Now detective stories are very popular. Some authors write them in large quantities, very fast. There are works for easy reading, more of an entertaining nature, but among the classic examples you will be able to find truly meaningful, thoughtful detective stories filled with deep meaning and realities of life. You yourself may well try your hand at writing and write a detective story. Perhaps you love the genre, or want to create a piece that has a better chance of commercial success. In any case, the detective is a good choice. This genre is in demand among readers and publishing houses. You will need to take into account some nuances, remember tips and follow the algorithm to simplify the task.

1. Before you get started, it is very important to define your main goal. Modern authors are often faced with a not very pleasant trend: meaningful works, written in a classical style, raising pressing issues, unfortunately, are not nearly as popular and in demand as their creators would like. A unique “subgenre” of contemporary detective fiction has emerged. The book should intrigue, captivate, but not immerse you in unnecessary thoughts, not be “negative,” and not make readers think too much and get upset. An attractive detective story that doesn’t scare you seriously, but certainly ends well. The characters are usually a little artificial, so even if something unpleasant happens to them, it does not cause concern to the reader. Having considered all these nuances and read two or three modern popular detective stories, you can decide which path you will take when creating your book:
   • write a commercial text that corresponds to a given format, is lightweight and in demand, for which it will be easier to find a publisher;
     
   • implement your own ideas, approach the process creatively, create a meaningful and deep book in the detective genre.
     
   Both ways are good in their own way. The first one also has a right to exist. You can easily put yourself in the reader’s place, analyze his desire to rest, relax, get more positive, and not negative emotions. Perhaps you yourself love this kind of literature - then you will be even better able to write something similar. By taking a more difficult road, you also have a good perspective. If you write really carefully, thoughtfully, and approach the matter with all responsibility, the work has a chance of success, like any talented book.
   
2. Try to take into account the achievements that are already available in the literature on this moment in the detective genre. Even if you prefer light reading, be sure to take the time to study at least one work by Arthur Haley, A.K. Doyle. Surely you will like something in these works, you will learn something useful and new for yourself. Don’t just read books, but study them according to the following scheme:
   • pay attention to the development of the plot;
     
   • build a logical chain of events (it’s good to do this in the form of a flowchart);
     
   • analyze the images of the main characters, secondary characters: identify for yourself their main features, interrelation, role in revealing the idea, developing the plot;
     
   • relate the title to the theme and idea of ​​the work;
     
   • think about whether it is easy to predict the course of events and the hidden qualities of the heroes;
     
   • trace how the idea of ​​a detective story is revealed through its content and plot.
     
   All these observations are very useful. Of course, this does not mean that you should imitate famous writers. It is important to feel the fabric of the work, the process of its creation, the logical sequence and integrity of the narrative, to see all the cause-and-effect relationships. This is necessary for your experience, mastering the skill of writing, and not imitation or stylization.
   
3. Follow events in the modern world, watch the news, read newspapers. Do not forget your personal impressions, observations, conclusions and memories of some interesting situations in which you found yourself a participant or witness. From all this life experience you can learn a lot of important things for creating your work. To write a detective book, you should devote time to crime news, you can sometimes watch big documentaries about high-profile crimes, criminals and their victims. This way you will learn more about the world of criminals, psychological portrait killer, all sorts of subtleties and features of investigations, unraveling the chain of evidence, random and defining information, evidence. Having acquired such experience, albeit in absentia, you will be able to add realistic details to your detective story and bring it closer to life.
   
4. In the process of reading, watching television programs, various ideas and questions will definitely come to your mind. All this needs to be written down in a separate notebook, and all your observations, opinions about what you saw and read, and conclusions should be briefly reflected there. In future work, these notes will become excellent material for you.
   
5. When you have already formed the basic ideas that you want to embody in your detective story, proceed to choosing the location. Events should develop in conditions with which you yourself are well familiar. You should not write about business or economic crimes if you do not have sufficient information in this area. Otherwise, any more or less knowledgeable reader will see your incompetence, mistakes and inconsistencies. When you have a plan, an intriguing plot, but you just can’t change the little-known area where events are developing to another, you should seriously study it. It will take you more time, but you will write a really interesting and believable detective story.
   
6. Write detailed plan your detective. Draw diagrams, plan events point by point, their sequence and relationships. Think especially carefully about plot moves, twists, unexpected and predictable. Use the technique of understatement to intrigue the reader. You can choose: immediately reveal the mystery of the work to the reader, leaving the heroes in the dark, or force the reader, together with the characters, to unravel a complex tangle. In the second case, a good “presence effect” will be achieved: the reader will feel like one of the characters. But the technique of revealing the riddle is also used, however, for this you need to already master the writing skill of the word, otherwise it will be difficult to keep the reader reading the book.
   
7. Pay attention to the system of actors. They must be different and have individual character traits. Each hero in a good detective story carries his own burden and plays an important role. Give the characters features of speech, appearance, and inner world. In a well-thought-out character system, all the heroes are in their places, not a single one can be removed.
   
