William G Tapply

The Elements of Mystery Fiction: Writing the Modern Whodunit

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  • Menna Abu Zahrahas quoted2 years ago
    Make your story a series of experiences for your readers. Give them sensory impressions. Show them some significant details of people and places, but resist the impulse to tell them what those details mean. Write scenes in which characters act and interact, and put your readers in the middle of those scenes. Allow them to participate, to interpret, to draw conclusions, and to fill in the blanks. Trust them to think for themselves. Respect their intelligence.
  • Menna Abu Zahrahas quoted2 years ago
    If a woman slams her fist on a tabletop or curses loudly or clenches her teeth, you might conclude that she’s angry. You might be wrong. In fact, she might be trying to make you believe she’s angry when, in fact, she is trying to manipulate your emotions or make you believe something that isn’t true.
  • Menna Abu Zahrahas quoted2 years ago
    People’s actions and words are clues to their inner feelings, attitudes, philosophies, and motives. Y
  • Menna Abu Zahrahas quoted2 years ago
    Show, don’t tell.
  • Menna Abu Zahrahas quoted2 years ago
    They don’t want to be given more information than the sleuth has. That would give them an advantage over him, which also violates the rule of fair play.
  • Menna Abu Zahrahas quoted2 years ago
    On the other hand, readers don’t want to be guided through the puzzle’s solution. They want only a fair chance to solve it for themselve
  • Menna Abu Zahrahas quoted2 years ago
    Unless readers have the evidence, they cannot fairly participate in the solving of the puzzle.
  • Menna Abu Zahrahas quoted2 years ago
    modern readers expect fair play. You cannot withhold vital clues from them
  • Menna Abu Zahrahas quoted2 years ago
    The most important advice I can give you is this: Always think of your audience. Write for your readers. Never deprive them of the chance to participate.
  • Menna Abu Zahrahas quoted2 years ago
    Give your readers credit. Assume they are as smart as you are. “No one can write decently,” said E. B. White, “who is distrustful of the reader’s intelligence, or whose attitude is patronizing.”
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