Murder Mystery Lesson 5+6: Agatha Christie / Writing draft + feedback

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 3

Today

• How to construct a murder mystery with the help of Agatha Christie.
• Write a murder mystery for feedback
• No class on Wednesday 10/4
• Test on Wednesday 17/4

Building a character

Create your own character using the cheat sheet below

• Character name: ...
• Who and where:  ...
• Internal conflict: ...
• External conflict: ...
• Voice: ...

List for adjectives for describing people and personal qualities.

How to build a character using voice.

1 Limit the point of view of the narrator

2 Choose the right setting: dark / isolated

3 Play with clues and red herrings

01:51

What is a common criticism of Christie’s characters?

1. They are two-dimensional
2. They are unlikeable
3. The suspects are introduced too late
4. There are too many internal monologues

Test run

Check Moodle for the practise assignment:

• Write a murder mystery test 
• Hand in by the end of class for feedback.

Graded test on Wednesday 17 April.

Freytag's Pyramid

Elements in a mystery: techniques

1 Limit the point of view

2 Choose the right setting

3 Play with style and form

4 Use dramatic irony

5 Use cliffhangers

01:51

What is distinctive about many of Christie’s settings?

1. They are exotic
2. They are isolated
3. They are cozy
4. They are unrealistic

04:05

Christie’s clues are designed to be _____ by readers.

1. forgotten
2. ignored
3. easy to guess
4. misinterpreted

05:11

What makes Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple unique detectives, compared to Sherlock Holmes and other predecessors?

1. Patriotism
2. Traumatic backstories
3. They are outsiders
4. 100% success rates

02:59

What did Christie often change as she worked?

1. The scene of the crime
2. The identity of victim
3. The identity of the murderer
4. The typewriter she wrote on

05:11

Hercule Poirot is a refugee living in England, and often suffers prejudice at the hands of his British suspects. In what ways does this give him a unique perspective as a detective?

05:11

Christie carefully plotted all of her books before she wrote a single word of the manuscript. What are the advantages and disadvantages of plotting out a murder mystery?

05:11

Agatha Christie’s characters are sometimes stereotypical: what are the pros and cons of this approach for the mystery writer?

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