Some time in 2016, I was addicted to a channel in GoTv called E. It was a documentary channel that centered on uncovering past crimes.
While writing this article how to write a mystery short story, I recalled this channel.
We can’t talk about a mystery story without bringing out a crime or series of crimes.
The fact is, the elements of a mystery story consist of…
- a crime
- a victim
- a suspect (villain)
- a detective (protagonist)
- an investigation
In this article you’ll discover the 3 steps to take to bring these elements together to write a mystery short story.
Let’s dive in….
How to Write a Mystery Short Story
According to “The American Writers,” a mystery story is a story that’s centered on criminal acts, often murder, and the investigation into who committed the crime and why.
To begin with as a mystery short story writer you must know that a successful mystery short story is about a few people, and what they do in a short period within a limited territory.
Thus here’re 3 steps to take to write a mystery short story:
- Adapt a true life story: Adapt means to modify or make something suitable for a new use or purpose. Believe me it’s easier to write a mystery short story when you adapt it to an existing true life story. This gives you the chances of…
- avoiding writers block
- generating a unique concept/storyline
- feeling you up with enthusiasm
- Talk to a detective : a detective is someone who solves crimes, and they are in the best position to help you learn about matters relating to crime. Talking with detectives in your locality helps you to:
- uncover more stories relating to crime
- learn more about how crime is perpetuated
- learn how the detectives think
- Read (+Research) quickly:
The simplest way to quickly write your short mystery story is to read works written by other authors. This helps to open up your mind to be inspired.
Read this short mystery story written by Coco – Detective Flaw
In addition reading helps you to be able to carry out the following activities without stress:
- Research: The primary purpose for research is learn things like:
- names of your characters
- town or region to depict your story
- culture
- Establish your characters: Like I earlier said the elements of a short mystery story include characters. To write a good story, you must determine the roles of your characters.
- Outline (optional): A short mystery story is between 1500 words to 3000 words. Thus to arrive at either of this given numbers you could outline your story from the very first incident to the last. You can make use of Chatgpt to quickly create an outline.
- Right frame of mind: Reading improves and keeps you in the right frame of mind. When you soak your mind with books most especially mystery written by other authors it boost your confidence to write.
- Hook: A hook is what pulls a reader into your story. Reading helps you know how to create a hook at the beginning of your story.
- Suspense: suspense is an uneasy feeling that a reader gets when they don’t know what is going to happen next. You need to create suspense to keep your reader guessing what would happen next. In as much as your story is short you don’t want your readers to figure it all out from the first 200 words.
- Style: All authors have their style of writing. A style is a manner or the way a write communicates his word or story. You learn how to improve on your style of writing when you read other people’s work.
- Dialogues: Dialogues are what makes or break your story. Reading works gives you the chance to learn how pro mystery writers craft their dialogues.
A mystery short story is not a story yet until it’s written. Haven learned the 3 easy steps that can help you write your mystery story, it’s time to write, edit and publish your story.
Let’s wrap up
If you want to be good at crafting good mystery stories, you need to know that mystery writers:
- are careful planners
- they start with strong hooks
- they develop the right setting and mood
- they reveal details slowly
- they create realistic characters
- they end their stories well.
Have you been properly guided? Please share this article! Above all I wish you all the best in your mystery writing adventure.
