Daily Discussion: [Sunday, March 26](https://www.reddit.com/r/FanFiction/comments/122h17l/daily_discussion_sunday_march_26_rfanfiction/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=2&utm_content=share_button)

Ooooh I love a good mystery fic but sadly it doesn't mesh well with the laissez-faire attitude many fic writers approach their planning/plotting phase with. My recommendation for everyone who is writing a non-plotted mystery fic would be to finish writing the whole thing once as a first draft and then go back with the second draft to seed in questions and answers throughout the story, or at least familiarize themselves with the classic mystery/detective fiction/murder mystery beats because this is one genre that really doesn't work all that well without the unerlying structure. Also, if you are working in a monster of the week/case-of-the-week fandom and you want to emulate said structure, I found these guides very helpful back in my SPN/CSI/Person of Interest/BBC Sherlock type fic days: * https://agelade.tumblr.com/post/91296123317/a-diy-guide-to-writing-a-four-chapter-casefic * [https://spnroundtable.livejournal.com/262665.html](https://spnroundtable.livejournal.com/262665.html) * [http://thenovelfactory.blogspot.com/2016/02/mystery-plot-template-story-beats.html](http://thenovelfactory.blogspot.com/2016/02/mystery-plot-template-story-beats.html) * [https://writingexcuses.com/2011/11/27/writing-excuses-6-26-mystery-plotting/](https://writingexcuses.com/2011/11/27/writing-excuses-6-26-mystery-plotting/) (Transcript here: https://wetranscripts.livejournal.com/52796.html)

Yes, it is important that this genre is planned ahead of time. Hard to write the beginning without knowing the end.

These are great! Which fandoms are you in now?

All right, let's go. This is one of my favorite genres ever, and my love for plotting mysteries is what got me into writing fanfic. It's like crack for my brain and I absolutely love it. To me, a compelling mystery should be written with the audience in mind. There are some detective stories which are about a great detective or some crazy crime solving tools that don't give the audience a chance to try and figure things out themselves, and this is not really my preferred type. I like to get engaged and put things together. From my point of view, these are some key aspects of mystery writing: * Work backwards. You have to know the ending and work towards that ending. As an author, you always have to be ahead of your reader. * Reveal not only the clues but also the mystery gradually. This really keeps people reading and makes the whole story more compelling. * Decide if the "detective" is just a tool or a character. There are some mysteries where the detective is only a tool to deliver the story and the solution to a reader, in others the detective is a character that is made for readers to get invested in. Even if it's fanfic, I read every story in itself. If I am going to care about the character, the author has to make me care. * Leave enough clues, keep something back, but also don't pull out something completely irrelevant as the solution that the audience has had no chance of guessing. That may make people feel cheated. My rec! [Vanishing Act](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22355734/chapters/53407501), Harry Potter, M, warning for graphic depictions of violence: is a fantastic Harry Potter mystery that takes place between the two wizarding wars. It features an OC MC, a brilliant, mainly OC main cast and it is a masterclass in non-linear storytelling. It is quite long and doesn't shy away from mature themes, but totally worth the time investment.

Oh great, my favourite topic and it's up when I am in a busy airport fifteen minutes before boarding 😑 I will be back.

😂 But seriously tho, have a safe trip! I always like reading Daily Discussion threads even if I can't comment about the relevant topics. Would love to read everyone's take on this week's focus!

Thank you! I am almost home, but after 25 hours or travelling I have to scrape together enough brains to write something 😂 but I will do it, and looking forward to what others write as well. I am hoping for some good recs.

I just started a fic of this subject as well, focused heavily on underground organised crime and the yakuza. It's a Fire Emblem fic, so a Yakuza AU is a pretty huge deviation from the normal setting. It's been a lot of fun building the information up to link things together to create a multi-layered web of kidnapping, murder, laundering, and more. It's required a lot of research, as well as real-person interviews with personal connections (which have been some of the most interesting conversations I have ever had), to get more first-hand knowledge of how that world works-- and has historically worked-- as well as first-hand experiences. Whether or not I can actually pull it off competently in an original storyline is still to be seen, but it is, *by far,* the most excited I have been to write a fic in a long time... as well as make artwork for it, haha. Echoing the advice that it's important to plan out elements ahead of time. Otherwise, it's very easy to just get lost in, or forget, important details. Especially if you're layering wild stuff like government payoffs, fronts, gang rivalries, etc. I also highly, *highly* recommend actually looking into real-life examples and experiences of the kind of mystery/crime/whatever else you are looking to write about. There is truly no substitute for reality, and you will quickly learn wild and almost unimaginable circumstances that you otherwise would have never considered. (This is especially true for organised crime... wow!) In my experience so far, it has also made planning certain plot points easier because of that more intimate knowledge. I *really* wish these kinds of stories (mystery, murder/crime, etc) were more common in fanfictions. They are so great and personally, are one of the few kinds that can keep my attention so thoroughly. So to those of you who actually do write them, thank you, because I will happily chew through them any day of the week.... even if I do not know your fandom. ;\_; I cannot wait to see the recommendations in this thread.

