So you want to
write a cozy mystery. You’ve come to the right place. Where do you start you
ask? Many writers face this same question while staring at a blank page. Let’s
tackle this together and see if we can’t come up with the bare bones of writing
a cozy mystery.
Before starting
on our skeleton I want to explain what constitutes a cozy mystery. In a cozy
the protagonist will be an amateur sleuth. Instead of law enforcement
personnel, the cozy protagonist could be your local hairdresser, the local
baker, a magazine writer, a landscaper or even your local soccer mom.
There will be a
private investigator, detective or police officer working the case. More than
likely they will not welcome your protagonist’s assistance. The setting is
usually a small town or community. You can make up your own or use a real
setting. The murder will always take place off stage and in a cozy the reader
is two steps behind the detective. An example of what the reader will say: “I
should have known that! If only I’d remembered Tom was a landscaper, I could
have figured out that he had access to poisonous plants.”
Let’s start
with the Cranium – ingredients that
are essential to the story. Where do ideas for your cozy come from? Try
newspapers or news stories. Don’t just focus on the front page story or
television headlines. You might find your story in the smaller sections.
Conversations are another good source of fodder. How many times have you
overheard people talking while in line at the grocery store or eating at a restaurant?
Carry index cards or a notepad to jot down inspiration. Now you’ve got your
idea where to next?
Your cozy will
need characters. A story happens to and because of someone, so characters are a
basic ingredient. There are several ways to do this. One such way is to go
online and find a form for building a character. There are some that will be
several pages long and some that will have just the basics. You’re characters
should be unique and make your reader care about them. Here are a few traits in
building your character: vital statistics (name, birthplace, education level…),
distinctive features (height, weight, physical features, ethnicity…), make-up (happy/depressed,
talkative/quiet…), and occupation (how does he/she feel about their career…)
the list goes on and on.
Another
important ingredient for each character is goal, motivation and conflict and
the best way to discover more on this subject is to read Debra Dixon’s “Goal,
Motivation and Conflict.”
Let’s move to
our skeleton’s clavicle – setting.
Think of the setting as the atmosphere of your cozy, the air your characters
breath. This can be a made up town or it can be a real place. In my Trixie
Montgomery Cozy Mystery Series I chose to use real towns. All of the buildings
and roads that I mention are real places. To do this you need to either be
familiar with the area through research or have a map handy. I’ve discovered readers
enjoy identifying with familiar places.
Some areas to
be aware of in your setting are the location, weather, transportation,
population, economical level, and the general crime level. If you choose to
make up your town or use a real one it’s important to make it realistic to the
area.
Let’s move on
to the ribs that hold the important
internal organs. What is the heart of your cozy? How will you give your readers
a chance to solve the murder along with the protagonist? Clues. What is a clue
you ask? A clue is something that is tangible. Clues can be the time of death,
alibis, or things left/taken from the scene. Often found at the scene of the
crime are clues such as fingerprints, fibers, hairs, blood, or murder weapon to
name just a few.
How do you hide
your clues? Use the clue as a line in a conversation. Humor is an excellent
place to hide a clue. If it’s hidden in a form of a joke the reader will assume
the information isn’t meant seriously. Give the reader an obvious clue then
hide another one behind it.
Another type of
clue that is essential to have is the red herring. And I’m not talking about a
fish. A red herring suggest a trail to follow, but in reality that trail leads
nowhere and has no significance.
Plotting is
another important organ in the ribcage. Everyone will eventually discover their
own method of plotting. Someone may ask you if you’re a plotter or a panster.
I’ve heard of authors who almost write the book during the plotting phase or
there are some who write by the seat of their pants. Which one am I? I’m a panster. Getting down to the bare
bones, it doesn’t matter which one you are because plotting is essential.
There are
different models of plotting but one of the most popular is the three-act
model. In the first act the protagonist’s intentions become clear to the
reader. It consists of the first third of the book and will introduce the crime
and the conflict as well as the characters, their interactions and the setting.
To keep my notes/scenes organized I use Microsoft One Note.
Consider act
two as the middle of the book. By this act the tension/conflict should be
building. This is where your protagonist will do most of their sleuthing. He/she
will have discovered the problem/conflict is not so easily solved. Several
failures may occur before the success comes in act three. This is also the
point when something in your protagonist’s life considerably changes.
In act three
the protagonist will reach a low point and the reader will wonder whether he/she
will fail or succeed. The tension/conflict has reached a crescendo at this
point. The subplots will be tied up and the sleuth finally has a confrontation
with the villain.
Nancy Curteman
sums it up nicely. The ending will
reinforce the themes of the book – crime does not pay, people are basically
good, love conquers all. Perhaps most important, the ending will demonstrate
that the protagonist’s world will return to normal after the disruption caused
by the climax – the librarian returns to the library, the school principal
opens the school term on time, the knitting club resumes knitting. The end of a
mystery novel must be short and concise, and must not introduce any new
problems for the protagonist to solve.
Now we move to
the most important part of our skeleton – the feet. Take your feet and run to
the nearest computer and write. Steven King says in his book on writing, “If
you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all other: read a lot and
write a lot.”
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Deborah Malone's first novel Death in Dahlonega, finaled in the American Christian Fiction Writer's Category Five writing contest! Deborah was also nominated for 2011 and 2012 Georgia Author of the Year in Novel category. She has worked as a freelance writer and photographer, for the historical magazine, "Georgia Backroads" since 2001. She has had many articles and photographs published, and her writing is featured in "Tales of the Rails," edited by Olin Jackson, as well as the "Christian Communicator." She is a member of the Georgia Writer's Association, Christian Author's Guild, Advanced Writer's and Speaker's Association and the American Christian Fiction Writers.
