I love a good mystery. Who doesn’t? Trying to solve the mystery before the detective does is part of the fun. But if you read about TV writing and the tricks they implement, the “who-dun-it” riddles become less puzzling. So if you want to know more about writing short form scripts, continue! But if you don’t want to ruin the mystery of detective shows, maybe stop here.

So, what’s the rule that can clue you to finding the pivotal piece of information to solve that mystery? A rather simple one: If something is going to show up later in the show, make sure to introduce it. Don’t just pull something out of nowhere. You don’t want to be watching a show and have the solution to the mystery be some unfathomable, unrelated thing you could’ve never known. “Who killed the butler, Mr. Detective?” “It was actually the clown from the circus ten miles away!” “What? We never even met the clown!”

Yes, that’s a surprise, but that’s not fun. We don’t get to solve it. It seems random. Cheap. So if that clown is going to be involved in the story, be sure to mention him, even if it’s just in passing. But if someone just mentions a clown out of the blue, it’s going to stand out. “Hmm, did the victim have any known enemies?” “No. But this circus just passed through the town with a sketchy clown who seemed to have a vendetta against the victim.” (Sorry for picking on clowns).

This is why writers try to be subtle about it, and throw in red herrings. If they’re clever enough, the average viewer won’t catch on immediately, then solve it themselves. But the red herrings make it harder to pick out, making you have to do a little more work, or feel cleverly outsmarted. But once you know that the writers do this, it becomes a bit easier to pick out what’s false and what’s the golden clue. Psych does this a lot, as well as Monk. The most recent example I can think of is the new X-Files episode “Mulder & Scully meet the Were-Monster“. If you haven’t watched it yet, I’ll be talking all about the culprit, so spoilers ahoy!

SPOILERS:

So Mulder and Scully, FBI detectives tasked with solving cases with an alien aspect, are called to investigate three mysterious murders. Two witnesses claim they saw the murderer: it’s a three-eyed werelizard. Yeah. Weird. At this point, even Mulder is skeptical.

The supposed “werelizard” attacked an animal control officer nearby another victim, before disappearing in the night. The officer lives, and gives his report to the police. More sightings are made of this mysterious lizard-person, and they try to search for more evidence of the creature with the animal control officer, before finding another victim. We then leave the animal control officer behind, never to see him again. Instead we follow the search for the werelizard.

The writers, however, continue to lay small clues. They lead you to believe it’s most definitely this bizarre lizard person who killed these people. Who else could it be?  But they drop little details like a missing puppy nearby, pictures of a bite on the werelizard’s back after it attacked the officer, and this werelizard…person who swears to be friendly.

Track the logic, and you can connect the dots: The poor werelizard just happened to be in the wrong place and the wrong time. The actual murderer? That animal control officer. Once the show announces this, everything suddenly makes so much sense. Why the officer was always around when they found another victim, his general jumpy demeanor, and so forth. When they reveal it, it all suddenly clicks. That’s what TV mystery writers tend to do to make it solvable but surprising.

SPOILERS OVER.

So how do you write a good TV mystery? Be subtle. Not so subtle that people catch the subtly and latch onto it, but so much so it’s not even considered. Plant enough misleading clues, draw all the focus and attention to one or two things. So in that last moment, right before or during the explanation and reveal, the audience has that “aha!” moment. That way the solution is unexpected, but makes sense. It doesn’t come out of nowhere, and it’s not blatant. The best part of the puzzle is the satisfaction of solving it, but solving a mystery is no fun if there’s no build up or puzzle to begin with.

So keep your eyes peeled. Get those gears turning. And be aware of what the TV writer is trying to accomplish. If you know their motive, finding the solution is much simpler. And if you write, try to implement this. Find the balance of the method, or build upon it, switch the rules up. That’s one of the most fun parts about writing, isn’t it?

If you want to contact me, I can be reached via Twitter @ejLadd or by my email, [email protected].

To see more from this blog, check out Frame Rate: So you want to start screenwriting.