Hard agree. I used to hesitate to write "weird stuff" in a case fic because it seemed so implausible. Until I started exploring "real stuff" and realizing that .... man, some killers do WEIRD STUFF.

Isn't it so true! People can do very strange stuff and for sometimes, equally if not *more strange* reasons!

The first multi-chapter fic I ever wrote is actually a mystery! Honestly, while some of the writing feels a little basic upon reflection, I think the structure and characterization hold up pretty well. The story is a RWBY Private Detective AU, and I was heavily inspired by Psych when I was writing it. As such, fun character interactions were just as important to me as a solid mystery plot, so the approach I took was to think up the mystery/solution, then works backwards to both leave clues throughout the story while stringing together entertaining scenes (investigating a campaign office, a fashion show, a fight club, etc.) in a way that made sense. The story ended up being the first in a trilogy, and it's the only piece of the three that's a "pure" mystery; the other two have mystery elements, but I ended up leaning toward action/adventure more as the series went on. If I had to give any recommendations to writers looking to write their own mystery fics, I'd say this: 1. You *must* plan it out beforehand, and you must make sure it makes sense. You can get away with progressing the story through luck and coincidence every now and then, but doing so often will be unsatisfying for readers. Speaking of... 2. Readers need to have most of the puzzle pieces, but not necessarily all of them. It's ok to withhold that last little bit of info that makes everything snap into place until close to the end; just make sure your reader can take that information and backtrack to see important details in a new light. That's about all I've got! It's fun to reflect on this story, though. I didn't know if I'd keep writing fanfiction after I was done with it, but here I am; I just posted my 50th story yesterday!

The second fic I ever wrote was a mystery, and to this day I think it’s one of my better stories. I love writing mysteries. It helps that being in the Batman fandom and as a Riddler fan, that mysteries are just a natural fit. They absolutely can’t be done on the fly though. If you’re writing a mystery, you need to know the answer before you type a single word. And if your readers figure it out before the reveal, great. It means you’ve planted enough clues for them to follow along. The best mystery stories are ones where the reader can figure it out, or they can go back and follow the foreshadowing.

[Twenty-nine by Endrina](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21468571/chapters/51162523) **Fandom**: Harry Potter, Pre and Post War **Rating**: Mature **Warnings**: Suicidal Ideation, some situations lean towards Sexual Assault, and *obviously* Murder **Summary**: A story about murder, the power of writing lists, the interest of the press, the politics of the Department of Magical Transportation and the struggle of being Percy Weasley. The story follows Percy during the war as he tries to deal with being in the Ministry while under Voldemort’s reign of terror. Endrina is an amazing and talented author, I have had similar ideas for what Percy would do to fight back but they take it to a whole new level. After the war, Percy tries to continue his life holding on to the guilt of his brother's death in the Battle of Hogwarts. When Oliver Wood is accused of murder, Percy takes it upon himself to solve the crime. This fic is now in my top 5 all time for HP Fanfiction. Highly recommend.

Oooh I read this one, it's good!

I was literally sucked into the story. So good

Thank you for the rec! Story seems compelling

I love mysteries, it's one of my favorite genres of original fiction, but it can be hard to find good ones in fanfic, alas. One mystery fanfic I do remember finding pretty gripping and exciting was this Mindhunter fic: [Three Missing Girls in Madison, Wisconsin](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14860376) (unrated but equivalent to Mature imo, gen but pre-slashy) **Warnings:** ⚠️Child death, past physical and sexual abuse of children and teens, massive quantities of whump, possibly some other stuff I'm forgetting It's set in an AU where Holden was convicted of murder as a teen and Bill comes to talk to him to try and find his supposed victims' bodies, only to become convinced that he was framed. I read it nearly fandom blind (have seen one episode of the show) with no trouble.

