How can you write the next great mystery novel? We've put together this guide to crafting crime fiction so that you can get started on your way to an enthralling best seller.

Compelling Crime Fiction Storytelling

A good mystery book should keep the reader hooked throughout the story. They should be eager to read more and struggle to put the book down.

Crafting crime fiction is similar to crafting stories in other genres of fiction, as it requires knowledge of that genre. You need to know the common themes and tropes of what you are writing. You should gain an understanding of the different elements of fiction in the genre of crime and any other genre your book crosses into.

You may want to look into common mystery writing techniques for inspiration. Even Agatha Christie had a formula for her work. While you shouldn't just copy another story, you can borrow themes, techniques, and ideas for how the story is told.

Compelling crime fiction storytelling requires a masterful use of pacing in your work. Some passages need to be fast and give your reader an adrenaline rush. While some passages need to be slow and perhaps even eerie.

Before you start writing your next crime masterpiece, you should plan out all the details of your story. It is always a good idea to get feedback from the right people regarding your story to ensure everything makes sense. Asking appropriate people for genuine feedback is a great way to improve your writing.

Finally, if your book is set in the real world, you need to do your research. In order to keep things realistic in your story, you have to ensure you are getting the facts right. Otherwise, it will be hard for readers to get invested.

Crafting Crime Fiction

When you're crafting crime fiction, remember that you are writing for mystery lovers. Your target audience wants an enthralling case that will keep them hooked. Try to put yourself in the shoes of a reader who is trying to piece together clues as they follow your book. For compelling crime fiction storytelling, focus on the kind of things you, as a mystery lover, would like to see in a story.

The first thing to do is plan out your plot. You need:

• An interesting setting
• A crime
• An intriguing set of characters

The setting and overall atmosphere of the book need to capture the reader's imagination and make them want to be transported there. If your setting is uninteresting and the atmosphere is uninspired, your reader won't be able to get invested in the plot.

Planning out the crime for your book is key. Think about the simple questions:

• Who did it?
• How did they do it?
• Why did they do it?
• What are they doing to try to get away with it?

You should know your characters motivations and what they have done before you start writing; otherwise, things will get really messy because you won't know where you are going. One vital mystery writing technique to keep in mind is that you have to both plan the crime in your story and have already solved it before you start writing.

For your characters, you really have to think of your detective and the suspects. For the detective, they need some of their personalities fleshed out. What was in their past? Why do they want to solve crimes? What are their skills and weaknesses? These things can be revealed throughout the story; they don't have to all be thrown into the opening. Avoid overstating things about your detective. For example, if they have guilt over a crime they couldn't solve, you shouldn't just plainly say it; you should show it through dialogue or flashbacks.

As for the suspects, each one needs a motive (otherwise, there is no reason to suspect them!). This can come naturally when you think about the backstory of your victim. What did they have, and who would benefit from taking it away or getting rid of them? Other options for characters could include the family and friends of your victim, the detective sidekick, and background characters who advance the plot.

A really important part of writing crime fiction effectively is creating a satisfactory conclusion to your story. This simply means the reader finds out who did it, even if the detective or other characters do not necessarily find out themselves. While you may leave some things open-ended, you need to provide an answer to the questions. Who did it and why?

Mystery Writing Techniques for Crafting Crime Fiction

So, what kind of things can you include when crafting crime fiction? Here are some items to consider for compelling crime fiction storytelling:

• Lay out different clues throughout the story. Your reader wants to be involved in solving the crime, so give them hints.
• Make things tie together at the end. This follows on from leaving clues. Your reader should have a moment of realization about the different details given throughout the story when the crime is solved.
• Make use of red herrings. A red herring is a trope of crime fiction that misleads the readers into thinking an innocent character committed the crime in question. Just make sure whatever red herrings you lay out, you can explain away at the end.
• Advance your story through dialogue. In a mystery, there should be dialogue exchanges that are tense and build suspicion. Sometimes, you can reveal more about a character through what they don't say.
• Consider whose point of view you are telling the story from. Is it a third-person narrator? Or are we going to see things from the point of view of the detective? You could change the POV throughout the story but it's important that it be clear to the reader from whose viewpoint we are seeing things.

If you've got a great idea but need help with the writing or editing, at Dibbly | The Urban Writers, we can match you with the best freelancers with our fiction package.

Final Words

A lot goes into crafting crime fiction, but with the right mystery writing techniques, you can keep your readers captivated throughout. Remember to plan your plot in advance so that everything flows together and leads to a satisfactory conclusion.