Every chance you get when developing your plot, look for opportunities for more conflict.

“The first step for me [is] a plot outline, a step-by-step description of how my story will unfold. I try to make this outline as detailed as possible, for I have learned that, for me at least, the more I put into these preparatory phases, the fewer problems I will have in actually writing the book.”

No matter what the idea is, you’ll first have to work out the plot behind the plot, which, happily, is the subject of the next chapter.

The amateur detective needs to be just as clever and resourceful as a pro. The difference is, the amateur doesn’t know anything about detective work except for what he or she has seen on TV and in the movies; therefore, the amateur has more of a challenge when it comes to finding the murderer.

Mystery writers are always thinking like this. Why, why, why, why oh why would someone want to commit murder?

“The mystery novelist begins her or his quest by coming up with a single notion that can be squeezed, patted, poked, and fondled by the mind (a process I call noodling) to see if it might possibly yield up the spectral entity we call a plot.” This, I’ve found, is exactly the process.

Literary mysteries also have many elements of a genre mystery—dead bodies, clues, suspense, menace, and so on—but they’re often written with a somber, brooding tone. They are darkly poetic and are usually thought of as taking a walk on the dark side.

characters in mainstream mysteries are more like “real” people with “real” problems. Mainstream mystery novels will often have a subplot involving, say, an ex-wife or a problem child, that has nothing to do with the murder. Mainstream mysteries are stories about characters involved in the solving of a murder.

Genre mysteries (sometimes called “category mysteries”) focus on the mystery: the clues, the witnesses, the cat-and-mouse game the hero/detective is playing with the murderer. They’re often highly suspenseful, often have a lot of menace and skulking around, and may have many elements usually found in thrillers: bombs that might go off, assassinatio