The Art of a Mystery
The art of a mystery is just that, the mystery. Many writers have tried writing a mystery novel or a short story, some have succeeded and some have not. The art is in the compilation of the mystery itself. The more intriguing and hard to figure out, to a point, the better the mystery usually is.
Those who try and construct intimate
details about their characters or the environment they are in usually end up losing
readers who get bogged down my the monotony. Quick paced action and a moderate
amount of detail so as too keep the reader interested and want to keep turning the pages is what a good mystery does. They finish the book and can hardly wait for the
next one to get published.
The secret is to get the right amount of atmosphere, aka
environment, character description, mood, reason for the crime(s), aka motive, and
the means to commit the crime. That, tied in with the idiosyncrasies of everyday life
in a novel and the little non important details is what keeps it all going.
In this writer’s opinion, one of the best is Tony Hillerman. There are others of course depending on what type of mystery you like. Whatever type you like, enjoy the mystery for the mystery itself, not the Ho hums of all the prattle, the mystery is what
keeps the interest flowing.
Liked it
Tags: mystery, Novel, short story, Writing
Click the icon to the left to subscribe to Writinghood with your favorite RSS reader.
