Best method to go about writing a mystery?

[Shemp]

I'm preparing to start work on my first comedy-mystery spec. I have the characters developed and the basics of the plot, the only thing I haven't figured out is the most crucial part--

The mystery.

I'm just trying to create an intriguing mystery to fit into the plot, but I'm just kinda stumped.

My question is for anyone who has dealt with writing mystery and has any advice in approaching and creating a convincing mystery case.

[Rhodi]

Re: Best method to go about writing a mystery?

My view is that, at it's core, a mystery is simply a question in the audience's mind that can have multiple plausible answers. Think of the boardgame (or the film) Clue. The ultimate question is "Who is the murderer?" and there are a series of scenes early on offering equally plausible answers to that question. These are then gradually whittled away until there is only one answer remaining.

[NoirDigits]

Re: Best method to go about writing a mystery?

A good mystery, to me, is one that offers the audience all of the clues. It seems so obvious, yet I've seen countless mystery movies where the detective/investigator/whoever solves the case by using information we the viewer never had access to. That's incredibly frustrating.

Also, don't let a complex plot betray your characters. Make sure the characters can act naturally within the parameters.

[bmcthomas]

Re: Best method to go about writing a mystery?

Like a crime/murder mystery or a Sixth Sense kind of mystery?

No matter what kind of mystery you are writing, don't trick the audience. Don't hold back information to pull a surprise ending in the last five minutes that makes no sense.

The Sixth Sense did it perfectly - you were surprised at the ending but looking back...all the clues were there. I saw some awful movie with Julianne Moore - I forget what it was called but her son died in a plane crash and none of the other characters remembered the kid even existing so you wondered if Julianne was crazy or her friends were all just jerks or what and then it turns out...aliens. Aliens kidnapped the kid. Nothing in the film hinted at sci-fi until that. It was very WTF.

[denison]

Re: Best method to go about writing a mystery?

Like a crime/murder mystery or a Sixth Sense kind of mystery?

No matter what kind of mystery you are writing, don't trick the audience. Don't hold back information to pull a surprise ending in the last five minutes that makes no sense.

The Sixth Sense did it perfectly - you were surprised at the ending but looking back...all the clues were there. I saw some awful movie with Julianne Moore - I forget what it was called but her son died in a plane crash and none of the other characters remembered the kid even existing so you wondered if Julianne was crazy or her friends were all just jerks or what and then it turns out...aliens. Aliens kidnapped the kid. Nothing in the film hinted at sci-fi until that. It was very WTF.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0356618/

It really was awful.

[Anagram]

Re: Best method to go about writing a mystery?

http://www.imdb.com/chart/mystery

Might try getting movies on that list and seeing how they did it. There's definitely lots of methods. The first two alone (Rear Window and The Usual Suspects) use very different methods.

I recently saw The Third Man and enjoyed the method of always being with the protagonist/detctive and uncovering things as he uncovered them. Of course there's many different methods, depending on the type of story.

[Why One]

Re: Best method to go about writing a mystery?

IMO, it's about raising compelling questions regarding circumstances of an event.

People in their nature are inquisitive folk. Whenever a subject matter raises questions, they want to learn the answers. The who, the what, the why, the how?

This is frequent in the news regarding a death or some strange occurrence. Whenever details are sketchy and inconclusive, it draws a lot of speculative reasoning. A guy eats another man's face. People want to learn more about the circumstances revolving the event: the identities of the parties, the reasoning, the actions that led up to the event etc.

In a murder mystery such a as Se7en, it's not just the gruesomeness of the killings that are intrigues the audience, it's also the nature in which the murders are carried out. People are compelled to wonder who would do such a thing and why.

And the journey of the investigators is to uncover answers. To peel back the layers. To uncover motives. To uncover MO. To uncover a way to stop him. It's drip feeding the audience news updates.

[ATB]

Re: Best method to go about writing a mystery?

To be honest, I can't fathom how you can have a plot without knowing the mystery.

The mystery is the plot. Everything revolves around it.

[DavidK]

Re: Best method to go about writing a mystery?

To be honest, I can't fathom how you can have a plot without knowing the mystery.

The mystery is the plot. Everything revolves around it.

That is my response exactly. If you haven't worked out the mystery, you can't possibly have worked out the plot.

[wcmartell]

Re: Best method to go about writing a mystery?

Let me third that...

Mystery is kind of my genre underneath it all (thrillers or action) and I really don't know how you can have a plot without knowing the mystery... since the mystery is what drives the plot in both directions (the crime and the solution). You are going to have suspects and clues and red herrings and all of the rest - and those start with the mystery. Also, you will have twists - and those come from the mystery.

So if we look at CHINATOWN, we have three mysteries which are all connected - the water run off, the identity of Mulwray's mistress, and the murder of Murwray. each of those mysteries connects to the other - they kind of snowball. The other characters in the story *come from those mysteries* - we have Mulwray's mistress, his wife, his ex-partner, his 2nd in command, his enemies.... they are all connected to the victim.

