Murder, He Wrote

Unless you stumble upon an incredibly helpful fellow writer, most of us figure out a lot about the business on our own. When you’re first starting out as a writer, you’ll find that there is a lot of gatekeeping (intentional or not) that happens in the community. So, if you are looking to write a story in a specific genre, and you’re trying to figure out where to start your journey, you might find yourself at a loss. There aren’t exactly road maps created for writers to follow when they begin their careers.

I’ve had a cozy mystery series idea in my brain for years, but I had no idea how to begin to write a mystery. I know how to write characters, a traditional plotline, and world build, but designing a murder mystery was a completely different creature. How does one plot a murder and then present it to a reader in a way that is mysterious?

One of the most helpful things I did was read Writing the Cozy Mystery by Nancy J. Cohen. While it, ultimately, didn’t set me on the exact path needed to write the first book in my cozy mystery series, it gave me a jump start. Seriously, if writing a cozy mystery is on your To-Do List, check out her book. It’s informative and helpful.

I talked to a few other writers who have written cozy mysteries, thrillers, and traditional mysteries for a bit of insight as well. However, I always felt like I wasn’t getting the full picture or all of the helpful tips that a writer needs to feel confident in tackling a new genre. This could have been unintentional on the part of the writers I spoke with since sometimes it is difficult to explain one’s process to another in a way that makes sense. Creativity is ephemeral and ghostly–it’s rarely one size fits all.

But I left those interactions more frustrated than when I began.

Regardless, I did what I’ve always done in the past. I jumped into the process with both feet without checking the temperature and saw if I could tread water. Sink or swim, right?

I’m not ashamed to admit that I was nearly done with my first draft of HEAD FOR MURDER before I realized the biggest trick to writing a cozy mystery (or any murder mystery for that matter). When writing a murder mystery, you’re not plotting a murder. A murder has been committed (e.g. someone has been stabbed and their body found in a cellar). That part is easy. You have a victim. A killing method. A scene of the crime. A weapon. The murder doesn’t need to be plotted.

You’re not trying to solve a murder, either. That’s what the reader is trying to do–along with your amateur sleuth in your novel.

No. What you’re trying to do as the writer is cover up a murder. As the writer of the mystery, you know who did the murder, how, where, and to whom, so now you have to decide how they will try to cover it up. Additionally, you have to figure out the one mistake they make that allows the amateur sleuth to catch them. You are playing both murderer and detective.

While writing a cozy mystery, you have two people living in your head. You must structure everything you write as “Character A does <blank> so Character B figures out <blank>.” For every move your murderer makes, what action on your sleuth’s part corresponds? For every clue your sleuth finds, how can the murderer have covered it up?

Is it the murderer doing the cover-up, or is it shoddy police work? Did environmental factors taint the scene so that the sleuth is thrown off by some clue the murderer left behind? Each step of the way, each thing that brings the sleuth closer to the resolution and catching the murderer, what can get in the way?

What roadblocks can the sleuth encounter that makes it difficult to solve the murder, but also throw off the reader? Basically, how many red herrings can you throw into the mix to make the murder difficult to solve…but also obvious?

This is why you don’t plot the murder when writing a murder mystery. That part is easy. Who, where, when, what. You’re deciding what the clues are and how to cover the whole thing up.

Of course, don’t forget to throw in dynamic characters, snappy dialogue, maybe a theme (if it’s a cozy), and do your world-building. Otherwise, a murder mystery is about writing the story in such a way that you almost don’t get caught.

I don’t know if this will help anyone else, but discovering that mindset sure helped me out.

Tremendous Love & Thanks,
Chase