How do you prefer to build up a mystery? - Writers Forum

WriterDude · 10-07-2007, 12:30 PM

I love great mysteries, and have quite a few ideas buzzing around in my head. The biggest problem is how to built it into a novel. The way I see it, we have to options. As an example, I wrote a book once where the main character had gotten a letter in the mail simply telling him to remember his promise. That's it, that was all it said. Even so, the note made him think of his past, and he went to a small island where he used to study thirty years earlier and made a promise to his friends. Who sent it? Why now? And how did it make it him go all the way to the island, hours away? How would you build up such a mystery? The way I see it, we have two options.

1. Start with the solution and take it from there. If we know who sent it, we could include that person in the story somehow. It shouldn't be obvious who sent it, but the person has to be important. (Or does he? The guy was ferried to the island by a random guy, and he again was the person behind it. It turned out those two men had been on the island together, and the first guy accidentally killed the other one's mother.) If we have the main hero and main villain, it's easy to create a few extras, and then all we need it a story. As we know who the villain is, we could easily add small clues for the reader, both real and fake. (make it look like there's a different villain).

2. Start with the beginning and take it from there. In this case, we send the guy to the island and forget about the letter. There are weird things going on on the island, but that is part of the mystery. Forget the letter for now, we can reveal the plot behind that in the ending along with everything else. Start introducing the other characters, setting and all that, and perhaps the past. All the characters have to work together to solve the mystery on the island (in this case the island is abandoned, like everyone left over night around twenty years ago according to a newspaper). Then when we are closing in on the ending, pick a random person and make him or her the villain. Then you can build up to a climax from there, which can be anything from a few chapters to spoiling everything right there. Although it might seem strange to do it like this at first, it also means even you (the writer) doesn't know who is behind everything or why until the end. It could in theory give everything a really big twist, especially if the story keeps contradicting itself over and over. Like in the movie Saw, I "knew" who the killer were - five or six times, at least. And even then I was surprised at the end.

It could be very surprising, but at the same time the reader won't be able to guess who the villain is until we tell him at the end. Some prefer this, while others wants to out-smart the hero and guess who the villain is before him.

So what do you prefer? What do you think makes the story most fun to read? I prefer the second.

scifi maniac · 10-08-2007, 02:36 AM

your problem is simple - PLOTTING. this is the bread and butter of mysteries, whether or not you have the devotion to plot the damn thing out so that there are no holes in the plot. my preferred approach is to know a general idea of what happens, but then just dive into things and see where the story takes me. sounds like you're getting bogged down in the nitty gritty before you even get the basics down. that's a sure fire way to self destruct a mystery. get the basics, know the killer, and just let things develop naturally, whether that means new characters are introduced, or the plot takes unexpected new turns. as this happens, you can explore more and more avenues of storytelling. simply, don't get confined by outlining and excessive plotting before you start writing. otherwise you will almost certainly fail.

assassin · 10-08-2007, 05:20 PM

I don't really read straight mysteries, I kinda prefer to watch'em. That being said, you could try a third option and do a mixture of both one and two.

I think, when you're writing, at some level you must know who the bad guy/girl is, otherwise you can run the risk of having stuff that makes no sense in the end. By all means trick the reader, but not so many times.
So knowing who the villian is, you add the clues but don't make it obvious with just adding 'extras'. Make the reader think everyone there is a suspect (in some cases, even the guy who got the letter). Don't forget there's always the possibility that people are working together. That always makes it fun, especially if it turns out that they aren't.

Anyhow, that's my thoughts on it.

WriterDude · 10-10-2007, 04:14 PM

Thanks for the tips. I think my best solution is to have several characters with an agends of their own. In the example, let's say the guy invites a few friends (or they got a similar letter). The island is abandoned for some reason, so the whole area is a deadly trap for a game of cat and mouse. Someone is trying to kill everyone one by one, but who? The weird captain on the boat that got them there? The guy who turns out to be a bankrobber, and sees the bank on the island as an easy target? The cop? The housewife who doesn't work, but stay home with her kids while her husband is out at work, and might be looking for a bit of action in her life? Anyone's a suspect, and there is only a single rule. If it sounds obvious, it's not. Don't you learn anything from CSI?

