Writing Mystery: Planting Clues That Keep Readers Guessing

Season 8 of Writing Break sets sail with mystery and detective fiction. From archetypal sleuths to red herrings and fair-play clues, learn how to craft puzzles that keep readers guessing. Plus, the latest publishing news, including a $1.5 billion AI copyright settlement and turmoil at the Library of Congress.

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Overthinking Couch Topics:

• Why it matters to revisit genre basics in an AI-dominated landscape
• What readers and publishers expect from mystery and detective fiction
• Classic detective archetypes: from loners to gentleman sleuths to amateur nosy neighbors
• The art of fair-play clues, hidden details, and red herrings
• How to reverse-engineer your crime
• Delivering the big reveal without cheating your reader

• More Writing Tips
• New AI text-to-speech audio app launches with '60% of every sale going to authors'
• Anthropic to pay authors $1.5bn to settle lawsuit over using pirated books to train AI - Music Business Worldwide
• AAP Endorses the US$1.5 Billion AI Settlement Proposed in Bartz v. Anthropic
• Who Is in Charge of the Library of Congress? - UnderstandingCongress.org
• Former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden Speaks Out on CBS
• Fresh off Trump firings, Library of Congress stares down a proposed cut
• Library of Congress Reaches Major Milestone in Bringing Collections to Users
• Welcome to the New Library of Congress Catalog! - Catalog Help and Documentation - Research Guides at Library of Congress
• Fired copyright chief lawsuit over Trump powers
• Todd Blanche, a Justice Department official, as acting Librarian of Congress
• President Trump fires Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden
• Free Style Sheet Templates

Music licensed from Storyblocks.