In an article for Writer’s Digest, Harry Hunsicker shares his top tips for writing modern day detective fiction, four to cover the basics and four to make your story stand out from the crowd.
- Don’t fear tech. If you’re writing a modern day setting, your characters will have access to the internet, smart devices, and even AI. These tools are no replacement for investigation or face-to-face contact, but your readers will notice if you avoid them.
- Update your plot. Society changes, but human nature doesn’t, Hunsicker says. Greed, lust, and revenge are as powerful today as they were 100 years ago. Layer modern settings and opportunities on top of those base emotions.
- Craft uniquely flawed characters. Does the world need another hard-drinking burned out ex-cop? Bring a unique perspective to your main characters.
- Avoid the tropes. “Unless you’ve got some great way to turn the conventions of the genre on their head, try not to write the scenes we’ve all read a thousand times before,” Hunsicker writes. “You are unique. Your life experiences are different from every other person on the planet, even if just a little. Find something unique to say in your fiction.”
- Know the ending of your story. You may have a great opening, but if you don’t have a strong middle or end, you won’t make it far.
- Make your detective detect. Don’t make things too easy for your hero. Your sleuth needs to earn every clue and insight. Readers will tolerate the occasional coincidence, but don’t simply drop clues in the protagonist’s path or have witnesses tell her what she needs to know.
- Come up with a great crime. Well, duh. The more difficult the mystery, the greater the conflict for your hero, and the more satisfying the resolution.
- Shun gimmicks. Your mystery should be unsolvable to everyone but you. Don’t use coincidence or deus ex machina to resolve your story.