8. Develop your own style, do not imitate great authors. Your work may not be so perfect, but its originality will certainly attract readers.
   
9. Work a lot with text. Re-read each fragment several times, correct, cut out unnecessary things and add new details. Pay attention to small details, describe nuances, captivate the reader.
   
10. Don't forget about storytelling dynamism. Concentrate events, add dialogues, do not get carried away by extensive digressions and author's comments.
    

1. Take into account the established tradition in the detective genre and the achievements of famous authors.
   
2. Gain experience: observe, read, watch news and documentaries.
   
3. Write everything down Interesting Facts, your impressions and conclusions.
   
4. Think over not only the plot, but also the location and conditions.
   
5. Carefully form a system of characters, their connections, relationships, and individual traits.
   
6. Follow the dynamism of the narrative.
   
7. A detective must be logical, but not predictable.
   
8. Captivate and intrigue the reader: saturate the work with understatement and riddles.
   
9. Work a lot on the text: polish, correct, shorten, add new details.
   
10. Be sure to leave your work for a while and then return to it again: this way you can look at the text objectively.
    
11. Try to add something to the detective story that will help your readers in a difficult situation and become useful.
    

When creating stories, the writer is bound by three principles. Unfortunately, no one knows which ones.

(Somerset Maugham.)

Before we start trying to write a story, we need to ask ourselves a few questions. Let's start with this: why do we like to read sensational crime fiction?

The answer is most likely that these books tell engaging, intriguing stories and are easy to read. If stories of other genres may have some - or all - of these features, then the detective genre guarantees their presence.

But how to describe the type of literature that interests us? Afraid, precise definition no, although I'll offer more later detailed description its characteristics. For now, let us only accept that crime, both a detective story and other variants, is a story central motive which is the crime, and a sensational story may contain the motive for the crime, but is not obliged to do so.

If you say that you don’t read such literature, or don’t like it, I must honestly warn you what to write good work in that literary genre It will be very difficult for you. People usually assume that if a book is easy to read, then it was easy to write - oh, if only it were so! Therefore, let us not delude ourselves and imagine that a detective story is light literature, because there are rules that must be used when working on it. Or vice versa - it’s easy to write a detective story because there are no such rules. In reality, the author of sensational crime literature creates like an ordinary writer, and in addition must take care to ensure that the result is fascinating and easy to read.

The best way to navigate any type of literature - read its good examples. You can enroll in writing courses, and even complete them, you can read guide books on writing methods, but these are only half-remedies. At the same time, reading popular authors, luminaries of one or another type of literature, is an absolutely necessary thing. Therefore, at the end of each chapter, I provide a list of books that I consider required reading in order to know this genre.

Fascinating books seem to read themselves. You can skim them the first time, but then you should return to the beginning and leisurely read them again, paying attention to how they are written. How different authors connect different scenes, how they introduce characters, change the mood, increase our interest, and do not allow us to put the book aside. This way we will take a look at their techniques and try to learn something from them.

By reading and comparing the works of different writers, we begin to understand their strengths and weak sides. Each author is great at only some things, while others are worse. IN ideal world a demanding editor would force corrections and changes to be made to produce the perfect book. In our world, time does not allow us to do this, because it is believed that the creators of popular sensational literature must produce a steady stream of books.

It is interesting that a writer who is adept at constructing a plot and skillfully creating atmosphere can sometimes be strikingly clumsy in terms of language. He uses too many adjectives and definitions where one correctly used word would suffice. Another, using elegant language, can push us away with an implausible development of events. Another one, while doing an excellent job of presenting events, presents the heroes too unclearly, in our opinion. It is clear that our opinions are subjective, and when we complain, another reader may admire the excellence of the same book. All this, however, allows us to understand what can be achieved in this type of literature, and what mistakes should be avoided when creating our own books.

Have you asked yourself: why do you want to try your hand at this literary genre? Do you have an invented story, does it center around some interesting riddle? Do you have a hero who can become a detective? Do you have professional experience - for example, you are a lawyer, you work in the police - that you can use? These are major reliefs, and each may be a suitable insurance coverage.

Criminals, being active and usually intelligent people, represent good material on literary characters. To commit a crime, they need to show initiative, intelligence and courage in executing their plans. Their moral failure lies in their inability to appreciate their insanity, in the belief that they were caught only because they were unlucky, and their insolence manifests itself in the fact that they commit a crime again and become repeat offenders. But whether the story focuses on the criminals or their victims, crime is fertile ground for us to work on.

To be a writer means to see life a little differently than ordinary people. Acquaintances can talk about some event in an ordinary and simple way, but your imagination should revive it. Books are made from questions, and one of the most creative ones is the question: “What would happen if...”. By asking this you free your imagination. This question must be asked when planning your story, and then again, and again, developing the plot on paper. A story never appears completely complete in your head; it is usually the sum of answers to many questions.

