Advice for a Mystery Comic

[Wolven_Sister]

Hi all!!

So I've been on the forums for a while, and I can see there are a lot of creators from all over the genre-spectrum. I'm hoping that someone here will be able to answer my question.

I'm making a comic series exclusively for my Patrons on Patreon and it's going to be a mystery/drama with one element of sci-fi (I guess it can be classified as something along the same vein as Erased?).

I can't really delve into it too much for confidentiality reasons but I can say it'll be about an average everyday guy solving something that happened to this woman that he meets. I'm thinking of setting it in the 90's just so there's a limit on technology and makes our protagonist will be forced to go out and question people close to the woman, do research at library computers--all that jazz. (There will be other morals and messages throughout the series too. And I don't want it to be extensively long, like 50-80 pages or so; 'bout the size of a graphic novel).

Thing is, I'm not very good at mysteries. Or at least, I've never really done one before. My stories typically are fantasy, horror, and romance. But I want to broaden my horizons as a comic creator so I'm not limited.

I know for mysteries I have to give clues sparingly, and have all things culminate to fit a big puzzle. There will be two big reveals in the series 1.) what happened to the woman 2.) who is the perpetrator. And I know that these reveals in mysteries often don't get answered til towards the end.

So I guess my question is, for those who make mystery stories, do you have any advice? Any articles you read that really helped? Shows you recommend? Cliche's to avoid? I don't have a ton of time to read because I'm working on comic projects 24/7, but if there are documentaries, shows, etc...I can check out, this would be preferred.

(I've been watching mystery animes and Sherlock to help me understand the formula more but I know I'm not perfect and I don't know everything yet. Anything you can give would be greatly appreciated <3 <3 <3 Thank you Tapastic Community and friends!)

[SleepingPoppy]

I'm sorry I don't have much advice here. As much as I love a good mystery, I would have a hard time writing one. Though if you're watching BBC Sherlock be wary of the formula there. I love the show, but its less about solving a mystery then 'how smart can we make sherlock look? sooo smart!' Though you could mean a different Sherlock. Regardless, I'm sure there's still interesting things on can pick up.

If it helps, I saw this on tumblr and thought it was a useful perspective. Even though you're writing a mystery, you can use elements of horror or suspense to affect how readers feel about whats happening..

((maybe too obvious, but I really liked seeing it broken down this way))

[Down_the_Rabbithole]

Well, the best way to make a mystery all comes down to organization. It's probably the genre that requires the most control over your story. You have to know what clues to plant, when to plant them, and where to plant them. Provide misdirection that would take the MC down the wrong path and how that misdirection would logically fit into the right path later.

You also have to answer a lot of important questions. How is the misdirection debunked? What is learned from travelling down the wrong path? What missing pieces has the MC, and by extension the reader, previously looked over and how does it all fit together? Most important question of all, could the reader come to the same logical conclusion as the MC when the mystery is solved?

The key to a good mystery is that the MC is a guide for the reader. When it begins, they know as much about the situation as the reader does. They explore the possibilities, showing all the wrong answers, why they were wrong, and clues to the right answer. This way the question, "how did they know?" can be answered with all the steps that have been shown along the way and avoids the answer "they just know".

Hopefully that's some help to you. I'm not exactly a mystery writer, but I like to play with mystery elements in what I write.

[Migue]

Welp, I did start once a mistery comic but I scrapped it because of reasons and I did a fair share of reading and investigating and I found a concept that is very important to have in mind. You can go two ways, either it will be a Fair-Play Whodunnit or a Clueless Mystery.

In a Fair-Play Whodunnit you have to lay all your clues for the reader to analyse so that, if he's paying enough atention, can solve the mystery before you reach the conclusion of your story. It can be a little bit difficult to pull this, you will need to have a real tight control over your story and know every little aspect of the mystery, as well as keeping the reader informed of every little detail that is important to solve the case but at the same time laying the clues in a way that it wont be obvious to guess the culprit in the first pages. A famous author who has done this is Agatha Christie, she has a big following just because her mysterys can be solved by the reader.

On the other hand the Clueless Mystery is where the reader can't guess who is the culprit and is just tagging along for the ride as the detective goes finding clues without sharing all of the information or the toughts that cross his head. This is a little bit easier to pull since you don't take the risk of spoiling your own story and you can move the story more freely. The reader doesn't have to know all the information and can be kept in the dark about some details of the mystery that may give an answer before hand so he may be just entertained by the characters intecations or situation that the characters fall in. Most of the mysteries are writen this way, almost all of the Sherlock Holmes stories are of this kind, we are looking through the eyes of Doctor Watson, who is just not as smart or observant as Sherlock, so we only get an answer when the story concludes.

Both are valid and interesting takes on this kind of stories, so you choose whatever you feel more comfortable with.

[thomassayle]

Honestly, I would say do a 1950s noir take on it, for several reasons.

1: you've got the limited technology you want but more!
2: source material, there's heaps of films out there to get ideas/ inspiration from.
3:its fun, and because of the style/setting you can get away with cliches easier.
4:you mentioned you did horror, the style kind of carries over the dark shadows and silhouettes etc.
5: because theres so much out there most of them do follow a formula or similar pattern so yeah.
6: If you hate all that, watch some scooby doo and do a parody.

[Wolven_Sister]

Oh my goodness! So much amazing advice here! Thank you guys so much <3 <3 <3 I found all of this extremely helpful.

@SleepingPoppy Thank you! The picture you provided really helps break it down. I can definitely understand this and it really helps clear up the story I have in mind. Oh and I agree about BBC Sherlock, the show is great but it does try to make him look "too" good lol I've watched it in the past but I'm way behind on episodes. I have a few of the books I've been looking through and old movie interpretations of Sherlock I've been watching.

@Down_the_Rabbithole This is very helpful information. A lot of questions I never thought about considering before. I mean I have the when, who, what, and why but when it comes to implanting the clues I only have a few. Thanks to your very helpful insight I'm getting more ideas of what to implant and how to make them correlate to the story and characters

@Migue These are very interesting directions on where to take a mystery story. I'm very drawn to the Clueless Mystery just because I do feel like this allow me more freedom and will leave more of an impact to the reader, both emotionally and mentally. I know when I only have a few clues to go off of until the ending pieces it together, it's more memorable in that sense at least imo, everyone's tastes are different Thank you so much! I didn't know these two types even had proper terms and this really helps me narrow down what I want from the story!

@thomassayle You know, when I first thought of it I was thinking of making it a noir. I plan on keeping colors muted and selective, while the rest will be in shades of gray, black, and white. And I was considering of making it in the 1950s but with the way the story and the one sci-fi element in it, it wouldn't work especially with the victim since she's already from the 1950s which would make her case harder but more interesting to solve. And yes, there were definitely gonna be horror elements, especially when the MC gets closer to solving the puzzle. Thank you for bringing this up! Your advice is very much welcomed, thank you so much! A parody mystery noir does sound like something that would be fun, I may explore this someday~~