How to Write Crime Fiction: How a Mystery Works

This is exactly what the TV show 'Castle' did wrong from about the 5th season on. The killer always was someone from the first five minutes of the episode, who said two lines of dialogue and was never mentioned again, until the end, where he/she is revealed to be the killer and the viewer get's all the clues at once.

Your voice is very calming.

Idk if you’ll get the reference, but you sound like, Kirito from the SAO parody on YT. Either way, very informative video.

This is a bit of an older video but this is super helpful, thank you! I really needed this for a school assignment :)

The first half of this is the same information over and over again. Found the second half much more interesting and to the point.

Thank you so much, i left this video with enough knowledge to make the best murder mystery ever!

I have WW too






It’s torture

Thanks!

I’m not sure I would agree with the analogy. Reader is to detective, but villain implies murderer. But really the writer writes all the suspects too, who the reader is not. It’s more like the writer is the obscure...ator?

thx

the game is literally A foot :P

this was very educational for my school work

This is fuc** stupid.

I am currently the rp master with my friends and they are in a predicament. This current event is a mystery.

In simple terms they are trying to find 4 moles in their group. They know Who one of the moles are, and they think that they found another but they are innocent! Kyle is the mole and wyvern (y-vern) was set up by 1 of other moles, roseili (rose-elle). I gave clues that are similar to roseili, and directed the clues to wyvern and know they highly think that wyvern is the mole. They are 3 moles left but I'll only tell them that they are down to 2 ;). The other 2 moles are Coal and Nyvar (nie-var). So far the only hints I gave them was kyles house, a dog wissle, blood drops outside door, dry leaves, broken glasses, a strong sweet smell and that they are three boys and one girl. They are also clues that they came up with to go along with them.

I will update this soon and I will probably go into more depth but this is good for now. Tell me what you think, was it good? Leave a comment below of how you think of my story so far or you can write your own and I'll read it! Again sorry for not going into detail that much I wanted the comment to be short.

Hello! I really enjoyed this video and it really helped. One question: Should I let the readers win but make it hard for them? Would it be bad if they didn't solve it? Even if I gave them all the clues and pieces? Thank you!!

Omg, I'm doing Wordly Wise right now.

Wordlywise is still used today

Very insightful, thank you!

L, Sherlock and Batman the greatest detectives ever

Brilliant

If you still respond to comments, I have a question.
How do you start a crime story with a catching first line

MicheL Santos is a great teacher ur books are going to be in movies! Like skerlock Holmes...

This was good 👍🏻 real good

I hate it so much when some movies or stories just randomly add a character or reveal a clue right before the end which the protagonist just randomly remembers out of nowhere like oh I totally forgot to interview the neighbour who lives right beside the killer maybe he knows something 🙄

Tysm, I'm trying to write a mystery psychological thriller manga, it definitely helps!

I'd never thought of mysteries as a game of proxies, but I'll never be able to not see it that way again!

Are you able to make an updated video or continue? These videos are greats and very helpful

I like the method you talked about. Pretty good 👍

I am a wannabe writer . I’ve watched so many videos to help me .
Yours are the ONLY one that has helped me .Others we’re inspiring but not helpful to me .
You teach in a very easy way for me to grasp quickly ! Thank you so much 😊

Why is this channel so underrated

🤦‍♂️🙆‍♂️🙅

That’s it! The missing piece! I’ve been trying to plan a mystery. I understood you sort of work backwards from the big picture, splitting it up into clues. But my planning quickly got muddled, I was missing something. It was the association. I only had the first part, the reader is the detective…but the writer is the villain! I feel like my understanding is finally starting to crystallize. Thank you for sharing this knowledge!❤

As someone who has just started to try out writing in the detective mystery genre, this made me realise I was looking at it all wrong, and that I shouldn’t craft my chrime around the story, but the story around the chrime.

This is why I hated death on the Nile or Murder on the orient express. Last minute revelations that make you feel cheated by the story.

Thank you!

Great video also f*ck wordly wise that was the worst part of English class

I been planning writing on crime mystery story for years now and I recently have been fully planning it out and this is helping right now i haven't started but im working on getting all my details. Thank you for your help sir.

i am 16 years old how can i learn writing crime thriller stories like the ones in webserieses with high details

Very good tips. The reader wants to solve the puzzle. It's a game. I like the Sherlock Holmes analogy.

I want to write a murder mystery and I have plot points layed out, but i just need to sctucre everything. I'm such a wannabe right now.

what about something like se7en? you’re not really supposed to figure out who john doe is before he’s revealed.

If you read Sherlock Holmes stories, Doyle often leaves out clues for the reader (i.e. there is no way that the reader can actually figure out the crime). In Sherlock Holmes stories, we are there to marvel at Holmes brilliance...we can not solve the crime with the clues presented (try reading some of the stories and gather the clues you have. Homes always has more clues than the reader will have and you often can not 'solve' the crime before Holmes).

How mystery works:

Hello Michael, I really like your videos as they are very interesting. Can you tell me how to use red herrings or other ways in which the villain can use plant false clues to distract the detective and the reader so that it does not seem forced in any way and make sense when the revelation happen during the climax?

Nice simple perspective - I mean it's not simple but your point is clearly made

When i watched death note anime, it gives me motivation to write a story again, but as a teenager i know that to make a mystery novel is very hard, but here i am starting and searching for videos who will help me to create this story. I will never give up this time..

Good useful info. 🙂

One insight repeated for 8 minutes. Failed to deliver value.

I know this is 6 years old, but I write screenplays and this was helpful. Also when you think about the movie the Fugitive. Harrison Ford's character=the Detective and the one armed man which is the villain has the answers..