Suppose that while leaving a bar with friends, we see a couple of people arguing near a parked car. The man snatches the woman's keys and drives away, leaving her in the parking lot. Your friends will be interested in this scene mainly at the level of facts. Maybe they will exaggerate a little when they say what they heard during the scandal, but overall they will describe the event quite accurately. What they saw and heard will allow them to decide that the man behaved disgustingly, or the woman got what she deserved. Meanwhile, the writer in you is having fun.

What if, you think, the child of this couple (they can have a child) remained in the seat in the back seat of the car? The man did not look like a caring nanny, and the woman did not have her purse with her; she probably left it in the car. How will she cope without her purse? Up until this point, we thought these people were family. And if not? What if it was just a regular car theft? Or maybe a robbery?

The story fits into a single whole, like pieces of glass in a kaleidoscope. It could be like this: the man gained the woman’s trust, and when she was driving him (a separate question - where?), he took out a knife and forced her to go out of town. Seeing the parking lot near the pub, the woman turned sharply and tried to run away. But he ran away, and with her car at that.

Just a minute. After all, the woman did not run to the bar, begging to call the police, she went there calmly, and, as we recall, even leisurely. But the victim of a crime should be in shock. She was not. Maybe we've got it all wrong? What if this woman imposed herself on him and forced him to do something he couldn’t do or didn’t want to do? What if...

Latest version, in which the probable relationship of the two main characters was turned upside down, is more original, and therefore more interesting than the one that first came to mind. It could serve as the basis for a story. Since I was the one who came up with it, I don't think anyone has used it before. In any case, this would not stop me from turning it into a story, because once the plot and the ending are already determined, when the characters have acquired the appropriate background and motivation, and I have determined the theme - for example, persecution - the story will be written in my, an individual, difficult-to-fake style, and this will differ from the books of other writers.

Students tell me that they are afraid to start writing because they think that absolute originality is required, and they believe that in the genre we are considering, originality is the hardest to achieve. However, anyone who expects originality will wait a very long time, and besides, complete originality is not that important, because after the suffering of Romeo and Juliet, can there really be no more star-crossed lovers?

Therefore, if you catch yourself in the fact that your imagination gives you a story based on events similar to those that happened in the parking lot, or centers around some unusual person, or a fragment of an overheard conversation, or an article from a newspaper - note that these stories can be the germ of a story. Write them all down as quickly as possible, both the ones you liked and the ones you discarded. As you write them down, additional ideas will probably come up. Later, it all needs to be sifted through, sorted out and thought about again, remembering that unwritten ideas like to be forgotten.

I don’t think you should take out your notebook in front of your friends and advertise your weirdness, but let’s use the first opportunity that comes along while the ideas are still fresh. A vivid imagination makes for great fun, but BECOME a writer requires the ability to take notes. Otherwise, our fantasy will be just an ordinary waking dream.

At the same time, our friends, who do not have such a wild imagination, are talking about rising prices for beer, and how good it used to be in bars, because you could sit and calmly talk about rising prices, instead of shout over modern noise: music from speakers, TV, slot machines etc.

People often ask writers: where do you get your ideas? They are offended when they hear in response that ideas come from everywhere, at any time. They feel insulted because they don't have that experience and can't understand how the writer sees the world. However, sometimes people declare that some person or event “should be described in a book,” and since they cannot do this themselves, they suggest the topic to a writer they know. I don't remember any of these suggestions being even remotely helpful to me. My imagination is affected by different things than theirs, and probably different than yours, reader.

Therefore, I understand perfectly well that my example with parking could simply anger you, because it does not in any way resemble the story that I should help you write. Okay, time to do what you have in mind.

If you've already spent a lot of time brainstorming story ideas, creating a plot, and introducing characters, then you probably only have part of the story, and one, maybe two main characters. Maybe even less. Perhaps you set the action in a certain place or environment, and thought of only one scene, nothing more. Don't worry - you're in good company. P. D. James is one of those writers who are convinced that stories are mainly taken from the desire to use some special place in the story being told. Buildings play an important role in her books: for example, an early Victorian house moved to the other side of London for the needs of Intrigue and Desire. It is also known that the first germ of “The French Mistress” by John Foles was a drawing of a cloaked figure looking out to sea, which he found at Lime Regis. Such moments are worth their weight in gold for a writer. Whatever your starting point is, that's where we'll start.

You will need, as I already recalled, a pocket notebook to write down the ideas that come to mind, a pack of clean sheets paper, called chips, that can be joined together, or a convenient block from which pages can be torn out. A salvation is a paper folder for loose sheets, or a convenient box. It contains not only our manuscript, but also magazines, books, photographs, which are auxiliary material. In addition to the pencils we write with, probably with blue or black liners, it is also good to have a different color, such as red or green, to mark certain passages with. In the fifth chapter we will return to talking about equipment, but for now we only need the most necessary equipment.

Writing a story is the art of containing ideas. The fruits of our imagination are easier to appreciate when they are captured on paper, so let's start with what we know about our future story. If we have already come up with the plot, in its entirety, or at least a small part, let's try to express it in one paragraph. Since these are only sketches, it should only reveal the plot, and does not have to be written in beautiful language. But it must be brief, in a few lines.

