Friday, April 29, 2011

1. Bell-Ringer: Art Class?  Activity with drawing and describing. 

2.  About writing mystery.
      A. Stories with Holes
      B. A small mystery to solve
      C. Advice from a professional writer of mysteries:
             a) The reader must have equal opportunity with the detective for solving the mystery.  All clues must be plainly stated and described.
             b) No willful trick or deceptions may be placed on the reader other than those played by the criminal on the detective himself/herself.
             c) The detective never turns out to be the culprit.
             d)  The culprit must be determined by logical deduction, not by accident or coincidence or unmotivated confession.
              e)  The detective novel must have a detective in it, though the detective does not have to be a professional detective.
              f)  There must be a crime that the reader will care about.  Keep in mind who your audience is.
              g)  There will be just one detective, thought the detective could have an assistant.
              h)   The culprit must turn out to be a person who has played a more or less prominent part in the story -- that is, a person with whom the reader is familiar and in whom the reader takes an interest.
              i)  There must be one culprit -- not a gang or group.
              j)  The method of the murder and the means of detecting it must be realistic.
              k)  The truth must be at all times apparent.  Once the reader finds out the solution to the mystery, he or she could go back through the story and every part of the story would fit logically with the solution.
               l) The crime will never turn out to be an accident or suicide or dream.
             
S.S. Van Dine,  "How to Write Mystery Stories"  from The Writer's 1930 Yearbook, found in The Writer's Digest Guide to Good Writing, 1994. 
              

     D.  Time to start getting ideas down.  Individual writing time.  mystery planner.doc