SinnPlayer · 10-10-2007, 09:57 PM

That sounds good, but it's also cliched and seems more like a 'survival' story with large mystery undertones. I think that the best thing that you could do is virtually provide only the information you need to in the first act (the letter and getting to the island) before delving into anything at all. If you do keep with the plot of your most recent post, you'll need some fresh elements and things to keep the plot from being stale and overused which, don't get me wrong, is completely possible.

scifi maniac · 10-11-2007, 02:22 AM

so you ARE writing a mystery after all? lol well don't make it into a 'slasher' mystery in which the way the reader figures out the murderer is that everyone who ISN'T the murderer ends up dead except for the heroic protagonist (and maybe his hot girlfriend). make is so that characters slowly unravel, and have a suspenseful atmosphere, but don't cheapen the suspense by making too many deaths occur - then it becomes a joke.

I have actually had a very well fleshed idea percolating in my mind for about half a year. the problem? where to set it. I have been back and forth across world maps trying to decide, and I still haven't. You see, I don't want to set it in Australia where I live, because Australia is a boring, dull country. I want to set it in Europe, Germany, but I only know french, so I'm going to set it in a French mountainous location inspired by Germany's Obersalzberg mountains, where Hitler's luxurious 'Berghof' once stood. of course I'll use a little artistic license.

WriterDude · 10-13-2007, 10:47 AM

Australia is a boring, dull country? I know the feelings. I live in Norway, and we have the northern lights to be proud of. That's about it. There is nothing going on here worth mentioning. No pyramids, no Times Square, no Empire State Building, no casinos, no celebrities of any interest, no universities people care about or anything. Just snow, the northern lights and an eight month winter. Sounds like such a great country, doesn't it?

Even so, this is exactly where I put my current novel. It starts in a regular, decent city (compared to the other cities here) but quickly changes location to a wasteland. Or big town, as you might call it over there.

I thought about placing it in New York, LA or something, but placing it a boring, dull town like we have over here kinda gives me a chance to play with desolation. Our main characters are chased by demonic dogs for no apparent reason, so what to do? Well, basically get onboard a train, travel to the next town five hours away and hope the dogs doesn't find them - which they do, of course. Sounds weird? It is, and that's just the start. Let's just say it will be three parts, with part one ending in the underworld and part two with the destruction of the world itself. And then there's part three.

As for placing your novel in Europe, I suggest you try to do some research online first. You can find a lot of things like maps, historical documents, traveler's guides and tons of things like that for free online, so you can pretty much learn all there is to learn about your chosen location without ever leaving your computer. If you search long enough, I bet you can even find videos from people who have traveled to the location you want to explore, so you get to see the places "in person" too!

'Berghof'? Doesn't sound too familiar to me. Is that like the Eagle's Nest castle? (which inspired the movie Where Eagle's Dare, which in turn inspired Iron Maiden to write a song based on it).

scifi maniac · 10-13-2007, 06:52 PM

It's not just that Australia's dull, it just doesn't really have any mystery potential, and I just generally think using Australia for the setting of a fictional piece is a bad idea. For example, if people are stuck in a mansion in the middle of nowhere (which might happen in Europe), there are a few problems:

1. No one has mansions in the middle of nowhere in Australia
2. The people inside the mansion would probably die from dehydration rather than the murderer
3. There are no weather conditions which could make them trapped in the house.

Anyway, I've taken your advice on Europe, and I've decided to set the novel in the French Alps. It's like Obersalzberg, but it's in France, and I have a basic understanding of that language so that's an advantage. I've also decided on what the mansion will be based on - Castle Neuschwanstein in Germany, probably the most beautiful building ever made

anyway, good luck with your novel.

BTW, are you doing NaNoWriMo?

franontheedge · 10-14-2007, 10:14 AM

How about if you trap a group of people inside the mines at Coober Peedy? (sp?) Where they've carved out homes in the rock when they were looking for opals - that's a nice way to isolate a murderer and a load of potential new victims/detectives/suspects - and it's Australian too...

Sorry, new here, but the idea just struck me.