{"id":83,"date":"2012-01-27T07:50:40","date_gmt":"2012-01-27T07:50:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=83"},"modified":"2012-01-27T08:39:05","modified_gmt":"2012-01-27T08:39:05","slug":"10-rules-for-crime-fiction-knoxs-decalogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=83","title":{"rendered":"10 rules for crime fiction – Knox’s decalogue"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am writing a novel, working title The Home Signal. I have planned it out pretty comprehensively (I think!).
\nIt is useful to read and use \u2018Nail your novel\u2019 by Roz Morris<\/a>.
\nI also use Scrivener<\/a>, which is brilliant for structure.
\nMore about all that in later posts.<\/p>\n

For research, I have started to read up on crime fiction and more about its history and the techniques for its construction.<\/p>\n

I recommend an excellent book called \u2018Crime Fiction\u2019 by John Scaggs<\/a>. It is a comprehensive reference of the history of mystery and detective fiction.<\/p>\n

There is a chapter about mystery and detective fiction where I have come across Father Knox\u2019s \u2018Detective Story Decalogue\u2019 from 1929. Now, for all you experts out there, I\u2019m sure this is old news but it was a very interesting revelation to me and I plan to read more about it soon.<\/p>\n

Here are some excerpts of the decalogue:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The criminal must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story.\u2028(Done. I have mine appearing in the first scene.)<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.\u2028(Done)<\/em><\/li>\n
  3. Not more than one secret room or passageway is allowable.\u2028(Done. I only have one and it doesn\u2019t really form part of the crime anyway.)<\/em><\/li>\n
  4. The detective must not himself commit a crime.\u2028(Hmm..well, not sure on this one. (It\u2019s a herself in my case). She is a bit outside the law at times.)<\/em><\/li>\n
  5. The detective must not light on any clues which are not instantly produced for the inspection of the reader.\u2028(Done. I hadn\u2019t thought too much about this point but it is a good one.)<\/em><\/li>\n
  6. The \u2018stupid\u2019 friend of the detective(The Doctor Watson type character) must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind.\u2028(Need some rewrite to fit with this. Interesting rule for sure – you can\u2019t have two equal detectives working on a case – maybe that\u2019s true I suppose. I need to think about this one some more.)<\/em><\/li>\n
  7. Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.\u2028(Done – the only doubles I have are drinks!)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    There are some more – 10 make a decalogue – but I found these interesting and, though a bit dated, a worthwhile check for any kind of crime or detective fiction.<\/p>\n

    Have you come across this?<\/p>\n

    Or, can you recommend any good sources for the specific techniques around crime or mystery thriller fiction?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I am writing a novel, working title The Home Signal. I have planned it out pretty comprehensively (I think!). It is useful to read and use \u2018Nail your novel\u2019 by Roz Morris. I also use Scrivener, which is brilliant for structure. More about all that in later posts. For research, I have started to read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-skill"],"yoast_head":"\n10 rules for crime fiction - Knox's decalogue - Graham Dinton<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=83\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Graham Dinton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/?p=83#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/?p=83\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Graham Dinton\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aa4cda20d85d970f20575808140fd28\"},\"headline\":\"10 rules for crime fiction – Knox’s decalogue\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-27T07:50:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-01-27T08:39:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/?p=83\"},\"wordCount\":426,\"commentCount\":2,\"articleSection\":[\"Writing skills\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/?p=83#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/?p=83\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/?p=83\",\"name\":\"10 rules for crime fiction - Knox's decalogue - Graham Dinton\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-27T07:50:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-01-27T08:39:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aa4cda20d85d970f20575808140fd28\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/?p=83#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/?p=83\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/?p=83#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"10 rules for crime fiction – Knox’s decalogue\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/\",\"name\":\"Graham Dinton\",\"description\":\"Oxford crime and mystery author\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aa4cda20d85d970f20575808140fd28\",\"name\":\"Graham Dinton\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7d4ba9aa71cf33c5c32adff3766dfa966f9cc82d0ebe9a2178de8980beef6dcc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7d4ba9aa71cf33c5c32adff3766dfa966f9cc82d0ebe9a2178de8980beef6dcc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7d4ba9aa71cf33c5c32adff3766dfa966f9cc82d0ebe9a2178de8980beef6dcc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Graham Dinton\"},\"description\":\"Enthusiastic crime fiction writer\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.grahamdinton.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/@grahamdinton\"],\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/grahamdinton.com\\\/wp\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"10 rules for crime fiction - Knox's decalogue - Graham Dinton","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=83","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Graham Dinton","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=83#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=83"},"author":{"name":"Graham Dinton","@id":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/#\/schema\/person\/6aa4cda20d85d970f20575808140fd28"},"headline":"10 rules for crime fiction – Knox’s decalogue","datePublished":"2012-01-27T07:50:40+00:00","dateModified":"2012-01-27T08:39:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=83"},"wordCount":426,"commentCount":2,"articleSection":["Writing skills"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=83#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=83","url":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=83","name":"10 rules for crime fiction - Knox's decalogue - Graham Dinton","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-01-27T07:50:40+00:00","dateModified":"2012-01-27T08:39:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/#\/schema\/person\/6aa4cda20d85d970f20575808140fd28"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=83#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=83"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?p=83#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"10 rules for crime fiction – Knox’s decalogue"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/#website","url":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/","name":"Graham Dinton","description":"Oxford crime and mystery author","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/#\/schema\/person\/6aa4cda20d85d970f20575808140fd28","name":"Graham Dinton","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7d4ba9aa71cf33c5c32adff3766dfa966f9cc82d0ebe9a2178de8980beef6dcc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7d4ba9aa71cf33c5c32adff3766dfa966f9cc82d0ebe9a2178de8980beef6dcc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7d4ba9aa71cf33c5c32adff3766dfa966f9cc82d0ebe9a2178de8980beef6dcc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Graham Dinton"},"description":"Enthusiastic crime fiction writer","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.grahamdinton.com","https:\/\/x.com\/@grahamdinton"],"url":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/?author=1"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2gJQS-1l","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86,"href":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions\/86"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grahamdinton.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}