Thread: Writing mystery-style connect-the-dots plots?

So in my book, two Special Ops agents are working behind the government's back to figure out a deadly terrorist plot. Here's the deal. They have to find clues, trace leads, connect dots, basically figure the whole thing out with no outside help.

Problem is, I've never written a plot like that. Any suggestions for me? Should I use things like spiderweb charts or have connect the dots type of boards set up with sticky notes?

Any resources will be much appreciated!

I tried my hand at a mystery story, but I don't think it worked out too well. At least, not the mystery part anyway. I think a good way to start would be to try to find different kinds of riddles. If you go through enough, I bet you'll start to get a sense of how to drop clues that are hard to solve, but appear simple once the answer has been found. That would be my approach, having been a little dissatisfied with my own previous attempt at mystery.

I'm not a mystery writer. If I were, I'd probably start with the crime itself. Write the whole thing out in semi-real time. Then use the pieces that could logically fall out of that story as your clues for the Special Ops guys. Probably a lot of work to do it that way though....

Good luck!

I haven't tried this kind of story before but it would seem that you have to plan it out back to front...know exactly what sequence of events happened. Then it's up to you to write that sequence of events in a way that doesn't give away what happens next while giving the reader enough to give them hope that they can figure it out.

Hello Eicca - I wrote a mystery horror where the protagonist has lost their memory and as in true life the pieces are fitted to the mind's jigsaw in an out of sequence way, each piece revealing more of the mind's journey. One way would be to write like Agatha Christie - she wrote the whole plot from the POV of the criminal then erased all the evidence clues etc for the detective to figure out.

Originally Posted by mockingbird

One way would be to write like Agatha Christie - she wrote the whole plot from the POV of the criminal then erased all the evidence clues etc for the detective to figure out.

This actually sounds like fun!

Originally Posted by mockingbird

One way would be to write like Agatha Christie - she wrote the whole plot from the POV of the criminal then erased all the evidence clues etc for the detective to figure out.

I dig that. Very good idea.

Thanks for all the input!