You Can Write a Mystery (You Can Write)

This book is a great, pragmatic approach to mystery writing. The reader is encouraged to go through the book whilst simultaneously writing a mystery novel. The book doesn't waste too much time with examples, although I found that there were still too many for my liking. Despite this, I think the book delivers on its promise - since reading it I am going to start tackling a mystery, better prepared than ever before. It's a must read for anyone looking for a mystery. I prowled the internet - including amazon - for the perfect book for writing mysteries, and You Can Write a Mystery repeatedly received flying colours, far more than any other books. It is simply the best on the market. Prior to purchasing it, I got Writing Mysteries by the Mystery Writers of America, but it was far too fragmented for my liking. This little book is much smaller, at a little over 120 pages, but it is better by far.

I first purchased this book a few years ago and read it through. Recently, I wanted to look at it again, but couldn't find it. That's why I purchased it a second time. It made a good first impression on me. After reading it again, I can see why I liked it so much. First and foremost, it isn't full of 100 to 200 pages of absolute fluff. I really like the way that it gets down to the brass tacks of writing a mystery, in only 121 pages of text. If I wanted to read a gazillion examples of fiction, I'd just read fiction. This book has just enough concise examples to make the point clear (when examples are needed), and they're always relevant to the topic, unlike many writing books. What you'll get in this book is good solid information, and a good bit of it could easily be applied to other genres. If you're thinking about writing mysteries and you're new to writing, this book is a great place to start. All of the bases are covered. The "Writing Lessons" section at the author's website will give you an idea of the kind of writing you will find in this book. In this book, you'll find ideas about things like "What has to happen before the rest can happen?" You'll also get information about developing false leads, avoiding mystery story cliches, organizing your ideas, and getting past the midbook blues -- just to name a few. If you're an experience writer, you'll probably find plenty of good nuggets in this book. If you're just getting started, buy this book. It's that simple.

One of the great selling points of this book is the "15 commandments of writing." These rules and advice are terrific, but the book goes on to list many do's and don't's about the process of writing. Inadvertently, I think that the author has done too much much to set down rules than to teach about inspiration and creativity. On the other hand, many of her rules are soimewhat good and are based on solid principles of writing. At this price, you will be hard-pressed to find something similar besides "Writing Mysteries" by Sue Grafton, which is much better by far

Gillian Roberts puts together an excellent resource for any writer pursuing publication in the mystery genre. Her lessons are hard-boiled and practical. For example, her first chapter launches the reader into a series of commandments "for mystery writers who want to be published." These include, among others: think like a professional, overcome writer's block, don't wait for the muse, and don't self-edit prior to completing the first draft.

After reading Roberts' book, I managed to re-work my book "Abby and the Bicycle Caper (ISBN: 0595305652), and plan to use her advice on my future works. Read this book if you are serious about writing mysteries. I also read a similar book by Sue Grafton, but found it a bit unapproachable, which is entirely my opinion, as Grafton is a recognized authority in her field.

This book also served as a great motivator to me, which I believe it will also do for you.

As an aspiring writer, I frequently read technical writing books to improve my style. I am currently enrolled in a correspondence writing course and for my last assignment, I chose to really (yes, this time it's the one!) start a novel.

Oh, I had stumbled with a few "false starts" in the last two years, since I began my courageous adventure. However, they were all lacking in many elements that is so desparately needed for a novel to succeed.

I stumbled on this assignment -- to write the first "official" chapter of a novel, reviewed and critiqued by a professional in the field.

I read a number of chapters in this book, in an effort to hone in on the techniques of mystery writing and WOW! (I couldn't sit and read it from cover to cover due to time constraints on my deadline.) I completed my chapter and sealed the envelope in sheer writer's ecstasy!

I have since completed the book in my "down time" and feel that the information included between the covers is just what everyone needs. It fits into that "comfortable zone" in the endeavors to complete a novel.

LATE BREAKING NEWS! I received my critique yesterday from my instructor and because of the knowledge provided in this book, she was very pleased with my work. I'll quote her, so you can get an idea how a professional in the writing field responded to such useful information:

"Now, I liked this a lot. Great emotion, intriguing suspense, characters that feel real and interest me. This definitely has a lot going for it. Of course, how you play out the remaining chapters will determine how strong the overall book will be and what sort of marketing potential it has, but you've made an excellent start."

Wow! I did it! And I owe it all to this book. It's definitely a must read!