3 Ways to Craft a Compelling Mystery
Page-Turners
Let’s talk about page-turners.
I consider a page-turner a story I devour within a day or two, unwilling to put it down and resentful every time I do have to. For me, these tend to be either:
Romances (I gotta get to that HEA!)
Mysteries (I gotta know what is going on/who did it!)
Today, I want to focus on mysteries. Mostly because I want to learn how they work so that I can better weave them into my own plots. To do this, I’d like to focus on 3 very different mysteries I read recently and compare and contrast the techniques the author used in order to make the mysteries both compelling through and satisfying in the end.
These mysteries are:
A murder mystery (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson)
A what-in-the-world-is-going-on-here mystery (Dark Matter by Blake Crouch)
A mystery that lives in the background as a subplot (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling)
First, I’ll provide a teeny-tiny summary for each of the stories, just to give you a bit of context. Next, I’ll go into the specific strategies each of these stories used. By the end, we’ll have 3 separate blueprints for crafting a mystery plot.
Summaries:
Good Girl: 17-year-old Pip attempts to solve a 5-year-old cold case murder/suicide for her school capstone project. She believes the accused is innocent, and directly sets out to prove this to be the case.
Dark Matter: After being kidnapped at gunpoint, a second-rate college professor is drugged and wakes up in a reality where his wife is no longer his wife and he is a celebrated, world-class scientist working for a mysterious lab.
Goblet of Fire: When an international and highly dangerous competition is hosted by his school, Harry Potter finds himself one of the champions—even though he didn’t enter himself.
Question 1: When is the mystery introduced?
Strategy 1: Good Girl
First 5 Pages
For this story, the mystery is literally introduced within the first 5 pages. The initial look we get into Pip’s world and perspective is when we open the book to find her official pitch for her capstone, in which she describes the murder/suicide that has already taken place, as well as how she will go about trying to solve it.
Strategy 2: Dark Matter
Inciting Incident
While we’re introduced in the first couple of pages to the idea that something big will happen, it’s not until the inciting incident that the mystery for this story comes to light.
Because the protagonist’s kidnapper is masked, we wonder who he is, why he’s doing what he’s doing, and what will happen. Then, after the protagonist wakes up in what is, essentially, an alternate reality, we wonder what, well, the crap is going on.
Strategy 3: Goblet of Fire
First Plot Point
For this story, the mystery is not the main plot, although the opening chapter does give us a hint into it by showing us a glimpse of Lord Voldemort and the sinister activities in which he is engaging. But because Harry’s main focus is not on solving this mystery, but on getting through his school year at Hogwarts, we spend the first good chunk of the book catching up on his life and getting things set up.
The main mystery of who entered Harry into the tournament does not come about until the first plot point, more than a quarter of the way through the book.
Question 2: How does the protagonist go about solving the mystery? (How are the clues dispersed?)
Strategy 1: Good Girl
The Methodical Approach
In Good Girl, Pip sets out to solve a murder. That is her clear goal, with a clear resolution, and a clear set of steps, clues, and suspects that can help her get there. And because she is on the outside of the mystery, she can stay fairly objective as she pursues her goal.
This is often the case when it comes to murder mysteries, especially. We—both the protagonist and the audience—are already clear on what has happened: a death. We’re also clear on at least some of the main suspects involved, which offers a clear starting point.
Pip is very methodical as she goes about solving her mystery. And although one suspect or clue often leads to another that she never considered, she frequently returns to her core goal—solving the death—as well as categorizing all of the clues and information she has gathered so far.
Because of this, the mystery, while offering twists, is fairly straightforward. We walk a straight path toward our end goal: uncovering the murderer.
To accomplish this, the author lays out a set of circumstances, clues, and suspects to investigate. As Pip does complete her investigations, more clues come to light. When one question is answered, another arises.
For example (keeping it spoiler free):
This is who died
This is who was convicted
This is what happened to him
These are the circumstances and additional clues that seemed to surround the fateful day
These are the other suspects or figures somehow connected
Then, as Pip goes on her merry way:
This is what the victim was involved with
These are the people she was spending time with
Those people led to these secret people she was spending time with
Those secret people led to these secret things she was doing
These are the people the accused was spending time with
Those people led to these gaps or inconsistencies in the information
Those inconsistencies led to these revelations
And so on
The pattern ends up looking something like this:
Suspect or clue to pursue
Asking/pursuing leads to answers and another path to follow
The process repeats
One clue leads to another, to another, until we have a web, albeit a fairly straightforward and clean one.
