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[H655]Hosting A Murder Mystery
by Bryan Hallett, Bry
Have you been invited to a murder mystery party? worried that you will be out of place? Don't panic, help is at hand, and we have plenty of tips to aid you in your quest to keep your sanity.
If the murder mystery writer is playing fair there is a clear set of clues that will lead to the culprit What you need to do is watch carefully and keep an eye out for the suspects who satisfy all three of the cardinal rules for murder.
By this I mean motive, opportunity and means - uncover the suspect with all three and you will be able to point a confident and accusing finger.
* Cash -Would the suspect stand to gain an inheritance from the victim? What business interests are involved? Who needs money? Is the suspect being blackmailed?
* Love - love and betrayal can cause jealousy - Did the victim stand in the way of true love?
* Revenge - Had the victim hurt someone else in the scenario? Perhaps the victim is guilty of a previous crime, or they have caused pain or suffering to the suspect in some way.

In many, if not all, dinner party scenarios, of course, most guests have a motive, but perhaps a few people have no good reason to kill. You can rule these people out early.

*Motive
What would drive someone to commit murder? Ruling out psychopaths, who rarely feature in dinner party scenarios, things can usually be boiled down to Love, Money or Revenge. These can occur in various combinations, but consider:

*Means

Means and opportunity are sisters in rime, but they are distinct enough in the minds of writers, so consider them separately. By "means" we need to consider whether the suspect had the ability to commit the crime, eg. could they fire a gun?. Ask yourself how the crime was committed and then consider whether the suspects had the capability.

*Opportunity
This is more associated with when and where the crime was committed. If a victim was stabbed and the suspect was miles away at the time, then they ain't guilty m'lud. Similarly if the crime needs some sort of premeditation and the suspect has only recently acquired a motive to kill the victim, they can often be ruled out.

*Other things to look for

There may be other clues at the crime scene - a broach, footprints etc, and these may be important in ruling suspects out. Observe and note all that you can.

Of course, all of these elements are concealed inside a complex web of intrigue. Alibis can be forged, evidence can be misleading and seemingly impossible feats can be performed by the most unlikely person - coming up with such twists and turns is all part of the murder writer's job, otherwise everyone would solve the crime. But you can see trough their tricks, can't you?

Go on - have a stab!

Crime fiction in general and murder mystery in particular is a popular staple of bookshops, theatre and television drama, and is a genre often tackled by new writers. This article is written from the standpoint of someone who writes mysteries for theatre performance, but the lessons and techniques can be applied to any media.

However you wish to present your mystery, there are at least three vital elements to a ripping mystery: characters and plot. So often the budding writer gets so bogged down in developing a complex web of intrigue that the all important element of character development is missed entirely and consequently we hardly care what happens to them.

I strongly advise that a murder mystery, in what ever form, should start with the development of characters who fit closely into the environment you have chosen for your story. Plot will come later, and actually flow from the characters you have created.

So, let's begin with the environment. Murder mysteries set in a 1930s English mansion have been done, pardon the pun, to death, but there are reasons for their popularity. For starters, this setting instantly gives the writer a set of stock characters with whom the reader/watcher will already be partly familiar. Secondly the confined setting often means that the list of suspects is immediately obvious. I'm certainly not advocating that you avoid such a setting, but there are hundreds of other situations which can give rise to a similar set of conditions. Consider, for example, a submarine, an office party, a medieval banquet, an Antarctic expedition, a spaceship, a cruise ship, a town council meeting - the list can go on and on.

Once you've picked your place you can easily begin to think of a series of characters. Let's concentrate on the submarine for now to get an idea of how this might work. We obviously need a captain, and let's add a couple of officers and ratings for good measure. We shall want to make the trip a little interesting along the way, so let's throw in a mysterious passenger and his beautiful wife. We don't even need to name our gallant crew at the moment - but we can begin to sketch in the characteristics that can point the way to an interesting plot.

So then, our captain. He needs a bit of backstroke. Let's make him a gruff old sea-dog who demands high standards and is nearing retirement. He has a fear of water developed after his wife drowned in a pleasure boat accident. We can go on this way with all of our major players, and then the interesting part starts - working out their relationship with other characters.

I usually do this by drawing a bubble diagram and connecting each character to each of the others with an arrow describing their relationship. For example:
Captain -----------> blames for death of his wife ----------> Officer 1
Captain -----------> was once engaged to -------------------> Beautiful wife
Eventually we have a web of interconnections that begin to suggest a framework for a story. Some of these interconnections may fall by the wayside or be changed as we progress, but it's a good start.

Now go back to your characters and assign them names. If you are planning a comical story these names could suggest their characteristics (eg Captain Stable), or you may want something more sombre. Add a few more notes on their character then you are ready to begin on part 2 - the plot...

Article Source : Arts And Craft Ideas

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Both Bryan Hallett & Chief Suspect are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Bryan Hallett has sinced written about articles on various topics from Arts, Entertainment Guide and Arts. Prime Suspect is a writer and actor with specialists, Murder to Measure, and has committed more crimes than the average man on the street. His twisted. Bryan Hallett's top article generates over 2400 views. to your Favourites.

Chief Suspect has sinced written about articles on various topics from Arts. Bryan Hallett is a writer an performer with , and has committed dozens of murders in the UK. His random musings on the genre can be found at his. Chief Suspect's top article generates over 880 views. to your Favourites.
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