Murder at Hearst Castle: An Introduction to Basic Mystery Writing (Part Two)

Please read Part One before moving on to this section of the lesson.

Murder at Hearst Castle: An Introduction to Basic Mystery Writing (Part 1)

Murder at Hearst Castle: An Introduction to Basic Mystery Writing

Created by: Tessa, Conner, and Sophia

Are you interested in writing mystery stories, but aren’t sure how to make it believable, interesting, and difficult (but not too difficult) to solve? Through the process of solving a mystery yourself, you will obtain a greater understanding of how to create your own! We will discuss certain things such as the development of investigators and suspects, alibis and motives, and evidence and red herrings, and then you will have a chance to write your own ending to the mystery.
This lesson originally created for a writing workshop for fifth to eighth graders.

Disclaimer: This lesson includes a murder mystery. Nothing is graphic and there are no images, but if this will make you uncomfortable, it is probably not the lesson for you.

Friday Funny Fiction #4

See Friday Funny Fiction #1 for how this game is played.

I was in a garden and fairies were surrounding me.
They spun around me, faster and faster. Then I was suddenly small and dainty. I was one of them.
I had become one of SANTA'S ELVES!!!
I now had unlimited access to Santa's Workshop and all the toys within.
I like the fairies better than Santa's Workshop though.
So I decided to try and collaborate with them. Santa didn't like that.
Santa didn't want the elves to collaborate with the human children. So he put everyone on the naughty list.