Have a thorough study about what happened in any country; any kind of murder,theft or robbery, any kind of strange case known. If the case never closed, you could make it end in any way you please.
Think of the basics. Male or female? What is the detective’s name? How old are they? What do they look like (hair color, eye color, and skin tone)? Where are they from? Where are they living when your story starts? How did they become part of the story? Are they victims? Are they the cause of the problems in your story? Develop a family for your character. Parents? Siblings? Significant other? Children? Other relations? Sociably problematic groups? A character which may know everything but has disappeared. . . Make it as normal or as quirky as you want! What kind of life do they live? Are they famous, or are they just starting out? Are they unexpectedly smart? What kind of mysteries do they solve? (Murder, theft, a combination, other kinds?) Develop their tastes. Favorite sentence to say? What is their favorite color? Place to be? Soft drink? Book? TV show? Movie? Music? Meal? What are they afraid of? How practical are they? Do they wear a scent, and if so, what scent? Strong, soft, nice or not pleasant? Develop their relationships. Do they have a lot of friends? A best friend? Are they romantic? What first impression do they make? Do they like children? Do they like smokers? Do they like reading? How do they dress? Do they use makeup or hair dye? How about piercings or tattoos? How attractive are they, and how attractive do they think they are? Is there something they wish they could change, or something they are particularly happy with? How much time do they spend thinking about physical appearance? Though this may seem like a lot to worry about for a short story, having your characters developed to the fullest is an essential part of writing a good story and to making the character believable.
Use Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? questions to get you started: Who committed the crime and who did they do it to? What was the crime? When did it happen (morning, evening, afternoon, dead of night)? Where did it happen? Why did they do it? How did they do it? Use this skeleton to more fully sketch out a summary of your plot, with as many details as you can think of at this point. By now, plot ideas will be boiling around in your brain. Don’t even worry about putting them in order, just write them down somewhere so that you don’t forget them later!
Make a list of the suspects. Detail their basic personality. Do the same for witnesses and any other characters. Be sure to have in mind how the mystery is solved!
