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WriterCon in Oklahoma City

August 30 - September 2, 2024

Next Tuesday, August 27, 2024 I leave for WriterCon 2024 in Oklahoma City. I love this conference and look forward to seeing some old friends and making some new ones there.

I will be giving my talk “Creating Mystery: Posing Questions Your Readers Want Answered” on Sunday, September 1, 2024 at 10:30 a.m. CDT

10:30 am-11:15 am

Creating Mystery: Posing Questions Your Readers Want Answered

Fiction

Ballroom B

· Rick Ludwig, Writer

Mystery! The word itself evokes images in a reader’s mind. Multiple genre’s and subgenre’s include the word in their names. Mystery Fiction includes Sensation Mysteries, Quest Mysteries, FairPlay/Traditional Mysteries, Inverted Mysteries, Specialized Knowledge Mysteries (Great Detective, Science of Detection, Police Procedural) , Specialized Setting Mysteries. (Cozy, Gothic, Noir, Macabre, Supernatural, Historical). There are even mysteries that fall into other major fiction genres (Spy, Legal, Medical, Sci-Fi, Humor) and Non-fiction Mysteries. Does your story have to have a murder, a detective, or a Gothic setting to contain mystery? In this talk, I'll briefly review of the history of mystery as a category of fiction, share how I write a mystery, and discuss the importance of posing questions to create mystery in your reader’s minds. I will also discuss the importance of providing answers to posed questions to hold onto your readers. Preview: It’s not just Whodunnit anymore!I truly love this conference. It is just the right size and allows for a great deal of interaction with other authors, editors, agents, and publishers.

After the conference, I will post my talk on this website under Presentations. I’d be really interested in your thoughts about creating mystery.

Editing

I accept a select number of manuscripts for editing every year from Red Sneaker Writers. Send me an email if you’re interested.

My theory of Editing

I always take the document I’m sent and convert it to a PDF to read on my iPad. As I read through it I highlight anything that interrupts the flow of the read. Then I bring the original document up on my computer in Review mode and correct all typos, grammar mistakes, etc. I add comments adjacent to the manuscript for larger issues like plot holes, confusing structure, timeline problems, continuity, or syntax. Then I re-read all of my edits and delete any that might impede the writers personal style. Then I send the edited manuscript back to the writer with a cover letter detailing strengths as well as weaknesses in the document.