Strategy 2: Dark Matter
The Chaotic Approach
In Dark Matter, on the other hand, the protagonist is not on the outside looking in at the mystery, like a detective (whether amateur or professional), such as Pip. On the contrary, he is thrown, rather violently, into the fray, and therefore must run, and sometimes even claw his way out of the mystery.
Yes, he’s gathering data, but it’s in a haphazard manner, by simply racing from one problem to the next, trying to escape and discovering information along the way.
Rather than being straightforward, this mystery is chaotic and tangled. The protagonist, Jason, doesn’t exactly gather clues and interview people in a methodical way. For much of the book, he is simply trying to stay alive and out of the grips of danger in one form or another. And along the way, he has to try and piece together scraps of information.
To accomplish this, the author has Jason run from one dangerous circumstance into another. Each new circumstance leads to conversations or reveals that offer a clearer picture of what is going on.
For example:
This dangerous circumstance occurs
When the protagonist escapes that circumstance, more questions arise
To answer these questions, the protagonist finds somewhere they feel safe to flee
That place offers more danger and questions
When the protagonist flees that place, they go somewhere else they feel safe
That place offers some information that creates more questions that leads to more danger
When the protagonist flees again, they find someone they trust to ask for help
That someone leads to another dangerous circumstance
When they flee that circumstance, they learn more information
And so on
The pattern ends up looking something like this:
Dangerous situation - questions arise
Fleeing somewhere “safe” leads to more answers, but also more danger
The process repeats
Strategy 3: Goblet of Fire
The Outside Concern Approach
Like Jason, Harry finds himself the subject of his mystery. But unlike Jason, he’s not forced to flee one situation after another just in order to stay alive/out of danger.
On the contrary, although Harry’s world becomes somewhat miserable, he is forced to continue his daily activities with only some added work. In addition, Harry makes virtually no moves for most of the story to try and figure out who put his name in or why they did. He accepts his situation, and only gathers and examines clues when they either stumble across his path or come as a result of the people around him who are concerned.
As such, characters ask questions and pose theories, but for the most part, these are the people around Harry who are concerned for his wellbeing, and we, as the audience, are mostly left in limbo until we realize at the end of the story how all the pieces we were given fit actually neatly into place.
Rather than a mystery that the protagonist is actively pursuing, this is a mystery that is offered to us, and at intervals we are reminded it is still unresolved. More than the protagonist setting out to solve the mystery and collecting clues and suspects, the author is giving us the pieces and allowing us as the reader to try and solve things while the protagonist is focused on the main plot (his schoolwork and the tournament).
To accomplish this, the author presents the mystery, periodically offers reminders of its dangerous nature or suggestions as to whom might be behind it, subtly gives us all the pieces, and then brings it all together in the end.
The pattern ends up looking something like this:
Present the mystery
Muse on the mystery
Subtly reveal clues and necessary information
This happens via characters acting suspiciously or characters unknowingly revealing clues about other characters (this gives us our suspect list, though the protagonist never officially develops his own)
Resolve the mystery at once using all the planted information
Question 3: Why do we care?
As always with any story, nothing else matters if the reader is not invested in the plot, characters, and mysteries. If a reader doesn’t care, they won’t continue, and it won’t matter how meticulous or clever you were with your clues.
So what strategies did these authors use to engage the reader so that they would want to see the mystery through to the end?
For one thing, mysteries inherently tend to invest a reader. When a question is posed, we want to know the answer! That is, as long as it’s an interesting question. This is where things like “high-concept” come into play.
High-Concept Mysteries
High-concept is a term that’s tossed around a lot in the publishing industry. For simplicity’s sake, I simply like to think of it as a story concept that taps into the buttery, tropey, primal-y goodness we all want to devour.
Solving murders will always pique people’s interests.
Kidnapping and waking up in an alternate reality are pretty darn compelling.
Having a stranger volunteer you for a magically binding, very public, and highly dangerous competition for unknown and most likely sinister reasons is an effective way to get someone to sit up and take notice.
So the most basic question you consistently need to ask is: Is this interesting?
This is advice that Stephen King himself touts in his memoir, On Writing, when discussing a friend who told him, when editing, to simply cut away the boring parts and leave the rest.
