5 Tips for How to Write Mystery

When looking for a brain teaser, mysteries are the genre that readers gravitate toward. The most brilliant mysteries are those that manage to outwit their readers while maintaining fairness. In addition to being educated people in and of themselves, mystery readers are also well familiar with all the cliches and plot devices that mystery writers may use. So let's talk about mystery writing in the hopes of outwitting readers.

Foreshadowing: Mystery Is All About Setup and Payoff

Upon closer examination, mystery is essentially just a form of foreshadowing. Or rather, foreshadowing is the key to a well-written mystery. A mystery does not consist of a little suspense and a big reveal at the end. Readers want a fair chance at solving the crime, even while they also want to be duped. A true mystery is one that gives readers all the hints they need to solve it, with very little of what the detective character discovers kept secret.

However, how can you give them every hint and hope they won't deduce the meaning? Without a doubt, you've done your fair share of investigating the crime scene as soon as the offender appears on screen. It can be tough for authors to include all the foreshadowing they need without being overt, especially in short-form work like serial TV episodes.

Nothing more clearly displays the genuine skill of a mystery master than foreshadowing. The two components of foreshadowing are setup and payout, or the planting of the clue and the final understanding of it.

But modern audiences are so astute that they frequently pick up on misdirection the moment a tale gives a component more than a passing attention. Rather than becoming sidetracked from reality, they instantly realize, "Ah, well, that's obviously not the culprit!"

Achieving the ideal balance between misdirection and foreshadowing is a true artistic endeavor. Getting your audience emotionally invested in the deception is one of the best tricks. Bring it to life. Create it from the inside out, whether it's a well-developed subplot or simply a minor element. Making sure readers are so happy with the twist that they would still enjoy discovering it even if they knew it ahead of time is the key to any good plot twist—and, essentially, that's all mystery is. Furthermore, audiences are far less likely to consider every tiny information you present when their emotions are engaged.