Writing a mystery story can be challenging. Where do you even start?
Mystery writers will tell you different things: sometimes, they start with a problem: a missing person or item or a strange occurrence. Sometimes, they start with the ending and then try to figure out how the characters got to the resolution: this way, they work out the clues backwards so that they figure out what their characters had to be given or had to find before they could come up with an outcome.
There are no right or wrong ways to start writing a mystery story, but most mystery stories need to have some parts:
- setting
- characters
- a problem
- clues
- A suspenseful mood
Today, we will start with these items to create our own mystery stories. You may take a recipe card that has an assortment of suggested parts to create your mystery. Or, you can pick out your own setting, characters, problem, clues, and mood if you are comfortable doing so.
Remember to include all of the parts of the recipe card! Introduce your setting and your characters early. And then decide how they find the clues; do they see the clues?
- Are the clues given to them by somebody else? (like a
newspaper, the tv, the news, etc).
- I have given you one clue, but there may be more than one
clue necessary to solve the problem. How many clues do you need and
when do your characters find them?
- When do your characters discover that there is a problem? (do
they see a clue before they know what's happening? It's ok for your
audience to know more than your characters do! In fact, that makes
it more of a mystery story!)
- How do you create suspense or mystery? Are there weird
looking characters or bits of weather? Remember that you can still
have sunny days in a mystery, but your weather can be useful in
making certain times more suspenseful; it could be cloudy during the
end of the story, for example.
- Remember that suspense is just the act of making your
audience wait and feel anxious to see what happens. So what will
make them wait? Your characters getting caught in anxious or panicky
situations will help you create the mood. (But the mood doesn't have
to be scary; giving them a deadline and putting them in traffic will
make your audience squirm!)
Setting: Forest
Characters: two boys
Problem: A missing toy
Clues: a broken piece of the toy
Mood: cloudy sky
Setting: A city
Characters: two detectives
Problem: A jewel thief
Clues: a muddy footprint and a special jewel
Mood: Scary
Setting: Castle in the middle ages
Characters: A prince
Problem: A murder
Clues: the body
Mood: Stormy
Setting: Your house
Characters: You, your family
Problem: Your dessert is missing
Clues: A trail of crumbs
Mood: Funny
Setting: A park
Characters: You and a friend; a pet owner
Problem: A person has lost a pet
Clues: ????
Mood: Mysterious
Setting: A party
Characters: two girls
Problem: A missing cake
Clues: ????
Mood: Funny
Setting: An art gallery
Characters: An art lover and a detective
Problem: Missing paintings
Clues: are on the art that has not been stolen
Mood: suspenseful
Setting: A city
Characters: a lonely detective
Problem: A bank robber
Clues: a torn piece of cloth
Mood: Mysterious
Setting: Your city
Characters: You; a mysterious masked man
Problem: Who is the masked man?
Clues: a set of juggling balls
Mood: suspenseful
Setting: A fairytale
Characters: three weird princesses
Problem: all of their shoes have gone missing
Clues: the cat has been acting strangely
Mood: Funny
Setting: Halloween night
Characters: Zombies, werewolves, and vampires
Problem: Who is the real werewolf?
Clues: A tuft of grey fur
Mood: Scary; suspenseful
Setting: A concert
Characters: a rock band
Problem: the guitars are missing
Clues: the strings have been cut up
Mood: Mysterious
Setting:
Characters: Your Choice!
Problem:
Clues:
Mood:
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