Customer Reviews

Writing Mysteries: A Handbook by the Mystery Writers of America

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A favorite device of the Writer's Digest Books imprint is to collect a couple dozen magazine articles under some organizational headings, add an introduction by a well-known genre name (Sue Grafton, in this case), and publish it as a book. I've found these collections to be uniformly unsatisfying, short on real how-to information and long on shopworn cliches. Writing Mysteries is no exception.

The biggest failing of Writing Mysteries is that, regardless of what the table of contents promises, it presents no real strategy for approaching the complex task of planning and writing a book-length manuscript. Many of the chapters were clearly written to fill magazine column space. They cover topics that have been covered elsewhere time after weary time, too often in an off-hand or precious manner, and they tend to give empty advice - where do you get ideas? anywhere; do you use an outline? sometimes; and on and on. Worse, many of the chapters are rambling and poorly organized, and some deal only tangentially with the topic announced in the chapter title (or subheading).

There are useful tips here, but you have to mine the whole mountain to find the nuggets. You'd do better to purchase a single-author, comprehensive guide to writing mysteries. You'll get those nuggets of writing wisdom, along with a lot more actual how-to information.

Writing Mysteries, 2nd Ed.: A Handbook by the Mystery Writers of America
Edited by Sue Grafton, with Jan Burke and Barry Zeman
Writers Digest Books(2002)

"Writing a novel is a long distance run of the imagination...Writers need all the help they can get, wherever they can get it..." (George C. Chesbro, p.91)

So you want to write a mystery? There's a few things you'll need for your journey, among them a healthy dose of curiousity and imagination, but nothing so important as a well-worn copy of Writing Mysteries (2nd Ed.), written by the Mystery Writers of America. Everything you'll need is here, organized into just under 300 pages of collective wisdom, from well-known and not-so-well-known mystery authors.

The handbook is divided into three parts: Preparation, The Process, and Specialties. Part I includes chapters on "The Rules and How to Bend Them," how and where writers get their ideas, the pros and cons of writing with a partner, and several chapters on research and background, all exploring different facets of these subjects.

Part II, The Process, dives right in to beginnings, middles, and endings, with specific sections focusing in-depth on characterization, creating a series character, using point of view, and developing one's personal writing style. Discussions on dialogue, pacing, and "clues, red herrings, and other plot devices" lead into the beginning of the end--thoughts and recommendations on plot, revision, agents, and markets.

Part III, Specialities, contains separate and thorough chapters each detailing a particular type of mystery writing--writing short stories, for younger audiences, true crime, e-book mysteries, and even a list of additional recommended reading and references.

So there you have it--everything you'll need to know to write a mystery--from the inkling of your first clue to the portrayal of the hero/sleuth your audiences will clamor to read about again and again. The best of the best are here--Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, Tony Hillerman, Michael Connelly, Stuart Kaminsky, Sara Paretsky, Joan Lowery Nixon, Lawrence Block, and a host of other unique voices to guide the beginning mystery writer on the journey from idea to publication. With humor and honesty, a varied assortment of very different writers share their thoughts and even some of their "trade secrets" in this excellent writer's resource. Every aspiring mystery writer should have a copy of Writing Mysteries within arm's reach.

WOW! I just finished reading this book and I NEVER read a book twice, but I plan on going back and re-reading every chapter in this book at least twice to make sure I didn't miss anything in the first go-round.

This chapters in this book are written by some of the best Mystery writers in America (hence the title) but what they divulge in each chapter, informationwise, is worth it's weight in gold (or in budding mystery writers--worth it's weight in editor's advice, author's hints to getting printed, and agents dreams for all their best selling authors).

Don't wait until this book can be purchased used -- buy it new at full-price now--you won't regret it. Then read each chapter, high-light the good points, then go back and re-read a chapter or two often.

My favorite and most rich in information chapter was the one near the end describing what agents do for writers in terms of monetary contracts, how hard-copy versus soft-copy books will enrich you one way or the other, and there's even a chapter on e-printing that shared lots of neat little pieces of information.

But, the best thing about this book is you feel like the Mystery Authors who contributed a chapter each were sitting next to you, telling you little secrets about writing and the industry that they were only telling you so you could succeed and get ahead of all the others. And they were all very encouraging, positive thinking, essays.

Sue Grafton edited the book and my hat is off to you Ms. Grafton--I have read every one of your Kinsey Milhoune books A-Q, and if you don't get R out soon, I'm going to die!

Highly advise buying this book if you are aspiring to be a Mystery Writer in any genre.

Put this book at the top of your reference list if you are a mystery writer. From research to writer's block to finding an agent, any problem you encounter will be addressed in this book. You can easily find the subject you're looking for without having to thumb trough the whole book.
It's like having all your favorite writers at your beckon call when you need advice, without the legwork. Unlike most reference books, it doesn't stifle creativity with a lot of rules and this-is-how-it's-done's. Fun to read, and-most importantly- it got me excited about my own writing again.