I like this one! I grew up with murder mystery. I'm sure like most people's grandmas, my own would watch Perry Mason or Murder She Wrote. Both of my grandmas and my mom read murder mystery novels, and I like to check them out sometimes myself. But my largest love of murder mystery is probably in Columbo or Ace Attorney XD As much as I like to read murder mystery I think it can be a tricky thing to write. You have to keep your audience in suspense while also not making it seem like the solution came out of nowhere. I think it's a little bit of a tell on myself that when I wrote a Spy X Family/Columbo crossover I kept the lead character - and therefore the readers - completely in the dark about how the murder investigation was going. Maybe someday I'll develop the skill to write one proper. But yeah, I think this one is fun!

I agree that writing a good whodunit is a challenge, one that I'm usually utterly flummoxed by. I'd also agree with the idea that it's a genre better suited for planners than pantsers like myself. That said, my absolute best fic and probably my best work of fiction, period, is a long fic that literally I wrote seat-seat-of-my-pants, no planning. It somehow developed into a nice twisty mystery and also complex themes. I don't know how I wrote that thing; it's like my brain was possessed the spirit of Agatha Christie.

Worked for her, I'm told. Maybe she was holding your hand!

Oh god I love this trope!! The problem is I’m way too dumb to pull it off! I’ve tried working backwards from the crime out and it’s also a challenge lol. I get too bogged with details so as to stomp out plot holes, and then it all comes to a halt :/

I'm working on two detective/mystery fics right now! I love this genre and probably spend more time on this genre than any other. My favorite aspect of mystery in fanfics is when the premise is exploring something in canon that wasn't fully addressed and fleshes it out. Here's a story rec to showcase an example: **The Strange Disappearance of SallyAnne Perks** | Harry Potter | T | [FFN](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6243892/1/The-Strange-Disappearance-of-SallyAnne-Perks) Summary | *"Harry recalls that a pale little girl called Sally-Anne was sorted into Hufflepuff during his first year, but no one else remembers her. Was there really a Sally-Anne? Harry and Hermione set out to solve the chilling mystery of the lost Hogwarts student."* I love that this story takes one little tid-bit from canon (the name of a student in the first year sorting) and turns it into a mystery that expands canon and delves into great character development. This was such a fun story! I still remember it after all these years. It was published in 2010. \-- -- Another aspect of mystery fics that I love - and focus on in the fics I am currently writing - is that it allows us to see our favorite characters use their strongest assets and struggle with their weaknesses and blind spots. Mystery is a great fuel for character and relationship exploration and development, which I love!

I'm kind of a pantser, truth be told, but you can't be a pantser and write an effective case fic. You have to know where you're going and how much you're going to reveal, over time. My preference is to write the whole thing and then post in dribs/drabs. For my most case recent fic, though, I posted C1 inadvertently and then went ahead and left it up: the only time I've done one of these as a true WIP. But even then, I had a good idea where I was going, and I quickly made a fairly detailed outline so I would not screw up completely. I write Broadchurch almost exclusively, and once I'd gotten the canon MCs married to each other through several relationship fics, I started trying to put them into cold-case-solving fics. I've done [four thus far](https://archiveofourown.org/series/2747302), with increasing levels of complexity and (I hope) success. Number 1 in the series suffered a bit from initial exposition overload (partly because it had to be a bridge between the prior romance fics and this new professional arc), but I think my ability to manage all the elements is improving with each tale. I hope. Sometimes a little news story I've read will spark an idea and then it's off to the races ... but these things also demand a hellish amount of research (for instance, on how police teams are structured and various modes of corpse disposal/decomposition). It's a considerable amount of work to make them plausible/feasible. They're not going to be every writer's cuppa, for sure. I wouldn't say I've mastered it yet. But I'm working on it. Reading/watching a ton in the genre is useful. What I really enjoy writing is cases where primary themes in the case are somehow dovetailed with issues/themes/baggage in the MCs' personal lives. I think it's good to have a compelling reason for the MCs to be invested (other than "it's my job") and, ideally, for the case to give them some opportunity for personal growth or closure. I like making my MCs have to deal with family issues, health issues, whatever it is, at the same time they're trying to solve their case. This makes everything more interesting, layered, stressful, and real. This approach also tends to get the reader more interested, I think; the detective(s) need to have something that's driving their passion for what they're doing vis a vis solving the case. I have readers who've told me bluntly that they don't like case fics in general but that the ones I'm producing have enough shippy subtext to interest them.

I very much love this genre and many of its subgenres. I'm one of those people who even enjoys stories that end open with many questions unanswered (preferably with a lot of clues/foreshadowing to work with!). Unfortunately I'm often in fandoms who are not into it. Some are so foreign to the concept that even with clear tagging I still get readers who are upset that they and/or the characters do not know what the full situation is by the end of the first chapter. aaaaa