Writing A Whodunnit

[Harley Quinn hyenaholic]

I've only written one Murder Mystery before, a crossover with Sonic and Cluedo, but it was a good one.

Here's some advice for writing one. You can find more advice by searching on Google; it's not hard.

1: The most important thing is that you know whodunnit, how and why, before you get going.

2: Getting things wrong is excusable in smutfics. It's not excusable in Whodunnits. If you can't Beta yourself, you MUST get somebody else to help.

3: When it comes to the crunch, three things are needed - Means, Motive and Opportunity. The ONLY person to have all three is the culprit. Other suspects may have one or two of the others, but they never have all three.

4: This is still a fanfic. You're still working with canon characters. Why not use their canon skills? But if the hero turns out to be a killer, you WILL need a DAMN good reason.

Moving on, to make your Whodunnit more exciting, there are some other things to keep in mind.

1: Giving everybody a Motive is an option. Multiple motives are also an option, as are secret motives. But being crazy is not a good motive, unless the character is like that in the fandom. Motive is better than crazyness.

2: The least likely person? Why the hell not? But making it the least likely person is not an option to decieve your readers with false clues that can't be discounted.

3: If somebody's framing somebody, they need the chance to frame them.

4: Multiple crimes? Why not - if you can handle it. One culprit means they needed the chance to do it all. Multiple culprits means they BOTH needed the chance to do whatever they did, whether they're working together or not. That means you have effectively got two Whodunnits in one to write. If you're not familiar with mysteries, it's best to practice a little before moving onto multiple crimes.

Try to read a few published mysteries before you try to write one yourself. Not all of them are genuinely solvable. But they never 'lie' to the reader. Even if you can't see what's going on, it's still true - the hero didn't see something that the author failed to mention just to decieve the readers. They didn't see it at all.

If, halfway through putting up your fic, somebody guesses right, or partially right, don't change it just to spite them. In fact, if they can guess who, and how, that's signs that you're writing accurately.

If you have any advice of your own, or have any questions, ask or mention them.

[Solaris]

I will tell you this as someone who is writing an original whodunnit and I am going to publish it one day, it is hard to remember who is your killer by the end of the book or story.

I find that writing down the plot and who you want to be the killer is on a peice of paper and keep it near you when you are working on the story itself is useful, as it will remind you who the killer is.

And one of the things you need to know is the fandom you are writing about. Don't try a fandom or writing something that you are not fully informed about. That just wastes your time and that of the reader if you get it wrong.

Beth

[Harley Quinn hyenaholic]

Well, knowing about the fandom is important... but then again, it's important for every genre of Fanfiction. Yes, smut too. Research makes your sex even better. It's just that some people are lazy, ignorant gits and think that if sex is involved, you don't have to know people's personalities, histories, abilities or other 'ties'.

So, yes, you do need to know your fandom, I agree Solaris. Aspergers Syndrome really comes in handy for that.

I kinda felt like it went without saying, and besides, so many people would have continued to ignore the fact anyway.

Also, having a few plot details - like killer, means, motive and opportunity, all noted down somewhere else, like on a piece of paper, or in Notepad, is a good idea.