Here's how I condensed the story that became the basis of my second sensational novel, Threatening Eye:

Three threads of a mysterious story:

1. Person A: porn magazines, criminal record, suspicious behavior, dog fighting.

2. Person B: hiding from the police.

3. Person B: a friend who suspects A of murder.

Place in Hertfordshire.

Dog fights can be held in a black wooden barn.

This was the core of the story. It was inspired by a real-life police investigation involving a serial rapist. A person known to me was interrogated twice. I learned that he was in prison for murder, and led a double life: he was the editor of a respected magazine, and a “charming” photographer who preyed on teenage girls. I turned the rape into a murder using “what would have happened if” questions, and the rest was pure fiction, except for the important dog fights and the topographical and social details associated with a typical Hertfordshire village.

You can use real events and people as material for the imagination, but they must be amenable to change - we don’t want to be accused of insulting the honor and dignity of someone who, only poorly disguised, acts as a murderer in our country. Naturally, you cannot use real last names either. As for the rest, the less we limit our imagination, the better.

Even if you first use real person, as a result of literary metamorphoses, it will change very quickly. Thanks to this, the veterinarian changes his profession, turning into a doctor, and if he must endure a capricious wife, it would be better if from a decent and honest lady who spends her free time in the rooms of the local information office, she turned into a spoiled fashion model; the house where the doctor lives is so boring that you transport him to the moors, to a haunted mansion. And when you complete these changes, it will be difficult for both you and (most importantly) him to recognize an old veterinarian in the hero of the crime story.

Stories of any kind, although as different from each other as their authors, are always based on conflict. The characters get into trouble, as events unfold they try to cope with it, eventually their situation changes, or, in the worst case, the characters’ attitude towards the problems around them changes. In crime, these problems and trials are caused by the crime, but appear as a result of it. The crime here is almost always murder - this is an absolute crime, since the victim cannot be resurrected, and the killer cannot correct his guilt.

Popular methods of murder include gunshot, strangulation, stabbing, blunt force trauma, poisoning, drowning, or a staged accident. For a murder to be convincing, it must be tailored to the character: a repeat killer might pull out a gun, and a housewife, in turn, will use a cast-iron frying pan.

Since our genre deals with the behavior of an individual in extreme situations, this situation should be clearly reflected in the story we create. At least one of our heroes must be under increasing pressure, which increases as the action unfolds. Regardless of the plot itself, and therefore, regardless of whether it is a conflict in the family, a conflict between friends, neighbors or work colleagues - problems arising from this tension, from someone’s stubbornness, jealousy, mania or thirst for revenge, are always a rich source of plot ideas. Another way of creating a story is to imagine how our heroes would react if their lives were disrupted by the repetition or discovery of some events from the past.

Suppose we are researching an event in our family history. When taking something from life, especially from the life of your family, it is wise to strip the problem or conflict down to its very core to be sure of the resulting tension and dramatic construction. So let's delete it for a minute real people so as not to clutter the image with many little things that are unimportant for the story. By cutting down Aunt Anna to the bare minimum, you can see the weak points of her story. If she turns out to be unsuitable, the possibility remains of inventing a more energetic character to replace her. There is no place for sentimentality here. We need a story that can be developed into literature, because we are not writing a biography or a family chronicle.

I must warn you before you succumb to the temptation to write something really complex and sophisticated. From my notebook fragment, you can see that the story "Threatening Eye" was technically quite complex because it used three different perspectives: person A, person B, and a friend of person A, i.e. person B. Maybe you are also going to do something similar.

Jumping from one character's perspective to another is an effective way to increase tension and speed up the pace of the story. Reading about a relatively calm moment in the life of one of them, we still think about what happens to the character who finds himself in a difficult situation, and are filled with fears. You cannot trust any reassuring information, and even in the calmest moment there is often a hint of anxiety.

I really enjoy writing and reading novels that contain a lot of perspective, but I must warn aspiring writers: the more perspective we have, the more difficult the writing process becomes. You should think carefully about whether you can use a form that is particularly difficult (more information about different perspectives is in Chapter Four).

I am not suggesting turning your work into a narrative written from only one point of view. Perhaps the best way to tell a story IS from the point of view of three or four characters. But in this case, this story should be put aside for some time until you gain experience and become a more mature writer. Writers' heads are usually filled with ideas, so you'll no doubt have a simpler plot at hand that's worth considering and would be a great place to start. With that caveat, I leave the final decision to those concerned.

The quote from my notebook also shows that I knew from the very beginning that Threatening Eye would be a sensational story, not a detective or crime story. But it could have been different. I could concentrate on a police investigation involving a series of murders in Hertfordshire villages, and then it would be a detective story. Messrs. A and B could be suspects until the police, despite the difficulties, could finally determine who the real killer was. It could also be a crime story about Person A, who could not clear himself of suspicion without revealing the secrets of his disgusting criminal biography.

