Lora Roberts

…or how to do a who-done-it

Mysteries require a sharpening of the elements found in any good traditional novel. There must be conflict on many levels—personal, situational and systemic. Something important must be at stake for the viewpoint character, something the reader wants that character to have. Unlike other forms of fiction, mysteries require a neat ending—a resolution. In fact, that ’90s phrase “conflict resolution” is sort of a motto for writing mysteries.

The beginning sets up the conflict—which needn’t be violent, but must involve the viewpoint character. Develop the plot by giving your character too many balls to juggle. The screenwriting axiom is, get your character up a tree, then throw rocks at her. Plan a resolution, one which will solve the problems and bring a sense of closure to the initial conflict.

Knowing your characters makes the action in a mystery flow smoothly out of the character’s response to the conflict. Give the character weaknesses that can be strengths, and strengths that turn into weaknesses—examples: Mother’s love for child makes her vulnerable when child is in danger. Mother’s vice of cigarette smoking provides her with lighter for use in emergency. Let your characters use their strengths and weaknesses. Don’t clutter your story with unnecessary details.

Keep the resolution in tone with the rest of the story—if it’s a story of detection, then a violent resolution is out of place. If the story has humorous parts, then a grim and nasty ending is too much. Tie up the loose ends—always a major problem! Follow through on secondary characters the reader may have gotten fond of. A fellow author has compared the domestic mystery to a snow globe. A quiet scene, perfect and pristine. When shaken, it’s whirled with doubt, pelted with trouble. At the end, all is calm again. The fun of being a writer is, we get to shake the globe.