Tips and resources for creating case fiction.

[casemod]

Creating case fiction can be a little intimidating at first! If you want some tips on how to get started or wrangle a stubborn plot point or whatnot, we hope that this post may be the answer you need to help you successfully tease out that exasperating thread that's bound to unravel your investigation (in a good way!).

Please refrain from breaking anonymity regarding your assignment. While this post is here to share resources, it isn't meant to replace the function of sending questions via the mods. This is for general help, not specific story help. Please do not brainstorm your assignment in the comments.

If you have tips on how to create case fiction, this is the post to share them in! We're looking for writers, artists, and even podders (if podders feel there are any resources/tips to share!) on how to create case fiction. This may include tips such as how to artistically show red herrings without pointing to it with arrows, how to leave clues subtly in writing or art, or even how to perhaps create a mysterious ambience through sound effects.

By no means are you required to use any of these resources to create your case fiction!

If you're unsure your question may break anonymity, please email the mods first at gumshoeagency@gmail.com

I'll do my best to compile them under the cut below for ease of reference.

Anonymous commenting is on.

Resources

• How to Write Investigation: A Guide to Doing the Casefic and Maybe Only Suffering a Little by TKodami
— Part One | Part Two (Thanks to saiditallbefore on EAD for flagging this one!)

• donutsweeper's extensive guide has a list of several resources for CSI/forensics. (There are a lot of links here that I felt it was easier to link the whole post than them individually.) (Thanks to saiditallbefore on EAD for flagging this one!)

• John P. Murphy's A Useful Four-Act Murder Mystery Structure. (Thanks to a nonnie on BFE in 2022 for flagging this one!)

• ticket2write's The Classic 12-Chapter Mystery Formula. (Thanks to a nonnie on BFE in 2022 for flagging this one!)

• A detective nonnie on BFE outlined a mystery formula.

Comments

[hekateras]

This guide is very loose/unstructured (it's a freeform comment reply to me asking an author how they wrote a Disco Elysium casefic I enjoyed a lot), but people may find this helpful. The short version is "came up with a crime and reverse engineered it".

https://archiveofourown.org/comments/554811645

They do mention the Mystery Plot Cheat Sheet, which is a nice overview:
https://www.novel-software.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/MysteryNovelPlotTemplateCheatsheet.jpeg