Lesson 1: Introduction
Are you ready to begin your investigation of Mysteries? To start your journey, you will learn about the similarities and differences of the subgenres. These four lessons will provide the information you need to develop your understanding of mysteries and the subgenres. The short innovative assignments will teach you the necessary elements of these subgenres.
To begin your journey, you will need a notebook for your journal. By writing down the ideas that are presented in these lessons or any ideas that come to you, you will have the information handy when you are ready to tackle your reading assignments. You will also be analyzing the mini-mysteries and short stories.
This course is a pre-requisite to "Writing Mysteries."
Introduction
In Lesson One, you will learn about Mysteries. My objective for this lesson is to help you learn the similarities and differences of Mysteries and the subgenres. As you become familiar with the aspects of this genre, you can apply this knowledge to your writing. Materials I Used To Develop This Lesson (1) You Can Write A Mystery by Gillian Roberts (2) Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction by Patricia Highsmith (3) Writing Mysteries edited by Sue Grafton (4) My articles titled "Detectives," "Uniform Police Officers," and Crime Scene Officers" (5) Writing the Novel From Plot To Print by Lawrence Block (6) Writing Crime and Suspense Fiction and Getting Published by Lesley Grant-Adamson (Available in the US and UK) Reading Assignments (1) My articles "Uniform Police Officers," "Crime Scene Officers," and "Duties of the Detectives" Suggested Writing Assignment Your first writing assignment will be to answer the question: "Why I Wanted To Take This Course?" This will help you to see what your goals are in reading and writing.
