Mystery and its counterpart suspense have been around since the beginning of time. These two sides of the same coin can take form everywhere, anywhere, and anytime. Not just in stories but in life, too. Go everywhere in the world, and I bet you my face there’s a mystery around the corner from where you stand. Everywhere!

But let’s focus on fiction for now. I remember when I was ten, I started reading Poe and Borges. I was enthralled by Poe’s darkness and mysteriousness and Borges’s intuitive definitions of reality, time, ideas, and myths.

And throughout all my reading, all that I wanted to know was: what happens next?

And that little question. That bug that gets in your mind whenever you find a story you like and respond to. That want. That feeling of intrigue and suspense—no matter the genre you enjoy—becomes the number one reason why you keep reading a book or watching a movie or series.

But let’s start at the beginning. What is mystery? Cambridge, here I come:

Let’s break it apart.

Let’s think out loud about something strange or not known.

Strange things happen every day. Last Sunday, I was writing. It was hot, so I poured myself a tall glass of water with some ice cubes. I drank, and after writing for a while, I forgot about the water. Then, after a half-hour of writing, the glass moved across the table about three inches forward and stopped.

What? By itself? Yes… 🙂

It was strange at first. Then silly. The glass moved towards my laptop alone while standing on a perfectly even-keel table. With no external force pushing it or accelerating it, but moving nevertheless.

I smirked. It was brilliant story material.

And what about you? Can you solve this bit of a mystery?

No? Then, let’s go back to the definition of mystery.

We already know that the first half of a mystery is about something strange or unknown. Now, let’s delve into the second half:

…that has not yet been explained or understood.

Interesting. Back to the moving glass. Something strange, odd, or eerie just happened and hasn’t been explained.

Well…let’s explain it.

It’s relatively easy. In the summertime, there’s perspiration when temperatures are high, and a cold liquid or fluid enters a hot environment or context. As Wikipedia defines, perspiration happens when high energy molecules evaporate from the skin, releasing energy absorbed from the body, and the skin and superficial vessels decrease in temperature.

Yes, because of the temperature exchange, the glass will transpire, and the fluid on the outside of the glass, the drops of water, will slide to the bottom. Because the fluid nullifies the friction between the glass bottom and the table, the glass will move when there’s a minimal, imperceptible incline. And even when you can’t see it on the surface(in this case, the table), it’s still there.

This is all very Sherlock Holmes-like like. It’s a good example of how mystery bits, inferences, and deductions can be made. It belongs to a Victorian-period medium-seance piece that will get deducted out of its mind by a Sherlock-like detective.

Now that the strange has been explained, with a touch of physics from Wikipedia, we can move on to better understanding mystery in stories and using real-life examples to create and explain it.

Now, let’s go back to stories and put this “event” to good use. Take a look at my new Sherlock Holmes short story Against All. See how I use the moving glass anecdote to fuel the plot. Read and enjoy.

Against All
It was the summer of 1888. My dear Mary was visiting her aunt in Sherwood, and I was alone for some time. Against all of Sherlock Holmes’ beliefs, I attended a séance at Madame Syrialis studio on one of those pesky evenings. I had been reading about Madame Syrialis in the newspapers, and I’d heard enough about her through the grapevine to be sure that she was more than the usual medium and swindler type.

Holmes accused me of being a believer, and I told him I was bored—not having a new case to write about—and that it was mere entertainment. He laughed and returned to his violin, but when the time came to leave, he scuttled along, and we took a hansom cab to the West End….

On Suspense
Okay. That was just the hook. The beginning of the story. I plan on getting Watson and Holmes to the medium’s show to hear strange sounds and voices first and then to see flashes of light and the moving glass. Then, I’ll allow Sherlock Holmes to deduct what was happening and explain it to Watson.

I haven’t finished the story, but I’ll show you the tools and steps you can take to build a mystery story with lots of suspense. But first, what is suspense exactly?

Suspense is the feeling of tension, anticipation, and uncertainty that keeps readers or viewers engaged and eager to discover what happens next. It’s a key element in thrillers, mysteries, crime fiction, and movies. Next, you’ll read about the tools you can use to create suspense in any narrative(novels, films, speeches, short stories).

The hook or initial situation
The protagonist’s goal.
Obstacles and setbacks. Basic dramatic structure.
The ticking clock.
Foreshadowing
Unreliable narrator
Dramatic irony
Misdirection
Isolation and vulnerability
Secrets and lies
Psychological manipulation
Writing suspense step by step.
In this post, we’ll go over the first two tools. The hook and the goal.

The Hook
It’s useful to start with an enigmatic and intriguing situation in mystery and suspense. This is where you use tools like:

What if?
If only…
If this goes on…
These tools will give you situations and scenarios to start your mystery. Remember that the hook includes the initial situation, the protagonist’s goal, details that set up and foreshadow future actions, the five senses, the weather for atmosphere building, objects, and images.

These three tools will help you establish the initial situation, but then you need to drill down onto the meat of your story. And that means starting with…

The Crime
But that’s only the beginning. Usually, a crime has been committed in a mystery or suspense story, or a conspiracy occurs when the story starts. Finding out the right crime or coming up with a conspiracy idea takes some thinking. Let’s get to that.

Think of the crime:

What’s the crime? Murder, theft, violent attack? What is the culprit’s motive? Opportunity? Method?

Think of how the crime is being covered up:

Who is lying about the crime of the culprit?How is it being covered up? Who is taking the fall?
How is the culprit smearing other suspects?How is the culprit creating a motive for other suspects?How does evidence or clues point to one or two suspects?
Think of the secrets being kept:

What secrets are the suspect keeping?
Think of the connections:

How was the victim connected to the suspects?Who else is connected to the victim? What event in the victim’s past connects her with the culprit and/or with the suspects?

It doesn’t matter if you start with this information about the crime or if you come up with it as you write. You can always return to your hook and make the necessary changes to reflect, plant, set up, and foreshadow whatever is needed.

The thing is that once you know these things, you can choose what details and information to include in your hook to make it mysterious.

The Protagonist’s Goal
To start building a mystery, you must be aware of what the protagonist wants:

What does the protagonist want?
Why she wants that?
Why she wants it now?
What is stopping her from getting it?
Then add the usual objects, details, the five senses, atmosphere, where and when the action is taking place, your choice of words, and your first line that describes the protagonist’s situation and where he stands at the start of the story.

So, keep in mind. The protagonist’s goal must be included in your hook. So, the hook and the protagonist’s goal go hand in hand.

This is all for this post. Thanks for reading!