For some reason, nailing down horror plots is harder for me than mystery plots, so this is even more tentative than usual. There is a problem. The backstory* is so epic that it dominates the present or real story. Wait wait this problem comes from the epic backstory that we never talk about and didn’t […]

So let’s say you have a series of books, movies, TV episodes, TV seasons, etc.  Any given series of storytelling.  Doesn’t have to be linear in time.  Doesn’t even have to be about the same characters (a la romances about a number of sisters, etc.)  With or without an overarching plot.  Could just be “monster

Okay, the frame as a narrative device.  Most writers have at least heard of it.  There’s a story within a story.  But let’s look at this from a mystery perspective: A crime happens or is discovered (in the case of a long-past crime). The main action of illustrating the crime happens on another level, for

I was reading a P.D. James novel and realized I hadn’t added this most basic plot of all.  It honestly feels more like a technique than a plot. A crime happens. The solver either mentally or literally lists the suspects, their motives, their methods, and their opportunities to commit the crime, as if on one

I found another one!  (Two, actually; another one tomorrow.) The mystery revolves around the fact that there are multiple versions of the truth (or conjectures of the truth), which are structured as separate chapters/sections of the book. A crime occurs. Various people try to solve the crime, or are called upon to give their version

I’m not sure I’m going to do this one justice, so I saved it for last (so far).  I’m calling it The Big Twist. A crime occurs. By design or accident, the crime is completely misinterpreted. The solver(s) proceeds forward in good faith, as if it were one of the other types of simple mysteries or

Another mystery plot.  This one I like to call The Two Cases. Crime #1 occurs. Crime #2, a minor/funny crime, occurs. The solver tries to track down one of the two crimes, but it’s no good. They run into something from the one crime that reminds them of the other crime. Wait wait both these crimes

Another simple mystery plot.  This one I’ve got mentally labeled The Lead. A crime occurs. The solver follows leads as though they were a labyrinth. Some of the leads are dead ends. Some of the leads are live ends. One of the leads that looks like a dead end is a live end. The solver keeps

I’m slowly getting a grasp on (some) types of mystery plots.  Here’s my first one, which I’m going to call The Mistake. A crime occurs. There are three suspects. The criminal is not one of those three suspects. The solver rotates through investigating the three suspects, and may even form a valid-sounding theory about one of

So I’m working on a series, A Fairy’s Tale, which so far is made up of a bunch of loosely related twists on ’80s-style horror novels/movies. Books have rules, right?  Things like, “The magic system, if any, is X” or “The main character gets the most POV chapters” or “The writing style in this book has