Children's Book Project Due!; Mystery Writing & And Then There Was None

Period 3 & 4 (until 10:00)

Please complete your children's book project.

If you finish early, please peruse this information about the most popular writing market: The Mystery.

Click on the links and read/watch the following short videos/articles about writing for the Mystery genre:

• A Short Guide to Mystery Genres
• Writing Detective Fiction
• How to Write a Mystery  
• Thriller Crime Fiction #1 
• Thriller Crime Fiction #2 
• A Short History of Detective Fiction

TASK (homework): On your blog, write a post where you discuss some of the elements of detective fiction that you learned from these videos/websites. What do you think personally as a reader about this genre? Have you read or seen a lot of mysteries? What do you like or dislike about the genre? What are some tropes that good mystery stories usually seem to have in them? Discuss any of these issues on your blog.

At 10:00, please go to the library to pick up the book And Then There Were None. We'll return to the classroom and begin reading/discussing this book.

All good stories begin with a cast of potential characters in a specific situation (plot/conflict) and location/time period (setting). Luckily, plot and character are going to be the most important for a mystery writer.

So to start, you would do well to create your own cast of potential characters. Here's a site that might help give you some ideas when fleshing out your character(s): Fiction Character Chart

Create 5-10 characters in your journal. Name + brief description. Names can be tricky to start with. You might consult a list of baby names or take names from characters in books or movies. You might also use your middle name or the middle names of your friends/family members. Or look through a phone book.

Some authors like to pick a name then think about a description that goes with that name. Sampson Simpleton might, for example, be very strong--perhaps a physical trainer (Sampson, after all, is a Biblical allusion, and a simpleton is a very dull or simple/stupid person). But names could also be ironic. Maybe Sampson Simpleton is a very smart cookie!

Let's read and see how Agatha Christie sets up her story by focusing on CHARACTER.

HOMEWORK: If you did not complete your children's book in the lab today, please complete it as homework. If you did not get a chance to complete today's blog task, please complete that as well. Finally, please read chapters 1-2 (pg. 1-41) of And Then There Were None for next class. Bring your books with you to next class so we can examine/discuss our reading.