Researching a Mystery Novel: a presentation by Michal Strutin (PDF)
Peggy Lucke is teaching a class on writing at UC Extension. In preparing for the class she compiled a fine list of resources for writers, and she consented to having it posted on our website. Here’s the list:
MYSTERY WRITING:
How to Write a Mystery, edited by Lee Child with Laurie R. King
Mastering Suspense, Structure, and Plot, by Jane Cleland
How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries, by Kathy Lynn Emerson
Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel, Hallie Ephron*
How to Write a Damn Good Mystery, by James Frey
Writing Mysteries, by (ahem) Margaret Lucke*
You Can Write a Mystery, by Gillian Roberts*
Don’t Murder Your Mystery, by Chris Roerden
Crime and Thriller Writing, by Michelle Spring and Laurie R. King
How to Write Killer Fiction, by Carolyn Wheat
FOR THE MORE PHILOSOPHICAL ASPECTS:
Ethics, Evil, and Fiction, by Colin McGinn
BY EXPERTS:
I Love a Cop: What Families Need to Know, by Ellen Kirschman
Counseling Cops: What Clinicians Need To Know, by Ellen Kirschman
Police Procedure (and his blogs), by Lee Lofland
400 Things a Cop Knows, by Adam Plantinga*
Dr. JP’s Pick Your Poison Podcast
GENERAL FICTION RESOURCES:
The Plot Whisperer and its companion workbook, by Martha Alderson
The Art of Character, by David Corbett
The Elements of Eloquence, by Mark Forsyth
Write Away: One Novelist’s Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life, by Elizabeth George*
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King
Steering the Craft, by Ursula LeGuin
The Fire in Fiction, by Donald Maass
Writing the Breakout Novel, by Donald Maass
Story, by Robert McKee
The Sense of Style, by Steven Pinker
Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, by Alexandra Sokoloff
Stein on Writing, by Sol Stein