This is K.M. Wyland and you are listening to the six hundred seventeth of the helping writers become authors podcast

I hope you enjoyed this week's episode genre tips how to write mystery

following closely on the heels of romance, mystery is one of the most popular

fiction genres of all time. At its simplest, the genre is a puzzle for audiences and characters to figure out together.

At its most complex, Mystery offers a deep dive into humanity's most pressing existential questions and threats.

Populated sub-genres, mystery offers room for many expressions,

but its intelligent and experienced audience expects specific details in its execution.

Learning how to write mystery stories is, as it turns out, about so much more than just the facts ma'am.

Mystery can be divided into several categories including but not limited to

thriller which focuses on the dangerous stakes for the characters caught up in needing to solve the mystery such as the fugitive

procedural which focuses on the techniques used in solving the mystery such as CSI

Who done it focusing on solving the puzzle such as Sherlock Holmes and crime focusing on professionals from both sides of the crime

which may be a murder or may be another type of law

breaking, such as we see in The Departed.

And there are many other sub-genres, and many of these can overlap or be included in other

sub-genres that are primarily focused on

evoking a certain milieu or atmosphere such as cozy which focuses on a cozy

setting low-key stakes little gore gore or violence, and usually a citizen detective such as Miss Marple.

Noor, which focuses on a dark and greedy urban setting usually, such as the Maltese Falcon. And comedy, focusing on a comedy of errors, again

usually with little graphic violence and a bubbling hero who solves the case

by happenstance as much as anything such as the man who knew too little.

Like romance, mystery often crops up as a subplot within stories that would primarily be classed as other genres.

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