How to Write a Novel

Chapter Eleven - On Writing Mystery/ Thrillers

I start by thinking of what I call a "major WTF event" - an idea that immediately makes you think, "WTF!". For example, in the short story I wrote for A&E called Oak Ridge, the major WTF event is people who were once dead suddenly return. I should state if it's not already obvious that this is A&E's idea, not mine.

So think of something like this that makes you think WTF. Then what I do is have my characters pick away at theories of what could explain the mystery, but never do they state what it is. So if someone was abducted by aliens, I will have the characters discuss a bunch of other possibilities, but not mention aliens as one of the possibilities. I don't want to plant that seed in the reader's mind and allow them to figure out the mystery in advance. I want the characters' ignorance to match the audience's ignorance. I usually throw in a couple of smoke screens just to draw people off the scent. I'd say, "it was bigfoot, it was mountain lions, it was a deranged psychopath..." and the theories must be plausible. This gets the reader thinking, "Hmm, maybe it was bigfoot."

To ramp things up, I add a bunch of "small WTF events". So the closer the characters get to the truth, there is even more mystery. Maybe a new clue is revealed at this time as well and some of the other theories are discarded, but the major WTF event remains a mystery.

You may want to do a major plot twist just to switch things up and keep people engaged. Some action scenes intermixed with more confusion works great.

Sometimes the characters can have more knowledge than the audience and this works well too. So have someone facing the killer and recognize them, but the audience is kept in the dark. Or maybe one of the characters finds a clue, but the audience won't find out about it for a while longer. When discussing the clue, you can be cryptic and vague.

When it's time for the big reveal at the end, it must pay off satisfactorily. If the mystery is lame or too implausible, it won't work. Also, if the mystery is too obvious, then your readers will likely be disappointed.

What some authors do is work backwards. So for a Sherlock Holmes mystery, you would plan out the crime in advance. You decide who the killer is and all the other details surrounding the crime such as the weapon, the motive, the opportunity, and then work backwards to conceal this information.

If you want to read one of my best mystery/ thrillers, check out The Secret Manuscript.

http://www.wattpad.com/story/20177859-the-secret-manuscript

I hope this helps!