It’s my distinct pleasure to welcome mystery writer Elizabeth Spann Craig (aka Riley Adams) as guest today. She offers fabulous tips on her blog Mystery Writing Is Murder. I hope you’ll visit her there and enjoy her mystery writing advice. Thanks, Elizabeth!
3 Useful Additions for Your Mystery
By Elizabeth S. Craig
Writing a mystery can be a great experience—and sometimes a challenging one. Here are three additions to make your mystery a faster-paced, more complex, and smoother read:
A body near the beginning of the book. Although not an absolute must, it’s a great way to both start your book out with a bang and set a faster-pace right from the beginning. With a body near the start of the book, your sleuth jumps right into the investigation.
A sidekick. Sidekicks provide our sleuths with someone to bounce ideas off of. Stories without sidekicks frequently feature sleuths engaged in lots of internal monologue.
Lies. If our suspects both lie and tell the truth, it makes the case more challenging for our sleuth…and keeps them guessing who’s reliable. Lies are a nice way to add red herrings (bad leads) to a mystery, as well.
As a reader or writer, what are your favorite elements in a mystery?
Elizabeth’s latest book, Knot What it Seams , released February 5 and Rubbed Out launches July 2. Elizabeth writes the Memphis Barbeque series for Penguin/Berkley (as Riley Adams), the Southern Quilting mysteries for Penguin/NAL, and the Myrtle Clover series for Midnight Ink and independently.
Linda – Thanks so much for hosting Elizabeth.
Elizabeth – Right you are about those three ingredients. It’s especially important I think that the reader get drawn into the story quickly. And that means a body (or at least suspicion of one) pretty early on in the book. And you’re right; a partner or sidekick for the sleuth gives the sleuth a sounding board and gives the author a chance to ‘show not tell’ about the sleuth.
I agree! Having characters interact is a great way to “show” rather than “tell” and it allows for the characters to have more quirks and flaws — if you have just one hero he or she has more responsibility to be right all the time, which is less realistic and kind of a turn off for me as a reader.
Thanks for coming by, J.D. And you make a good point here–who likes a know-it-all protagonist? With a sidekick, the sleuth gets to show that he *doesn’t* know all the answers and can bounce ideas off his friend. Makes it a lot more interesting.
I do quite a bit of contest judging and mss. evaluations and I’m pretty sure you’re right! In all stories, not just mysteries, the reader should be sucked in quickly. Thanks so much, Elizabeth, for guest posting and telling your followers! ~Linda
Thanks for hosting me, Linda!
A sidekick can really shake things up – and often do things the protagonist won’t or can’t, or display special skills and knowledge, or provide comic relief.
Great point, Carolyn. Thanks for weighing in!
Keep Writing! ~Linda
Margot–Thanks so much for coming by. I’m with you on the faster-paced beginnings…too many good mysteries out there that the reader could pick up if ours seems poky.
JD~
I appreciate your comment about “know-it-alls.” We don’t like them much in real life either! Write on, Linda
I enjoy both sidekicks and lies. That’s why we’re writing fiction, right? Then we can lie as much as we want without being blamed for it >:)
Cold As Heaven
Yes, we’re professional liars. Thanks for your comment!
Keep Writing, Linda
The perfect way of looking at it! I think Lawrence Block wrote a book titled: “Telling Lies for Fun and Profit.” 🙂
Ha Ha! He does have a point though. 🙂 ~L.
Love the “body at the beginning” tip. Sure sounds funny to other people, but to a writer it makes perfect sense. Thanks, ladies!
And thank YOU Julie for your comment. Write On! ~Linda
Yes, mystery writers find a lot of normality in a lot of weird stuff! Ha! Thanks for coming by, Julie.
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In my opinion, a story isn’t worth it’s salt if there’s not a cat in it. Combining that sage advice with one of your three suggestions, may I share that the “sidekick” in my novel IS a cat! The bad guys don’t have a chance with that combination of amateur sleuths on the job.
Perfect! You might like to follow Miss Crankypants, my other blog, where my three “criminal” cats cause mayhem and mischief and refuse to stay on their diet! Write on! Linda
Oh I love it! Cats are very popular in traditional mysteries, for sure. I don’t have one in my Southern Quilting series, but my Myrtle Clover series features Pasha. 🙂 Love the idea of a cat for a sidekick!
Now there’s a potential gap in my WIP: all that interior monologue because there’s no sidekick. Hmmm . . .
Joel, I call this the “Wilson Principle.” In Castaway, Tom Hanks was marooned on a desert isle with no one to talk to, so he made the volleyball his sidekick. Keep writing and thanks for visiting! ~Linda
Linda–Ha! Yes, just like Wilson in the movie. Nice illustration.
Sidekicks are really so useful.