Make Your Own Mystery Novel
()
About this ebook
Did you ever want to write a novel, or even a novella, but the generation of a viable plot and the creation of characters and motives seem like an insurmountable task? Well, this little set of instructions can be an invaluable start. It analyzes the basics of Agatha Christie’s novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (her first Hercule Poirot novel, which now in public domain), and shows how you and amend, tweak, or change her characters, her overall plot, and the basic plot twist to create your own “new” novel. Set it in you’re a place of your choice and in any time in history, and you’ll have a novel you’ll be (more or less) proud to have written.
Lenny Everson
List of Completed Works by Lenny Everson (As of November, 2014, over 36,000 copies of Lenny's works have been downloaded.) Novels •Death On a Small, Dark Lake. 67,700 words. Our hero snags a body in a remote lake. •Death on a Rocky Little Island 71,500 words. Our hero convinces a friend to take a canoeing trip to the 30,000 islands. •Mount Moriah 50,000 words. A strange sequence events involves a priest, a poet, a CSIS agent, a space alien, four horny teens, among others. My most fun fiction. •Last Exit to Pine Lake. 45,000 words. A dying writer goes back into the bush to off himself. Grimly literary. My best fiction. •Ally Oop Through the Ulysses Trees. As much fun as Mount Moriah! •Marley Was Dead: A Christmas Carol Mystery Novelettes •Granite and Dry Blood. 9,700 words. Our hero wants to write a book on Massassauga Park. Various people would prefer that he didn’t. •Death on a Foggy Spring Portage. 11,800 words. One member of a paddling group is found dead on a muddy portage. Screenplays •Murder on a Foggy Spring Portage. One member of a paddling group is found dead on a muddy portage. Plays •Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont. Ghosts of the two Métis leaders meet in today’s world to remember their lives. A short (20-minute) play for two actors. Full-Length Poetry Books •The Minor Odyssey of Lollie Heronfeathers Singer. A middle-aged woman tries to connect with her aboriginal ancestry. •In The Tavern of Lost Souls. Four poets meet at a grungy bar once a month to give their poetic answers to random questions. •Love in a Canoe. A set of five chapbooks and a songbook about the love of canoeing. With illustrations. •Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont are Dead. Ghosts of the two Métis leaders meet in today’s world to remember their lives. Includes the play. Poetry Chapbooks •Encounter in a Small, Old Cemetery. Autumn. Midnight. Poet visits a small, old private graveyard. Best poem I ever wrote. •Fire and Ashes. Poems about life’s flames and regrets. •The Empty Tarmac of a Long-Abandoned Airport. Poems about having a midlife crisis. •Love Poems A compilation •Pray for Me: 22 Poems Probably Slandering God and Jesus •Ballads from an Unlucky Fisherman: Poems from a fisherman •Tweetable Limericks. 60 limericks small enough to be tweets •Hiking Poems. Co-Authored Poetry Chapbooks •Who Would Be a God? Susan Ioannou and Lenny debate the merits of being a god. •How to Dance Naked in the Moonlight. Katherine L. Gordon (Celtic pagan) and Lenny (skeptic) confront the ceremony. •Cats and Dogs. With I. B. Iskov •For Ko Aye Aung: A Plea for His Release from Prison. For Amnesty International, with other poets. Non-Fiction Chapbooks •If You Condemn Gays: The Bible on Homosexuality and Other Items. •The Architecture of Suburban West Kitchener. A light look at house styles. •The Architecture of The University of Waterloo. A light look at the campus buildings. •Making Tourist Attractions for Towns and Small Cities. Advice. •Technological Solutions to Global Warming. •Hyphens: A Guide for the Early Twenty-First Century. •Colons and Semicolons: A Guide for the Early Twenty-First Century. •How to Review Draft Technical Writings •Rebecca’s Trail (Grand River Trail) in Winter •7 Temples to Bill Gates: a modern mystery •The Great God Pan - or Not •Two in a Tent: Camping Humor. •Why Haven't Aliens Contacted us? Songbooks •Dance Songs for Weddings Available on Smashwords •Canoe Songs. part of a set of six chapbooks about the love of canoeing. With illustrations.. Available on Smashwords •18 Dingbat Songs for Kids Available on Smashwords I’d like to thank all the people who downloaded my writings. And I’d like to thank Smashwords for making them available to the world. I started out as a poet, and spent most of my life producing poems. Some of them are really fine poems, but, of course, the monetary value of poetry in this world isn’t much. Actually, I once calculated poetry has a negative monetary value; poets are lucky if they don’t have to pay people to listen to them. But I always admired people who told me they were “writing a novel.” I don’t know why, but I did. So eventually, I sat down and wrote a novel, just to show I could actually do it. The result was Death on a Small, Dark Lake, more than two thousand copies of which have been downloaded. It wasn’t really very good, but at least I could say, “I wrote a novel!” I stuck to what I knew best, canoeing and the lake country north of Peterborough, Ontario, the edge of Canada’s lake country. I wrote Death on a Rocky Little Island in an effort to make some more believable characters, but I can’t really say I succeeded. People have downloaded a few more copies of that, so maybe it was a bit better constructed than the first novel. It included canoes, of course. Then one of my friends taunted me into doing something for NaNoWriMo, the endeavor in