How does this guide help you? by asking you questions: about the villain, the detective, the victim, and so on. With your own replies, you are in the process of building your own story that will really suit you, because it will come from your own heart.
One of their title is "having fun with writing". The authors want you to indulge in creation. They take you step-by-step, so your "indulgence" is fruitful too.
52 weekends to write a mystery! Reading this book provoked my thoughts into wanting to write more than just during the 52 week-ends. I am stimulated by their ideas, their questioning, their comparisons.

If you feel a bit sluggish, lacking a bit of confidence perhaps; or if you feel you want guidelines that will spur you on, then this is exactly the book that will fire your imagination, and fuel your energy to write. Yet it is gentle enough, not patronizing. By reading this, you know that they know, and you also know that they delight in telling you what they know, you are part of the wonderful creative process.

Buy this with the assurance that you will be on the right track of writing an excellent mystery.You will enjoy doing it too! Buy it and enjoy being a writer of mystery!

I was laughing to myself reading WEEKEND NOVELIST. Ray and Remick have nice little flow charts. I had piles of gum wrappers and old envelopes with a few words scribbled on them ("where's the dog in chapter 10?" or "top boat speed 40 mph - police boats 60 mph from Emerald Point -- do math"). You won't find a chapter here for "waking up in the middle of the night with your brain taken over by your story, padding through a freezing house in your bahtrobe (knocking into coffee table with shin bone), and staring bleary-eyed at the computer till dawn." Which is how most of my book got written. My shins were bruised for a year and a half.

My shins are still bruised, I confess. I should move that coffee table. But I can thank Bob Ray and Jack Remick for helping me organize my thoughts and my time for my second novel. My office is cleaner for it. And my writing is cleaner too. Read the book. It will help you clean up your act as a mystery writer.

The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery is different.

Step-by-step methods for constructing a tight mystery novel plot with compelling and convincing characters fill every page. Examples of the authors' own novel process along with those of other masters such as Agatha Christie, Martin Cruz Smith, Sue Grafton, and Raymond Chandler illustrate each step.

There are no timid suggestions in vague jargon here. The authors have taken great pains to make sure each and every facet of their combined writing and teaching expertise is explained thoroughly and usefully.

The importance of a solid "backstory" is the focus of early chapters, giving the writer a solid view of their story before moving on to the writing itself. The far too common problem of writing oneself to a standstill is virtually impossible if the plot and characterization techniques are followed. The remainder of the book contains a treasure trove of specific techniques for creating scenes, convincing dialogue, and "real" settings. The reader will learn how to group their scenes into logical "acts", control the story's pace, and use the language to set tone and resonance.

While structured specifically for the mystery writer, the techniques can be applied to other genres with relative ease. Any novelist, whether still aspiring or already accomplished, will find a wealth of insight into the plotting and characterization process. The beginner searching for one all-around USEFUL how-to-write book would do well to pick this one.

This is no-nonsense book crammed with useful, week-by-week projects which will lead the writer to the successful creation of a well-written, satisfying mystery.

The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery puts the "HOW" back into the how-to-write book market.