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Dec-12-2006 02:38

Are there specific instructions anywhere for writing a feature mystery?

Thanks to Secret_Squirrel for the idea to ask.

Dec-12-2006 03:34

And lilangel means besides jojo's most excellent SleuthHelp Hotline website.

That's *great*, but I wonder if out there in Sleuthland there is a 'FM writing for Dummies' guide somewhere? Not a template, but perhaps an old FM in its embryonic stages showing how A links to B and so on.

Dec-12-2006 20:21

um... *bump*

This reply has been deleted by a Moderator

Dec-12-2006 20:25

oops

Dec-13-2006 08:20

Don't think I've seen an 'FM writing for Dummies', but a good idea is to try out the FM that's available to non-subscribers. It gives you an idea of how these are different from the regular cases.

Another thing you can do is look at the form Ben has posted under "Submitting Content" - this will give you an idea of what it is that's needed, which parts and things like that.

Also John Hale (Michael Bagen, the guy who's written most of the brilliant FMs that you see here on Sleuth) gave this advice to someone some time ago: "The trick with a feature mystery is to lay out the basic points of the story (beginning, twist, and end). From there, you figure out the mechanics of the mystery (what's revealed and how, and what that unlocks). It's basically a logic chain fused with a story."

Hope you can use some of it :)

Dec-13-2006 22:05

thank you greyling. I tried to talk to him earlier, no response. but I'll keep that in mind.