Cozy Mystery Short Novel Story Builder

This tool is designed to help you plot a cozy mystery, either contemporary or paranormal. It can be reused multiple times and will yield 13 chapters and 30-40,000 words, depending on your writing style. It is structured to include three red herrings.

Includes

Excerpt

Setting

Cozy mysteries are typically set in a small town, which becomes a character in its own right as the series develops. If it’s not in a small town, it’s usually set in a microcosm community that can be controlled, like a senior center, or perhaps a university. The town is usually special in some way. If you’re writing a witch cozy, it might be famous for its ghost activity, or because it’s rumored to be a town of magic. If you have a contemporary setting, it might have a unique geographical feature or location that draws tourists. You want a good, solid reason why people would be constantly visiting, since you don’t want to kill off your entire population for mysteries over the course of the series.

Ch. 1

This is your introductory chapter. If she’s new to the community, you’re introducing her to it along with the reader. If this is the second or more book in a series, it’s the reintroduction chapter. Even if she’s not new to her community, you’ll need to find a way to describe and relay how it’s all set up to the reader. This also applies to your rules of magic.