Book Review - You Can Write A Mystery by Gillian Roberts

Have you ever wondered if you could write mysteries or any of the subgenres? If you have, the answer is yes. If you enjoy reading these types of books, then you can learn to write them just like the famous authors you read.

"You Can Write A Mystery" by Gillian Roberts is an excellent book that will lead you through the process of learning how to write a mystery or any of the subgenres such as Detective Fiction, Suspense, Thrillers, etc.

Gathering Ideas

In her book, she discusses how to gather ideas for your book. You need an idea in order to start writing. Ideas come from anywhere: reading newspapers, observing or talking to people, reading books, etc. There are several ways where people can come up with an idea for a short story or novel. You just have to be aware of your environment.

Characters

You also need to know what kind of protagonist you will be developing in your story. Will he/she be an amateur detective, private detective, a series sleuth or a sleuth involved in one case only.

What will your villain be like? Will the villain be a man or woman? Will there be more than one working together?

What about the suspects? How many suspects will you have? Who are they? What are their alibis?

All of these things are important to your story.

Point of View

Point of view is also important. Will the story be told in first person, third person, or who? Why did you choose this particular point of view?

Clues

Clues are also important in developing plots. Gillian Roberts discusses how to structure your clues such as red herrings, which are false clues, and clues that will lead you to the villain.

She also mentions how you need to hide clues in plain site. She discusses how clues can be planted about the victim before he's a victim, then when we look back, we'll be able to put the pieces together.

Gillian Roberts explains all of these elements in her book and then how to write it and how to market your book. I highly recommend her book if you are interested in learning how to write mysteries. It's easy to read and understand.

She also has a website on the book where she gives readers information and questions to answer. http://www.gillianroberts.com.

Added Note

Also, I am using her book as my main book in the course that I have developed for Suite University: "Writing Suspense, Detective Fiction, and Thrillers."

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