  Mystery
This week: How Did We Miss That? Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
More Newsletters By This Editor 
1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions
All that I see or seem is but a dream within a dream.
Edgar Alan Poe
A mystery is an answer in search of a question; knowing what’s been done and the journey to discovering the how and why of it. The Mystery is something unknown to the reader, "clued-in" by the writer in bits and pieces, engaging the reader in the puzzle.
If there were no mystery left to explore
life would get rather dull, wouldn't it?
Sidney Buchman
|
| ASIN: B07B63CTKX |
Product Type: Kindle Store
|
Amazon's Price: $ 6.99
|
|
Greetings, we know a mystery is a puzzle. Your sleuth (professional, amateur, or anywhere in between), along with your readers, embarks on a journey you devise to solve the puzzle by finding and deciphering the clues you plant.
In a mystery poetic or prosaic, you plant clues for your sleuth and reader to uncover and solve. Instead of the straight question and answer of a crossword, however, you engage all their senses, challenge them both to find both the obvious and subtle clues.
 Clues, in plain sight can be obvious or subtle, there for your sleuth and reader to uncover and analyze to uncover lies and truth along the way to solving your puzzle. You don’t want to give them a trail of breadcrumbs to merely pick up and follow, but for your sleuth and reader to first uncover, then resolve based on their assessment. You set them on the trail, and give them sufficient information to cast doubt upon the clues they find, making them question and, incidentally, thus uncover further clues. You create uncertainty by inciting doubt, challenging your sleuth and reader to uncover which clues are true (once they find them) and which are false, misdirection.
 False clues you plant misdirect the sleuth or reader, casting doubt and causing them to consider options which may be logical, but are uncovered as false or leading nowhere.
Consider the following, by Scott Mortenson,
You’re a bus driver. You leave the depot at 6:05 AM, and at your first stop you pick up three passengers. On your next stop you pick up five passengers. On your third stop four get off and nine get on. On your fourth stop, three get on and five passengers get off. On your fifth stop, eight get off and seven get on.
Got all that? Okay. What color are the bus driver’s eyes?
In the example above, you have all the facts, all the clues. Did you answer the question correctly? Only you know, as I don’t know the color of your eyes. As you were adding and subtracting the numbers, you were following clues used to distract you, or red herrings. (I kind of like the image of some bus passengers as ‘herrings.’)
The clues were in the open, but how many of the sleuths among us (and our characters) even saw them, much less noticed them. Are they pieces of the puzzle, or distractions to be discarded? You, the puzzle-maker, will decide and lead the sleuth and your readers to resolution of the puzzle.
Write On!!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
|
Check out these picks & pans - did you find the clues, or were they too obvious Let the writers know how you solved the puzzle then grab your pencil and plot your clues.
| |  | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#2118497 by Not Available. |
| | | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#2115068 by Not Available. |
| | | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#1924381 by Not Available. |
|
Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
Don't forget to support our sponsor!
| ASIN: 197380364X |
|
Amazon's Price: $ 15.99
|
|
hope you’ve enjoyed this journey and as you plant the clues of your mystery, out in the open for your sleuth, and readers to stumble across and find among them pieces of the puzzle to solve the mystery
Until we next meet,
Write On!!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading |
| ASIN: B07YJZZGW4 |
|
Amazon's Price: Price N/A
Not currently available. |
|
To stop receiving this newsletter, click here for your newsletter subscription list. Simply uncheck the box next to any newsletter(s) you wish to cancel and then click to "Submit Changes". You can edit your subscriptions at any time.
|
Mystery: April 19, 2017 Issue [#8244]
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
