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The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery: From Empty Page to Finished Mystery in Just 52 Weekends--A Dynamic Step-by-Step Program
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 a finished book in just 52 weeks!
Let two successful masters of the genre show you how...
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
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 a finished book in just 52 weeks!
Let two successful masters of the genre show you how...
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
examples from Sue Grafton, Dashiell Hammett, Patricia Cornwell, Thomas Harris, Raymond Chandler, and more.
257 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
38 people are currently reading
157 people want to read
About the author
Robert J. Ray
29 books25 followersRobert J. Ray is the author of the writing guide The Weekend Novelist and eight Matt Murdock mysteries, including Murdock Cracks Ice.
He has taught college literature, writing, and tennis. He lives in Seattle.
He has taught college literature, writing, and tennis. He lives in Seattle.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 10, 2017
As a writer, you should pick this up and have it close as you face a mystery for the first time. Or maybe for the first serious time. You will be glad you chose this book. It has a comfortable feel even as it was a little odd about that thong that kept cropping up. But even as there were silly accessories and creepy reasons for them, there was learning.
I was learning things I did not know before. I learned about an authorial intrusion. I have probably intruded with one since I did not know it was an action that the author sometimes takes. I was learning how the mystery is built layer by layer through the book.
I was learning things I did not know before. I learned about an authorial intrusion. I have probably intruded with one since I did not know it was an action that the author sometimes takes. I was learning how the mystery is built layer by layer through the book.
May 3, 2011
More suitable title: The weekend novelist writes a really generic mystery.
This book offers some decent enough pointers, that might allow a beginning novelist to tighten up their plotting skills, but most of the advice given is problematic to say the least. First, the book supposes that you are writing the most stereotypical of crime novels, and that supposition acts like a strait jacket. It’s Agatha Christie/Dashiell Hammett or bust. There’s no sense that the authors realize that not all writers are the same. This is ‘one-size-fits-all’ advice to the max.
Also, while some of the advice may be good, some of it is really bad. The authors actually suggest that writers base their protagonist on themselves. I literally wanted to get out a red crayon and scrawl OMG FALSE all over this page. Self-inserts are the scourge of fiction. They open the writer up include implausible wish-fulfilment and boring minutia. As a writer, you need to probe your main character, reveal his or her darkest secrets and most unpleasant traits. Are most people willing and able to scrutinize themselves so starkly? Um. I’m gonna go with ‘no’.
After I finished this book, I grabbed Dwight V. Swain’s Techniques of the Selling Writer off my shelf to remind myself what good writing advice looks like. Literally, just the first five pages of Techniques are more worthwhile than the entirety of Weekend Novelist.
This book offers some decent enough pointers, that might allow a beginning novelist to tighten up their plotting skills, but most of the advice given is problematic to say the least. First, the book supposes that you are writing the most stereotypical of crime novels, and that supposition acts like a strait jacket. It’s Agatha Christie/Dashiell Hammett or bust. There’s no sense that the authors realize that not all writers are the same. This is ‘one-size-fits-all’ advice to the max.
Also, while some of the advice may be good, some of it is really bad. The authors actually suggest that writers base their protagonist on themselves. I literally wanted to get out a red crayon and scrawl OMG FALSE all over this page. Self-inserts are the scourge of fiction. They open the writer up include implausible wish-fulfilment and boring minutia. As a writer, you need to probe your main character, reveal his or her darkest secrets and most unpleasant traits. Are most people willing and able to scrutinize themselves so starkly? Um. I’m gonna go with ‘no’.
After I finished this book, I grabbed Dwight V. Swain’s Techniques of the Selling Writer off my shelf to remind myself what good writing advice looks like. Literally, just the first five pages of Techniques are more worthwhile than the entirety of Weekend Novelist.
April 14, 2015
I received this book as a gift, from one writer to another. I was thrilled to have it. I've read it in bits and pieces, not because it hasn't held my interest, but because it is full of great information that I want to thoroughly digest. I'm not a mystery writer, per se, but what I have found in this book is a unique perspective on "How To" write a book, like uncovering clues as I move along my writing quest. I especially love the flow charts and the outlined lists to help me visualize how parts of a book come together. I've really enjoyed reading this and learning from it.
March 10, 2011
This book has a number of really helpful tips that will be quite useful as I beat my NaNo's into shape. However, this book is focused on what I'd describe as a classic murder mystery: body found, sleuth investigates, all is revealed, and all ends are tied up. Nothing's wrong with this approach, but it won't translate 1:1 for mysteries that stray off the classic path.
