Genre Guide — Mystery
Genre Guide — Mystery

Should I Write Mystery?

Mystery is for those people who like puzzles. Also, for those who maybe think about murder just a little too much. Perhaps a healthy outlet for your murderous obsession, hmm?

In all seriousness, though it's one of the smaller indie genres it's not going anywhere. And its tendency toward series characters and readership makes it very attractive to the indie author.

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Science Fiction Mystery

The mystery category starts with a crime, then resolves it by the end. Simple formula, with nearly infinite variations possible. Science fiction takes that premise and runs with it. Science fiction is a setting genre. As such, you simply start out with “Not Here, Not Now” (presumably a technological future and a surfeit of magic, or you would be in a fantasy category) and tell your story. Where you set your story (the world-building elements) can be pretty much anywhere. If you have magic, presumably you are in some sort of fantasy category, as noted above, but it might be...

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Thrillers and Mysteries

Thriller gets its own top-level category these days, so you can dive in over there and go deep, but I want to take a moment to talk about it in the crime and mystery context. Until recently, thriller was a sub-genre of the larger crime category. What changed? Indie Publishing. So many Indie started writing thrillers that it got moved out to become its own BISAC top level. What is thriller, then? Energy. Pure and simple. Start generally somewhere in the middle, and then amp up everything, running like hell. Usually with a ticking clock or a burning building. Kidnapping....

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