You have your murderer. You have your detective. Now all you need is a story! In an article for Writer’s Digest, Connie Berry offers advice for building a killer plot for your mystery novel. “How do authors handle the tension between the perpetrator, who needs to keep his deep, dark secrets, and the sleuth, who is determined to unmask them?” Berry asks. “The answer will vary from author to author and from book to book but remembering five simple principles will help you elevate a killer plot.”
Importantly, the reason for your victim’s murder – as well as the perpetrator – is a secret. “Knowing the why of a murder goes a long way toward revealing the who,” Brennan says. You might create a red herring by planting obvious motivations, while merely hinting at an entirely different reason that is revealed only at the end. Conversely, your suspects have secrets of their own. While they didn’t kill to protect their secret, they will lie or withhold information to the same end.
Berry offers four tips for misdirecting your reader:
- Create a false clue. Sometimes an item at a crime scene has no bearing on the crime at all.
- Confuse the time frame. When did you victim actually die?
- Create a distraction. Bring your suspects’ secrets and conflicts into play to give your killer cover during key scenes.
- Burying a real clue in a list. Readers remember only a few items in a list – usually the first two or three – and more colorful or interesting items over something mundane. Hide your real clue in something that seems insignificant, especially compared to red herrings that are out of place.