If you’re writing genre fiction, the most basic thing you need to do is piece together a story with elements that people like to read about. Murder, kidnapping, alternate realities, competitions/trials (whether magical in nature or not), and strangers poking their noses into your life for unknown and possibly dangerous reasons are all high-concept.
Question 4: Who are the protagonists?
For this next set of strategies, we’re getting more into character territory. Meaning, these strategies below are more about good character development and emotional arcs than characters specific to mystery plots.
However, I still think it’s helpful to take a look, whether to help when writing a mystery or just when crafting a compelling story, in general.
Strategy 1: Good Girl
The Advocate
Pip is an excellent character. She’s the very definition of three-dimensional (which, for simplicity’s sake, I like to think of as having both likable/desirable qualities, as well as flaws). She is driven, often to the point of alienating her friends. She is intelligent, ambitious, perfectionistic, meticulous, outspoken, and kind.
But maybe the most compelling thing about Pip is that she is an advocate.
This trait speaks to the essence behind the mystery she’s investigating. It’s her motivation, and it’s a great way to get us on her side, so that, even if the mystery were a little less juicy, we’d be actively routing for her to solve it.
She believes a wrong was committed, not when a girl was murdered, but when a teenage boy was accused, and his family ostracized, all without proper proceedings. She sets out to right this wrong—or at least to solidify the truth behind his conviction. She is his advocate, as well as his brother’s.
During her investigation, she befriends the accused’s (who is now deceased) brother, standing up for him when he faces prejudice in all kinds of forms. This, along with an interesting cast of side characters and a juicy mystery, make us care.
Strategy 2: Dark Matter
The Victim
When it comes to Jason as a character, he is equally interesting. He’s extraordinarily intelligent, but he also has his priorities aligned with his current life. Meaning, although he’s not a world-famous scientist, he has a family—a wife and a teenage son—and they are the most important thing to him. He wonders about what could have been, but he’s happy with what he has.
However, when literally everything in his life goes wrong and is turned on its head, we also see that he’s incredibly driven, clever, resourceful, and moral. He has integrity and fight, and these are the qualities that will not only get us on a victim’s side, but make us remember them for a long time to come.
Martyrs and victims that wait to be rescued or that constantly blame others are uninteresting. We naturally want to side with someone who has been wronged, but that emotional investment on our part goes through the roof when that victim is willing to fight for themself.
Like Pip, Jason has a guiding compass that we love to see. Not an advocate, but a man in love. A man willing to do anything to fight for his family. Yes, his alternate reality mystery is juicy, but a motivated man in love is also something we’ll happily engage with again and again.
Strategy 3: Goblet of Fire
The Target
This case is slightly different, since this is the fourth book in which we are following Harry. We already know who he is as a character, and if we’ve stuck around through three books, we’ve probably already decided we like him. But let’s take a look at him anyway.
Harry, like both Pip and Jason, is willing to stand up for both himself and for the people that deserve it. He doesn’t cower away from a fight, which is the most important piece of this particular puzzle, as he has been involuntarily signed up for a highly risky and advanced tournament. This alone is enough to get us on his side: the fact that he doesn’t shrink or run from a challenge, but, while naturally scared, figures out how to rise up to meet it.
This, along with the fact that he is a target for what we know to be deadly purposes, have us rooting for him.
Four books in, we’re on Harry’s side, and when he is put in the path of danger, we want to watch him figure out how to fight his way out. Like victims, targets naturally have us in their pocket. All they’ve got to do is follow an interesting trajectory and have compelling motivations behind their actions. Harry could run, but he’s already shown us he’s braver than that. He could whine, but we’ve already seen his maturity.
That’s an important note. Even if any of these characters were “bad” or unlikable, if their motivations were understandable or interesting, we’d probably stick around for the ride. And that’s ultimately what interesting emotional arcs and story arcs come down to: compelling and relatable motivation.
So lets highlight these character's’ motivations one more time:
Righting a perceived wrong
Getting back to his family
Rising to meet a seemingly impossible challenge
Conclusion
I wanted to look at 3 separate mysteries, all of which kept me extremely engaged, to try and figure out how to weave mysteries into my own stories. Clearly, there are many ways to do it, just like with anything else. But, to sum up, it seems like the important things to keep in mind are:
Clear clues as to what is amiss
Reveals that get us closer to the truth
An interesting concept
A character who gets us on their side
A clear reveal at the end
If you include these 5 things, using any of these blueprints as a guide (or a completely different one, for that matter!), you’re well on your way to a compelling mystery.
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