which a person tries to write a 50,000-word novel in the month of November. I was, er, a few days over, but I got it done. It turned out to be a bit incoherent in spots, but in general, a lot of fun; I recommend it, if your standards aren’t too high. And there are no canoes in it. By that time, I figured I could write something “literary.” The result – with more canoes of course – was Last Exit to Pine Lake. If it’s less fun, well, it’s meant to be. If most people don’t like it, well, that’s normal for literary novels, so it doesn’t bother me. My literary bent done, I wrote Ally Oop Through the Ulysses Trees. It was intended to be fun, and it’s lots better than the first two novels I wrote. I even put myself, in a canoe, as a minor character. Then I thought I’d just write a novel that would sell. For money, like. Smashwords said romance generally sold well, so I wrote Fire and Spark, under the name, “Laura Singer.” (You can search for it.) It wasn’t all that bad, for a guy’s first romance novel. Really, it is, although my wife said it should be subtitled, Five Canoes; No Sex. I again added myself as a minor character. But it didn’t sell, so I added it to my list of free books on Smashwords. You’re welcome. Last fall, I finished another book that I thought would actually sell, Marley Was Dead: A Christmas Carol Mystery. My wife thought it was really good, mostly because of the historical details of social life. It didn’t sell, of course, so it’s free now. You’re welcome, again. As for the poetry, the most popular are Hiking Poems and 21 Poems for Love, Weddings, and Anniversaries. And then there’s the rest. The opinion pieces are just my explorations of things that I wanted to know more about. I studied the subject, briefly, and published my findings. They’re not scholarly, but well worth what you’ll pay for them. A few are getting outdated, but nobody’s written to me to ask for updates. If you want to learn more about any of my writings, email me at lennypoet@hotmail.ca. Like Lenny’s poems? Just type in (or copy) the YouTube address) from any item on the list below into your search engine. You should get a YouTube video of Lenny reading a poem. https://youtu.be/SfHAKSgn7lc https://youtu.be/29dmESWIgrg https://youtu.be/hyYqYhDl35E https://youtu.be/x8ufRDD65_s https://youtu.be/u0Bw6xUcEFM n https://youtu.be/g3PxjmjRl1g https://youtu.be/WCmoGGdLrTw https://youtu.be/IIL7e2cWWVA https://youtu.be/SfbwWwgd5Yo https://youtu.be/ZAuuYEUsMh0y https://youtu.be/Hw4v7RmZqk4 https://youtu.be/BmTywRZwe1o https://youtu.be/lYGmMyxgKGQd https://youtu.be/I8tA3dwv-WA https://youtu.be/yaX9WYb2y3o https://youtu.be/Y1Saq1UZ0kE https://youtu.be/FDBlHLuBmcw https://youtu.be/yTiSQLzU4nM https://youtu.be/On8ClcmNWsw https://youtu.be/L3IwGhkqIKMd https://youtu.be/KhOxMvR4wGE https://youtu.be/R6ybqmVUUCA https://youtu.be/BiiYKsR8YaE https://youtu.be/Y9a6pNuEoX0 https://youtu.be/ZyOn3Smu8ZY https://youtu.be/5U0zTnAw7X4
Read more from Lenny Everson
Marley Was Dead: A Christmas Carol Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best Short Poem Ever Written? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the Tavern of Lost Souls Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTen Very Short Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Ten Best Short Poems Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Blue Guitar Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAdditional Lyrics for Some Old Songs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMother Earth What a Life You've Had! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dance Songs for Weddings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings17 Dingbat Songs for Kids Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/521 Poems for Love, Weddings, and Anniversaries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat Last Golden River Run: 17 Canoe Poems for Autumn Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Semicolons and Colons: A Guide for the 21st Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Technological Cures for Global Warming Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNo Ordinary Waters: Canoe Poems from a Strange Mind Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwo in a Tent: Camping Humor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMount Moriah Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLouis Riel and Gabriel Dumont: A Short Play Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDid Hamlet Love Ophelia?: and Other Thoughts on the Play Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Great God Pan: Or Not Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHiking Songs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFine and Fierce and Free: Canoe Poems for Spring Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHyphens: A Guide for the 21st Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRebecca's Trail Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHiking Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeath on a Foggy Spring Portage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Modest Proposal for the Parliament of Canada Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEncounter in a Small Old Cemetery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHamlet: The Comedy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Make Your Own Mystery Novel
Related ebooks
