Writing Mysteries (Paperback)

~ Sue Grafton (Editor) "When Sue Grafton asked me to write this article, she suggested as a title..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Mystery Writers of America, Ellery Queen (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The mystery, like other stories, relies on believable characters, a strong narrative, and crisp prose. But it is also "a way of examining the dark side of human nature," says Writing Mysteries editor Sue Grafton. The book's 37 contributors ponder everything from brainstorming ideas to dealing with editors. Jeremiah Healy jump-starts the book with a piece that considers the unwritten "rules" of mystery writing. Stuart Kaminsky discusses research--experts, it turns out, are just waiting for you to contact them--and Sandra Scoppettone discusses vivid villains. Sara Paretsky contemplates the pitfalls of using a recurring hero, and Michael Connelly contributes a fine piece on characterization. "The best crime novels," Connelly says, "are not about how a detective works on a case; they are about how a case works on a detective." Other chapters focus on amateur sleuths, convincing dialogue, depiction of violence, and specialty genres. The book's short chapters form a sort of mystery writer's antipasti plate. Some won't resonate, while others will leave you wishing you had a larger serving. An ideal primer for mystery writers. --Jane Steinberg

Product Description

Writing mystery fiction can be a special kind of puzzle. In this new, revised edition of the Mystery Writers of America classic, Sue Grafton weaves the experience of today's top mystery authors into a comprehensive mystery writing "how-to." Writers will learn how to piece a perfect mystery together and create realistic stories that are taut, immediate and fraught with tension.

The book's contributors include a "who's who" of the mystery writing elite: Faye and Jonathan Kellerman on conducting accurate research; Michael Connelly on mastering characterization; Tony Hillerman on writing without an outline; Lawrence Block on overcoming writer's block; Sara Paretsky on creating successful series characters; Tess Gerritson on writing the medical thriller; Ann Rule on the art of writing true crime. And many more!

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books; 2 edition (April 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582971021
• ISBN-13: 978-1582971025
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #146,369 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Empty advice - scrambled eggs with not enough ham, June 14, 2004

By	Danny M. Hobbs "deebledd" (Tigard, OR United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

45 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything you'll need to finally write that mystery!, June 15, 2002

By	Ellen Zuckerman (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews

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.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Do NOT Wait to Get This Book If You Want to Writer Mysteries, September 15, 2003

By	iqhope (Virginia Beach, VA USA) - See all my reviews

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.