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I Literally made an account, specifically to reply to this post, so I hope you see this. I would say if you’re attempting to play with your reader’s minds, then it would be best to keep the mystery a surprise for the end. I would also suggest, leaving a few very small hints of things that seem out of place, but not drawing any real attention to them, hiding the ground work for the real story, in plain sight. If you do it like that, you can wrap up the first chapter as a fun, false start, for the mystery at hand.

Well, I sent chapter 3 of “Red All Over” to Fairy Slayer for beta yesterday, and it’s already back! Chapter 3: Priya

Even with non-mysteries, I find I really fill out the story on the second or third writing of it.

Possibly, yeah. I just completed a general outline and might add more soon. It’s changed part of what the story happens.

To be a good mystery, you’re likely at least outlining it once and writing it twice.

Alright, now that I have a moment, let me talk a bit here! Well then I think you nailed it. 😁 There’s something I can’t quite describe about the stories, something you can feel about the world of the Hyborian Age, and I got that same feeling from your story. And he actually led with that one! I don’t think he started shit-talking her husbands until after mentioning that he strangled her baby in the womb. That does make me wonder about his goal there. It felt like he was deliberately antagonizing Berta, but I can’t see what that was supposed to accomplish...aside from being the world’s most epic suicide, I suppose. Sorry 😅, I was bad at wording it there. I meant I spent a while trying to work out if it took place in actual Medieval Europe, rather than a fictional equivalent. Aha, so it was a bit of surprise to the author as well as the reader! Writing is kind of an interesting process like that, both creation and discovery, in a way. Apologies for that bit. I actually went back and forth about whether to even put it in the review, as I didn’t want it to sound like I didn’t enjoy the story. Maybe he just didn’t seem that bad compared to other spouses I’ve read in stories like this; I don’t know. I don’t think you did anything wrong as a writer, I promise. Thank you! I’ll do my best!