The 90-Day Rewrite Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoux Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlot Like Me: A Guide to Writing Like An Author Who's Already Made All the Mistakes and Learned From Them, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBait and Switch Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Selected Essays Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNot F*ing Around: The No Bullsh*t Guide for Getting Your Creative Dreams Off the Ground Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLove's Journey Home Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhy Will No-One Publish My Novel?: A Handbook for the Rejected Writer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5To the Elephant Graveyard Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unbroken Bonds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNight of the Nothing Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe First Look Literary Ladies Guide to Using the Five Senses to Improve Your Writing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Tale: Short Story Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Best Revenge Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Danger Flower Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBehind the Screens: Illustrated Floor Plans and Scenes from the Best TV Shows of All Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCat Cross Their Graves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Metamorphosis In Plain and Simple English (A Modern Translation and the Original Version) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Technique of the Mystery Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLaying the Music to Rest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSunflowers: A Novel of Vincent Van Gogh Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Your Marks: The Book of Crazy Exam Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCat Tales: A Spiritual Journey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRules for Saying Goodbye: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5If You Hear Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5True to Life: Fifty Steps to Help You Write Your Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKatherine Mansfield - The Short Stories - Volume 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Trusting Change: Finding Our Way Through Personal and Global Transformation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings100 Story Starters. Opening and Final Sentence. Are you clever enough to write the story in-between? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Cozy Mysteries For You
Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Color Me Murder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Moon Over Soho Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Poirot's Early Cases Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Marlow Murder Club: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Epitaph: A Gripping Murder Mystery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Line to Kill: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Murder at the Vicarage: A Miss Marple Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All Her Little Secrets: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Accidental Alchemist: An Accidental Alchemist Mystery, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eight Perfect Murders: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side: A Miss Marple Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Word Is Murder: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murders at the Montgomery Hall Hotel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Murderous Affair at Stone Manor: A Completely Gripping Cozy Murder Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quiche of Death: The First Agatha Raisin Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret of Poppyridge Cove Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Golden Spoon: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death Du Jour: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death by Dumpling: A Noodle Shop Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Shop of Hidden Treasures: a joyful and heart-warming novel you won't want to miss Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gone with the Ghost Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gaudy Night Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sleeping Murder: Miss Marple's Last Case Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Under a Red Moon: A 1920s Bangalore Mystery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rivers of London: 10th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dog on It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Find You First: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Clouds of Witness: A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Murder Is Announced: A Miss Marple Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Make Your Own Mystery Novel
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Make Your Own Mystery Novel - Lenny Everson
Make Your Own Mystery Novel
Plot and Characters
By Lenny Everson
rev 1: 2017-11-05
Copyright Lenny Everson 2017
Cover design by Lenny Everson
Published at Smashwords:
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
Thank you for downloading this free ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.
Using this, you will write a mystery novel (or novella) using the basic plot and characters of Agatha Christie’s first published mystery, The Mysterious Affair at Styles.
Oh, don’t worry, plots are not subject to copyright; if they were, libraries would be very small buildings indeed.