October 3, 2012
The concept of scene cards has been tremendously helpful for me so far. I'll be buying this in hard-copy as well just so I can highlight things.
August 13, 2019
Okay book if you want to explore writing according to a structure.
But I don't agree to all of it. For instance the statement: "In mystery writing, you simplify the problem of motive by creating a visible resource base." From the examples, it seems the resource base is something like money or some property that the killer wants or wants to protect. But what about a killer that kills for revenge (and gains nothing, but the knowledge the victim won't be a pest anymore)? Or a killer that kills accidentally? Those situations too can be a puzzler for the sleuth. Or are plots like that to sophisticated for the weekend novelist?
And apparently you must create a catalyst, the character that "makes things happen". As if finding the killer is not enough motivator for the sleuth. I needed more of a definition of what a catalyst is and does. There were many examples, but I still didn't get the point why this one character is a catalyst and some other character that makes things happen (almost) as much, isn't.
The main idea though, getting to know the characters helps develop the plot, is useful. As is the overall message: put bum in seat and get to work.
But I don't agree to all of it. For instance the statement: "In mystery writing, you simplify the problem of motive by creating a visible resource base." From the examples, it seems the resource base is something like money or some property that the killer wants or wants to protect. But what about a killer that kills for revenge (and gains nothing, but the knowledge the victim won't be a pest anymore)? Or a killer that kills accidentally? Those situations too can be a puzzler for the sleuth. Or are plots like that to sophisticated for the weekend novelist?
And apparently you must create a catalyst, the character that "makes things happen". As if finding the killer is not enough motivator for the sleuth. I needed more of a definition of what a catalyst is and does. There were many examples, but I still didn't get the point why this one character is a catalyst and some other character that makes things happen (almost) as much, isn't.
The main idea though, getting to know the characters helps develop the plot, is useful. As is the overall message: put bum in seat and get to work.
September 22, 2012
Practical help on plotting a first novel. I found it works well in conjunction with mythic cycles to lay out the plot curve for events that slowly escalate a story to its conclusion. The mystery is more challenging to write then other stories since all the clues have to be placed innocuously prior to the realization by the investigator about what happened. Robert Ray is an effective teacher of the methods he uses in this book.
June 25, 2013
Excellent! First book to teach me how to write a mystery in a step by step approach that appeals to the outliner.
November 25, 2018
I purchased Ray's The Weekend Novelist back in the late 90s and it changed my life and the way that I approach the craft of writing. So when I saw this book, as a mystery/thriller/suspense author, I knew I needed to take a look and see how he applies his techniques to my own genre. I wasn't disappointed.
Ray uses classic novels (The Body in the Library, The Big Sleep) as well as more modern fare (F is for Fugitive, The Silence of the Lambs) to demonstrate the development of the plot, character, and building tension and how to work these into your fiction.
Highly recommended if you're a writer who's short on time but long on ideas for great stories or if you'd like a book that breaks down writing techniques into small workable chunks.
Ray uses classic novels (The Body in the Library, The Big Sleep) as well as more modern fare (F is for Fugitive, The Silence of the Lambs) to demonstrate the development of the plot, character, and building tension and how to work these into your fiction.
Highly recommended if you're a writer who's short on time but long on ideas for great stories or if you'd like a book that breaks down writing techniques into small workable chunks.
May 3, 2021
I always wondered exactly how mystery writers structured their writing. Did they plan everything out in advance? How exactly should clues be revealed? Do you just start writing and see where the mystery leads? I was pleasantly surprised to find a real life mystery writer recommending a systematic approach. This book covers most of what would be needed to lay out a mystery over the course of one year. It made the process seem very approachable to anyone.
December 6, 2012
I'm not sure where to begin; I'll put it bluntly, in regards of writing a novel its average.
Though some parts are overwhelming, it provides you with systematic approach of novel writing. In a way, it discourages one from writing a novel. It suggests that you should initially, do A then B; you cannot do B smoothly without A. I.e. writing a novel is linear, which I deem to be false. However, yes, there is some logic to this, but I strongly believe that as you write you tend to 'sense' your character's feel, not writing a description beforehand. Overall, I would recommend this book for those whom work better using a systematic order.
Though some parts are overwhelming, it provides you with systematic approach of novel writing. In a way, it discourages one from writing a novel. It suggests that you should initially, do A then B; you cannot do B smoothly without A. I.e. writing a novel is linear, which I deem to be false. However, yes, there is some logic to this, but I strongly believe that as you write you tend to 'sense' your character's feel, not writing a description beforehand. Overall, I would recommend this book for those whom work better using a systematic order.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews