Like Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler, Sara Paretsky and Thomas Harris, you, too, can learn the trade secrets of quality detective fiction.

It's true. Just one year from now, you can deliver a completed mystery novel to a publisher--by writing only on weekends. Authors Robert J. Ray and Jack Remick guide you through the entire mystery-writing process, from creating a killer to polishing off the final draft. Each weekend you'll focus on a specific task--learning the basics of novel-writing, the special demands of mystery-writing, and the secrets professionals use to create stories one scene at a time, building to a shivery, satisfying climax. Using Agatha Christie's The Body in the Library as a model for the classical mystery tale and Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park for the hard-boiled mystery, this unique step-by-step program gives you all the information you need to reach your ultimate goal: a finished book in just 52 weeks

Let two successful masters of the genre show you how...

Discover:

Why you must create your killer first
The tricks to writing dialogue that does it all--moves your plot, involves your reader, and makes your style sizzle
How to "bury" information (and corpses) for your reader to find
Why you should NOT build your book around chapters
Special techniques for clearing writer's block
Plus: examples from Sue Grafton, Dashiell Hammett, Patricia Cornwell, Thomas Harris, Raymond Chandler, and more.

Author: Robert J. Ray
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Dell
Published: 04/06/1998
Pages: 272
Weight: 0.51lbs
Size: 8.04h x 5.34w x 0.59d
ISBN: 9780440506584

About the Author
Robert J. Ray is the author of the writing guide The Weekend Novelist and eight Matt Murdock mysteries, includingMurdock Cracks Ice. He has taught college literature, writing, and tennis. He lives in Seattle.

Jack Remick, a writer and teacher, writes poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. He has been teaching for twenty years.