I've read tons of books and websites about writing mysteries, and it still is difficult. How do I connect clues and figure out which ones are important?
Because Iâm notsure what advice youâve already read, I hope my post won't rehash whatyouâve already encountered. Iâm not a devout mystery fan, but Iâve read myshare of Janet Evanovich and Harlan Coben (currently reading Sue Grafton), andIâm a huge Sherlock Holmes reader. So Iâll do my best to steer you in the rightdirection based on this experience.
Mysteries areunique in that often times what theyâre doing is telling a story about anotherstory. The âmysteryâ being solved involves an entirely separatesequence of events, and your characters are trying to uncover these eventsbased on the clues. I think when you begin to think of your mystery (whateveris being solved) and your mystery (the actual novel youâre writing) astwo separate narratives, things might click into place a little easier.Â
The mystery withinthe novel usually contains a climax, just like any other novel. Andthe actual novel is the events following this climax. Think about the last bookyou read or movie you watched and imagine a random person walked into theclimax of that story and had to figure out what had happened based on evidenceleft behind. That effect is what youâre looking to create in a mystery novel.
So to start,forget about your detective and their investigation and focus on the eventsthat trigger the investigation. This will most likely be the crimescene, but it could theoretically be any event that prompts your characters tosolve the mystery. If youâre not sure what this is yet, then startthinking about what type of mystery youâre wanting your character to solve.Murder, theft, assault, kidnapping? What most fascinates you as a reader, andwhich of these (or others) creates the most compelling mystery to you? Then,start brainstorming. Hereâs a list of things youâll need to know: (and from here on out, Iâll be using a murder mystery in my examples, as those are fairly common):
1) What unduething actually happens? Start with one sentence explaining what is stolen, whodies, who is kidnappedâŚwhat is the crime that will eventually beinvestigated?
2) Now, workbackwards to determine how it happened. If this is overwhelming, work in asbasic of terms as you can. For a murder mystery, think about thecause of death. If they were stabbed, what were they stabbed with? If they werepoisoned, what did they consume that was laced with poison? If they were shot,where on their body were they shot? Imagine the spot in the room where theperson finally died and visualize how they got there. Did they try toget to a phone, did they fall and simply not get up? What were they doing beforethe fatal blow came? Did they see their attacker? Did they know theirattacker? How long between the time they were struck and the time they actuallydied?
3) Now thatyouâve got the beginnings of a scene, imagine who was present during theattack. If the victim was poisoned, itâs possible the murderer wasnât eventhere. If thatâs the case, was the victim alone or were there other witnesses?If there were, imagine what the two (or more) characters werediscussing/doing beforehand, and then go through the witnessâs actions once thevictim succumbs to the poison. Do they try to assist them in any way? Dothey call for an ambulance? Perhaps they are even in on the murder, and theysimply wait for them to die and then call the police, planning to feigninnocence. If the murderer was present, how did they get in? Did thevictim know the person and let them in or did they just break in? If they brokein, was it at the time of the murder or did they get their much earlier in theday and hide out until the victim came home? Think about the characters presentand walk through their actions.Â
4) Letâs get tomotive now. Why did your murderer do it? Were they hired, did they haveprior beef with the victim, was the victim a threat to them? Why didthey do it, and further, why did they choose to do it the way they didit? The reasoning behind their method could be things like: less likelihood ofgetting caught, wanting the victim to know who was killing them, becauseit was the easiest way considering the victimâs habits/routines (a poisoning,while potentially safer in terms of being caught could prove problematic if thevictim is the type of person who is especially careful about what theyeat/drink).
5) Next, takeyour answers to the questions you just answered in step 4 and explore themdeeper. If the murderer was hired, by whom? If the killer had beef with thevictim, what was the beef? Explore the relationship between the murderer andthe victim: was it always antagonistic or were they once friends? Look atthe point were the feud began and write out the details of that moment. Despitetheir lack of actual screen time in your novel, these characters are key to thestory and they should be developed as such.Â
Like I said before,explore this as if you were going to write a separate novel featuring thisstory. Develop the characters as much as you can, so that you understand theiractions leading up to the murder, as well as the actions the murderer will takefollowing the death of the victim. Will they run? Will they try to throw off the investigation by being overly helpful?
6) Finally, write it all out. Write a detailed synopsis of this entire story from beginning to end. Start by listing each of the âplayersâ (murderer, victim, and any witnesses) and describe their appearance, temperament, and any info that wonât make it into your summary. Keep this information in a safe place as youâll likely refer to it often as you write the novel surrounding this mystery.Â
Clues arenât so difficult once you realize that you donât have to pull them out of thin air. At this point, youâve got a detailed account of what your detective/investigators are about to figure out. Go back through your synopsis and look for places where the murderer (and anyone else involved) might make a mistake. A phone call they make, something they buy that implicates them, not seeing a security camera, dropping a weapon or other item that ties back to them.
Clues need not be physical evidence - a clue can be anything that reveals any detail about what happened. Think of clues less as things sprinkled around a crime scene, and more as a progression of information that lead to additional information. There may only be one relevant clue at the crime scene, but that clue leads the investigator to another clue. Some examples:
-No forced entry at crime scene (no broken windows or locks): This reveals that the victim likely knew the killer, or else the killer had earned their trust somehow by giving them a convincing story. The classic example might be a driver whose car has broken down and needs to use a phone (in todayâs world, perhaps their cell phone is dead). If we suspect the murderer was invited into the house, and we have the approximate time of death, we might ask a couple of neighbors if they remembering seeing anyone in the victimâs yard/porch around this time.
-If the victim was found near a landline or cell phone, we might trace their call history to see if they were speaking to anyone around the time of death, or if they tried to call for help. That person may have heard something. Itâs also possible the victim may have told them, âOh, someoneâs at the door, I have to go,â which would possibly tell us when the killer arrived.
-Look for things like the condition of the house, or the way the victim was dressed. Are there any clues that indicate the victim was on their out or on their way in? If there are bags of groceries unpacked in the kitchen, the victim had likely just gotten home from the store. It might be worth it to trace the victimâs path back to that store and see if there were any signs of someone following them home.Â
Some detectives may approach the investigation by trying to reconstruct the victimâs day to see when/where things went awry.Â
You mentioned reading a lot of help books on writing mysteries, but not that you read a lot of mystery novels. Of course, you likely just left that part of out of the ask, but take the mysteries you love the most and break them down as a way of understanding the genre. Make lists of the clues, in particular the ones that lead the investigator to a new witness, location, or theory.Â
If you feel youâve researched the genre a LOT, and youâve exposed yourself to a LOT of mystery novels, and youâre still finding it difficultâŚcongrats, youâre a writer! Writing is challenging. Novels donât just appear - they take lots of hard work, and the process will indeed be difficult. My best advice to you if youâre really passionate about this genre and really want to write it, start with simple mysteries and use what might be considered âclicheâ clues to help you get comfortable with the basic format of writing the mystery.Â
[Hereâs a great Quora thread where people discuss cliche clues in mystery novels]
Good luck with your mystery novel!
