How to Write a Damn Good Mystery A Practical Step-by-Step Guide from Inspiration to Finished Manuscript

by Frey, James N.

• ISBN13: 9780312304461
• ISBN10: 0312304463
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-02-12
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Summary

Edgar award nominee James N. Frey, author of the internationally best-selling books on the craft of writing, How to Write a Damn Good Novel , How to Write a Damn Good Novel II: Advanced Techniques , and The Key: How to Write Damn Good Fiction Using the Power of Myth , has now written what is certain to become the standard "how to" book for mystery writing, How to Write a Damn Good Mystery . Frey urges writers to aim high-not to try to write a good-enough-to-get-published mystery, but a damn good mystery. A damn good mystery is first a dramatic novel, Frey insists-a dramatic novel with living, breathing characters-and he shows his readers how to create a living, breathing, believable character who will be clever and resourceful, willful and resolute, and will be what Frey calls "the author of the plot behind the plot." Frey then shows, in his well-known, entertaining, and accessible (and often humorous) style , how the characters-the entire ensemble, including the murderer, the detective, the authorities, the victims, the suspects, the witnesses and the bystanders-create a complete and coherent world. Exploring both the on-stage action and the behind-the-scenes intrigue, Frey shows prospective writers how to build a fleshed-out, believable, and logical world. He shows them exactly which parts of that world show up in the pages of a damn good mystery-and which parts are held back just long enough to keep the reader guessing. This is an indispensable step-by-step guide for anyone who's ever dreamed of writing a damn good mystery.

Author Biography

James N. Frey has taught at the University of California, Berkeley, Extension, the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, and the Oregon Writers' Colony.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Why Every Mystery Writer in the World Should Read This Book	p. ix
Why People Read Mysteries and Other Useful Stuff for Mystery Writers to Know	p. 1
Ideas to Get You Started--The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly	p. 14
The Plot Behind the Plot	p. 25
Creating a Murderer	p. 34
How to Become Intimate with a Murderer	p. 43
The Hero/Detective	p. 51
Creating a Damn Good Hero	p. 65
The Other Characters: Some Mythic, Some Not and Mythic Motifs of Interest to Mystery Writers	p. 79
All About Plotting, Stepsheets, Flowcharts, and That Kind of Stuff or How to Get the Hell Out of the Way and Let Your Characters Tell the Story	p. 99
Designing the Plot for Fun and Profit	p. 111
Plotting Theory	p. 129
The Hero/Detective Gets to Work	p. 144
How Our Hero/Detective Figures It All Out	p. 165
All About Bringing Off a Gripping Climax and Other Good Stuff	p. 175
Gotcha! Putting the Murderer in the Bag	p. 183
Writing Damn Good Prose	p. 189
The Fine Art of Writing the Mystery Scene	p. 204
All About Viewpoints and Voices or Who's Telling This Damn Story Anyway--Me or Him? Him or Me?	p. 225
Drafting, Rewriting, and Polishing Your Damn Good Mystery	p. 239
The Killer Attitude or Getting an Agent, Dealing with Editors, Promotion, Book Signings, and Living the Writer's Life	p. 255
Bibliography	p. 269
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