Write Your Own: Mystery (13 page)

Make two columns in your journal. One should have a heading ‘clues' and the other, ‘red herrings'. Plan out your story listing the clues and red herrings that your sleuth will have to contend with, in order to solve the mystery!

PUTTING PEN TO PAPER

Ready to start writing? Before you finally start, read this chapter. Each section will help you through a different stage in your mystery. It can help to think about your story in three sections:

The beginning
where you introduce the characters and set up the mystery;

The middle
in which the sleuth investigates and unearths clues;

The end
where the clues pile up and the villain is revealed!

Imagine if a mystery story opened like this:
Billy whistled a jolly tune as he walked to school. The birds were singing and Billy wondered what he was having for his supper that night …

Doesn't exactly grip you, does it? The start of your story must really captivate your reader and make them itch to find out more! Here are some ideas:

1. Introduce your main character

Use the opening paragraph to introduce your main character, perhaps your sleuth? Try to build a picture of the character in the reader's mind. Think about how the character is feeling and show this through what they say and do. For example:
Brian looked down at his feet and saw they were red raw. From inside the flat, he could hear Mrs Swabey shuffling and scraping as she made her way down the corridor. At any moment the door would open and he would have to explain himself. Reluctantly, he waited.

2. Set the scene

The setting can create a tense atmosphere. Use specific details and don't forget to show the time of day and the weather as a backdrop. For example:

It was cold on deck but Valerie stood there for as long as she could. She watched the distant lights of the town, strung out along the coast like a thin necklace, disappear into the night. The ferry rolled slowly from side to side in a gentle rocking motion as it carved its way through the dark waters.

She waited on deck long after she saw her parents blur into the lights, blinking back her tears …

3. Use a dramatic event

You might want to start your mystery with a bang that will plunge your readers straight into the story. Here are some suggestions for dramatic opening lines:

  
As Gina sat down to eat her breakfast somebody screamed …

  
Funnily enough, Brian was just getting into the bath when the river banks broke …

  
The bank's alarm rang as a gang of four robbers burst into the vaults …

  
A hand grabbed Val's ankle and held on so tightly that she yelled …

4. Use dialogue

This can be a handy way to start a story off – especially if what is said helps to get the action going. For example:

‘Help me, please' wailed Mrs Jones, ‘someone has just made off with my garden gnome'.

‘Don't worry, Mrs Jones,' I said reassuringly, ‘We can always get you a replacement.'

‘But you don't understand,' the old lady cried, ‘that's where I keep my sapphire bracelet. But no-one knows that, except me …'

Early on in the story you will need to introduce the mystery event or crime itself. Build up what happens gradually. It can help if your main character is doing something quite ordinary and then sees or hears something unusual which leads them to investigate. For example:
It was a cold Saturday afternoon and Michaela was raking up the leaves in the Baxters' garden. It was very hard work because the wind kept blowing them about.

Once the sack was full she dragged it to the end of the garden and tipped the leaves out onto the smouldering bonfire. They
fell like so many fragments of paper, in a tumble of reds and golds. As she was staring at the flames, she heard somebody moan. Her instinct was to duck down and freeze, but through the hedge she could just make out two men carrying something long and heavy between them and they were heading for a parked van….

 

Writing tip!

Use a good story starter to get the action moving. In the first few paragraphs introduce the mystery. Right from the beginning you need to build your readers' curiosity so that they will want to read on.

In a mystery story the middle part is usually about the sleuth trying to solve the crime or mystery. Think about this part of your story as a series of scenes. Each scene can become a chapter or section of the story. As your ‘sleuth' character tries to solve the mystery, he or she may: