Beginner's Guide to Writing Mystery Fiction
What you'll learn
- Outline and write a first draft of a mystery novel.
- Develop a story using the three-act structure plotting method.
- Create interesting characters.
- Understand how to write good dialogue.
- Learn the conventions of the various types of mystery sub-genres.
- Gain access to resources of particular benefit to mystery writers.
Requirements
- Students will need to have a word processing program that's capable of opening Word documents.
- Students should have an interest in reading and writing mysteries.
- While it is not essential, having an idea for a possible mystery will help students put the skills they gain into practice.
Description
You will learn the basic principles of good mystery writing. If you've ever wondered how mystery authors keep their readers guessing and thought of writing a story of your own, but didn't know where to start, this is the course for you!
Learn the Basics of Writing a Great Mystery Story
- Learn great story structure
- Create compelling characters
- Write dialogue that sparkles
- Learn how to plant clues and other elements of the mystery genre in your story
- Obtain writers' resources that mystery writers find useful
This course is on mystery fiction writing for beginners.
You'll learn this topic in a short series of video lectures, with some explanatory reading. Depending on how often one takes the lessons, the course can be finished within a week or two.
I designed this course for those who love to read mysteries and have considered writing them and are seeking guidance on how to get started. By the time you finish the course, you'll have all the basic knowledge you need to start your own mystery novel or short story.
Who this course is for:
- This course is intended for beginning writers only. It is not meant for those who've already successfully finished writing a mystery.
Instructor
- 3.8 Instructor Rating
- 48 Reviews
- 334 Students
- 1 Course
Debbi Mack is the New York Times bestselling author of IDENTITY CRISIS, the first book in the Sam McRae Mystery Series, featuring Maryland lawyer-sleuth Stephanie Ann “Sam” McRae. She has also written and published a young adult novel called INVISIBLE ME, a thriller called THE PLANCK FACTOR, and several short stories, one of which was nominated for a Derringer Award. Debbi has also written two feature film screenplays: one that made the 2016 Scriptapalooza semi-finals and an adaptation of her first novel. A native of Queens, NY, Debbi currently lives in Columbia, MD, with her husband and cats.