What about your story? Do you know which of these broad categories it falls into? By creating a detective story featuring a shrewd inspector, a devoted sergeant and a not-so-bright precinct officer, you can be sure that you have applied the right label. Otherwise, deciding which type of storytelling will best suit the chosen concept will require more thought. And when you finally decide, you may want to make different choices, influenced by new ideas, further delving into the plot and characters.

In the initial stages of creation, there are no permanent elements in the story, everything can be rethought and discarded until we decide on something that seems suitable for its task. But when you think about or correct the story again, do not get rid of the old notes, because it may happen that you want to return to previous version, or decide to think about it again.

To create a story, you need more than just good story and compelling characters... First of all, you have to tell the story in a way that makes the most of it. If it is a sensational story or a crime story, you need to write it in such a way that it is as mysterious and exciting as possible. Writers with established reputations sometimes don't understand this, especially those who write detective stories. Their publishers often require them to deliver another Inspector Astute story every year, so every idea they come up with is tied to the identity of their Inspector, thereby depriving them of the opportunity to write a good story with a new hero.

Therefore, it is unwise to pre-commit yourself to any particular type of crime fiction until you have thoroughly explored all the ideas. However, if this approach bothers you, and at this moment you definitely want to stick on one label or another, I advise you to look at the third chapter, which is entirely devoted to the definition different types crime-sensational literature.

1. Write down the story you intend to use. At this stage, do not delve into the detailed design of the characters; you will be able to do this after reading the next chapter.

2. Note in your notes the source of information: newspaper clippings, television, an anecdote you heard, some event you witnessed. You may want to refer to this source later to check whether the necessary changes have been made and whether the real people are well camouflaged.

3. See if you can answer the following key questions about each story in this genre: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

4. Reduce the narrative to a diagram and show on it the place where the conflict is located.

5. Describe the story in one paragraph. Save it, it might come in handy later.

Decide what potential it has: a sensational story, a detective story, a crime story, or another type of story.

1. If you couldn’t come up with a plausible story, describe, in more or less detail, one of the main characters.

2. Write down all your story ideas. Note why they seem promising to you, or why you think they cannot be used.

1. You don’t even have a hero? Then describe what it is, for example, the place where you intend to place the action.

Wilkie Collins. Moon rock.

Maurice Leblanc. Arsene Lupine, gentleman thief.

Gaston Leroux. The secret of the yellow room.

Edgar Allan Poe. Murder on the Rue Morgue.

Beginning authors are divided into two types: the first get down to business without reading a single book and rely only on faith in their own talent, while the second cannot make up their mind for years, try to gain experience, and start closer to retirement. But to become a successful young author, you need to study and try at the same time. T&P have compiled seven books on writing that you can read to learn how to write.

"The Million Dollar Story"

Robert McKee

American screenwriters have a secret that all aspiring writers should know. This secret is the three-act structure of the feature film. On screen, the action can only develop according to such a structure, and the main character must necessarily change as he moves towards the finale.

Russian-speaking authors traditionally overestimate inner world characters, their feelings and mental anguish. What aroused the interest of readers in century before last, does not find a response among his contemporaries. The world has become “faster”, texts have become shorter, there is not enough time for anything. Today, only action can keep a reader reading. Running his eyes over the lines on the page of a book, he must see, hear, feel and experience what is happening inside the work.

"Bird by Bird"

Anne Lamott

Anne Lamott teaches perhaps the most important thing - to be honest: both with yourself and with readers. This book, poignant and sincere, talks about the writer’s lifestyle and the difficulties that await him. The author tells how to overcome the fear of the first draft, how to write constantly, write a lot, write well, while having fun.

Why can't you start a new writing project on Mondays and in December? What they think and feel famous writers when do they start working on a new text? How to force yourself to write? Anne Lamott answers these and other questions on every page of her book.

Why do we read detective stories? On the one hand, this is a form of escaping reality, further proof that we live in a just world. This is sports excitement - we are rooting for our detective. This is a pleasant illusion - we identify ourselves with the main character and as a result we seem stronger, braver, etc.

On the other hand, this is an exercise for the mind - many people like to guess charades.

The main elements of a detective story

The four pillars of detective fiction are:

Mystery. The reader, together with the main character, looks for answers to the questions: What was that?, Who did it? and sometimes - Will they catch or not?

Voltage. For the reader to become seriously interested in a mystery, there must be something important at stake. Therefore, detective stories appeal to such fundamental values ​​as life, freedom and money. The fast-paced plot and high stakes create tension, leaving the reader wanting to know what happens next.

Conflict. The detective story is rooted in ancient legends about the epic journey of a warrior who fights Evil. Solving a crime, especially a murder, is a symbolic victory over death. Therefore, in the detective story, white is separated from black and Good and Evil are in a state of irreconcilable war.

Surprise. Theoretically, the reader has the opportunity to solve the crime himself: as the story progresses, he is given all the necessary clues. But he is disappointed if he still guesses who exactly killed Miss Jane or stole the diamonds from the nightstand.

