Write Your Own: Mystery (9 page)

Jake snatched up his coat, dashed out of the door and rushed to his car. ‘I might have guessed this would happen,' he snapped,
‘I
don't trust Baxter Bloggs an inch!'

Si picked up his coat, quietly opened the door and made his way to the car. ‘Oh dear, this is a mess,' he wailed,
‘
I
hope Baxter Bloggs isn't involved in this …'

 

Writing tip!

Use an ‘ing' clause to add on to a simple sentence to describe what someone is doing or thinking. This is called a ‘supporting action'. For example:

Tom ate his breakfast, wondering where he should start searching.

Mr Potts began to study the map, noticing that there was a forest in Bigham.

3. Making your characters talk

Each character should have a distinctive voice so that the reader can easily identify who is speaking. You can do this in several ways. For example:

  Try finding a few unusual phrases that a character might use, e.g.
‘
Oh rats
,' snapped Dr Hatelove.

  Use powerful speech verbs to show how something is said, e.g.
‘Put it down,'
barked
the policeman.

  Use adverbs to add extra information to the words that mean ‘said', for example:
‘I
admit I was wrong' he replied
reluctantly
.

4. Use gossip!

You can also build a character by having other people – possibly two minor characters – gossiping. For instance, in this sentence, another character gossips about Tim providing more information for the reader:

‘Poor Tim, he's been so miserable since his dog was kidnapped last Christmas …'

5. Use a ‘backstory' technique

This is useful for dropping clues into the story about a character's past life. They provide a hint or clue about the background to your characters. You could mention:

  an object
For example:
Miss Plum picked up her karate trophy and placed it back on the mantlepiece.

  an old photo
For example:
Barney glanced back at the photo. In it, he could see Mrs Grainger, about to board Concorde.

  a memory
For example:
‘Last time I was here, it was raining,' said Mr Gargery as he took off his jacket.

  an item of clothing
For example:
Sandy adjusted his yachting cap …

6. Describe your characters' thoughts and feelings 
Another way to build up a character is to show what they are thinking. Here are some useful openers:
Tom thought back to when … Major Morse wondered whether … Smudge reckoned that … Mrs Bottomley recalled that … Tim felt there was something that just did not add up … Madeleine puzzled over the idea …

Your sleuth character will be thinking about the mystery and trying to piece the clues together. If you reveal their thinking then the reader can
become a ‘supersleuth' and join in with the detective work! For example:
Trudy knew that the church hall should have been empty that night but it was also clear now that the florists had been delivering flowers for the wedding that was taking place there the following day. She also knew that earlier the same afternoon there had been a robbery at old Mrs Jenkins house. Was there a connection? She didn't know but she knew how she might find out …