Keep Them Guessing: The Art of Mystery Writing

Saturday, May 12th, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
$95 members/$110 others  San Francisco
Student Testimonials

Mysteries are one of the most popular and diverse genres in fiction today.  They sell by the millions and hundreds of authors have established long and successful careers in mystery writing. The contemporary mystery offers immense opportunities for the creation of quirky protagonists, unusual settings, stories with social or political relevance, and even for books that put new twists on the genre or that seem to defy the demands of the genre altogether.  Nevertheless, writing a mystery demands certain key skills and a knowledge of what works in this particular area of fiction.

If you want to try your hand at a mystery novel, or have already started but aren’t sure how to pull it all together, this workshop will get you going and give you tips re: how to stay on track. “We’ll look at the key issues that make a mystery successful,” says instructor Elaine Beale, “from developing a compelling protagonist and maintaining momentum, to creating a plausible, keep-them-guessing-to-the-end plot.”

Elaine Beale’s first novel, Murder in the Castro, was published in 1997, and her second,  Another Life Altogether, was released by Random House this year and has received positive reviews from the Boston Globe, Lambda Literary, and Publishers Weekly. It was also featured in Oprah Magazine as one of the ten must-read books of March 2010. Elaine has taught creative writing for more than a decade and is also leading one-day Writing Salon workshops on plot, character development and inspiring the muse.