The world of a genre detective only vaguely resembles the real world. There is no place for accidents, coincidences and unclear circumstances. Everything should be clearly thought out and logical. Each of the characters performs a strictly defined function: the detective investigates, witnesses present him with the necessary facts, the criminal hides. But at the same time, plausibility remains important feature detective.

Types of detectives

Closed detective. The crime is committed in a confined space (on a ship, in a mountain boarding house, etc.), and suspicion may fall on a limited circle of people. The closed detective story was especially popular in the 1920-1930s.

Psychological detective. The main emphasis is on the psychology of both the criminal and the detective.

Cool detective and standing close to him detective noir(i.e. black). Violence, corpses and sex are depicted in great detail.

Historical detective. The action takes place in the past. One of the varieties of historical detective fiction is the investigation of a crime committed a long time ago.

Political detective. The action takes place around elections, political actions or the private lives of politicians.

Spy detective. The adventures of the scouts are described.

Art detective. The theft of a work of art is being investigated.

Love detective. Love affair(often between two antagonists) seriously affects the development of the plot.

Ironic detective. The narration is told in an ironic tone. Investigations are usually carried out by amateur ladies. The gory details are omitted.

Police detective. Investigative procedures and the work of professionals are described in detail. Variation - forensic detective. The authors of these works are usually lawyers or former employees law enforcement.

Fantastic detective. The investigation is carried out in a fictional world.

Private detective. The investigation is being conducted by a private detective.

Amateur detective. A non-professional - a witness, suspect, relative or friend of the hero involved in the case - is taken on to solve the crime. If we're talking about about a series of novels about an amateur detective, a paradox arises when a seemingly ordinary person stumbles upon a corpse every six months.

Detective characters

Detective- the person who conducts the investigation. As mentioned above, detectives are divided into the following types:

Law enforcement officer;

Advocate;

Private detective;

Amateur detective.

The characteristic features of the protagonist of detective stories are courage, a sense of justice, isolation and the ability to break the law for a just cause. For example, a detective may intimidate a rogue witness to discover the truth. He is able to stand up for himself and is ready to help others. He is a professional in his field, although we are not necessarily talking specifically about investigative work.

Often he has a special talent: a unique memory, ability for languages, etc. In a word, he is always somehow different from mere mortals - this is part of the myth.

Oddities and paradoxes in the character of the hero decorate the narrative: the quiet librarian can ride a motorcycle; pathologist - work as a clown on weekends, etc. But here we must be careful: a lumberjack who loves ballet looks unnatural. If a librarian rides a Harley to work, there should be a rational explanation for it. For example, she inherited a motorcycle from her deceased husband.

Assistant- serves so that the detective can explain the details of the investigation to someone. As a rule, this is a person of average abilities, against whose background the main character looks more representative.

Criminal- a person who committed or organized a crime. As a rule, his name is not fully known.

Here's what James N. Frey advises in How to Write a Great Mystery:

The criminal must be selfish and act out of self-interest. If the reader discovers that the murder was committed by a kind nun who protected orphans, one of the pleasure factors of reading a detective story is lost. People want evil to be punished. No evil - no conflict - no feeling of satisfaction. If a good criminal is necessary for the development of the plot, increase the intensity of the conflict in other ways.

The criminal must be afraid of exposure - otherwise the severity of the conflict will again be lost. Make it smart and resourceful. Let them fight on equal terms with the detective.

The criminal may have suffered mental trauma in the past, after which he went down a crooked path.

Suspect- the person on whom suspicion initially falls. As a rule, he turns out to be innocent.

Victim- a person killed or injured as a result of a crime.

Witnesses- people supplying the detective important information about a crime and/or a criminal.

Sage- gives the detective valuable advice on how to conduct an investigation.

Expert- provides the detective with important scientific or professional data. For example, in the field of ballistics, linguistics, art, etc.

Detective's plan

Usually a detective story is built according to the following scheme:

1) The detective takes up the investigation. In some cases, the author describes a crime scene or introduces a prologue in order to create the desired atmosphere.

If the main character is a professional, then there is no need to explain his motivation (why he agreed to conduct the investigation): that’s his job. If the main character is an amateur or a private detective, you cannot do without an introductory part: you need to show why on earth the hero got involved in the case. This can be done in flashback order.

2) The detective begins an investigation and at first he is lucky. In mythology, this is called initiation - the hero leaves his usual life and finds himself in the distant kingdom of crime.

The investigation is carried out in two ways:

Hunting - the detective immediately finds an important clue and this allows him to unravel the whole tangle;

Gathering - the detective studies disparate facts, which are subsequently combined into a picture of the crime.

The conflict can escalate if the detective finds himself in an environment that is not his own: for example, a simple, taciturn guy from the lower social classes is investigating a murder on Rublyovka.

3) The detective is faced with a serious crisis that turns his life upside down, gathers his strength and continues the investigation in a new direction.

4) The investigation is hot on the trail. The detective discovers the missing links in the chain. The moment of enlightenment comes - he finds answers to all the key questions.

5) The detective catches the criminal. The killer (kidnapper, spy, etc.) gets what he deserves.

