SCBWI's Blueboard - A Message & Chat Board
Writer's Room => Kidlit Genres => Topic started by: ShirleyH on April 09, 2008, 01:32 PM
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What non fiction craft books would you recommend for writing mysteries? I have a ton of writing craft books but nothing specific to mysteries.
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I have one called, You Can Write a Mystery by Gillian Roberts. There's also a chapter devoted to the subject in Lee Wyndham's book, Writing for Children and Teenagers.
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Writer's Digest has a lot of great books. One I particularly like is called Mystery Writer's Handbook. (It may be out of print, but you can probably get a copy through ABEbooks.com)
Writer's Digest also has a whole series of terrific resources for getting information for writing mysteries. Their titles are:
Deadly Doses (guide to poisons) :feelbad
Armed and Dangerous (guide to weapons) :guns
Missing Persons (finding abducted and missing people) :invisible
Murder One (guide to homicide) :flamethrower
Private Eyes (guide to private investigators) :trenchguy :trench
Malicious Intent (guide to how murderers, robbers, rapists, etc. think) :skull
You can't tell I'm interested in writing a mystery myself someday, can you? :lol
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Oh! And I almost forgot to include two more great books --
How to Write a Damn good Mystery by James Frey and
The Writer's Complete Crime Reference Book (by Roth, via Writer's Digest Books)
These are both new enough you might be able to get them through your local library.
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Elizabeth George's Write Away:One Novelists Approach to Fiction and The Writing Life has some great insights
Kristi Holl dot com has great mystery writing tips for kids books
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I really enjoyed Hallie Ephron's WRITING AND SELLING YOUR MYSTERY NOVEL. (http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Selling-Your-Mystery-Novel/dp/1582973768/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207781077&sr=1-1)
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Thanks for the suggestions!