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JK Rowling, impressed me with her sublime use of mystery. How do I incorporate mystery and suspense into my own plot? What are some techniques to delay plot nuggets?
What's your story about? What 'nuggets' are you working with? Trying to find the killer among a group of suspects is different from finding out what evil scheme Mr. Big is hiding. Or, indeed, how to stop him.
That story sounds rich with possibilities. You answered your own question: "The mystery of the story is that the lost civilization is slowly revealed, layer by layer."
Make an outline of little discoveries, how they are found, how they begin to chip away at the dystopia or solve immediate problems.
When someone finds something do they hide it? Do they discard it not knowing what it is then come back to it later in a eureka moment? Do they plan to do evil with it?
You could sit down and brainstorm the ideas then start assembling the story.
What is your narrative point-of-view?
caw
I think it might be more useful, from a suggestion angle, to tell us who's story it is. (Unless it's a multi-POV, with people from all areas coming together?) Is it a 'regular joe', hearing about the discoveries and how they eventually affect his life? Is it a historian, putting the pieces together, an explorer finding new stuff, or a researcher, trying to figure out how things work? Or, for that matter, a politician or government functionary, wanting to use the new information to it's greatest advantage, for himself, or the populace.
Truby explains this better than I could. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKpMtrC16v4How do I incorporate mystery and suspense into my own plot? What are some techniques to delay plot nuggets?
"He is always careful to keep his dangerous findings a secret from his master by making certain that there are no witnesses."
This sounds like it could lead to lots of things. "Making certain there are no witnesses" - maybe he just gets them to leave town, maybe he pays them hush-money, but, in the end, if the secret is dangerous enough, how far will he go?
Truby explains this better than I could. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKpMtrC16v4
The nugget in the technique starts at 2:20, but it's a good thing to watch it all - it's only 8 mins or so.
In essence, the 'Mystery' is a series of what he calls 'corruptions' that grow up in size. Ex: the detective starts off with some dark lady's husband having an affair, then he finds out about the hubby's shady business dealings, then about a drug deal, then someone gone missing, then stumbles onto the mafia, etc. bigger, Bigger, BIGGER. Truby says the key to writing this is to go backwards. Start with the BIG corruption, then go back in time and weave a thread that goes back to the smallest corruption - the hubby having an affair. And how does one cover a corruption with a smaller corruption?
*Secrets.*
A door access code. A locked file cabinet. A floor plan showing an empty space with no visible access. A cryptic message left on a voice message recorder. A meeting place that's off limits to everybody but a few. A regular habit that's broken once a week. Something said that doesn't belong.
Hope this helps.
-cb
Detective stories have often this in common:Cbenoi1, your answer was very helpful. Can you think of anything else that you might want to add?