6) It tells how the events of the novel influenced the characters.

What to look for when writing a detective story

Investigators are always tracking:

Motive - the reason for committing a crime,

Method - the suspect must have access to the crime weapon and be physically able to commit this or that action.

When thinking through the plot of a detective story, you should start with the motive: why did the locksmith Kuvaldin strangle the ballerina Tapkina? Next, we think about the easiest way to do this: with your bare hands, your own pants, or a wire from a toaster. Don't complicate things: water flows to where it is lower, criminals act in the simplest way.

A detective story must have at least two stories: one true, the other false. First, the detective develops a false version: it fits so well with the facts that he has no doubts about the chosen path. And only then, closer to the climax, the true state of affairs begins to emerge. The situation is turned upside down and it is at this moment that the reader experiences catharsis.

It’s useful to stop somewhere in the middle of the novel and write down: what is the reader guessing by this time? What forecasts does he make? And at least two or three forecasts should not come true.

To make it impossible to identify the killer right away, give each of the suspects equal strengths and weaknesses. Let the readers' attention concentrate on the detective: if the most interesting character There will be a murderer in the novel, the secret will immediately become apparent.

The same thing will happen if you emphasize that the locksmith Kuvaldin had neither the motive nor the opportunity to kill the ballerina Tapkina. When the author diverts suspicion from the hero, there is a feeling that this is where the dog is buried. This perceptual feature is often used to create false keys. For example, the author shows that Kuvaldin is as innocent as a daisy, the reader grins contentedly: “Well, everything is clear!”, but in fact, not everything is clear. At the same time, we should not forget that false clues are triggered only when they fit perfectly into the initial investigative version.

A good detective resembles a quest - computer game: to get to the goal, you need to collect a certain number of items that will later be useful to the player. In a detective story, this role is played by evidence.

The level of skill of the author largely depends on how skillfully he hides them. Skilful does not mean far. On the contrary, the evidence should lie on the surface, but at the same time have such an insignificant appearance that the reader does not pay attention to it. As a result, at the moment of climax, he can only throw up his hands: Well, how did I not guess? After all, they gave me all the clues!

How to hide evidence? American writer Shannon Okork gives this advice: “If the evidence is big, show it small. If it should get lost, put it in a visible place. Dirty or break beautiful evidence, present dangerous evidence as a completely ordinary object.”

An excellent example of hidden evidence can be found in Roald Dahl's story The Sacrificial Lamb: a wife kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb, and then feeds it to the police, who spent the day unsuccessfully searching for the crime weapon.

Particular attention should be paid to climax. It comes in the following types:

The detective gathers all the characters and announces who the killer is;

In desperation, the criminal tries to do something terrible (grabs hostages, etc.);

The detective knows who the killer is, but he has no direct evidence. He sets a trap and the killer falls into it himself;

The criminal is ready to triumph, but then an unexpected witness appears;

The battle between the detective and the criminal (option - chase);

The detective suddenly realizes that his assumptions are not true;

Pseudo-climax. The criminal is caught, the reader rejoices, but at the last moment it turns out that they took the wrong one.

The climax itself is built according to the following scheme:

Surprise - for example, the reader did not expect that the Minister of Defense would be the killer;

Increased threat - the killer is cornered, he has nothing to lose and is now ready to do anything;

Peak of conflict;

Justice triumphs.

The detective catches the criminal only thanks to his own mind - no luck, fortune telling, God ex machina, etc.

The reader will feel cheated if the murder ends up being a suicide or an accident. The same thing will happen if the crime is solved when the criminal turns himself in.

Surprises and unexpected plot twists are wonderful. But when there are too many of them, the reader gets confused. It is recommended to introduce two or three big surprises and a couple of small ones. Neither the detective nor the criminal should do anything deliberately stupid. Otherwise, such a fight is not interesting to watch.

Luck may be on the villain's side before the detective exposes him. If the villain then flies away in a blue helicopter, the reader is disappointed.

Stamps in detective stories

The detective wears a raincoat and a hat, and he always has a flask of alcohol in his pocket.

Before an audit, criminals start a fire in a store or warehouse.

A luxurious woman, the main suspect, is trying to seduce the detective.

Before death the victim whispers mysterious word or a name that is a clue.

Pathologist chewing at work.

The main mafioso wears a diamond ring on his finger, licks his hair with gel and goes everywhere accompanied
gorilla bodyguards.

The investigator is constantly worried that the case will be taken away from him.

A mysterious sect with a maniac leader at its head is to blame for everything.

The criminal runs away, asking to go to the toilet.

Forgery of fingerprints.

The dog does not bark at a known stranger, from which the detective concludes that the dog knows this person.

Having caught the detective, the villain ties him to the death machine and talks for a long time about his insidious plans.

The chief of the investigator is a complete idiot and/or bastard.

At the climax, the criminal grabs the detective's girlfriend and puts a gun to her head.

The detective's wife died at the very beginning (several years before the beginning), and since then our hero has not known words of love.

