Crime Fiction Writing Guides
Craft guides on plotting, suspense, dialogue, and character — from Phillip Strang, author of 150+ crime novels. Practical techniques from the writing desk.
The outsider protagonist presents a unique challenge in crime fiction. Unlike professional investigators with institutional authority, these characters must earn their place in the narrative through personality, circumstance, and sheer determination to uncover truth.
Across eighteen series and more than...
The challenge of writing recurring side characters in a crime series isn’t simply keeping track of who’s who—it’s orchestrating a careful dance between character growth and narrative function across multiple books. While your protagonist carries the investigative weight, it’s...
The corrupt insider represents one of crime fiction’s most potent narrative devices, yet most writers fumble the execution by painting in absolutes rather than exploring the grey zones where good cops make terrible choices. The challenge isn’t creating a villain in uniform—it’s crafting...
Detective duos represent one of crime fiction’s most enduring partnerships, yet the craft of parallel characterisation remains one of its most misunderstood challenges. Too many writers assume that pairing two investigators automatically generates compelling tension, when in reality, successful...
The witness in a crime thriller occupies a peculiar narrative space—they know something crucial, yet they exist on the story’s periphery until their moment arrives. These secondary characters who drive plot forward through revelation, obstruction, or misdirection require a delicate balance of visibility...
The victim in crime fiction faces a unique narrative challenge: they must generate reader investment while often being dead before page fifty. Unlike protagonists who have entire novels to develop reader attachment, victims must accomplish emotional resonance through limited page time, flashbacks, and...
Multiple timelines in crime fiction can elevate a straightforward investigation into a complex narrative that reveals character depths and plot connections impossible to achieve through linear storytelling. The challenge lies not in the concept itself, but in executing the structure without confusing...
The art of foreshadowing in crime fiction walks a razor’s edge between revelation and concealment. Every clue must earn its place in the narrative while remaining invisible enough that readers feel satisfied, not cheated, when the truth emerges. The challenge lies not in hiding information, but...
The tension between authentic procedural detail and readable narrative sits at the heart of every crime novel. Too little research and your detective’s methods feel implausible; too much and you’ve written a police manual disguised as fiction.
Across eighteen series and more than 150 novels,...
The most powerful moments in crime fiction happen not when characters say exactly what they mean, but when they dance around it, revealing truth through omission and misdirection. Subtext in crime fiction dialogue serves as the invisible current beneath every conversation, carrying the real weight of...
The greatest tension in crime fiction often emerges not from gunshots or car chases, but from what remains unsaid in a conversation between two people who both know one is lying. Violence provides immediate shock, but sustainable tension requires the reader to feel the psychological pressure building...
Timeline management in crime fiction determines whether your investigation unfolds with forensic precision or collapses under the weight of contradictory evidence. The complexity of tracking multiple suspects, alibis, forensic discoveries, and investigative threads across compressed timeframes creates...