Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel [Paperback]

Hallie Ephron (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1582973768 | ISBN-13: 978-1582973760 | Publication Date: September 1, 2005

How to write a page-turner is no mystery with this thorough and authoritative guide. Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel: Features comprehensive instruction, exercises, and worksheets for mystery writers of all levels Addresses all subgenres of mystery from hardboiled crimes to romantic thrillers and medical mysteries Covers how to grab readers from the first chapter; how to construct effective plots, and how to revise and submit mystery novels to publishers The author takes the mystery out of the writing process, making it less daunting for beginners and more efficient for experienced writers.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Hallie Ephron has published short stories and magazine articles, and her essays have been heard on US radio.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582973768
• ISBN-13: 978-1582973760
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #183,111 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best How-To On Mysteries Yet, November 3, 2005

By 

LitTeacher (Newington, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel (Paperback)

While Carolyn Wheat and James Frey's books are excellent, Hallie Ephron's book is even better, spending lots of concrete and practical time on planning before you begin writing. Her examples are contemporary and clear, and her interactive worksheets are even better. Since I need to do lots of outlining before I start writing, this book gave me specific ways of strenthening my own process and planning, especially plotting, my personal weakness. Her advice on queries, synopses, and finding an agent or publisher were also clear and realistic--I have some of the same rejection letters she shows, maybe from the same agents. She also lists several references and websites as other resources, many of which were new to me. All in all, this is the best book on writing mysteries I've found, and I know I'll wear it out going back to re-read it.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good for newbies, May 22, 2007

By 

ESP (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel (Paperback)

Writing instruction books penned by writers are a dime per every two dozen. Most of their advice amounts to a re-packaging of every writer cliché available for free: Show, don't tell; write a character bio; use he said/she said; conflict, conflict, conflict. Rarely does anything write-home-worthy come down the pike that we haven't read elsewhere. So it is with a mix of openness and skepticism that I picked up WRITING AND SELLING YOUR MYSTERY NOVEL by Hallie Ephron.

The result? A good primer for beginners, but mostly just another rehash of generic advice to the more seasoned writer. Ephron covers everything in this book: Characterization, dialogue, selecting a title, setting, plotting, suspense, revision, marketing, polishing, selling--I mean she covers it ALL. She also includes copious charts and graphs that illustrate her points for the reader's personal use. This is what makes it such a good, comprehensive tool for someone just getting into writing who could benefit from an all-in-one resource. But as much as that's a strength of the book, it's also a weakness. The book is too busy with charts, and Ephron breezes through every imaginable subject so quickly that she rarely scratches past the surface. In this way, WRITING AND SELLING is malnourished inasmuch as it's comprehensive.

For intermediate to advanced writers, there are a few good chapters in here. I particularly enjoyed the ones on plotting and suspense, and Ephron's itemization of different plot twists and turns, when coupled with the chapter on suspense, is almost worth the price of the book alone. So, if you're just starting out, feel free to buy WRITING AND SELLING YOUR MYSTERY NOVEL to get your beak wet. Then go deeper with DON'T MURDER YOUR MYSTERY or SELF-EDITING FOR FICTION WRITERS.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear and Detailed Information for Learning and Applying to Your Writing Habits, July 19, 2006

By 

FictionAddiction.NET - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel (Paperback)

At the heart of every mystery novel lies a puzzle for the story's hero, and the reader, to solve. In the beginning the mystery seems to be about one thing, but in the end it turns out to be about something else.

To make it work, the writer develops a string of events and presents them in a series of twists and turns. The main story is tangled with sub plots and complicated by characters that may or may not have something to hide.

Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel takes you from planning a mystery novel to targeting potential markets and agents.

Beginning with the premise and continuing through to title selection, Part I provides a step-by-step guide to the process of planning a mystery novel. At the end of each Chapter the writer is instructed to add to the blueprint at the end of the section. The blueprint is the basic framework for a novel. By the end of the planning section the writer has a completed blueprint and is ready to write.

From the mystery novel's opening scene to its coda, Part II provides a guide to the writing process. It discusses crafting scenes, introducing characters, creating mystery and maintaining suspense. This is where the real work begins -- writing the first draft.

Part III suggests a range of techniques for polishing a novel. No one writes a publishable first draft. This section guides the reader through revision, pacing and characterization.

The final section gives tips on finding an agent and a publisher. Part IV shows how to prepare a query packet and send a manuscript out into the world. If the mystery is a good one it will find a home.