How to Write a Mystery

A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America

By: Mystery Writers of America, Lee Child - editor

Narrated by: Laurie R. King, Cary Hite, Caroline McLaughlin, Nigel Patterson, Fred Sanders, Jackie Sanders, Machelle Williams

Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

From 70 of the most successful mystery writers in the business, an invaluable guide to crafting mysteries - from character development and plot to procedurals and thrillers - “this is a writing guide that readers and writers will turn to again and again” (Booklist, starred review).

Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is known for providing unparalleled resources on the craft, art, and business of storytelling, helping writers of all levels improve their skills for nearly a century. Now, this new handbook helps authors navigate the ever-shifting publishing landscape - from pacing, plotting, the business side of publishing, to the current demand for diversity and inclusivity across all genres, and more.

Featuring essays by a new generation of best-selling experts on various elements of the craft and shorter pieces of crowd-sourced wisdom from the MWA membership as a whole, the topics covered can be categorized as follows:

• Before writing (rules; genres; setting; character; research; etc.)
• While writing (outlining; the plot; dialogue; mood; etc.)
• After writing (agents; editors; self-pub; etc.)
• Other than novels (short stories; true crime; etc.)
• Other considerations (diverse characters; legal questions; criticism)

Also included is a collection of essays from MWA published authors - including Jeffery Deaver, Tess Gerritsen, and Charlaine Harris - selected by best-selling authors Lee Child and Laurie King, and arranged thematically, answering, “What piece of writing advice do you wish you’d had at the beginning of your career?”

“Everything you wanted to know about how to plan, draft, write, revise, publish, and market a mystery” (Kirkus Reviews), this inclusive manual provides practical, current, easily digestible advice for new and established authors alike.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Mystery Writers of America, Inc. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Helpful

A burgeoning writer, I am Austin taunted by the process of publishing. As an aspiring, mystery writer, I often question what comes next. So this book amounts to a collection of essays, I found much of the material extraordinarily help. If you are considering this book, and you are an aspiring mystery, writer, know that not every bit of information in teams will directly apply to you. That being said, I feel that there is something for every rider in these pages.

Great Advice From Those Who Know

Useful information for anyone who wants to write books of any kind not just mysteries.

Great Info

While listening to all the great talent I felt like I was attending a Master Class of the best writing advice available

Broad strokes

The performance is great, but I find I’m not satisfied that the book kept the promise inherent in the title. I would have preferred more about crafting a MYSTERY specifically. There are several gems in this collection of advices from authors that do talk specifically about mystery, but there’s also plenty that’s well covered elsewhere - general advice for authors. Everything covered is helpful, but I bought this book because I thought it might break down the craft of writing a mystery. Only a few of the contributions did so, although if you’re looking for a broad array of writerly advice not just about what sets mystery apart, this might be good for you.

All Right...

My primary problem with this book is that I purchased it for the wrong reason--my fault. This is a very formulaic compilation for frustrated amateur writers wishing to become professional. I'm not interested in being published, not at all. I've been reading and loving mysteries for a half century since teenaged years, so the 'genre', as these writers love to discuss, is nothing new to me at all. Unfortunately, I wanted to go deeper than these contributors, most of whom offer facile advice and platitudes. That might be exactly what another purchaser might want, and for them this would be fantastic. I think the best autobiography I ever read by a mystery writer was from nearly 100 years ago, written by the then-very-famous Mary Robert Rinehart. Closest modern book on writing was Steven King's book, "On Writing" a couple of decades ago. Additionally, I found that many of the writers on this compilation should've confined their contribution to writing, not narrating. I found many of them just plain irritating to listen to. Again--if you're a frustrated amateur wanting to get published, perhaps this book will suit you. But I'll bet that not one in twenty of these successful writers ever bought a book like this.

Very insightful and fascinating!

Throughout my time with this book, I found myself continually impressed by the various writers guidance, and tips of the trade. I feel even better equipped now to start my own writing journey.

The listening experience was fantastic! Having different writing styles and different readers helped keep the material fresh and engaging.

Excellent resource for writers

This was excellent! So much good information here for mystery writers. The multiple readers make it easy to follow the chapters without mentally wandering off. The information in this book was useful enough that I wanted to be able to easily reference it again, so I ended up purchasing the paperback version of the book as well.

Excellent!

It was very educational and inspiring to learn so much from such talented and successful writers.

I greatly appreciate the time and effort, and the humility the authors displayed. The reader did not feel “talked down to” which made the lessons learned quite enjoyable.

Excellent

I enjoyed this so much, I bought the print version. It's entertaining and informative on all aspects of the mystery writing process, as well as, the different mystery subgenres. Actually, there's a lot more in the book than just this. I bought the print version after listening to it because there IS so much information on offer.

investigate before you buy.

While there are nuggets within, the title is misleading. It's a book of articles or essays, even two paragraphs snippets.

if I wanted to read a book of essays and excerpts. this might be a great book, but it's not exactly what I consider the title to indicate. My fault.

Out of the 6 hours I've put in listening, I've gained at least 20 minutes worth of good input. This is my fault because I should have investigated past the title and the hugely printed author's name. It's not what you expect from the greats to put their name on something and then stuff it full of other people's commentaries.