The detective finds a cigarette butt at the crime scene and uses teeth marks (lipstick imprint) to identify the villain.

The criminal provides himself with an alibi using a mannequin or twin brother.

The main villain has fun composing secret ciphers and clever pictograms.

The detective makes deductive conclusions that are not as clear-cut as the author would like.

How to write a brilliant detective story

The first thing you need to start with is to decide in what vein the book will be created. Will it be a classic detective story in the style of Agatha Christie, or an ironic one, like Daria Dontsova’s, or maybe a children’s one, like those produced by Anna Ustinova and Ekaterina Vilmont. You can write a detective thriller, a horror detective story, or even a detective story. Of course, the audiences for these works will be very different. Keep this in mind before you put pen to paper.

The next important step is to come up with a crime. It could be a mysterious murder in a locked room, a bank robbery, the kidnapping of a multibillionaire’s beloved dog for ransom, or the inexplicable disappearance of pies from the protagonist’s beloved granny - anything.

Plot basis

The crime for the book does not have to be chosen from among those that violate the Criminal Code or ethical standards. However, it must certainly carry some kind of mystery and create intrigue. The entire plot will revolve around this event, so the crime must be worked out very carefully.

Unlike the reader, you will know who the attacker is. This means that you need to carefully consider his motives, as well as how he carried out his criminal plan and how to expose him. Answer the following questions for yourself:

1. Why did your villain commit his dirty deed and how did he succeed?
2. How will the criminal behave to avoid detection (will he try to escape, cover his tracks, etc.)?
3. What evidence and how exactly will the protagonist find it? How will he conduct the investigation?
4. Who will be among the suspects? Why would the detective suspect them?

Welcome the public to "play"

Creators of quality detective novels and short stories always include readers in their game. The clues that the main character receives during the course of the investigation can help those who hold the book in their hands find the answer before the investigator.

But the audience should be interested in investigating the crime you invented. Your game should draw him in and make him rack his brain. Detective story should not be too simple, predictable and deliberate. It should be free of inconsistencies and tensions that will help the investigator lead the villain to clean water, however, they will look unconvincing and inorganic.

The “correct” literary detective always identifies the villain thanks to his intelligence and insight. He logically analyzes the evidence and leads received, conducts surveillance, arranges interrogations, etc. The answer does not come to him by chance - only through persistent analytical work.

The main character is a detective

The protagonist you come up with should attract the audience, be lively and interesting. He may be strange or have an unpleasant character. But all his unsympathetic features must be smoothed out by something attractive - eccentricity, wit, phenomenal memory, love for cats, in the end.

If your hero is a modern policeman or private detective, it is advisable to have at least an idea of ​​the basics of this profession. If the action takes place in Tsarist Russia or in the post-war years, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the features of this era.

Your detective hero will certainly be attentive to the smallest details. You will have to pay even greater attention to them when writing a book. Depending on how the crime was committed in your work, you will have to understand the effects of poisons, bladed weapons, etc. With the same diligence you need to approach the evidence that the main character receives. It is better to completely exclude details that you are not very well versed in.

Circle of suspects

Try not to overdo it with monotonous characters, in which it is easy to get confused. It's better to create several bright images, invent them a fascinating past and motives for committing a crime. The detective and the reader will get to know the characters and try to identify the attacker among them.

The true villain should not remain unnoticed in the text. He may turn out to be the best friend of the hero-investigator, who helped conduct the investigation, or a third-rate, good-natured grandfather who talked with the detective several times. In any case, the reader’s attention should be caught on it, and some details can help reveal its true essence.

Don't make the ending open, illogical, or banal

The ending of a detective work is always the solution to the crime or mystery around which the whole action revolved. The writer answers main question- who, how and why committed the crime - as well as questions that the characters and the reader might have during the course of the story.

An open ending in detective stories is an extremely rare occurrence. After all, the lack of answers will leave the reader, who has been enthusiastically “playing” detective with the main character for several days, dissatisfied. Even if the book is based on real story, which has not received proper resolution, the authors usually offer their own version of the solution.

Another danger for a new writer is disappointing his audience. Imagine how the public puzzles over the solution for hundreds of pages. But in the end, everything is explained by a fatal accident, a coincidence of circumstances, or the sudden appearance of otherworldly forces, which were not even hinted at before the final chapter. It's better that the killer be a butler than some idiot brought in at the last moment.

Still, it is recommended to avoid a banal ending. The effect of surprise is one of the most important elements of a quality detective story. If you can come up with a twist in the style of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, you can consider yourself the new Agatha Christie.

How to write a detective story: step-by-step instructions

So, to write a detective book that will be successful, you need:

1. Decide on the type of genre (classic detective, political, spy, science fiction, etc.) and target audience.
2. Carefully work out a crime or a mystery.
3. Think about who, how and why the crime was committed and how it can be solved.
4. Create a compelling and believable story around the main event - crime or mystery.
5. Come up with an interesting protagonist and bright suspects.
6. Finish the work beautifully and logically, avoiding an open ending.