How To Write A Mystery - The Right
Beginning
by Carlene Rae Dater
You want to write a mystery novel, you have a terrific idea,
you know who kills whom and why. You have a great detective and
think the killer is ...killer. Where do you start?
In a mystery we need to see the crime within the first few
pages, certainly within the first three chapters. You want to
grab your readers right off the bat so start with a bang, kill
somebody, blow up a bridge, or have two jetliner nearly miss
one another. You need to hook your reader immediately or they
may not bother to read the book. Many readers especially of
mysteries choose a book by the cover, the back blurb and the
first page. So grab him by the throat and don't let go.
Mystery readers like action and they like it fast. The worst
thing GOOGLE ADSENSE you can do is start your story slowly and
build. You don't have time! Noah Lukeman in his excellent book,
"The First Five Pages" states that and editor will buy your
book based on the first five pages of your novel, possibly the
first page and probably the first paragraph! Scary I know, but
that's the publishing business.
Don't think it's possible? Sure it is! I can't remember the
title of the book nor its author, but here paraphrased is one
of my all time favorite openings.
"Besides the dead man, there were four of us in the room."
Now, are you going to say, ho-hum, I guess I'll put the book
down and get a cup of coffee? I don't think so! You'll want to
know: who's the dead man, how did he die, who are the other
four men and what are they doing in that room? Isn't that a
better beginning then this?
"Sally Johnson lived all her life in Detroit. She went to
school with the same group of girls and grew up with four
brothers. By the time she was ready for high school, she knew
exactly what she want from....closed eyes... sleep....loud
snoring.
We might need that information later, but first we have to have
the crime. You can fill in the back story later - but in small
chunks, please.
Here's another example from my own book, "The Worst Evil."
"Chicago, February 1964
It was the bitterest winter in a century. Frigid air swept down
from Canada. Hard icy winds blew off the lake. The temperatures
hadn't been above freezing for weeks. Most people were cold,
many were miserable. Some died."
Aren't you just a little curious as to who died? And how?
And....why?
It may take you a while to get just the right beginning. It
might take you months, but don't worry about it. Get it down
the best you can because you know you're going to have to
re-write and you can always come back to that part. Starting is
hard, but don't get stuck there. I've known too many writers
who agonize for months, even years on getting that first
chapter perfect. Don't do that. It will never be perfect, just
do the best you can, and move on. Finish writing a first draft,
first.
You now have a super grabber beginning and that's great. Be
sure to also introduce your detective and your villain. If the
bad guy enters too late in the book, your readers will feel
cheated because they didn't have sufficient information to
solve the crime. And for heaven’s sake, don't have the villain
enter in the last few chapters. People read mysteries to try
and figure out who the culprit is, so he has to be there pretty
much from the beginning.
The crime must be plausible. Your reader will feel cheated if
the crime is something that couldn't really happen.
Have your detective discover clues and let us know what they
are so we can "detect" right along with him. They have to use
conventional scientific methods and do the research to make
sure you're giving the reader correct information. Not sure how
to find the correct procedures? Call the local police, sheriff,
FBI or whomever you need to. Believe me, they're used to
hearing from writers and they want us to get the facts
straight. I really hate to read mysteries that have too many
coincidences. Let your detective find the clues so we can see
them too.
The villain should be capable of doing the crime and have
sufficient motivation. It would be hard to believe that a
70-year-old, slight, preacher's wife was an axe murderer. Or
that a nine-year-old boy was a serial killer. Both are
certainly possible, but highly unlikely and I doubt your
readers with buy either.
Your reader is trying to solve the crime along with the
detective so don't have improbable situations or supernatural
solutions. Of course you want to hold off as long as possible
to reveal the bad guy. Make it hard for the detective to solve
the crime and it will be hard for your reader to solve the
crime too. He'll love you for it - and buy your next
book.
by Carlene Rae Dater
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Carlene Rae Dater has been a writer of both fiction and
non-fiction for over 25 years and has been published in a
variety of genres. Writing, reading and talking about mysteries
is her passion. Visit her mystery blog:
http://www.themysterystartshere.com or view her published books
at: http://www.silveradopublishing.com
Source: ezinearticles.com/
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