Tiffany Turner's Writing Projects Page

Building Your Detective Character

Most Mysteries center around the main character that has Detective Character Traits. Some famous detective characters are Encyclopedia Brown and Cam Jensen. What do they all have in common? They love to solve mysteries, look for clues, ask questions, and usually have certain abilities that lend them to solve mysteries. Encyclopedia Brown is full of facts. Cam Jensen loves to hunt for clues. Building a Detective Character should involve some of these traits to start your mystery. When you've got your detective character, it's time to build your Mystery Plot.

Mystery Plot

A Plot, or what happens in a story, is the starting point of any story. In a Mystery, it should center around the problem or mystery. Great ideas for Mystery problems are missing persons or items. The setting can be anywhere, but should be a place that your detective character would be involved with. Once you settle on a Mystery Problem, it's time to work on the solution.

As the author, you need to know how the mystery is solved before you write it. Once you know the solution, then you can figure the clues to lead your reader to your solution. It is important to know exactly what these are before you even start writing. It's called Prewriting, and the ideas can be organized in a list, webbing, or even pictures. However you organize your thoughts, you need to know the solution to figure the clues. The clues are your breadcrumbs that lead the reader to your solution. A good rule to follow is at least 3 clues leading to the solution. You can have more, but less isn't enough of a story. Most stories use 3 as a pattern and many readers are used to following that pattern. Once you've mapped out your ideas, it's time to start writing. But where do you start?

Action is Worth a Thousand Words

The best place to get started is with an action. Most readers will get bored if you just tell your story. The best way to grab them is to show your detective character in an action. Maybe your character is a kid who likes to solve mysteries. Where are kids a lot? At school. So put your character at school, but don't stop there. Have them be in the action of listening to the teacher, playing at recess, or even eating lunch at the cafeteria. Not only will it bring your reader into the story, it will help you introduce your character and get them involved into the Mystery Problem. Once your problem is introduced, have your character find the clues. Detectives can ask questions, find clues, or even run into them. Have fun with your story. See where your character will take you. You might find that a Mystery Story is even more fun to write than to read. Happy Writing!

Character Sketch

Every good story needs a character. Start with a spooky one. Think about what traits you want to have in your character. First draw a picture, and then describe what they look like from it. Add back and forth to the picture and to your words to make your character. Some good spooky characters to start with are: ghosts, vampires, zombies, werewolves, or witches.
Think of what makes these characters spooky. Vampires drink blood.(Yuck, but well, if they didn't they wouldn't be vampires.) Ghosts are dead people walking about that can't be seen. Zombies are dead people that walk about that can be seen. Witches are good or bad. There's a lot that could be done there.(Like a whole book or play called "Wicked" But then someone's done that one already.)

Setting: Now you've got to put your story somewhere spooky. Haunted Houses and Graveyards are a great starting point.

Next is the Problem of the Story. What is going to be your character's problem? Stuck in a haunted house and can't get out? A vampire that is scared of blood? A witch that wants to do a good spell instead of bad spells, but the other witches object?

Once you've sketched your character, chosen your setting and problem, now brainstorm ideas. You can do this by Webbing. Put the problem in the middle and write your ideas out of the problem. Number them in order and lead to a solution. There, now your plot is starting to get set.
Have you noticed you actually haven't written even a rough draft yet? This is all what is called Prewriting!

So now you know what to put into your Spooky Story? Now how do you start? If you need to, start with: "It was a dark and spooky evening." That way you've got something on the paper. Or sometimes a question works best: "Did you know that most vampires drink blood? But I know a vampire that is scared of the very sight of the red liquid."
You can write your story from the FIRST PERSON, the way as if a character in the story is telling the tale. Or better yet, start with an event that leads right into the problem. "Another spell to help grow the grass. Clarisa was getting so bored with ordinary spells. She wanted to do something better, more fun, more exciting. She was soon to get her wish."