. A mystery popped in my head. I kept remembering the adage, "Write what you know." So I chose the UW campus, and the specific area was my major.

I had to do some research on HOW to write a mystery, different elements, philosophies, etc. to help me. I figured out first how the murder happened (just because it's so unusual). Then I worked on a story board and used bits of paper to sort out the story, the actual murder, who did it and why, and how could the protaganist figure it out.

I learned about red herrings and how to use them and worked them into the story.

As I worked the story, that's when my characters came out.

I found figuring out how to write a mystery, and THIS mystery, was a blast, like putting together a puzzle of my own choosing. It's a hoot!

Will Lavender said:

Another thing.

I'm not sure if you read extensively in the genre, RainyDay, but I don't think I would attempt to write a mystery unless you read a lot of mysteries.

So the best piece of advice I have is READ. And then read some more. And then keep reading.

I'm interesting in science fiction as a genre, but I could never even begin to write a sci-fi novel because I don't read them.

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I meant to say that as well. I grew up reading mystery stories but I've found myself after a certain point getting more analytical when I read, looking for the way their constructed and such like.

Same as everything else. I ask "What if?" and then "What next?"

"What if I found an old bloody knife hidden in the basement? What if it had an old unused bus ticket with it?" "What next?"

And I got this.

Hey, how about that, an on topic gratuitous self-promotion.

There are different kinds of mysteries, so it might help to identify which type you want to write. Puzzle ones focus on the question of how a seemingly impossible feat was accomplished. Advnture/Detective focus on finding the current location of a missing important object or person and retrieving it. Psychological ones focus on why a person would do an apparently out of character thing. Police/crime ones focus on where a repeat criminal will strike next and how to catch him. Macgyver/thriller ones focus on finding a clever way to defuse a dangerous situation such as a bomb or person holding hostages.

I don't write many mysteries. When I have done, what I usually do is to create the crime first. And I obsessively craft it--I use drawings, scale models, full-scale semi-reenactments (wherein I play all roles, and no one watches, but it gives me tips on the physics of how things work).

From that, I usually have a large collection of clues. I also have my criminal (murderer, say), and my victim, along with the motivations, and other characters and suspects surrounding the case, because they all play a vital role in the murder, no matter how subtle it may be. I know every detail before I even begin.

Then I put my detective into the story and begin writing.

This is completely the opposite of what I usually do--write blindly from a starting point of a couple of characters and a vague notion of what the situation might be--but it's important for me, when writing a mystery, to make sure everything fits together perfectly the whole time, because I view a mystery as an intellectual puzzle. If any pieces of the jigsaw are missing or don't fit, the end product won't make any sense.

Holy cow this information is SO much better than my answer!

First, read Williebee's story. It's an excellent read.

Second, I start with the crime and play the what if game. Usually, for me it starts with a crime that I hear about. My mind starts playing "what if it was really this person who did it for this reason". Then I start crafting the story and try to play with some unique angles or twists.

I'm an obsessive outliner and for mysteries I'm even more intensive.

1) Read at least HALF the mystery section of your local library. Educate yourself in the genre. What writing did you like and why? What writing did you hate and why? You can learn much from a badly written book!

2) You'll find titles like this in the 808 section of the library. Read the 808 section, BTW. All of it.

Writing Mysteries

Plotting & Writing the Suspense Story By Patricia Highsmith

Telling Lies for Fun and Profit by Lawrence Block

Writing the Novel by Lawrence Block

Read as many books as you can find on technique. It's not cheating if it keeps you from reinventing the wheel. Learning how other writers work their craft will get you fired up and inspired!

In your book refer to Sherlock Holmes at least once. For good luck.

RobertlewisIR said:

I obsessively craft it--I use drawings, scale models, full-scale semi-reenactments (wherein I play all roles, and no one watches, but it gives me tips on the physics of how things work).

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I do the same with all the sex scenes in my books.

Writing can be exhausting work.

Self-competition is what I use. You design the perfect crime, then you try to solve it.

Usually I'm really, really bad at the "perfect crime" part, so it's too easy to solve and the story sucks, so I throw it out.

It's a good thing I'm a writer and not a criminal. But I did always want to be a cop.

I would love to write a good mystery. I grew up on the stuff - my mom owned every book Agatha Christie ever wrote, and Rex Stout too. It's like suspense: you sort of plot backwards, careful to let just enough info get to the reader to keep them guessing, or interested. Confuse them, and make sure to keep the real solution well out of sight. Now if it was that simple, I'd be pumping out the sleuth novels right now, but it's a start.

RobertlewisIR said:

And I obsessively craft it--I use drawings, scale models, full-scale semi-reenactments (wherein I play all roles, and no one watches, but it gives me tips on the physics of how things work).

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RickN said:

I do the same with all the sex scenes in my books.

Writing can be exhausting work.

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I think those would be better if you weren't doing everything alone.