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sure we've all heard of mystery stories, but what really makes a mystery

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a mystery? okay yeah if you're reading something called the big book of [boy picks book off shelf]

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mysteries, that's a pretty good hint. but we're looking for something a bit more

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general than that. like most stories a mystery will contain stuff like

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characters a setting and a plot, but there are a whole bunch of other

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ingredients that give mysteries that are distinctive and dare we say mysterious, [chef mixes ingredients]

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taste. and no none of those ingredients are the mystery machines. well the first

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one is a central problem aka a mystery to be solved like a crime. it's pretty

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tough to solve a mystery if there's you know no mystery to solve. well you could

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have a story where a detective goes to the beach with his friends and has a [2 men toss beach ball]

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great time but with no problem well you've got no mystery. and sure the

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detective might appreciate the day off but mystery stories aren't about

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creating fond memories for fictional detectives. well the second element is a

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list of suspects. if there's a crime to be solved then somebody must have [lineup shown]

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committed that crime. and if there's only one suspect it's gonna be a pretty short

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story, and not much of a mystery. so if you're bad at solving mysteries, well it

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might be right up your alley. well the third element is a set of clues.

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in a good mystery both the characters and the reader use clues to figure out [detective examines house]

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who committed the central crime, and know the answer is rarely Miss Scarlet with

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the candlestick in the billiard parlor. the fourth element is a bunch of red

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herrings. and no red herring isn't an alternate name for swedish fish. [red candy fish]

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we like that. in mysteries red herrings are false clues. things that suggest the

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guilt of a suspect who's really innocent. even though readers like to try and

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solve mysteries they don't want the solution to be too easy. it's like the

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difference between playing chess with your grandpa and playing chess with a

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toddler. yeah the win against the toddler well [man plays with old man, and young child]

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it's gonna be way more satisfying than the win against your grandpa. what? she's

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a prodigy. grandpa's just senile and last but not least a mystery story must

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contain a dénouement. well this is the resolution which comes at the end of the

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story. it reveals the suspect who committed the central crime and it [detective points out perp from lineup]

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solves the mystery. and if you ever had a hard time coming up with a decent ending

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to your mystery keep this in mind. Edgar Allan Poe once ended a story by

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basically saying the orangutan did it .so when in doubt you know blame the [student grimaces]

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orangutan.

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