Once the setting has been established and the characters
have been developed, it is necessary to formulate a general idea of where
the story is going to take the reader. Some teachers may choose to
create the plot line before the characters and setting; that is totally
up to you.
When creating the plot line for a mystery, there is one
step that is essential before beginning. Students must determine
what clues will lead the reader and the detective to the villain.
There are a couple of ideas on how to select these clues.
1. One suggestion would be to have each student bring in something small (or bring in several small items yourself). It does not matter what is brought in as long as it follows school rules. They could bring in fingernail clippers, a barrette, a bottle of nail polish, a tube of lipstick, etc... Place them in a brown paper bag.Once the clues have been established, I ask for students to provide a sketch of what the plot will look like. We fill our events in on a plot line, or you may choose to have them create a basic outline of what will happen.
Have a student pick one of the items from the bag. Hold the item up so the whole class can see it. Have them offer questions that need to be answered about the item in order to determine if it could be a clue. For example: Does the item have any distinguishing marks on it that would make the detective's eye notice that it did not belong at the scene? How could the detective determine whom it belongs to? Does it have fingerprints on it? Where was it found and is it unusual for it to be there? Then as a class, decide how that item could be a clue to solving a mystery.
Once they have thought about these questions for a couple of items, have them think of 3 or 4 clues for their story and answer these same questions.2. Another idea would be to just allow them to go ahead and establish the plot, step by step. You could show them how following the introduction, they need to have clues that appear along the way to help the detective reach the answer to the mystery. You could use examples such as the stories of Sherlock Holmes in order to provide examples of how the clues (even if they are subtle) help lead the reader to the conclusion. It is usually a good idea to have them share those ideas with someone else, either a classmate, or with you in order to make sure that their ideas make sense.
Writing the Plot