5 Clue Types -- And How to EASILY Plan Them! | Mystery Writing 101

Your mystery novel needs clues that knit your plot together, while also confusing the reader! In this video we'll talk about:

* 5 types of clues for your mystery novel
* my ultra-simple clue planning spreadsheet
* how many clues your mystery novel really needs

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This video includes video clips from:

Clue
The People vs. OJ Simpson

And textual excerpts from:

"The Adventure of Silver Blaze" by Arthur Conan Doyle

[waalabi]

1- Tangible Clues: Tie 2 things together, tight 2 characters together.
2- Emotional Clues: Emotional reactions / change in behaviour that indicate a character know something. reveals secrets.
3- Revealing knowledge: Ties a suspect to a location or a time in place.
4- Testimony: Alibi's, Relationships, Tensions.
5- Artifacts: Things made by the victim / the criminal.
6- Absent Clues: Am absence of a conection, reveals information. Disbelief suspicion. Lack of important knowledge.

[lesleyann]

Oh, my god! Where was this months ago when I was desperately searching for this information?! It’s all so simple, really, I just needed it spelled out in plain English. Thank you so much!

[rohanmulgaokar]

You have given something most writers could die for - a structure, a checklist and a consequence list. Thank you!

[mendelgrant]

There are a lot of great people on authortube, but you are providing the most unique, innovative, and useful content I've seen. I'm impressed with your channel, and hope you're able to continue your impressive (and arduous) work. FYI: Your epic Monk binge inspired me to watch all 12 seasons of "Murder She Wrote" lol.

[cutecat]

This was really helpful, thank you! I've found that one of the most frustrating parts of writing is having an overarching idea of what will happen in the story but then when you sit down you suddenly realize you have no idea what the little details like clues should be.

[Graid]

Thank you so much for this series! Other advice is so vague, you actually have gone in there and considered the common types of clues, motives, mystery types, suspects and many more in a way that really lays it all out and provides insight into how it all works as well as ideas on how to use them. I really appreciate hearing you lay out all the clue types and how to use them. Personally I often find it difficult to write investigative scenes where someone needs to find something out in an interesting fashion. Considering the varying types of clues and what's possible helps me with generating ideas.

[LeviGarcia]

Thanks. I'm currently trying to create a whodunnit for an RPG. I'm gonna put some of this to use in sprinkling in some clues for my players.

[alphaomega]

'disbelief can be expressed by not wanting to know the details' -- some even scream to drown out any retelling of it. We don't act the same. Even if making us that way can benefit the larger group. Handling information your way makes you an individual.

[easymanga]

This was extremely helpful! Nobody ever gets into the nitty-gritty of how to even plan clues, how many you need, etc. Thank you!

[nerdyhexel]

Great info! Helped my write a murder mystery quest for my D&D game!

[cloverfield]

MIDSOMER MURDERS I love finding the suttle clues when you watch an episode back over

[maikekhomisch]

I had to watch twice, because I was so focused on that beautiful yarn.... 😍 Talking about clues ... the next clue has to be a pretty hank of yarn and a clueless investigator talking to their spouse about it, while said spouse constantly rolling their eyes about the investigators ignorance 😄

[marienbad]

God you're good! It's a good job you're a writer and not a criminal cause you'd probably be a pretty good one!

[Xandycane]

Thank you! My fantasy has a huge mystery that kicks off the rest of the bigger plot. When I sat down to figure it out, I got very stuck. Lots of things needed to be known without a clue how to go about it. This was just what needed

[foggyfiction]

I absolutely love that you use the Clue movie for examples.

[robertbrumbaugh]

I really like how you logically work out the plot items. You seem well versed in mysteries. I'm going to check out your book.

[leoexgb]

THIS. WAS. FANTASTIC! Man I've been looking all over for tips on YT and this was exactly what I needed! Thank you thank you thank you!

[tammycullers]

I really appreciate the quality information you offer for free! Your tips are wonderful, and I'm sharing some with my 7th grade English class (they are doing NaNoWriMo for the first time) :) Thank you so much for taking the time to share practical, actionable information for writers of all ages!

[sahilpatel]

I am having a hard time figuring out how to present certain clues to the readers, Thank you for the insight. Loving your content.

[ScullyPop]

I'm loving this writing content. Great lesson today 😃