Writing Stack Exchange
Writing Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [mystery]

Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot!

Questions about writing stories which involve a puzzle (often but not always a crime) which the protagonist(s) must solve.

54 questions
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Resources on plotting mystery stories

I'm looking for books, essays and articles on plotting mystery/detective/investigation stories (and novels). The type of story I'm aiming for is in the vein of Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, or Asimov's Robots/Elijah Baley novels. It seems to me…
Standback
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How many red herrings is too many red herrings?

Mystery novel with a cast of five suspects. The plot moves from red herring to red herring, making the reader suspect each of the five characters at least once. In principle, one could go in circles and make each character fall under suspicion…
NofP
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Why aren't detective stories written in the protagonist's POV?

I've noticed that successful detective stories are, nearly always, not written in the point of view of the detective himself. The protagonist (i.e. the ingenious detective at the heart of the story) is usually referred to by his sidekick or one of…
Soha Farhin Pine
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Should mystery stories have resolutions?

I'm working on the finishing touches of a story that has as part of the plot a possibly-supernatural mystery. I'm feeling rather nervous about the whole thing though because said mystery isn't the focus of the story- the focus the characters who get…
Wendigo King
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Preventing genre-savvy second-guessing in murder mysteries

In a murder mystery, most of the story is generally focused on figuring out who the murderer is; in "Fair-Play" mysteries, it's assumed the murderer is a significant character in the book, and the fun is in figuring out which of them it is. This…
Standback
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What is the difference between Tension, Suspense and Mystery?

Can you define the differences between Tension, Suspense and Mystery in fiction writing? Some resources says tension is how much you care about a character but I cannot imagine how it is possible that there is a great suspense but you don't care…
pencilCake
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The role of inexplicable events in hard science fiction

The modern world has few true mysteries, among them the fate of the Roanoke colonists and the crew of the Mary Celeste but do such happenings have a place in futuristic settings? In settings with locally instantaneous communication and ubiquitous…
Ash
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How to make a dumb decision as a character and still not let the reader to think same about him?

My character is a police detective. But not the best one. I'm trying to stay away from idealizations in this book. Characters will make normal, human, mistakes; they'll change their minds and be more like real people. Not perfect. I know this book…
Ernedar
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Is Sherlock Holmes public domain for use in a story?

I am writing a short story and would like to name check Sherlock Holmes as a character; according to the ever reliable (?) Wikipedia the stories of Holmes are UK Public Domain. Does this mean I can use the character without royalties/etc if I…
Rob
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How can I keep my characters' identities a mystery successfully?

There was a similar post about keeping a character nameless in order to contribute to his closed off personality. My concern is is keeping all my characters nameless, only describing their actions (and in doing so, some of their physical traits).…
Nathan
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Can a mystery novel have more than one mystery in it? And does it have to be a "who dunnit" concept?

I am writing a novel and it goes something like this: In the first half of the novel, the protagonist knows who is doing the killing, but they are trying to make sense of it as in "how are they doing it?" and "why are they doing it?" In the second…
Kora Middleson
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In a branching mystery, should branches be "self-correcting" or follow the impulse of the reader?

A mystery with 3 subplots I'm writing a branching mystery novel. It's more Raymond Chandler than Agatha Christie: the mystery is a driver-of-plot rather than a puzzle for the reader to solve. Following modern cop-show/detective tropes, the various…
wetcircuit
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What is the difference in pacing between thriller and mystery genres?

I know mystery novels focus on unraveling a puzzle and something unsolved, and that thrillers are more about heightened excitement and suspense. I'm curious what the difference in pacing is. If you have written/read for either or both genres, what…
lilytun
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Should the secret antagonist have dual goals set in the ending of Act I?

Okay, There's this antagonist in my plot who is supposed to secretly frame my protagonist (due to some undecided reasons) and also help him publicly to cover his tracks. And since I'm working with the famous 3 Act Structure as the base of the…
Amin Mohamed Ajani
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Help! I accidentally gave my fictional character the same name as a fictional character on a TV show. Do I have to change it?

I've been writing a YA mystery book in which one of the three main characters is a detective—who now seems to share his name with another fictional character on TV. I was pretty young when I came up for the idea for the characters, and wasn't…
MysteryWriter
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