Breadcrumbing Clues in Mystery Novels at WriteHive Online Conference
During the WriteHive Online Conference in July, I was one of the panelists for “Breadcrumbing Clues in Mystery Novels.” This was a fantastic discussion with other authors who write mysteries, generally in conjunction with speculative fiction elements, like I do.
We talked about the use of breadcrumbs to leave a trail for our readers to follow, so they can solve the mystery along with whatever character we have solving the mystery. This also lead to conversations about outlining vs. “pantsing” stories, and those who know what all of their breadcrumbs will be in their first draft vs. those who go back and add breadcrumbs during revisions. (In my case, I’m an outliner who strengthens the breadcrumbs in revisions!)
One of the other interesting things that came up during the discussion was my realization that most of my longer works include some element of mystery, which may be because a lot of what I read as a kid was mysteries. My older cousins had Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Bobbsey Twins, and Trixie Belden novels from their childhoods, and I read those voraciously whenever I visited their house. I also read a lot of Encyclopedia Brown, and one of my favorite books as a kid was Harriet the Spy. So perhaps it’s no wonder that I love writing mysteries!
The video of this panel is just shy of an hour long, and you can watch it, along with many other panels, on the Write Hive YouTube channel!
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