I used this book as a way to refresh my perspective on a mystery novel after finishing a second draft. I highlighted perhaps a dozen relevant/useful passages in the entire 300-page book. There are a handful of interesting ideas, but the biggest challenge I encountered is that the quality of the advice is entirely dependent on the author of each chapter - so, if what you want to learn about happens to have been written about by an average advice-giver, you're out of luck. For a better treatment - more concise and productive, and of better quality throughout - consider Hallie Ephron's "Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel."

While I agree with the previous poster that one has to do a certain amount of mining with this, and other Writer's Digest anthologies, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I actually had an opportunity to talk about the book recently with Sue Grafton, who edited it, and she said her goal was to take readers from idea through publication, employing the voices of experts in each area. For example, the chapter on series characters is written by Sara Paretsky, whose V.I. Warshawski is a classic demonstration of what she's talking about. In all, I enjoyed and appreciated the disparate voices perhaps more than I might have appreciated the same advice in a monolithic voice.

Every aspiring mystery writer, especially beginners, should take a good look at this book. It can save beginning writers a lot of grief. More experienced writers may find some of the focus a bit tedious, but that very same beginner focus has come in handy for me a number of times (usually when a project is losing steam, or I'm having difficulty with pacing... things like that). I definitely recommend it.

The MWA handbook, Writing Mysteries, is one of the best of the how-to books for aspiring mystery writers. Each chapter is written by a well-known professional and each important part of the activity is covered: preparation/research, the essential elements (character, setting, plot, etc.), subgenres and practical advice on markets, interactions with agents and editors and writing practices. There is also some bibliographical material (the `best of the genre'; reference books, etc.).

How useful the book will be to individual writers depends on the writers. Broad experience as a reader, in my opinion, trumps the advice of a ten-page chapter. In other words, a broad reader could write the chapters here, once he or she thought about the issues under consideration. If you are not a broad reader it is unlikely that a set of encapsulated recommendations will be sufficient to introduce you to the mystery/crime fiction genres and the diverse ways in which highly-skilled writers practice their craft.

I would normally argue that there are certain things that can only be learned through long practice: plot architectonics, tone, pace, e.g., but some of my students have been able to do these things `naturally' in ways that surprise and even mystify me. Other things can only be learned by experience--things which I call `lore' rather than `learning'. Writing Mysteries is very helpful in this regard, with, e.g., a nice chapter by Ruth Cavin on the ways and means of the NY editor's office.

I would recommend that Writing Mysteries (and similar books) be used like the bible: read in it; read around in it. There is information here and there is inspiration as well. Some material will be of great use to one writer, but not to another. Sometimes it is good for all of us to be reminded of essentials. Sometimes we will learn much more from an offhand comment or random insight than from a nearly-exhaustive examination of a subject.

I advise my own students to read widely in internet material, particularly that in which successful authors discuss their views of their work and talk specifically about the manner in which that work was created. Each approach (like each author) is unique, though there are commonalities. The ultimate goal is to nurture your own, specific talent, but learning the techniques and attitudes of others can be very suggestive and sometimes enable you to work through a problem or issue that you are confronting. In seeing how some `do it' we learn how we ourselves actually `do it'. That enables us to see our own particular strengths and capitalize on them. There is no successful `way', only the way that works for you. Writing Mysteries may help you find that way (or find your way back to it).

I have other books concerning this subject. What I like about this book is that it contains chapters by different authors. There is nothing like hearing advice from the very authors that you enjoy reading so much.

There is much to learn writing in the mystery genre, and these masters freely give of their time and knowledge as they share the results of their experience.

Writing Mysteries is divided into three parts: Preparation, the Process, and Specialties. Essays provided by over three dozen mystery authors include examples from their published works.

The preparation begins with how to bend, not break, the rules of mystery writing. The section continues with how to keep a work schedule, and how to research and create background, location, and setting.

The process involves the beginning, middle, and end of each story. Character development plays an important role in establishing the beginning of a good mystery. Outlining and point of view are also discussed. In the middle, the reader learns the art of writing convincing dialogue, pacing, suspense, including such plot devices such as clues and red herrings.

The end portion of the process notes how important a plausible ending is to the story and how important it is that the writer know what the end of the story will be right from the beginning. Also important is how to revise the story, finding and working with an agent, and how to market the writer's next bestseller.

Finally, specialty mysteries such as short stories, medical and legal thrillers, historical, true crime, and young adult are addressed.

Not only will the reader of this marvelous compilation glean a wealth of important information geared toward their success as a writer, they will sit at the feet of talented well-known published writers of mysteries, thrillers, and true crime novels.

Sue Grafton successfully entered the field of mystery writing in 1982, and from her experience has gathered an incredible treasure trove of information. This anthology is highly recommended for any writer desiring to write saleable mysteries.


Writing Mysteries