Tag Archives: Hercule Poirot

Season 18, Theory and Technique

18.08: Building a Mystery

4 Comments

After last week’s deep dive into The Spare Man we’re ready to talk more generally about mysteries, and the tools we use to write them. Obviously we can’t cover all of that in just one episode, but don’t worry. In upcoming episodes we’ll explore more of these tools in detail.

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:11 — 16.9MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Give yourself some context for the upcoming episodes. Read a mystery!

The Glass Onion (Netflix)

Archive Seasons 7-10, Career and Lifestyle, Guest, Live Audience, Season 09, Theory and Technique

Writing Excuses 9.43: Writing Mysteries

9 Comments

Live from Westercon 67 and Fantasy Con, Mette Ivie Harrison and J.R. Johannson join us to talk about writing for the mystery genre. We begin by talking about the key differences between thrillers and mysteries, and then move into how this understanding can drive our story structures. We discuss how characters with arcs and iconic characters drive different types of stories, and how each of us go about building these kinds of things.

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:58 — 12.3MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Write a mystery in which you explain where Howard was during this recording session.

The Ghosts of Belfast, by Stuart Neville,  narrated by Gerard Doyle