CLUES

The etymology of the word "clue" comes from the greek wherein Ariadne gave Theseus a "clew" of thread (one of those huge spools like they use on sergers) to tie to the opening of the labyrinth and reel out as he went to find his way back, supposing he indeed wasn't eaten. That is what we give our readers....a trail to find their way through. However, we needn't (and this is a failing of novice mystery writers who are terribly intent on "playing fair") light our clues up in neon for our readers. In fact, our readers really wish we wouldn't. The best place to salt a lot of clues is right at the beginning, when the reader is still trying desperately to find our rhythm, learn the characters' names and figure out the lay of the fictional land.

Dot clues throughout, sporadically, especially if your detective is communicating in the first person to the reader, so it looks like she is getting somewhere.

The very best place to put a clue, is upside down, hidden in a cluttered drawer, right next to a juicy "red herring" (see below). Remember though, you do have to play fair...the clues should all be there.


RED HERRINGS

Here is some more frightfully fascinating etymology, which you can toss out wittily at the next boring dinner party you attend, and I can almost guarantee that you will be met with some amazing rejoinder like "Pass the cauliflower, please." Whatever. Red Herring is the term used for false clues (see "clew", think dinner party also).

Believer it or not, animal activism did not begin with Brigitte Bardot. Long years ago, when Lord Muckymuck decided to call several of his closest personal friends down to his country seat there would be as part of the lavish entertainment (see dinner party) a Hunt. Now, most of the countryside would be informed of this event long prior so they could hire in as extra help, or keep their more foxlike looking children in that day. The evening before the Hunt, reynardophiles (fox lovers) would wander about the countryside armed with two day old (or "red") fish, swiping said fish on trees, rocks, pathways, etc. The next morning, the hounds would go baying off in all directions, the scent being highly confused, and the fox would be safe for another time.

Red herrings as false clues in mystery novels are either gloriously shiny and interesting "things" found next to rather drab real clues, or they are other suspects in the plot. Face it, everyone will have something to hide, and everyone if pressed for personal information, stands a 50% chance of lying. They don't lie because they are the murderer; sometimes they just have something innocuous to hide, like a predilection for farm animals...but if they are caught out in a lie, there is a very good chance your reader is going to finger them as the murderer and follow their trail as your detective wanders off to corner the real fox...I mean killer.

Red herrings can be a great deal of fun, but remember, you have to explain everything away to the reader's satisfaction by the end of the narrative, so don't get too carried away.


SETTING

This is the second most important part of your contribution to the genre. In mystery novels there are two forms of setting to consider. The first is the locale in which you situate your detective, the territory which you stake out as your own. (Hint: the Navaho Reservation, Alaska, and Alberta are all taken....go find your own).

The second form of setting you need to consider is a closed environment. This is essential to a mystery novel, and why so many have been located on trains, airplanes, cruise ships, and snowed in ski resorts. You needn't limit yourself to these tired ways of corraling your villain though. Today, you can look to a specialized field of endeavour. If only seven people in the city could have committed the crime with their knowledge of a mass spectrometer...and one of them has wigged it to Brazil, chances are you know who the killer is. Closed environments also make for better reads for the reader, giving them inside knowledge of a world they might ordinarily not be privy to.

Another thing about your setting: since, as I've said before, there is so much to strain the "willing suspension of disbelief" your reader brings to this genre, any reality you can evnice through detailed and accurate description will go a long way to helping them keep with the plot. My theory is, unless you plan to kill someone there, or house a murderer there, go ahead and give the real name of a place, a street, a store, a restaurant. I tend to name all the bookstores in my books, because you just never know who's going to host the next launch.


TYPES AND TIPS

There are many subgenres in mystery fiction, but the main types are determined by the type of detective you choose to create. These are: the private detective (who gets paid to do this), the great detective (who has more money than Croesus and some messianic desire to set the world right), the police detective (who also gets paid, and has a pension fund); and the gifted amateur (who just winds up enmeshed in these things for some unknown reason).

Examine what sorts of mysteries you yourself enjoy reading, because chances are you'll write that sort better than any other kind.

Read widely, in all parts of the genre. Read everything, in fact. Read newspapers, and not just the headline news. Go for the Lost and Found section as well.

Keep a notebook at all times, to jot down a turn of phrase, a characteristic you might notice on a commuter, a great way to kill someone. (Hint: don't put your name and address in this book, just in case you ever leave it on a bus someday...it might be difficult to explain away if you're tracked down.)

Aim for a series. People read series detectives for two reasons: a) they love the characters and the plots and cannot wait to reconnect with the world you have created; or b) they couldn't stand your last three books and just have to see if somehow you've got better. No matter what, you can't lose.

Write down all characters' names and a brief bio as you write them into your plot. Chances are you may need them again later, and you'll waste precious time going back through the manuscript looking for them.

Never apologize or get flustered when someone accosts you and says "When are you going to write a meaningful book?" Agatha Christie, bless her lil cotton socks, still outsells Saul Bellow.

And NEVER, when a publisher requests a precis of the manuscript, TELL WHO DUNNIT. No reader, no matter how gifted, will be able to read your narrative and see it with fresh beguiled eyes if they know the ending already.


Links for mystery writers, writers and me

Some of my Mysteries:
Some of my other writings:
The Crime Writers of Canada:
The Canadian Authors Association: where you can order the tape of this mini-course
want to contact me?: