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Product Description
Product Description
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.
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.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
To start your mystery, you need a cast of characters-actors who take roles in your crime drama. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
To start your mystery, you need a cast of characters-actors who take roles in your crime drama. Read the first page
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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an encouraging book about writing a mystery. The style is very engaging.The first sentence is "The world of mystery is a vibrant and exciting place." They certainly capture your imagination to start you off. Mystery novel is in direct line with the Dragon or the Holy Grail of the myths and legends. The modern killer is the old dragon which disturbs the order in society. He must be made to pay for unsettling conditions for a peaceful life and terrorising people.As much as The Knight on horseback is the hero that will tackle the task to re-etablish the status quo, so is the sleuth. You are the one to endow him with all powers for him to devise the best tactics to defeat the killer.
How does this guide help you? by asking you questions: about the villain, the detective, the victim, and so on. With your own replies, you are in the process of building your own story that will really suit you, because it will come from your own heart.
One of their title is "having fun with writing". The authors want you to indulge in creation. They take you step-by-step, so your "indulgence" is fruitful too.
52 weekends to write a mystery! Reading this book provoked my thoughts into wanting to write more than just during the 52 week-ends. I am stimulated by their ideas, their questioning, their comparisons.
If you feel a bit sluggish, lacking a bit of confidence perhaps; or if you feel you want guidelines that will spur you on, then this is exactly the book that will fire your imagination, and fuel your energy to write. Yet it is gentle enough, not patronizing. By reading this, you know that they know, and you also know that they delight in telling you what they know, you are part of the wonderful creative process.
Buy this with the assurance that you will be on the right track of writing an excellent mystery.You will enjoy doing it too! Buy it and enjoy being a writer of mystery!
44 of 45 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I've attended dozens of creative writing classes and have the certificates to prove it. But no one, no one, has ever shown me the nuts and bolts of how to write a novel. Until I found The Weekend Novelist. I've written several children's novels to 25,000 words and have found that they sink in the middle, that I've forgoten what colour a character's hair is by the time I get to chapter 20, and that they wrap up all too quickly and shallowly. By sticking to the format of this book, I've found how to write stronger action, better dialogue and believable scenes, all contained in a book with beginning, middle and end. Friends have said it sounds too practical, with no heart. Wrong! Ray gets you to write creatively but with the bonus of a strong supporting structure. Great stuff. I went all the way to the USA to buy this. That was before we went on-line and sicovered Amazon which is a slightly cheaper way to buy books than travelling several thousand miles!
38 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Most aspiring and accomplished writers own at least a modest collection of how-to-write books. The majority of these books are inspirational with a smattering of tips and techniques thrown in.
The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery is different.
Step-by-step methods for constructing a tight mystery novel plot with compelling and convincing characters fill every page. Examples of the authors' own novel process along with those of other masters such as Agatha Christie, Martin Cruz Smith, Sue Grafton, and Raymond Chandler illustrate each step.
There are no timid suggestions in vague jargon here. The authors have taken great pains to make sure each and every facet of their combined writing and teaching expertise is explained thoroughly and usefully.
The importance of a solid "backstory" is the focus of early chapters, giving the writer a solid view of their story before moving on to the writing itself. The far too common problem of writing oneself to a standstill is virtually impossible if the plot and characterization techniques are followed. The remainder of the book contains a treasure trove of specific techniques for creating scenes, convincing dialogue, and "real" settings. The reader will learn how to group their scenes into logical "acts", control the story's pace, and use the language to set tone and resonance.
While structured specifically for the mystery writer, the techniques can be applied to other genres with relative ease. Any novelist, whether still aspiring or already accomplished, will find a wealth of insight into the plotting and characterization process. The beginner searching for one all-around USEFUL how-to-write book would do well to pick this one.
This is no-nonsense book crammed with useful, week-by-week projects which will lead the writer to the successful creation of a well-written, satisfying mystery.
The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery puts the "HOW" back into the how-to-write book market.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Clean up your act as a mystery writer.
Bob Ray and Jack Remick must have very clean offices. Mine was a disaster zone until I read THE WEEKEND NOVELIST WRITES A MYSTERY. Read more
Published on 11 Mar 1999
Great writers write great writing books!
Bob and Jack have the keys to hot writing! Image, action, body parts! Behind the scenes of Weekend Novelist Writes A Mystery are two dynamic men who lead writing practice several... Read more
Published on 24 Jan 1999
This is a wonderful book.
I use this book all the time and I am working on an outline using this method. I'm hooked on this book. I also have The Weekend Novelist by this same author.
Published on 9 Sep 1998
Not Just For Mystery Writers.
'The Weekend Novelist Writes A Mystery' is not just for mystery writers. Ray/Remick instruct with hard fast tools for scene, plot and character development. Read more
Published on 20 Jun 1998
A terrific book for veterans as well as novices
While I've never written a mystery, I am a professional writer and I found myself underlining huge chunks in this book that apply to just about every fictional endeavor. Read more
Published on 1 Jun 1998
Do what they say and you, too, can write a best seller!
I stumbled upon "The Weekend Novelist" about six months ago and it transformed my writing life. Read more
Published on 15 May 1998
The only how-to book you'll ever need.
This is one of the few how-to books for the pro as well as the newbie. It helps the writer maximize limited writing time by planning ahead and by shaping the story from the... Read more
Published on 13 May 1998
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