Just thought - the question may be about the clues and plotting... but that's where the *writing* comes in - being able to create the clues and twists and reveals. If you are writing a mystery, you need to be able to think that way - find the way that things may not be what they appear to be... 5:40 AM may not be a time, but a radio station, an unfiltered cigarette at the crime scene may have had the filter broken off, or that a .357 Magnum will also fire a .38 Special round. Some of this is creativity and reverse engineering some situation, and some is just research. Your mind works this way - looks for the twists and the clues. Some of that might come from reading mysteries - the first time I read Ed McBain's SHOTGUN and the husband and wife's heads were blown clean off by a shotgun, I wondered if they *were* the husband and wife... or someone else. When they find both's fingerprints all over - as well as one set of wild prints - I didn't jump to the conclusion that the wild prints were the killer - I figured them for the *husband*. You just see things as never what they seem to be. If that's not the issue, forgive me.

But the mystery is the core of a mystery story - whether it's Agatha Christie or John Dickson Carr or Raymond Chandler.

- Bill

[Fortean]

Writing A Mystery, Starting With Just A Plot

To be honest, I can't fathom how you can have a plot without knowing the mystery.

The mystery is the plot. Everything revolves around it.

That is my response exactly. If you haven't worked out the mystery, you can't possibly have worked out the plot.

Let me third that...

Mystery is kind of my genre underneath it all (thrillers or action) and I really don't know how you can have a plot without knowing the mystery...

What was the mystery in Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS?

I used Shakespeare's The Tempest and Hitchcock's film as my inspirations for my screenplay THE TALKING MONGOOSE. The vital clue to help solve this poltergeist mystery is shown, (if one notices and recognizes its significance); but, the plot of the story is about how the life of a magazine editor was changed by writing of his investigations into supernatural phenomena.

"His career was somewhat overshadowed by an episode in 1936 which became known as the 'Talking Mongoose Case'. Levita had alleged that Richard S. Lambert, the founding editor of The Listener was unfit to serve on the board of the British Film Institute (on which his wife served) because Lambert had published an article about a house which was supposedly haunted by Gef the talking mongoose. Lambert then brought an action for slander against Levita which he continued to pursue despite pressure from Sir Stephen Tallents, controller of administration and the chairman of the BBC Ronald Collet Norman who was a friend of Levita's. Lambert won substantial damages and the case prompted an enquiry launched by then Prime Minister into the rights of a public corporation to control the extraneous activities of their employees." ~ Wikipedia

I didn't really solve that mystery until I had already outlined and written most of the screenplay.

[Mr. Earth]

Re: Best method to go about writing a mystery?

I'm thinking the OP is saying that he has an idea for the characters and the main set piece, like five detectives set in a mansion, or on a train, or on a boat. If that's not what he means, I would love to hear more about this.

[Biohazard]

Re: Best method to go about writing a mystery?

The best mysteries have the best suspects. When you don't know if this person or that person or some other person is responsible, then you have a good mystery. It must appear that any of several people could have been capable of whatever crime or secret that is being kept. But without any good suspects, you just have some dumb shlub moping around for 2 hours, and that gets boring fast.

[wcmartell]

Re: Writing A Mystery, Starting With Just A Plot

What was the mystery in Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS?

Hitchcock *hated* mysteries - no shortage of quotes on that - so THE 39 STEPS is a straight thriller, with the mystery basically removed. Mr Memory knows *something* and spills the beans at the end... but we don't understand it or care about it. Even the mystery of who the spy is manages to get solved right away so that we have a twist and a thriller situation.

A MacGuffin is not a mystery - it's kind of the opposite. The tune in LADY VANISHES is just a tune - we never know what it means, only that it is critical to whistle it to the authorities. People will kill you for knowing that tune!

- Bill

[wcmartell]

Re: Best method to go about writing a mystery?

I'm thinking the OP is saying that he has an idea for the characters and the main set piece, like five detectives set in a mansion, or on a train, or on a boat. If that's not what he means, I would love to hear more about this.

But a detective on a train is nothing - the thing that makes MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS work is the big twist resolution and the interesting suspects... who are all tied to a previous crime in unusual ways (which are revealed as the story goes along). Though Poirot is an eccentric character, if all of his mysteries were the same you'd only need to read one. But each one is interesting and has a hook and a twist and the plotting keeps you guessing. So there are a pile of Poirot novels and movies - one with 6 Oscar noms and a win - and kept Peter Ustinov employed.

For instance - DEATH ON THE NILE is on a boat... but the mystery that drives the story deals with a crazed female stalker shooting a husband... then shooting the wife *while in custody* (basically, an impossible crime - how could the stalker shoot the wife when she was locked up at the time?). These puzzles are what a mystery flick is all about. The detective on a boat is a character and a location... but not a story. No hook. No mystery.

- Bill